With this simple hack, you can receive alerts whenever your refrigerator door is open.
We’ve all heard of the IoT, and many probably wonder what exactly that means. Sure, connecting your toaster to the Internet is interesting, but not useful for everyone. On the other hand, there are certainly devices that people would like to connect to “the cloud,” but are not capable of doing so by default. Filling in this gap is MySensors, which describes itself as “IoT + DIY.” Put another way, it’s an open source system of libraries for the Arduino using a transceiver to communicate with the world.
As seen on the MySensors forum, one useful example for this would be to monitor whether or not your refrigerator is properly closed. The brainchild of Pete Will, the setup for this is relatively simple using an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328) with two temperature sensors and a NRF24l01 transceiver. Temperature sensors go in both the freezer and refrigerator, as well as strips of copper formed to complete a circuit when the door is closed.
As demonstrated in the video below (at 0:45), if the door is left ajar, your smartphone can audibly notify you of this, and an email alert is sent in case you don’t hear the alert.
If you’re wondering what to actually do with the contents of your fridge, why not check out this Arduino-controlled pizza oven? Something like that could probably use an IoT upgrade as well!
A British inventor living in Japan has decided to spread Christmas cheer in a rather unusual way this year. Dressed up as a Christmas tree, complete with flashing lights and decorations, Joseph Tame is turning more than just a couple heads throughout Tokyo’s streets, sidewalks, stores, train stations, and even in the back of its pulled rickshaws.
The aptly namedRunning Christmas Treecostumeconsists of an aluminum frame wrapped with a pair of backpacks, each stuffed with branches from two fake trees. The attention-grabbing getup — which took two months to build — is equipped with 99 batteries, 1,500 LEDs, 100 feet of wiring, nine microcontrollers (a combination of Arduino and Raspberry Pis), three onboard cameras, as well as a built-in library of 153 Christmas songs. From the looks of the video below, he is even wearing some slick Adafruit Firewalker-like kicks.
Tame says he is taking bookings for personal appearances in the suit, which he is billing as an “Uber for illuminations.”
“The tree is available on-demand via your smartphone using the links below, and from Dec 26th 2015 via our new iOS app. The tree can come to you wherever you are in the world, but please note that depending on your location it may take a bit of time to reach you; with a combined weight of 93kg (68kg of Joseph + 25kg of Tree) it is currently too heavy for delivery by drone, and is not yet available from Amazon Prime due to there only being one of him,” its creator explains.
This Maker hacked his washing machine with an Arduino to reduce costs and add convenience.
Depending on where you live, you may or not be familiar with time-based pricing for power consumption. Basically, this refers to a system where power is priced not only by how much of it you use, but at what time the consumption takes place. Simon Jowett lives in an area of Australia where “peak” power, from 2 PM to 8 PM on weekdays, is charged at 51 cents (Australian) per kilowatt hour (kWh). The “off peak” rate, from 10 PM to 7 AM, is only 11 cents per kilowatt hour. In other words, where he lives if you’re willing to use power when most people are asleep, it costs less than a quarter of what it would during the most expensive times.
In order to take advantage of this pricing scheme without disturbing his sleep, Jowett squeezed an Arduino into his washing machine’s control panel, along with several relays to act as a delay timer. As he notes in step 2, “Mains electricity is dangerous” so you shouldn’t attempt this if you’re not “confident and or competent.” Additionally, as he puts it later when trying to find DC power to run his Arduino from the machine, “There is a risk here of really mucking things up.”
Warnings aside, his delay-enabled machine seems to work quite well, and, as seen in the video below, has a very usable display and interface. Now he can set up the machine to wash, go to bed, and his laundry will be washed when he wakes up in the morning! Intrigued? Head over to the project’s page here.
Bring this classic power-up to life as part of your Christmas decor.
Super Stars (also referred to as Starmen) can be found in a plethora of Mario Bros. games, including the original and the Mario Kart series. One place you’d typically not find them, however, is on top of a Christmas tree. That was until now.
In the game, when a player gets a star, they become temporarily invulnerable to all damage. This enables them to defeat anything and rack up points, except to hazards that would normally be fatal regardless of power-ups. Well, John Edgar Park has decided to swap out invincibility for some sparkling decor.
The Super Mario fan has built his own 8-bit tree topper using an Arduino, LEDs and a few other off-the-shelf tools. Starduino — a name that was coined by yours truly — is a fairly straightforward project. It consists of an Arduino GEMMA (ATtiny85) that drives an Adafruit NeoPixel ring housed inside a 3D-printed blocky star. Meanwhile, power is supplied by a USB cable plugged either into a wall adapter or a battery.
Sequencers are an interesting type of electronic instrument, capable of playing a selectable beat over and over. These devices can take many forms, but the GRIDI (“Grid plus MIDI”) is likely one of the largest. It takes the form of a table with a 16 x 16 grid of lights embedded in it. Each of these lights, along with a sensor, are placed at the bottom of a small round recession on this table. When in operation, a line of these lights light up, travels in a set rhythm to the other side of the table, then reappears at the beginning to start the loop over again.
As entertaining as this is by itself, if a marker is placed in a dimple, then when the line of lights passes over it, the instrument signified by that position is played. As there are 16 positions that the line passes over, this allows for 16 virtual instruments to be sequenced at each line position.
The brainchild of musician Yuvi Gerstein, this contraption is inspired by Damien Hirst’s Spot Paintings, which can be seen on display behind the sequencer in the video below. Control is accomplished by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), along with a Macbook Pro. As you might suspect, although the build looks very clean, there is a lot of wiring behind the scenes that makes this electronic instrument work!
Over the last couple of years, the Maker Movement has ushered in a new wave of low-cost hardware that enables anyone of any age and skill level to begin tinkering. Easy-to-use boards like the Arduino continue to lower the barriers to entry, while simplifying the prototyping process. Ultimately, this allows kids to explore basic electronics, learn coding, pursue STEM-related disciplines, and in some cases, even start their own business.
Here are a few young Makers from 2015 that prove age is just a number when it comes to innovation…
Omkar Govil-Nair (O Watch)
Do you recall what you were doing back in the summer of fourth grade? Chances are you weren’t creating a programmable, SAM D21-based smartwatch like eight-year-old Omkar Govil-Nair, let alone launching a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Quin Etnyre (Qtechknow)
Quin Etnyre already has quite the resume for a 15-year-old. After discovering his passion for tech, the self-taught whiz-kid has created his own company Qtechknow, taught classes at MIT, been invited to the White House and garnered over $40,000 on Kickstarter all within three years. Most recently, he introduced a tiny Arduino-compatible board complete with a built-in battery charger and fuel gauge.
Jordan Fung (Pedosa Glass)
What do you do when you’re a 13-year-old app developer who doesn’t have the money to shell out for a new pair of Google Glass? You build your own, of course! Hong Kong resident Jordan Fung devised a smart glasses attachment powered by an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) that shows him data and control information via a tiny FLCoS display.
Shubham Banerjee (Braigo Labs)
Eighth grader Shubham Banerjee constructed a braille printer entirely out of LEGO as a way to improve access and literacy for the visually impaired. More impressively, his startup Braigo Labs received venture capital funding from Intel late last year.
John Wall (WΛLLTΞCH)
17-year-old John Wall loves crafting his own open source wearable gadgetry. From OLED watches to Bluetooth/NFC bone-conduction audio headsets, the future Stanford grad has done it all.
Chase Freedman (Brick Sound Kit)
“What if there was a way to record our own sounds and play them back whenever we flew our LEGO spaceship?” This was the simple question that prompted eight-year-old Chase Freedman to explore his imagination and develop an attachable, Arduino-friendly device that lets kids record or download sounds to enhance their playtime experience.
Sahar Khashayar (Wildfire Warning System)
Jimmy Fallon welcomed 14-year-old Sahar Khashayar onto his show earlier this year. The ninth grade student had the chance to demonstrate her inexpensive device capable of detecting wildfires (and house fires, too) and sending a text alert to emergency personnel before flames rage out of control.
Nick Anglin (Strikey Sensors)
During a Maker Camp last summer, 13-year-old Nick Anglin noticed that there was a void in the market for Little Leaguers looking to learn how to pitch accurately. Whereas most middle schoolers would simply draw a rectangular box out of chalk on a brick or concrete wall and then proceed to throw the ball at the makeshift strike zone, this Maker decided to take a much more high-tech route with the help of lasers and Arduino.
Nilay Mehta (Low-Cost Robotic Arm)
With the help of 3D printing and Arduino, Nilay Mehta was able to build an inexpensive, voice-controlled robotic arm. The Irvine, California high school student programmed the unit to mimic the movements of an actual human hand, such as pinching, grabbing or holding a utensil. Using voice commands through a two prong microphone attached to the limb, the arm can carry out specific actions at the request of its wearer.
Aidan Fay (Cockpit Simulator)
What do you do if you’re a 17-year-old whose aspirations of flying an airplane have been grounded by the FAA due to a pre-existing medical condition? Having been interested in aviation for quite some time and still determined to one day earn his Class 3 pilot’s license, Aidan Fay decided to design a full-scale Cessna 172 simulator right in his bedroom. And unlike other computer programs and video games available today, the San Diego-based Maker wanted a system that would take his training to whole new heights. His life-size cockpit includes everything from pedals that control actual airplane rudders and brakes, to a steering yoke, to an Oculus Rift running Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D software for a truly immersive experience.
Emmett White (PineDuino)
As seen at the Westport Maker Faire, second grader Emmett White came up with a Pinewood Derby car that uses an Arduino Nano, an accelerometer and an LED display to collect and display information as it travels.
Guillaume Rolland (SensorWake)
Wake up and smell the coffee, literally. This is what Guillaume Rolland, an 18-year-old French entrepreneur, set out to accomplish with the world’s first olfactory alarm clock. The unit awakens its user with a scent rather than an abrupt audio alarm.
Maker builds a 3D-printed, Arduino-based social quadruped that can wander freely or be controlled via Bluetooth.
The Makecourse at the University of South Florida teaches the basic skills for engineering design projects, and, unlike most classes of this type, is open to all USF students with no prerequisites. For his part in it, Chomba Waihenya decided to build a quadruped robot. The bot can be controlled via a Bluetooth connection (including a phone app that he wrote), or it can be set free to wander about, avoiding obstacles using an ultrasonic range finder.
The first design for the quadruped involved three servos, or three degrees of freedom (DOF), per leg, but after initial testing he decided to go with a simpler two servo/DOF design. The robot takes advantage of a sliding gait to move, as shown in the videos below. The outer servo makes the leg either stretch out or contract, affecting the amount that it grips the smooth floor. Depending on how these two servos are positioned and moved, this allows the ‘bot to move forward, backward, left, or right. Additionally, it can lie down on command, as well as do a friendly wave with either of its front appendages, making it a “social” quadruped.
Control is accomplished via an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) with a Bluetooth module, with an Arduino V5 sensor shield for simplified wiring. As eight servos plug into the shield in this application, the term “sensor shield” probably doesn’t give its abilities enough credit!
There’s just something very appealing about taking a childhood toy and giving it electronic controls.
Many of us have memories of using an Etch A Sketch as a child and being frustrated that our drawing skills with it weren’t really up-to-par. Sure, there are a few people that are able to manipulate these devices to an artistic level, but for those that are instead well-versed in electromechanical arts, the other option is to create a machine to draw for you.
Instructables user “GeekMomProjects” did just that, and outlined how to replicate her device in a very detailed write-up. Her machine uses three servos controlled by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) with a stepper driver. Two steppers to spin the knobs in a coherent fashion another tips it over when a new drawing needs to be started. This function is also useful for defining where the “pen” should start, which can certainly be frustrating for amateur ‘Sketch artists.
The mechanical frame is cut out very nicely with a laser cutter, and simply bolts together. According to the article, “There is no glue, cutting, drilling or soldering required. Anyone with a basic knowledge of breadboard wiring and Arduino programming can construct and run it.”
You do apparently need access to a laser cutter (or possibly another type of cutting tool), but given the mechanism’s excellent capabilities shown in the videos below, it might be worth it to have the components cut out!
In addition to the functions shown, it also has the ability to draw either raster or vector images from a computer, though it’s better suited to produce vector graphics (graphics composed of lines). Code and mechanical designs are available on GitHub, which should allow things to be updated as improvements come.
Hate getting up to close the curtains? This Maker has developed a Bluetooth-controlled solution for the lazy.
Curtains are quite useful for privacy and blocking excessive sun, but who has the time or energy to get off of the couch and close them? Certainly not engineer Jordan Tallent, who decided to instead design and build his own wireless curtain controller using an Arduino Nano with a Bluetooth module.
Tallent soldered the Nano (ATmega328) a stepper driver and the Bluetooth module onto a printed circuit board. Though he says that the results were a little messier than he would have liked, he wanted it to have a small footprint, which he seems to have accomplished.
The motor is physically attached to the wall below the curtain rod, along with a free pulley on the other side of the window. To pull the curtains, a piece of fishing line is wrapped around a pulley mounted to the stepper motor as well as the free pulley on the other side. Resourcefully, binder clips were tied to this fishing line and clipped to the curtains on opposite sides of the “string circuit,” allowing both to open or close depending on the motor’s direction.
Tallent intends to eventually write an Android app for his phone and implement clock functionality via a real-time clock chip. For now he’s using a communication program called Bluetooth spp tools pro to communicate with his device. This enables him to type “o” to open the curtains and “c” to close them, which seems to work nicely in the demonstration video below.
A game machine driven by a Cosino Mega 2560 (running the AdvanceMAME) with a 7″ LCD display and an Xbox-compatible joystick.
Grand Theft Auto iPhone App
An Arduino Leonardo, an Ethernet shield and a PC enables your iPhone to be used as a GTA controller.
Auto-Leveling Destiny Robot
Arobotic mechanism comprised of a servo motor, an Xbox controller and an Arduino Uno that allows you to level up in Destiny without even lifting a finger.
Arduinocade
A creative way to play classic video games on your TV from an overclocked Arduino Pro Mini.
Gloveone
A glove that lets you sense and interact with virtual objects onscreen and in your VR headset.
KADE miniConsole+
An open source gadget that allows you to play all old-school games with their original controllers.
Impacto
An Arduino-driven band designed to make it feel as though you’re hitting and being struck in VR games.
Bedroom Cockpit
A full-scale Cessna 172 cockpit simulator, complete with everything from pedals that control actual airplane rudders and brakes, to a steering yoke, to an Oculus Rift running Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D software.
Scrapyard Simulator
An actual dashboard for a truck simulator.
Dashboard Simulator
A real dashboard for your car simulator.
Arduino Game Boy
A super-sized Arduboy.
Tetris on an ARM Cortex-M4 MCU
A game of Tetris on an Atmel | SMART SAM4S MCU.
KeyChainino
An Arduino-programmable keychain game.
Super Hexagon
An Arduino Nano attached to a fan blade displays Super Hexagon in a more “circular” format.
Claw Machine
A DIY claw machine that’s faster, fairer and more controllable than anything found in yesterday’s arcades.
Storefront Pong
An interactive storefront game played on a giant 6 x 8 pixel grid display comprised of 18.5” bulbs illuminated by ultra-bright NeoPixel rings.
WideRun
A fully-interactive bike trainer specifically designed to deliver engaging fitness sessions through VR headsets and external screens.
Doorstop Game
Aone-dimensional dungeon crawler game that uses a doorstop spring as its controller and an LED strip as its display.
Talon
A motion control ring that enables you to play games and control apps with simple gestures.
Pico Cassettes
An old-school gaming cartridge for your smartphone.
TeleBall BreakOut
A retro-style handheld gaming device.
DIY Game Boy
A portable, 3D-printed console embedded with a Raspberry Pi and Teensy 2.0.
Barebones Console
An extremely low-cost, minimalist gaming console that will take you back to a much blockier 8-bit era.
Arcade-Style Puzzle Box
A vintage, arcade-style puzzle box that resembles the ubiquitous wooden audio equipment of the ‘70s.
UFO Escape Keychain Game
A game of UFO Escape on your keychain? Sure, why not?
Gbg-8
An 8-bit instant photo camera masquerading as a toy gun, which consists of an old Game Boy, a camera, a thermal printer and an Arduino.
