Atmel and the Maker Revolution

I was part of the “original” Maker revolution. This was years ago, in the late 1980’s, and I was a latecomer. We used to make our own circuit boards, but slightly different from the ones today.

There was a 386 computer on my desk. My trusty 386 had ISA ports, extension card space, that most of us used as a basis for our designs. The ISA bus was easy to use, and the connector was large, meaning we could use simple, basic, cheap equipment to make our boards. What did we make? Everything! Digital IO, radio, remote control systems, everything. When I was a student, my flat was controlled entirely by one of these cards. Of course, the brain of my invention was the computer itself, it wasn’t easy to create a computer system.

A computer system requires several components. It requires a processor, and there were quite a few on the market at the time. It also requires memory, but two kinds; random access memory, RAM for short, is where variables are stored, and is the memory that a program uses to copy, calculate and modify data. A computer also requires read-only memory, ROM for short, and this is where the program is placed. Even that was tricky. You see, at the time, in order to “flash” a new program, we had to remove the EPROM device (short for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and place it in ultraviolet light for up to 30 minutes. That was only the beginning. In order to flash a new program, you had to put it into a programmer, a device attached to the computer that wrote data into the device. Once that was done (it took a few minutes), then you could put the chip back onto the circuit board, and away you went. If you made a mistake, or if your program didn’t work, then you had to redo everything, which took over half an hour.

All of this was complicated, and required multiple components. The processor was one component. The RAM was another. So was the ROM. Interrupt controllers? Digital IO? PWM? They were all external components too. There was a reason why computers used to be that big. So we simplified things. The processor was the PC, and we just made extension boards. Of course, this made making things like robots difficult, but we had lots of fun.

The ISA bus was slow, and users wanted PCs to become faster and faster. The ISA bus was soon replaced by VLB, short for VESA Local Bus. It added an extension to the ISA bus, allowing for faster memory transfers. We had faster computers, better graphics, and we could still use our boards. However, it also sent a clear message; we were soon to find a new way of doing things. VLB was replaced by PCI, which was replaced by PCI Express. This bus is lightning fast, but requires complex electronics, and very good equipment to make boards with connectors that fine. Our trusty ISA cards soon ended up in the dustbin. We could still use the serial port or the parallel port, but it wasn’t the same. Most of us stopped.

It was depressing. We tried making our own computers, but they were complicated. External components, long flash times, prohibitive prices… One company was listening.

Atmel’s ATMEGA328P-PU an AVR 8-bit processor

In 1996, Atmel shipped the AVR processor. It was an 8-bit processor, with a twist. It had internal RAM, and internal flash. No more external components. It could be flashed within seconds, and reflashed. You didn’t even need to take it off the breadboard to reflash it. Founded in 1984, Atmel had already made semiconductor devices for the professional market, but was also very close to Makers. They heard our cry for help, and they delivered. The AVR changed everything.

The AVR chip was an 8-bit device (32-bit devices also exist), but the computer we used to control our ISA cards was 32-bit. The thing is, we didn’t need 32-bits, and an 8-bit microcontroller was perfect for our needs. The AVR was small, cheap, reliable, and really, really easy to use. We flooded back, we redesigned our boards, and we made. We made everything. How good were the AVR chips? By 2003, Atmel had shipped 500 million devices.

Fast forward a few years, and here we are today. Makers are everywhere. We are back. We are making more than ever. And with awesome sponsors like Atmel, we are here to stay. 2013 was the year of 100 Maker Faires, and they were full of Arduinos.

New Breed of Maker Movement Engineers Blooming from Garages, Maker Faire, Hackerspaces, and Makerspaces

What is on the Arduino? Well, most of them have an AVR. The Arduino Due isn’t an AVR-based device, it is an ARM device, but even that is made by Atmel too, and is just as easy to use. 2014 promises to be even more exciting!

New Breed of Engineers – Some Images from Maker Faire Bay Area 2014. There were over 100 Maker Faires in 2013 budding in cities all across the globe

Here’s the Arduino Due – with an Atmel ARM Based Processor

With Atmel as a sponsor, Makers are here to stay. If you haven’t tried to make your own device yet, try it! It doesn’t cost a lot, and you don’t need all the complicated hardware we used to have. You will be up and running in mere minutes, and believe me, it is fun! If you have any questions, go and see Atmel at one of the Maker Faires. If you come by the Maker Faire Rome, come say hello, I’ll be there with Atmel to show you just how much this technology has changed my life, and show you how to start.

IoT set for takeoff…

Nantes, France. I’m here to pick up a friend from the airport. There is a great view of the runway, and I’ve seen his plane land, a beautiful Airbus A320 flying Air France colors. This is a domestic flight, and ten minutes later, he is off the plane and has his luggage.

We talk about his business trip, and how it went. He’s a technical recruiter, and has been working on a project in the south of France. He tells me just some of the details. We clear the terminal and walk towards the parking lot. On the other side of a fence, an A320 is being looked over by a crew of technicians. After a quick refuel, it will be ready to take off and fly to another destination.

– You know, they keep on talking about IoT, but I can’t see any solid examples yet.

I smile. He stops dead in his tracks.

– You have an example?

I do. You just flew it.

He has a blank expression on his face.

Look, it is right over there.

I point to the A320.

Source: Aviation Photos – Airbus A320

– What do you mean IoT? The airplane is IoT?

Well, not exactly. IoT is the Internet of Things, devices that communicate. This plane has an onboard system called ACARS, and it communicates with the ground throughout the flight. Hundreds of parameters are monitored and sent to the ground crews.

Source: Rockwell Collins – Global ACARS Infrastructure

Source: Aviation Knowledge Wiki – ACARS

– But why?

Modern aircraft are highly reliable, comfortable and silent. All this comes at a price, and a modern aircraft can cost a small fortune. Even worse, an airplane will only make money when it is flying, if it stays on the ground, the company doesn’t make any money at all. In order to maximize revenue, companies need to keep their fleet flying, but not at the cost of safety. On board systems monitor the flight, and inform ground crews of any problems. It monitors critical systems, but it also monitors other systems; if the in-flight coffee machine stops working, it alerts the ground. If there is a malfunction with the toilet, again, the ground will be alerted.

– Why?

Imagine an international flight. Halfway over the Atlantic, one of the ovens stops working. Of course, the flight crew will have a problem getting all the food ready for the passengers, but it can still be done. It is a nuisance, but it doesn’t force the airplane to make an emergency landing. Imagine arriving at Paris, and telling the ground crew that there is a problem. They only have an hour to find a replacement, and get it installed. That probably won’t happen, so the plane will take off with a defective oven, which will be replaced at a later date. Now, imagine that the airline’s center is notified as soon as there is a problem. The flight is scheduled to land in 6 hours, to the airline notifies the ground crew at the destination that there is a defective component, they have a few hours to find replacement parts, and when the airplane touches down, they will already be there, waiting, prepared to replace everything necessary.

– That seems like a lot of effort to change an oven.

Maybe. The oven isn’t the best example, I’ll grant you that. Think about this, then. The engines. Aircraft engines are an incredible feat of engineering, and are some of the most reliable mechanical systems ever built, but they are still mechanical, and things can go wrong. Engines do fail from time to time, even if it is extremely rare. Luckily, an A320 can perform very well with a single engine, but it still requires action. An emergency landing at another airport, having to take the engine off the wing, inspect it, find the fault, and then replace the components, before putting the engine back on. This can take a very long time, and can be horrendously expensive. What if the engine itself could communicate with the ground team?

– They can do that?

Some of them can, yes. Engines are monitored, and hundreds of parameters are analyzed. The engine in your car doesn’t fail without a reason, and simply taking your car to the garage from time to time saves costly repairs. Jet engines are even more advanced. Failures rarely “just happen”; they can often be predicted by looking at variables; oil pressure, temperature, vibration, etc. Instead of waiting for a failure to occur, they can be prevented with close monitoring, changing elements as required. It saves on cost by replacing small parts before big parts fail. It saves cost by replacing elements quickly, putting the aircraft back into service as soon as possible. That is one of the reasons for IoT; cost saving. Being aware of all the parameters means the best choice can be made. Airlines know when to change components, thermostats know when to turn the heat on, greenhouses know when to open the windows.

– I never knew that panes could do that;

One of the things that makes IoT so good is the fact that it isn’t visible. There is no point in adding a screen to a thermostat to display “Calculating ideal temperature”, or “contacting server”. We expect things like that with the programs that we have had on our computers, but that is about to end. People want simple devices that work, and IoT is all about that. Just walking through the airport, you probably didn’t notice the wireless equipment used to broadcast Wi-Fi and to power the wireless telephones used by the airport staff.

Imagine walking through a beautiful garden, completely unaware that there are hundreds of sensors, monitoring soil humidity, temperature, plant growth and other parameters that sets off the sprinkler system only when needed. The world has limited resources, we are painfully aware of that, and this is the technology that could save us. It will make calculations far better than man could, and create data far more precise than we can imagine. All of this can be powered by a solar panel, making it even more eco-friendly.

He remains silent as we walk to the parking lot. Behind us, passengers are getting ready to board their plane, unaware that their trip is made easier and cheaper with IoT. The plane will soon be ready to depart, a trip monitored by processors and microcontrollers like Atmel’s SAM D21.

Creating an infinity mirror clock with Arduino

In a recent Instructables post, a Maker going by the name “Dushu” has developed his own version of the infinity mirror that we previously covered on Bits & Pieces. Embodying true DIY spirit, Dushu put his own stamp on the project, as his rendition also functions as a clock!

Gaining inspiration from another Maker’s infinity mirror project, Dushu decided to develop his own by putting a unique spin on the concept. His design not only functions as a clock, but using an IR sensor and an [Atmel based] Arduino, it can turn off whenever someone approaches allowing it to function as a conventional mirror.

Dushu’s materials list consisted of:

• A standalone Arduino
• RTC Module – DS1302
• LM2596 step down adjustable power supply module 1.3V-35V:
• 1m 60LEDs/M Addressable RGB LED Strip (WS2812B):
• HC-05 Bluetooth module
• IR proximity sensor
• 4 IR LEDs; 1 IR LED detector:
• Touchpad
• 9V – 2A adaptor
• CP2102 USB-to-TTL

Once the code enabling the colors of the clock’s hands to be programmed was created, Dushu started to assemble his project. After the components were fitted, Dushu proceeded to troubleshoot his creation, as there were some issues with the powering of the LED strips. He found that it was essential to add “a night mode to the clock, so that the power supplies and LEDs can cool down at night — and hopefully prolong their life.”

You can view the infinity mirror clock in action above, or check out Dushu’s entire Instructables post here if you want to take on the project yourself. If this device piqued your interest, feel free to browse the Bits & Pieces archive of other Arduino-powered creations.

Making music with outdated computer parts

A group of Illinois-based Makers hailing from Makerspace Urbana have unveiled a way to take outdated technology and turn them into pieces of musical instruments. The Electric Waste Orchestra project strives to “manipulate the voltage flowing through circuit boards and use those signals to make music” out of components that would’ve otherwise ended up at the dump.

As seen in the video below, the Makers recently transformed an old keyboard number pad, six hard-drives, an Arduino board and some software into a fully-functioning guitar jamming along with a modular synthesizer.

First spotted at Moogfest by Cool Hunting, Maker Colten Jackson shared the unconventional ways in which the group was using e-waste to create some sweet music. “CD drives, power supplies, modems and sound cards… Just like any place that does computer repair (many school and business IT departments, for instance), the old electronics tend to stack up,” Jackson explained to Cool Hunting. 

“You can’t throw them in with the paper and plastic recycling, you know?” It’s even true of regular users; it’s easy to hoard outdated electronics, thinking something might come in handy or be valuable down the road. There’s also the issue of how difficult it still is to recycle or throw away electronics; e-waste, for example, is often exported to developing countries under the guise of ‘second-hand,’ only to become a pollution problem for somebody else.”

“At 20 years old, some of these things are useless. The hard disk drives I used were all 1 GigaByte disks—[they] can fit on your pinky nail nowadays; no one is going to use these hard drives again, but I thought they were still beautiful objects. Mirrored, high-precision disks (very expensive in their day) are now junk? There must be a way to make new objects with these artifacts!”

While there are places where these electronic forms of waste can be properly disposed of and recycled, they may not always be accessible. Electric Waste Orchestra hopes to inspire Makers from other fields as well. Time will tell if soon we’ll see a growing number of Makers extracting gizmos and gadgets from the trash and giving them new life on stage. As Cool Hunting noted, Jackson understands the importance of having access to the tools and the expertise in order to bring his ideas to reality; it adds even more value and importance to community spaces such as Makerspace Urbana.

 

The robotic troika of Atmel summer interns in Trondheim

Troika: A Russian word for a group of three, and also a pretty good Norwegian chocolate bar.

It’s a safe assumption that most of us have had some sort of experience with summer jobs throughout our years as students. It’s also quite likely that some of us remember these jobs as full of sweat and manual work at a construction site, on a farm or in some kind of warehouse; however, not all summer jobs have to be this way. Today, I received a piece of mail from some of the summer interns at Atmel Trondheim, and from the sounds of it, they have some pretty cool things going on!

The Line Follower

A line follower is a machine equipped with some sort of light-sensitive sensors that follows a line — either a black line on a white surface or vica versa.

“This project utilizes two Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs) to detect the amount of reflected light from two Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The chassis is made of cardboard and the whole robot is made without any soldering. The idea behind this robot was to introduce some intelligence to a robot in an easy and inexpensive way,” explains Magne Normann, one of the summer interns at Atmel.

The Avoidance Robot

This is an obstacle avoidance-type robot based around the Atmel Abot. All that’s required to build this kind of robot is a platform, two motors/servos, some wires and a distance sensor. However, this particular project has got an additional servo. The ultrasonic sensor is mounted on a servo in front of the robot, and as the servo rotates, the sensor measures the distances in its envorionment and uses this information to choose a path between any obstacles.

The Atmel Tank

Have you ever seen one of those USB rocket launchers and wondered if they’re hackable? Well, they are.

“We got our hands on a USB missile launcher, disassembled it, did a reversed engineering and modified it. Then we added Bluetooth connectivity, put it on an Atmel Abot and made an app for it. The app does have both one and two-player modes; one player controls both the vehicle and the turret, and two-player mode where one player controls the car, while another controls the turret,” Magne shares.  

“Up until now the only way to interface with an USB rocket launcher had been through the complicated USB protocol. Unfortunately not many microcontrollers support this feature. We therefore decided to hack the rocket launcher down to the old school way, so we could control it with simple GPIOs. We opened the launcher up and discovered the unused footprint for a microcontroller. Apparently, initial design was based on using a microcontroller, but somewhere along the way someone decided to go with a die instead. This left the microcontroller pads unused and available for us to use. All we had to do was probe the signals for each command, disconnect the die from the circuit paths and solder our own wires to the microcontroller pads. This way we could use the existing H-bridges and switches without any additional hardware required.”

Magne notes that the tank is currently bringing havoc to the Atmel department located at Tiller, Norway. Interested in seeing it for yourself? The tank will be on display, along with several other Atmel-based projects, at Maker Faire Trondheim scheduled for August 29-30th. Maker Faire attendees will also have the opportunity to compete for the title of Maker Faire’s “Best Tank Commander.”

 

 

 

Maker Movement continues to converge art and tech

Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, Kendra North reveals that traditional institutions like museums and colleges are now creating new programs and spaces to enable a greater convergence of both art and technology. This “new industrial revolution” is combining the spirit of the old shop class with modern-day technology in do-it-yourself spaces.

“The Maker Movement and digital media and coding are revitalizing the arts,” stated Christopher Amos, Director of Educational Media and Technology at Carnegie Hall. “Digital music, videos, GIFs, and memes are just some of the new ways that art is being created and shared.”

“We want people to think of themselves as creators,” explained Chris Lawrence, senior director of Hive Learning Network. “There’s an opportunity to advance that kind of thinking when art and the Maker Movement intersect.”

According to North, just some of the latest institutions to incorporate the Maker culture include:

• New Museum in New York has created New Inc, the first museum-led incubator that’s somewhere between a corporate environment, a tech lab, and a cluttered art studio.
• Johns Hopkins University is working toward opening an incubator for technology and the arts led by Thomas Dolby, a digital musician known for his 1980s pop song “She Blinded Me With Science.”
• Mozilla’s Hive Learning Network, a consortium of organizations in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Toronto, provides programs for young Makers to explore technology and digital media to create something whimsical. Embodying true DIY spirit, the Hive NYC recently co-hosted a high school “Maker Prom” where students could create anything from digital music scores to LED corsages.

Want to read more? The Christian Science Monitor also explored the emergence of the DIY revolution earlier this month. Read the entire article here.

 

 

MIT students make 3D-printed ice cream

Three Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students have created an ice cream 3D printer using the principals of a fused deposition model printer.

As part of their graduate project in MIT’s additive manufacturing department, the team of Makers developed a device that’s capable of printing soft-serve ice cream in various shapes using a Cuisinart ice cream maker and a Solidoodle 3D printer.

“We were inspired to design this printer because we wanted to make something fun with this up and coming technology in a way that we could grab the attention of kids. We felt that it was just as important to come up with a new technology as it was to interest the younger generation in pursuing science and technology so we can continue pushing the limits of what is possible.”

“First, we needed to print into a cooled environment so that the ice cream would hold its shape once printed,” the students explained to 3Ders. “We bought a small upright freezer which was large enough to both put the Solidoodle inside and allow for the full build volume we were aiming for.”

According to the students, they then needed a shield gas to solidify the ice cream as soon as it came out of the extruder, so they built a system to spray liquid nitrogen onto the ice cream as it was extruded. The instant cooling allowed the printer to build up the ice cream layers just as a traditional extrusion-based 3D printer squirts down layers of plastic. You can watch the proof-of-concept in action below.

Though the printer still needs refinement before its likely ready for commercial duty, perhaps it won’t be long until you this technology comes to a truck near you! I scream, you scream, we all scream for 3D-printed ice cream!

Interested in learning how the ice cream 3D printer was made? Get a full step-by-step breakdown by reading 3Ders entire article here.

Making melodies with your necklace

CargoCollective user Ezgi Ucar has created a musical necklace utilizing an Arduino Uno powered by Atmel’s ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU) and a small computer speaker.

This funky necklace will surely provide plenty of entertainment to the wearer and anyone around them, especially kids!

With the inclusion of a Wave Shield, the necklace can play up to six unique sounds from any compatible .wav file. Each pendant on the piece “consists of different numbers of push buttons connected to each other. Each pendant has a power and ground header to be plugged into the female headers on the necklace.”

Once wiring up the creation, the Maker decided to use “one analog pin to get the signals from the buttons.” She then put 2K resistors in between the female headers on the necklace and in between each button on a pendant, therefore allowing it “to differentiate the signals coming from different buttons by their potential differences, using a single analog pin,” she noted in her post.

This wearable device is a perfect example of how to bring innovation and creativity to an everyday object. You can check out Ezgi’s entire post about her project here.

Helping the visually-impaired see with ATtiny85

A computer science student at UW-Milwaukee going by the handle of “bergerab” has created a mountable visual aid using Atmel’s ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU).

Along with the ATtiny85 MCU, the Maker completed his build with the help of these materials:

• HC SR-04
• SPST Slide Switch
• Two CR2032 batteries (with holder)
• NPN transistor
• 1N4007 Diode
• Perfboard (5 cm x 7 cm)
• DC Vibration Motor (salvaged from an Xbox controller)
• A mounting surface (i.e. a hat)

In a recent Instructables post, bergerab described Helping Eyes as “a visual aid, which can be mounted to any apparel to prevent injury to the visually impaired. It uses an ultrasonic range sensor to ‘sense’ objects and sends vibrations to warn its wearer of the incoming object.”

The functionality of the device is designed around the notion that “as an object comes closer, the vibration’s intensity increases.”

Prior to soldering Helping Eyes’ components to the perfboard, the Maker ensured that the batteries could be easily replaced and that the DC vibration motor had plenty of place to spin. He also made an effort to “mount the HC SR-04 straightly with nothing obstructing its view,” in order to get the best signal for the device.

Once the device was assembled, the Maker chose to mount his creation to a hat. “Since this device is so small, it can be mounted to many surfaces (such as clothing, hats, belt buckles, etc..). I chose to mount mine to a hat to prevent against accidents involving low ceilings in homes,” he noted.

Given the variety of mounting surfaces, the Maker says one could either sew an Arduino Lilypad (ATmega168V or ATmega328V) into the fabric, attach via velcro or adhere use hot glue.

Bergerab hopes that his creation will help those with visual impairments, as well as inspire others to develop similar aids. You can find the Helping Eyes project’s official Instructables page here.

Looping and layering melodies in real-time

A Maker by the name of Jonathan Sparks has created a musical instrument using color and gesture that will surely change the way producers and artists interact with MIDI boards. Using a combination of Atmel-based Arduino, Max/MSP and Ableton Live, “Nomis” has turned loop-based music into an expressive and visual art form.

“Sounds are selected and displayed through the first light tower, each being represented by a different color. Those sounds are then available to be performed and displayed with the polyphonic octagonal interface in the middle. These performances are stored and looped by spinning the whole octagonal interface. The loops are then displayed through the last tower where they each can individually be turned off and on again to create a dynamic composition from the loops created live,” explains Sparks, who is currently a graduate student at NYU’s Interactive Telecomunications Program.

“Loop based music is a powerful way for an individual musician to create a complex, multi-voiced composition by looping and layering melodies in real time. The devices that make it possible to achieve this are powerful, but often lack the expressiveness and clarity that make for compelling live performances. Nomis is an attempt to get that looping capability up off of the floor, out from behind the laptop, and feature it in an instructive and stimulating way.”

To show off how the Arduino-powered project works, Sparks teamed up with a fellow New York City-based artist, Tanya Phattiyakula, to shoot and edit a video showing the musical instrument in action.

Like this project? Then you’ll love some other creations that have got us rocking out!