BS Toy is a kid-friendly 3D printer

---

Bonsai Lab shows off its latest 3D printer for the young Maker crowd.

---

Clearly, 3D printing is opening up the doors to creativity like never before seen. And, with the rise of young Makers looking to bring their ideas to life, it may seem surprising that children aren’t all over 3D printers yet. However, given the tremendous heat of traditional filaments, the possible dangers associated with extreme temperatures could be a bit hazardous. A problem Bonsai Labs hopes to solve.

These Tokyo-based company, who is known for their ATmega2560 powered BS01 line, has set out to make 3D printers well-suited for kids with its latest device. What’s more, Bonsai Labs has introduced a new filament that only heats at 176° F (80° C), which is less than half the average melting temperature of other filaments on the market today. In fact, PLA typically requires an extrusion temperature of around 356°F (180°C), while ABS calls for an even higher temperature. Though 176° F isn’t that cool, it certainly reduces the likelihood of severe burns.

The machine, aptly dubbed BS Toy, was recently unveiled at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. Officially, Bonsai Labs labels its pint-sized printer for educational or home use, however, given its compact form factor, projected price and kid-friendly features, it is surely targeted at the younger crowd — with parental supervision, of course. Despite its small frame, the printer can form an object as large as 130mm x 125mm x 100mm, which is perfect for young Makers.

The standard diameter of its nozzle is 0.4mm, though BS Toy offers nozzles with four different diameters ranging from 0.2 to 0.5mm. The recommended deposition pitch is 0.1mm.

• Build volume: 200mm x 200mm x 200mm
• Printer weight: 2kg (4.4 lbs.)
• Layer thickness: 0.05 mm – 0.3 mm
• Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm (0.2 – 0.5mm optional)
• Filament type: LT80 flexible filament

Bonsai Lab tells Gizmag that they hope to get the BS Toy to market later this year with a price in the wheelhouse of $500 to $600. Whether a you’re a Maker seeking to get into 3D printing or a parent looking for a suitable machine for their child, you can learn more on the company’s page here.

Tutorial: 3D print a LEGO-compatible LED brick with Arduino

---

LEGOs have been the perennial building blocks for DIYers for decades, and therefore, it’s no surprise that the bricks are being paired with Arduino to bring ideas to life. Now Makers, what if you could 3D print those very same plastic pieces? 

---

Over the past couple of weeks, our friends at Arduino have been designing LEGO-compatible creations using their first 3D Printer: the Arduino Materia 101. To demonstrate just how it easy it is to get started with the Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560) powered device, the company’s resident 3D specialist Kristoffer has been releasing new tutorials, including bricks with some added light effects.

Over the past couple of weeks, our friends at Arduino have been designing LEGO-compatible creations using the company’s first 3D Printer: the Arduino Materia 101. To demonstrate just how it easy it is to get started with the Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560) powered device, Arduino’s 3D specialist Kristoffer has been releasing new tutorials, including bricks with some added light effects.

First, the Maker designed a brick using the parametric 3D modeler FreeCAD, though just about any CAD or 3D modeling software could do the trick. He then went on to remove the knobs from the block, while hollowing out the top to make an LED holder. Kristoffer does note that a box will need to be added in order to fill the brick. After merging the brick with the box and adding a cutout for the LED, you’re well on your way to creating a blinking piece.

“To compensate for the expanding nature of the plastic, we will make the bottom edges of the brick a little bit thinner. To make the brick printable we will make the cylinder on the of the brick touch the print surface when we print it,” Kristoffer writes. Given the extremely small size of the print, the 3D specialist advises to use a lower temperature (195 or 200℃) and a lower speed. This will allow the Materia to extrude thicker plastic and ensure that the previous layers have enough time to cool down.

Interested in making your own blinking brick? You can find Arduino’s entire step-by-step tutorial here, as well as several other LEGO-compatible projects here.

This Belle dress is perfect for Disney’s Electric Light Parade

---

Beauty and the LEDs?

---

Beauty and the Beast lovers, this latest project is for you. In what may very well be the brightest idea (literally) since Zoey’s LED Minnie Mouse costume, Maker mom Teresa Roberts created a Belle-inspired dress that would fit right into any Disney Electric Light Parade.

To bring this idea to life, Roberts used four Lilypad Arduino units (ATmega328) connected to approximately 600 LEDs. The edge of the skirt is outlined with warm white lights, while red lights emit an animated swirling sequence and ultra bright clear lights are set to randomly twinkle.

And, what would a Belle ensemble be without her enchanted rose? The character’s signature piece is designed into the dress with some EL wire, which is illuminated in red, white and green. Roberts also used a USB converter for the EL wire, while the dress itself is powered by three C batteries.

In terms of fabric, while originally planning to use conductive thread, Roberts learned rather quickly that would be a daunting task. Instead, the Maker mom turned to thin 24-gauge speaker wire so she wouldn’t have to worry about shorts.

Interested in learning more? You can find a detailed log of her build here, and watch some Disney magic below!

Drawbot is a wireless pen plotter robot

---

This free-roaming artist on wheels has no work area limitations.

---

As reported on Bits & Pieces, a number of artistic robots have emerged on the Maker scene as of late. However, unlike some of its predecessors, the newly-revealed Drawbot is a wireless pen plotter that is not bound to a defined work area.

Originally conceived as free-roaming, wireless drawing machine, Matthew Lim decided to explore a bit further into pen plotters — which are based on very similar logic as that of a 3D printer, just with less sophisticated Z-axis movement.

“Upon some research in both the open source community and in the commercial sector, I realized that I was making something new. All pen plotters have limited work areas because of how they work: they all move within a specifically-defined space in order to get precision. I decided to make one that is wireless and free-roaming,” the Maker writes.

The tetherless digital fabrication tool is driven by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), while its wheels and caster were 3D-printed using on a MakerBot. The remaining parts of the frame were comprised of laser-cut masonite. On the software side, the Drawbot is based on the open-source code for TinyCNC by Makerblock. However, since the Drawbot moves differently than the TinyCNC, Lim needed to significantly modify its Arduino program.

“I am currently developing a second version chassis. The new frame has fully integrated assembly, which means that minimal hardware is required to put the robot together. I will also be making Drawbot open source by creating an instructable to share the platform and have others participate in its development,” Lim concludes.

Want a pen plotting robot of your own? Head over to the project’s official page to get started. In the meantime, check out some of its latest creations below.

Students develop a brain-controlled prosthethic hand

---

For those with amputated forearms, the prospect of having a responsive prosthetic hand and wrist is almost here. 

---

As we’ve previously seen on Bits & Pieces, a number of Makers are increasing the accessibility of bionic devices and assisting amputees regain independence in their daily lives.

A team of Rutgers biomedical engineering seniors — comprised of Mohit Chaudhary, Chris Bargoud, Julian Hsu, James Wong and Rebecca Wenokor — recently sought out to devise what they call a “Brain-Controlled Dexterity Upper Extremity Prosthesis.” The idea of the project, which commenced last September, was to develop a prosthetic hand and wrist that could operate based on brain signals for a fellow classmate.

As one of its creators Chris Bargoud explained, the uniqueness of the project lies within the wrist. The goal was to give the wrist controllable movement that enables various motions, instead of being as static as a majority of wrists on the market today are. He shared, “[Wrists in the market] work like a pin [on the joint between hand and forearm]. You unlock it, rotate your wrist and then lock it. You can’t actually control what you want to do.”

In just a matter of months, the team has already seen tangible results even with a limited amount of time and a budget, thanks in part to the Maker Movement. Using a 3D printer, the students enhanced designs for the hand, constructed its parts, and ultimately, assembled the prosthesis.

The current prototype is attached by strings, along with servo motors in the palm area. By rotating and pulling the cables, the hand’s fingers can move and bend according to its wearer’s needs. The team has its mind set on achieving “three degree-of-freedom,” which are flexion and extension, medial and lateral deviation, and pronation and supination.

“We are focusing on the structure and how to motorize the structure right now. We’ll add on the thumb as well. After our hand is well implemented, we will add on the wrist,” Chaudhary added.

In an effort to have the prosthetic be as anthropomorphic as possible, an OpenBCI open-source device was employed to read a user’s brain and connect with a computer to process the signals. The team plans to program the functions into an Android phone, where Bargoud said the user can click and choose the kinds of motion he wants to perform. Meanwhile, BCI electrodes attached to the brain can pick up a “start this action” command and relay the signal along.

“Even though the name of our project says ‘brain-controlled’, it is more accurately brain initiated,” Julian Hsu suggested.

Both the BCI and the Android phone are connected to an Arduino — a commonality among many of today’s attempts at a next-gen bionic hand like the ATmega32U4 based Youbionic and the ATmega328 powered Bionico Project. The board receives both signals of when to move from BCI and what to do from the Android phone. From there, the Arduino processes the signals and commands the servos to rotate at a specific moment to a certain angle. The servos then drive the gears in the prosthetics to complete the action of the wrist or hand.

“When [the servo] rotates one way, it will pull the string, and when it goes back, we will have rubber bands attached to the back so it will snap it back with the tension,” Bargoud noted.

So what’s next for the team? The Makers plan to continue improving the design, and all agree that the ideal prosthetic hand would be stable, strong, easy to manufacture, user-friendly and as lightweight and realistic as possible.

“Stability is one of our biggest concerns right now… When it is not used at all, we want to make sure it is stable and still, not just flapping around,” Chaudhary concluded, “We also want to make it anthropomorphic, as close to real hand as possible.”

Interested? You can read the entire writeup in the Rutgers campus newspaper here.

Recreating the game of Flappy Bird with AVR

---

If you’re missing Flappy Bird, just whip out an Arduino, some components and code, and get playing.

---

There have been quite a number of hardware crossovers in the gaming world as of late, with various physical incarnations of Dong Nguyen’s Flappy Bird taking the world by storm. After the Super Mario-like game was pulled from app stores last year, the market experienced an uptick in cloned apps and makeshift recreations hoping to cure the public’s addiction and fill the void in our leisure time. And as expected, it wasn’t before long that Makers joined the party by exercising their imagination to bring it to life.

Most notably, Fawn Qui gained mainstream popularity last year with her mockup in a cardboard box, which was built around an Arduino, three motors and a magnet sensor. Qiu’s iteration used a scrolling background with two controls to move the bird up and down to avoid obstacles, while any wrong move would cause the box lid to close and to emit a “game over” sound.

Now, more Makers have have launched their own Atmel based versions. Take Aron Bordin, for example, who has taken a more minimalistic approach using simply an ATmega2560 powered board and 16×16 LED Matrix. Aside from the ‘duino, the only other components necessary were a push button and a 1K resistor attached to a breadboard to control the flapping. The project was coded using both the Timer Object and Led Matrix Helper libraries, while a few easy-to-follow steps and diagrams can be found on its official page.

Those Flappy Bird fanatics looking for a little more complexity will enjoy another rendition from Maker “huy,” who essentially swapped out the aforementioned 16×16 matrix for a Nokia LCD screen. In similar fashion, the unit is driven by an Arduino — this time an Uno (ATmega328) — along with a single push button commissioned for commands. The code and the project’s simple pair of steps can be found on its Hackaday.io log.

Then, there’s SuperDuino. Created by Maker Mohsin Farooq, it’s a coin cell operated, Arduino-compatible board with a built-in 1.7-inch color display and a three-axis accelerometer. Powered by an ATmega328, the project was a suitable match for a wide-range of DIY games, gadgets and wearable devices. As you can imagine, this includes a game controller for Flappy Bird.

Building a Wii module for the littleBits platform

---

Maker creates a module to connect a Wii Nunchuck to a littleBits circuit. 

---

A Maker by the name of “minigorille” recently devised a simple yet powerful module that enables interfacing between a Wii Nunchuck and four outputs. The project — which he calls Wii Bit — is comprised of an XY joystick, an XY accelerometer and two-press buttons (Z and C).

Built around an ATmega328, the Nunchuck can connect directly on the Wii Bit module without having to cut or hack the controller’s connector.

According to the Maker, the Wii Bit module outputs are as follows:

• X & Y: Pulse Width Modulation
• Z & C: High or Low (5V or 0V)
• Default: X and Y output values from the joystick
• Press C: X and Y output values from the accelerometer

As seen in the video below, pressing the Z button will activate the Wii Nunchuck’s accelerometer, while hitting C will put the output on high and take care of moving onto the next note of the ATmega168 based sequencer bit. You can watch it in action below!

Interested in learning more? Head over to the project’s bitLab page here.

Students create a rubber band-flinging drone with AVR

---

When shooting a single rubber band just won’t do, its time to build a UAV to do it for you!

---

For those who may not know, PennApps is the granddaddy of college hackathons converging over 1,200 hobbyists and tinkerers from all over the globe onto the campus of University of Pennsylvania. Students work in teams of up to four people for thirty-six hours to create a web, mobile, wearable or hardware project, and show if off at the final expo, which is open to the public.

A Carnegie Mellon University team — going by the name “Bodyguard” — comprised of Makers Kumail Jaffer, Angel Zhou, Kyle Guske and John Lore recently decided to create a rubber band-flinging drone for their PennApps project last fall. In order to do so, the team affixed an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) to a servo motor that would power the rubber band cannon. To do this, they connected the Arduino to the drone’s own Wi-Fi network and relayed signals to shoot.

You can watch it in action below!

3D printing a LEGO-compatible servo holder and Arduino Micro casing

---

Arduino continues its 3D printing tutorial series for its brand-new Materia 101.

---

It’s no secret that LEGO has been the perennial building blocks for DIYers spanning across decades. And, it’s also no surprise that the bricks are being paired with the Arduino open-source platform. Together, they are enabling Makers to bring their wildest ideas to life. If you recall, late last year, Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi announced the launch of the company’s first 3D Printer: the Arduino Materia 101. The device, which is powered by an Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560) and a RAMPS 1.4 shield, is currently available for pre-order. In an effort to lower the barriers of entry and get Makers started, our friends have published a series of tutorials, including this LEGO-compatible servo holder and Arduino Micro casing from Kristoffer.

First, the Maker designed a brick using the parametric 3D modeler FreeCAD, which is capable of holding a small servo. The 3D-printed brick itself is comprised of two 2×4 LEGO pieces, that joined together, serve as the project’s base. Next, make a hole for the servo, carve out a groove for the cable, extend the cylinders beneath the brick, and like that, your piece is just about complete. As Kristoffer notes, print your piece standing up with the side with the open cylinders facing downwards (as pictured above). Now, you can easily add wheels to LEGO robots and use variously-sized servos. Follow Kristoffer’s 10-step tutorial to get started.

Meanwhile, this isn’t the only LEGO-comptaible, 3D-printed piece the Maker has whipped up recently. Kristoffer also designed an enclosure for the highly-popular Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4) using a Materia, which can beused together with this DIY power function IR receiver.

In order to make the casing as minimal as possible, the Maker used a Micro without header pins. Meaning, Makers looking to create one of their own will have to solder straight onto the Arduino PCB board itself. However, in true open-source fashion, Kristoffer encourages anyone to modify the design to accommodate for the ATmega32U4 based Arduino with headers or something else.

Interested? You can head over to his step-by-step breakdown of the project, and download all the necessary FreeCAD files here.

TorqueScreen is putting a new twist on force feedback

---

This prototypical system explores the combination of torque feedback with screen-based handheld devices.

---

Haptics, or kinesthetic communication, generally refers to tactile feedback that recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user of a mobile device. And for those gamers out there, many of you can best associate to technology in the form of controllers and joysticks, most notably the “rumble” packs. However, since its inception over 30 years ago, not much has changed from days of the tactile telephone or Aura Systems’ Interactor Vest.

That was until now. A group of students from the University of Salzburg, Austria is looking to usher in a new era of haptics with the introduction of TorqueScreen. The prototypical system combines a handheld touchscreen device with an actuated flywheel capable of imposing angular momentum onto the tablet. According to its creators, the unique design of the project combines the movement and physics of virtual objects on the screen with the torque as haptic output imposed on the tablet.

“A widely distributed form of haptic feedback in handheld and mobile devices is vibrotactile feedback. However, the information capacity is very limited in vibrotactile feedback and not directly associated with conceptions of real space or real movement,” the team states in their paper. “Richer ungrounded haptic feedback can be provided by dynamically altering physical, inertial, and kinematic attributes (e.g. weight, velocity) of a device or interface.”

The prototype is comprised of a tablet, a brushless DC motor driving the flywheel and a servo motor rotating the gimbal. Or, in other words, TorqueScreen is a gyroscope actuator attached to a mobile device. Rotating the gimbal creates angular momentum around the torque axis, perpendicular to the rotational axis of the flywheel and the rotation of the gimbal. This allows the user to sense the tablet’s resistance to rotate about the servos axis. Both the motor controller and the servo are connected to an Atmel based Arduino, which handles the motor speed and position of the servos.

“Different speeds and movement patterns of the gimbal can be used to create torque feedback with varying characteristics, e.g., a constant rotation resulting in the sensation of the tablet being twisted towards a certain direction and quick rotations resulting in the sensation of some object tipping or impacting at different locations on the tablet’s surface.”

As our friends at Hackaday note, the team’s recent Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction Conference demonstration featured a brushless motor plucked from an old hard drive controlled by the Arduino and driven manually by a Wii nunchuck, which can be seen below.

“While our initial prototype has some limitations, it provides ways to study unexplored embodied interaction design beyond what is currently possible on handheld devices. In our future work, we aim to increase the prototype’s fidelity and the according interaction space by adding multiple degrees of freedom in a desirably smaller form factor.”

Interested in learning more? You can download the team’s entire paper here.