Video: Wobbl is an Arduino-powered conversation table

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This project encourages you to put down that phone and enjoy the presence of someone else.

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While we may not yet have flying cars, one thing that Back to the Future II foresee was the fact that one day, we’d all be consumed with technology at the dinner table. It seems that in our constantly-connected world, we’re in front of some sort of screen 24/7. Admit it, at one point or another, you have been so immersed in your phone that you’ve failed to acknowledge the person sitting across from you at the table — albeit a friend, family member or significant other. Well, in an effort to spur engagement between two people, a team of Carnegie Mellon University students have developed what they call a conversation table. 

Powered by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), Wobbl is a conceptual approach to how an environment can respond to your decisions with polite commentary. How it works is relatively simple. Users set specific conversation time, say over dinner. If and when someone picks up their smartphone in that timeframe, it will cause the other person’s end of the table to wobble, and vice versa.

The Conversation Table uses analog infrared distance sensors that are capable of recognizing when a phone is in its designated slot. This will then trigger either side of the table to shake via two medium-sized continuous rotation servos. These motors drive a bolt into a nut inside of a stationary leg, thereby creating a makeshift linear actuator. The table itself is constructed out of laster-cut and hand-stained plywood.

“Sometimes, we want to have a conversation with someone that isn’t about reading facts off of Wikipedia, or checking to see what time movies are playing on a theater’s mobile site. Sometimes we just want to talk to the person across from us about them, rather than hear about the person they were texting or be so distracted from your own phone you miss out on what the person is saying. We also want to know that they’re engaged with us whether we’re talking or listening,” the team writes.

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

SingLock is a pitch-based DIY security system

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You’ve got 99 problems, but a pitch ain’t one.

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With data breaches on the rise, the inability of passwords to keep online accounts secure is more apparent now than ever before. Instead, the use of multi-factor authentication can add another layer of security to fend off malicious attackers. While smart cards and tokens have been implemented throughout the years, a pair of Cornell students Sang Min Han and Alvin Wijaya recently designed their own 2FA system using PINs combined with a form of voice recognition.

The project, which is aptly named SingLock, isn’t as simple as saying a passphrase either. Based on an ATmega1284P, the system features a pair of password protection stages. Not only does a user need to enter a four-digit numeric identification number via key page, but just as its name implies, a user must also sing the correct pitch into the microphone in order to gain entry. And while, one may be worried about an attacker eavesdropping and attempting to sing the key themselves, the team has implemented a couple of mechanisms to defend against those situations.

Created as a final project for Bruce Land’s engineering class, the Makers reveal that SingLock is relatively more secure than the average keypad and/or keyboard-based systems. In addition, the sound-based security system doesn’t leave residues — such as heat signatures on a keypad after a button press — that may make the system vulnerable to penetration by outsiders. The system itself is comprised of three main components, including a keypad, an LCD user interface and a microphone, making it simple to use for a wide-range of users.

As the duo notes, the keypad and LCD screen serve as the main user interface of the system. Using the keypad, a user is instructed follow a set of directions provided on the screen in order to lock and unlock the system correctly. Both the LCD and the set of two LEDs serve as indicators of the system’s lock state. Initially, both the red and green LEDs are lit. However, when the system is locked correctly, only the red LED is lit. Conversely, when the system is successfully unlocked, only the green LED illuminations.

“SingLock is built on a few fundamental concepts in signal processing, namely sampling theory and frequency domain analysis of audio signals. Sampling is carried out so that the system operates at a reasonable range of frequencies. Peak-matching calculations performed at every attempt to unlock the system is carried out using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm. We review these signal processing fundamentals in the next section,” the duo explains.

The built-in microphone is responsible for recording the pitch of the user, while the analog acoustic input signal is amplified and filtered to remove ambient noise. This signal is then sampled into a digital signal by the Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) of the ATmega1284P. The team then takes the FFT of the sampled signal and match peaks to the stored peaks in the passkey in the frequency domain. If a predefined number of stored peaks in the passkey are found in the stored frequency peaks of the microphone input signal, the system unlocks. Otherwise, it remains locked.

“Most security systems we find today are keypad and/or keyboard-based. Speech, rather than button-pressing and/or typing, is however the main means of communications for most people. It is therefore intuitive to have speech as the basis of encryption when considering human usability factors and ease-of-access.”

Interested in learning more about the megaAVR based system? You can read all about the project, including its components, mathematical theory, as well as how to create one for yourself here. In the meantime, be sure to watch its demo below.

3D printing robots will soon build structures anywhere

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The future has arrived. These autonomous 3D printing robots act like a colony of ants to create a structure with materials it finds.

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Led by Jason Kelly Johnson and Michael Shiloh, a team of students at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco have developed autonomous, Arduino-powered robots capable of 3D printing in hostile environments. The two-monthlong project was conducted in the college’s Creative Architecture Machines studio, which was designed to assist aspiring architects bring their ideas to life, rather than simply relying on pre-existing CAD software and other technologies.

Aptly named Swarmscapers, the small bots are equipped to traverse rough terrain, while working solely with on-site materials to build inhabitable structures — something that will certainly come in handy when traditional construction equipment may not be readily available or in a setting where it would have trouble operating.

“Extreme heat and the abundance of raw materials in the desert make it an ideal testing bed for the robotic swarm to operate, creating emergent seed buildings for future habitations that are ready for human occupancy over the course of multiple decades,” its creators write.

Each member of the “swarm” is programmed with a rule-set to complete one specific task while working in unison with one another. The Swarmscrapers also come loaded with a binding agent, which allows them to turn nearly any granular material — like sand, salt, rice and sawdust (which was used in tests conducted at CCA) — into intricate shapes.

“The robot works by driving on top of the sawdust based on a tool-path defined in the computer, and dropping a binding agent on the material, hardening it in place. It does this repeatedly, layer by layer until the object is complete.”

When devising the robots, the team 3D-printed each of its parts right down to the cogs for the wheels. The chassis and frame had to be assembled using a number of metal parts, washers and nuts, along with some aluminum sleeves and zip ties. On the hardware side, there are two stacks: a power module that supplies 7V to the drive motors and the pump motor, and a control module responsible for driving the motors and communicating to the computer.

Based on an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), the latter stack was comprised of an Adafruit battery shield and LiPo battery, two XBee 802.15.4 units, an XBee shield as well as a USB adapter, which enables the robots to be controlled via PC. In addition, an H-bridge motor controller and MOSFET transistor were employed to power the peristaltic pump.

“We believe that the potential of autonomous mobile 3D printing is enormous, and with enough time and research, that this is a viable method for 3d printing actual buildings in the future. There is of course, much more work to be done,” the team concludes. “The concept of autonomous machines constructing architecture in bottom up ways will require a huge amount of research into sensory systems, communication systems, advanced machine vision, as well as machine learning.”

Interested in learning more? You can head over to the project’s official page here, or watch it in action below.

Hive 2.0 is an interactive sound sculpture

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Makers explore ways to converge new and familiar mediums with artistically technological practices.

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Developed by Toronto-based collaborative duo Hopkins Duffield, Hive 2.0 is an interactive sound sculpture comprised of 50 speakers, seven audio channels, an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and Max 6 / Max For Live. The installation is equipped with a set of ultrasonic sensors, each of which are assigned to an audio channel, that activate audio playback based on the proximity of those its viewers.

Interested in learning more about the project? You can find a detailed log of the build here.

The Arduino-based Bipolar Bot can draw impressive spirals

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The modern day Spirograph?

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Maker Barton Dring has created what he calls the Bipolar Bot just in time for ORD Camp 2015. The spiral-drawing contraption was inspired by the RepRap Wally SCARA design printer and devised by simply using some “cool stuff” that had been lying around the Inventables lab.

The robot is equipped with two identical sets of actuator arms. While the inner arms are driven by a pair of NEMA 14 steppers and bolted to a bearing on a base plate with the other end holding a pen, the outer arms are mounted to the stepper motor shafts using Actobotics hubs.

“The ends have 1/4″ I.D. flange bearings,” Dring explains. “These are bolted together, but free to rotate using a screw with a holed drilled for the pen. That is basically it for the mechanics.”

The stepper motors are controlled by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) with the aid of a quick conversion tool that translates Cartesian G-code into bipolar G-code. Dring admits that some of these projects were never meant to be practical machines, just conversation starters at camp. And, well, mission accomplished. You’ve got us talking!

Those wishing to whip up their own robotic Picasso can head on over to the detailed project page here.

Learning how to play the guitar the Maker way

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L.E.D. Zeppelin, anyone?

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Learning to play the guitar is pretty hard and pretty expensive, too. And for those looking to tech themselves, deciding how to get started can be a daunting task. Luckily, Maker Mushfiq Mahmud has designed a DIY way to learn the guitar with the aptly dubbed Digital Chord Chart.

As its name suggests, the project is comprised of a 3D-printed guitar neck, a matrix of LEDs and an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) that controls the lights along the fretboard. Similar to the gTar which we recently featured on Bits & Pieces, lights corresponding to the correct chord illuminate in sync with a song, ensuring an aspiring Carlos Santana can easily follow along.

According to Mahmud, the Digital Chord Chart can be programmed to play just about any song using TAB files, which include chords and stylized note representations. So, are you ready to rock out to some L.E.D. Zeppelin? Head on over to the project’s official Instructables page here.

Both friendships and flowers flourish with Air Garden

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Gardening + Arduino = Garduino?

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City dwellers immersed in the daily hustle and bustle seem all too often tend to overlook interacting with neighbors. Drawing on urban gardening practices and the space limitations of community housing, a team of Makers from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design recently created Air Garden as an innovative way to form bonds among nearby tenants.

“We seek to introduce a space efficient environment, a give and take system that nurtures people to emotionally connect to their living spaces. Air Garden aims to foster indirect communication between tenants with the hope of creating a platform for connections and chance encounters,” Maker Amalia Goutaki writes.

How the system works is pretty simple. The edible plants move vertically along a column outside an apartment complex’s windows. Participating inhabitants can summon the plants to their window, pick from them, and assume responsibility for watering.

In order to bring this idea to life, the team created a pulley system based on a pair of Arduino boards: an Uno (ATmega328) for the pulley and a Yún (ATmega32U4) for the interactive portion of the plant. Buttons were placed on the side of its wooden structure, corresponding to each floor of the building. This enables a tenant to call upon the plant. The Arduino Uno is responsible for deciphering the plant’s distance from the ground and translates that information into either “tenant1,” “tenant2” or “tenant3,” depending on from where it is summoned.

The plant is equipped with two screws in its soil, which are connected by wires to the ATmega32U4 based Yún. According to its creators, values such as “watered,” “needs water” or “overwatered,” are then relayed to recipients. Once water is poured, the soil becomes more conductive, causing the values and messages to change accordingly. Both the apartment dweller’s floor and water condition are displayed on the pot’s easy-to-read LCD screen.

Interested in learning more? Head over to the project’s official page here. In the meantime, you can watch the Air Garden system in action below!

Build your own Pebble Smartwatch

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Why buy the latest smartwatch when you can make one yourself with off-the-shelf components and breakout boards? 

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Despite the ongoing craze for wearable technology, most notably smartwatches, a number of young Makers are finding that can sometimes be a bit out of their price range. Rather than having to tirelessly scalvage funds and spend their savings, tinkerers like Jonathan Cook are electing to create their own devices. The aptly named Open-Source SmartWatch combines readily available breakout boards, careful soldering and a 3D-printed frame to make a one-of-a-kind timepiece that displays notifications from your smartphone, not to mention is easily customizable in function and pleasing to the eye. Aside from already being crowned winner of last year’s Arduino Challenge and having garnered “Maker of Merit” ribbons at Maker Faires, Cook recently featured his DIY accessory on MAKE: Magazine.

As the Maker notes, the watch design is pretty straightforward, consisting of four major components housed in a 3D-printed case: a battery charging circuit, vibrating motor for silent alerts, a programmable Microduino Core+ (ATmega644PA/ATmega1284P) with power regulation and BLE connectivity, and an OLED display with push-buttons.

“Breadboarding the project is a snap. Wiring it into a small enclosure meant for the wrist is quite another matter. Break out your fine-point soldering iron and follow these complete instructions.” As for its programmable core, Cook connected the Microduino board to a programming port, a BLE chip for communicating with a wearer’s mobile device, and a voltage regulating circuit.

“A 3.7V 500mAh LiPo battery is wired to a JST connector and a two-position switch. Switched to the right, the circuit is in battery mode. Switched left, it’s ready for LiPo charging via the JST connector.”

Meanwhile, the Open-Souce SmartWatch’s vibrator circuit is comprised of a diode, 1K and 33Ω resistors, capacitor, NPN transistor, and motor. The circuit is then connected to the megaAVR based Microduino, which enables the device to buzz the wrist for an incoming call or alerts. Speaking of which, in addition to the typical time and date functionality as seen on any watch, Cook has sought out to develop an interface that any smartwatch wearer would want such as email access, Facebook notifications, Twitter updates, among a number of other features. Rounding out the design, the Maker implemented an OLED screen and a pair of tiny LEDs that are wired to seven of the digital pins on the ‘duino.

Those interested in learning more about the 3D-printed smartwatch can access a detailed step-by-step breakdown of the build here.

Playing the littleBits Waving Piano

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This is what you get when you add a whammy bar to a piano.

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Created by Maker Gonçalo Silva, the littleBits Waving Piano is an ATmega32U4 based keyboard that was programmed to behave as an oscillator.

How it works is relatively simple: As keys are pressed on the board, they are read by the Arduino module and mapped to the corresponding pitch, as you would hear on a real piano. Meanwhile, the slide is used to “wave” the output pitch just like a guitar’s whammy bar.

Ready to make your own musical piece? Get started by heading over to littleBits’ project page for a step-by-step breakdown. In the meantime, watch it in action below!

 

Quirkbot lets Makers build robots with drinking straws

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A hackable toy that makes toys! 

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Last January, Strawbees made its debut on Kickstarter. At the time, it was a construction kit that enabled Makers of all ages to create toys by simply connecting drinking straws and pieces of cardboard together. Now a year later, a spinoff project has emerged. The team behind the aptly named Quirkbot is working together with Strawbees to explore a whole new world of robotic creatures.

Using the new DIY platform, young Makers will have the ability to build and program quirky robots, blinking outfits and weird sounding “Qreatures” out of ordinary drinking straws, LEDs and hobby servo motors. Quirkbot itself is based on an ATmega32U4 MCU with an Arduino-compatible bootloader that can be made part of a Strawbees creation without any soldering or breadboarding.

The open-source, hackable tool allows Makers to easily program the bot directly from its website via USB. Quirkbot’s unique drag-and-drop components also enable users to connect and upload their toys with just a click of the mouse.

“Any child or grownup can do it. Let your creations express themselves and interact with their environment through sound, light and motion. Standalone or connected to computers, tablets or musical instruments. You’ll quickly see the potential in learning how to program something physical — the magic of connecting online and offline worlds,” the team shares.

At its most basic level, Quirkbot kits include dual-color LEDs, light sensors, a servo and backpack, as well as a USB cable. Meanwhile, more advanced users can obtain backpack extension sets that feature distance and sound sensors, along with speakers and MIDI capabilities. Adding these components to a project are done through what the team calls “squeeze on electronics.” Just like it sounds, Makers effortlessly squeeze the parts onto the toy’s legs using ordinary drinking straws. So, whether it’s devising a bot that hulas, sweeps, crawls, or rocks out, Makers are only limited by their own imagination.

“The Quirkbot has two ways of doing touch sensing already built-in to make almost anything into an interface. Loop touching for bigger things with water in them like humans and other fruits and capacitive sensing for metallic things. When plugged to a computer, the Quirkbot can work like a keyboard or mouse input. This makes it very easy to program the Quirkbot into a controller for any game or application,” its creators add. “The Quirkbot can also act as a MIDI-device, so it can play with music programs and you can even use it with an iPad.”

Interested in making your own robots with drinking straws? Learn more about and back Quirkbot on its official Kickstarter page, where the team is currently seeking $55,000. If all goes to plan, the first batch of shipments is slated for August 2015.