Taste the rainbow one color at a time with this sorting machine

What’s better than a mouthful of Skittles, right? When it comes to various-colored candies, such as Skittles and Starburst, there’s always those one or two flavors you’re secretly wishing are heavily favored inside the pack. It would seem that many of us tend to love the red, tolerate the orange, and simply leave behind the yellow. Well, a group of Cornell engineering students recently devised a final project that will surely solve that quandary.

With their ECE4760 class coming to an end, the Maker trio devised an ATmega1284 powered Skittle-sorting miniature factory that actually bags and seals same-colored candies into little pouches of flavor. Problem solved!

How it works is relatively simple. The Skittles are loaded into a plastic funnel at the top, where they are fed through a color-detection module one candy at a time — either automatically or manually. Red, green, blue and white light are reflected off the Skittle, while the color is deciphered using an RGB LED and OPT101 photodiode driven by an ATmega1284.

“The LED is directed onto the Skittle with a small light block between it and the photodiode. As light hits the Skittle, certain wavelengths are reflected. The wavelength of the Skittle’s color is reflected most strongly. For example, shining a green light onto the green Skittle will reflect more light than shining a green light onto a red Skittle.”

Once a color is detected, a solenoid shoots the Skittle down a cardboard ramp which leads the piece of candy through a hole and into its appropriate bag. The ramp’s position is controlled by a servo and changes depending on the color. Once a bag has reached its preconfigured capacity, the packaging wheel rotates through a heat sealer to seal and cut the pouch.

“We chose this project because we liked the multidisciplinary approach it required. There were challenging elements from both an electrical and manufacturing engineering perspective. We needed accurate color sensing, precise servo control, and repeatable timing to ensure the Skittles would sort correctly. In addition, we had to build a mechanical structure capable of passing a single Skittle within fairly strict tolerances. As an added benefit, we acknowledge that many people have Skittle flavor preferences which our mini-factory caters to,” the team writes.

Watch it in action below!

Candy lovers interested in learning more can hurry over to the team’s official project page here. Meanwhile, you may also enjoy this Atmel | SMART SAM D21 based Skittles sorter which was recently on display this year at Electronica.

iRobot Create 2 is bringing DIY to Roomba robots

If there’s one thing we love about Roombas, it’s those hilarious cat-riding videos, right? Well good news cat lovers, your furry friend just got a sweet new ride! Oh, and you have a new toy to tinker with just in time to put on your holiday wish list, too!

That’s because iRobot has announced the newest member of its family, a doppelganger to its household Roomba vacuum cleaner. However, instead of sucking up dirt and removing those dust bunnies, the $200 Create 2 is actually a research “tool” for Makers and engineers alike.

Create 2 bots are comprised of the same remanufactured iRobot platforms, which bring the full collection of LEDs and sensors from the Roomba 600 series to DIYers’ fingertips. While it may be fun to create the next slick vehicle for your cats, the system was developed with students — particularly those exploring STEM fields — in mind. In fact, the system will fit right in at any lab, Makerspace or even living room, as it appeals to hackers of all levels — from beginner to even the most well-seasoned engineer.

Its Open Interface enables users to control the robot if a computer or microcontroller is tethered to the robot’s serial port. Meaning, a Maker can run now run commands from a computer or even an [Atmel based] Arduino or Raspberry Pi embedded in the robot’s bin. The Create 2 is also equipped with built-in modes that allow users to manually control it while connected, use a semi-manual mode that prevents it from falling downstairs, or simply read data from its sensors.

If you recall seven years ago, the iRobot unveiled the first version of Create. The DIY-friendly bot’s hardware was relatively simple, while the addition of its Command Module enabled endless possibilities. The Command Module was based on an ATmega168, featuring 16Kbytes of flash with about 2Kbytes used by the bootloader. The latter was also compatible with Atmel’s STK500 version 1 protocol.

What’s great is that the newest iRobot family member is a modular system, which not only lets Makers add on ‘duino units, but remotes, Bluetooth, and other accessories as well. The Create 2 will come with a range of projects, including a pair of examples to get started: a light painting tutorial to create LED-based images (“Light Bot”) and a roaming, robotic DJ that allows for easy control of music through a Bluetooth-enabled device (“DJ Create 2”).

For a decade, hackers have enjoyed rigging the vacuuming devices into multi-functional robots, ranging from [ATmega328P driven] air quality measuring contraptions to real-life games of Pac-Man. So, it’s no surprise that Makers have already taken quite the liking to the robot. According to The Boston Globe, one lab is currently developing a better way to sense and avoid objects, while another is creating robot arms that’ll allow to Create 2 serve as the basis for its “Franken-bot.”

Furthermore, the iRobot Create 2 unit will be even released with a number of 3D printer-friendly files that will give users the opportunity to create and attach at will. In other words, if you find yourself in need a part or a new project, in true open source style, the Create 2 lets you print ‘em out!

Think the Create 2 will make for a great holiday gift or a simple addition to your Makerspace? Head over to iRobot’s official page here.

Rewind: 13 products inspiring the next generation of Makers

With Computer Science Education Week in full swing and the holidays just around the corner, we’ve decided to list some of our favorite creations from this year that are inspiring the next generation of Makers to not only tinker around, but pursue STEM disciplines.

littleBits

Created by Ayah Bdeir, littleBits was launched with hopes of making DIY hardware accessible to everyone of all ages. While making things with electronics can be a difficult feat, the company’s open-source, modular components easily piece together to form larger circuits. Young Makers can even connect real world ’things’ to the Internet, program IFTTT recipes, and sync it all to an Arduino using its ATmega32U4 powered module.

LocoRobo

Drexel University professor Pramod Abichandani and a team of three undergraduate students recently developed the ATmega32U4 driven LocoRobo, a low-cost robot capable of being wirelessly programmed with minimal to no effort. Born out of his own frustrations with bots, Abichandani aspires to advance programming and robotics education for everyone — from first-graders to more experienced Makers — by combining a world-class programming ecosystem with a high-quality device.

Chibitronics Circuit Stickers Starter Kit

With Chibitronic stickers, young DIYers are able to make nearly any surface glow, sense or interact. An imaginative and simple way to create fun electronics projects, the kit not only allows users to easily affix their circuit sticker to a number of materials, but can even connect conductive materials like copper tape or even conductive paint to create elaborate designs, art project and entertaining birthday cards. What makes Chibitronic unique is its ability to converge the familiarity of stickers with electronic components, such as LEDs, sensor circuits and programmable MCUs (ATtiny85).

MaKey MaKey

Think of MaKey MaKey as an invention kit for the 21st century, which gives young Makers the power to transform ordinary objects into Internet-connected touch pads. Powered by an ATMega32u4 MCU, the MaKey MaKey has been on the scene since Jay Silver successfully funded the project back in 2012, attaining nearly $570,000 in Kickstarter pledges. When a user touches an object that is hooked up to the board via alligator clips, i.e. a banana, a connection is made which sends the computer a keyboard message. In essence, the computer considers MaKey MaKey as a regular keyboard (or mouse), meaning it can work with pretty much all programs and webpages.

Nübi

Developed by UX design from Slice of Lime, Nübi aims to teach basic programming skills to kids of any gender. The creation is described by its creator as an Internet-enabled toy that takes the form of a creature who just arrived on our planet and needs to be taught about everything, from colors to music to temperature. The toy is embedded with a series of sensors that enable it to wirelessly communicate like an RFID chip with other devices in its environment, such as a motion detector or light sensor. Kids use an accompanying flower-like wand, equipped with an [Atmel based] Arduino-controlled RFID reader, to talk to Nübi.

AERobot

A group of Harvard University researchers have developed an $11 tool to educate young Makers on the fundamentals of robotics. Dubbed AERobot (short for Affordable Education Robot), its team hopes that it will one day help inspire more kids to explore STEM disciplines. The bot  can move forward and backward on flat surfaces, turn in place in both directions, detect the direction of incoming light, identify distances using infrared light, as well as following lines and edges. With a megaAVR 8-bit MCU as its brains, most of its other electronic parts were assembled with a pick-and-place machine, and to reduce costs some more, used vibration motors for locomotion and omitted chassis. AERobot is equipped with a built-in USB plug that also allows it to be directly inserted into any computer with a USB port.

ArduSat Space Kit

Ask any classroom of kids what they want to be when they grow up, and undoubtedly a few imaginative youngsters will answer emphatically with “Astronaut!” With that lofty goal in mind, Spire (formerly Nanosatisfi) launched its ArduSat program to bring space exploration to the classroom. ArduSat is the first open satellite platform that enables the general public to design and run applications, games and experiments in space, while also steering onboard cameras to take pictures on-demand. More specifically, ArduSat is designed to give ordinary people – like students  – the chance to conduct experiments by controlling over 25 different integrated sensors including spectrometers, magnetometers, radiation measurement devices, gyroscopes, accelerometers and thermometers. With its space kit, ArduSat is supplying individual classrooms all of the tools they need to carry out space exploration. Each set contains an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a series of sensors, LEDs, and other components. By linking the sensors to the Arduino, students can measure levels of temperature, luminosity, and magnetic fields. Currently, more than two dozen schools are using ArduSat, with plenty more to follow.

ScratchDuino

While the team may not have been able to garner its $105,000 Kickstarter goal, ScratchDuino is an incredibly customizable and accessible robot-building platform that any young Maker would find helpful in their tinkering endeavors. The educational platform’s ease of use will help foster the robot design process for Makers both young and old. Featuring plastic encased parts designed for extended durability and kid resiliency, ScratchDuino includes two light sensors, two contact sensors, two reflective object sensors, and an infrared eye. At its heart lies an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) programmed with the Scratch language, which was developed by MIT.

XPlorerBoard Student

Recently launched on Kickstarter, the XPlorerBoard Student is described by its creators as a fun and quick way to learn electronic circuits and programming. This revolutionary electronics system easily plugs into a Mac or PC, which enables Makers to run programs on its built-in ATmega328 MCU, which is also preloaded with the Arduino bootloader. The XPlorerBoard’s iPad and Android InventIT application features over 50 inspiring experiments, ranging from motion-activated burglar alarms to ping-pong video games.

Bare Conductive

When you think of painting, electricity isn’t probably the first thing that comes to mind. However, Bare Conductive is changing the game with its ATmega32U4 based Touch Board that lets Makers transform nearly all materials and surfaces into a touch sensor. Simply connect anything conductive to one of its 12 electrodes and trigger a sound via its onboard MP3 player, play a MIDI note or do anything else that you might do with an Arduino or Arduino-compatible device. Meanwhile, Bare Conductive’s Electric Paint — which works with a wide-range of materials from plastic to textiles — provides a great platform for discovering, playing, repairing and designing with electronics.

Pi-Bot

Coming off an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign, Pi-Bot is a uniquely designed and affordable kit for anyone interested in building and programming robots. Designed by the STEM Center USA crew, the hands-on learning platform is based on the versatile ATmega328. 

According to STEM Center USA CEO Melissa Jawaharlal, the team designed the Pi-Bot from the ground up to optimize functionality and ensure affordability to its widespread audience, ranging from students to experienced engineers. The kit currently uses standardized C programming language (specifically meant for its Maker-oriented audience), and offers flexibility with its modular chassis, and line following and ultrasonic distance sensors.

Hummingbird Duo Robotics Kit

BirdBrain Technologies (a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff) recently debuted its Hummingbird Duo, a robotics kit powered by an ATmega32U4. The Duo controller serves as the core of all new Hummingbird kits, with a second Atmel chip, an ATtiny24A, tasked with controlling motors and servos. Part of the fun of constructing a robot with this innovative kit is that it’s building material agnostic, meaning a Maker can anything that may be lying around!

Mirobot

Mirobot – created by Ben Pirt – is an an ATmega328 powered DIY robotic kit designed to help teach children about technology. Not only is the open-source bot fun to build and simple to start programming it to draw shapes, the chassis is laser cut and snaps together quite easily. Once connected to a Wi-Fi network, Makers can browse through its on-board webpage and experience its Scratch-like visual programming tool. In fact, Mirobot can even be be programmed in several different ways, including a web-based GUI which is similar to LOGO, albeit with drag and drop.

Maker 3D prints a laser engraving machine

Electrical engineering student Tyler Alford has successfully 3D-printed a laser engraving machine. No stranger to printing and constructing 3D printing devices like the ATmega1284P based RepRapPro Huxley, curiosity eventually led the young Maker to think outside the box.

“It started out just being bored on summer break from university. I had recently finished a project that required custom PCBs and was interested in ways to make my own,” Alford tells 3DPrint.com. 

Instead of simply 3D printing yet another printer, Alford elected to set his sights a little higher — this time on a fully-functioning laser engraver. The frame was devised using a modified Rostock Mini Pro. While he had originally began his project with ABS, Alford reveals that he found that it “warped too much.” Subsequently, he later turned to MatterHackers’ PLA Pro material, which was a much better fit for the job. When all was said and done, the entire frame took just six hours to complete.

In an effort to keep his build as easy and cost-effective as possible, he relied upon two axes — one responsible for holding the laser, the other holding the plate. Powered by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), Alford reveals that he was able to acquire two EasyDriver stepper motors and a laser housing on eBay for less than $10.

Since the laser, which he had pulled out of an old DVD drive, drew more power than the ATmega328 based ‘duino could supply, the Maker needed to put it on an LM317 based isolated circuit.

“In the end the entire project only ended up costing me about $15 as I already had the Arduino and DVD drives, and I pulled the laser diode from one of the DVD drives,” Alford concluded.

Want to delve deeper into the build? The Maker has made his project available on Thingiverse.

13-year-old Maker creates his own “Google Glass”

13-year-old Maker Clay Haight recently designed something not many kids would have even imagined: a Google Glass-inspired, intelligent pair of glasses. This is surely one way to beat the Cyber Monday rush!

As reported by our friends at MAKE Magazine, when he was 10 years old, Haight bought his very first Arduino, the ATmega328 MCU based Uno. Now at age 13, not only does he have the Uno, he has added the Mega, the Esplora, the Mini, the Ardweeny, the Mintduino, and even his own homemade Arduino-compatible board to the collection.

Well equipped to devise his own smart glasses, he went right ahead using the sensors on the Esplora (ATmega32U4) and an Arduino LCD screen, before piecing it all together on a 3D-printed frame.

While the headset may not be able to make calls, it does display a nice welcome message (“Hi, I am Glass.”) among a number of other features. The finished prototype allowed Haight to glance at a calendar, look at a local map, and even access the weather forecast through voice commands. In order to prevent the device from tilting to one side all the time, the young Maker installed a headband on the back. The best part? This DIY creation won’t set you back $1,500.

In terms of comfortability, the 13-year-old says he wears “them around my house and tell my parents the temperature just for fun!”

 

Sole Searching is taking the pedestrian experience a step further

Developed by a group of UC-Berkeley students for their Critical Making course, Sole Searching is a shoe that reacts to the invisible space through which we all move.

Powered by an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4), the next-gen sneaker acts as a wireless detector, picking up the signals that pass through the “hertzian” layer of our environment, while displaying the names of nearby devices.

In what would appear to be something out of a sci-fi flick, the DIY wearable visualizes a multitude of radio waves that surround us, all while keeping us connected to our friends, jobs, and the world at large. The information broadcasted across these waves is typically so undetectable that we often times forget that it even exists in the public domain.

The project — which was recently featured on Hackster.io — brings the “invisible” front and center through the use of an LCD screen embedded in the shoe, revealing information specific to that time and place. After all, radio waves are present just about everywhere we go. This ATmega32U4 based concept is a passive yet playful way to interact with the layer of space

Interested? Head on over to the Hackster.io’s step-by-step breakdown and get started on a whole new pedestrian experience.

Nübi is ushering in the Internet of Toys

As previously explored on Bits & Pieces, the Maker Movement has paved the way for new gizmos and gadgets in an effort to increase awareness around STEM and lower the barrier of entry for coding. UX design from Slice of Lime has now taken the initiative one step further with their latest connected toy prototype, dubbed Nübi, which aims to teach basic programming skills to kids of any gender.

Nübi is described by its creator, Slice of Lime CEO Kevin Menzie, as an Internet-enabled toy that takes the form of a creature who just arrived on our planet and needs to be taught about everything, from colors to music to temperature.

“All of the teaching and programming of Nübi is done through a magic flower, specially-designed Nübicards, and Nübi itself. There are no screens or other electronics involved.”

The toy is embedded with a series of sensors that enable it to wirelessly communicate like an RFID chip with other devices in its environment, such as a motion detector or light sensor. Kids use an accompanying flower-like wand, equipped with an [Atmel based] Arduino-controlled RFID reader, to talk to Nübi.

Using the wand-like device, kids begin with basic color mixing and sounds, and eventually learn to customize Nübi to react to light and dark, hot and cold, motion, as well as other Nübis.

There are four types of Nübicards: Program Nübicards, Sense Nübicards, Action Nübicards, and Game Nübicards. These aid a user in teaching the connected toy what to do. Simply touch the flower to the Nübicard and then touch Nübi’s head.

For instance, if a child wants to teach Nübi about colors, they would tap the wand against the specific color Nübicard, then touch it the Atmel powered flower. An LED located in its stomach would then emit the color selected. Tap the wand on a pair of colors in succession, and Nübi will even glow the color they make when they’re combined. Come on, that’s so much better than simply mixing paint, not to mention, less messy!

There are also more sophisticated cards as well, which include IFTTT recipes. Using these conditional statements, young Makers can begin programming their Nübi to carry out more complex actions, ranging from glowing blue when it’s cold outside or playing a lullaby when the lights turn off.

Interested in a Nübi for your child? You can check out Nübi’s official website here. Or, you can read more about the connected toy in its latest Gizmodo article.

And the Simply AVR Design Contest winners are…

Back in March, Atmel launched the second stage of its Simply AVR Design Contest, which encouraged Makers, designers and engineers to develop clever, ground-breaking 8-bit microcontroller-based designs using its highly-popular AVR family. After several months of ideation and submissions, we’re excited to announce that the grand prize winner of the contest is Juan Gonzalez for his IoT ATmega2560-powered robot.

Programmed with Atmel Studio 6.2, the winning IoT project — which garnered nearly 116,000 votes — runs in three modes including Wi-Fi via an Android application, object-tracking mode and MIMIC mode via TCP/IP.

“Atmel AVR MCUs are simple to use, have a robust ecosystem and are extremely flexible, allowing beginner developers to create innovative, out-of-the-box embedded designs beyond traditional applications,” explained Gonzalez.

“The ATmega-powered IoT robot only took me a couple days to put together and I was thrilled when I was notified. Thank you to the Atmel team for enabling me to showcase my design. I will continue to design with AVR MCUs.”

In total, five winners were selected through public voting on the contest site and Facebook; meanwhile, a separate Simply AVR Design Contest was conducted in parallel in China. Runner-ups included:

Sumit Grover, Remote and GSM-based home automation system

Savvas-George Kokkinidis-Loungos, Wireless remote car device using hand movements

Shreyas Gite, Arduino-powered medical scanner to measure body temperature and other vitals

Rahul Kar, Digital Soduku solver

“I’d like to congratulate our winners for the Simply AVR Design Contest,” said Sander Arts, Atmel Vice President of Marketing. “With over 300,000 votes for all five winners, there was clearly a lot of enthusiasm for the second phase of the Simply AVR Contest. All these projects showcased creative, impressive designs that demonstrate the simplicity of Atmel’s AVR MCUs which extend beyond the traditional boundaries. With a community of AVR enthusiasts, we are looking forward to the continuation of this program.”

With another successful challenge in the books, we’re eager to see what the future holds for these Makers’ prototypes. Perhaps, they will follow in the footsteps of previous design contest champion Pamungkas Prawisuda Sumasta, who recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for his team’s Phoenard all-in-one prototyping device.

Those wishing to browse through some of the other submitted creations can head over to the contest’s official gallery here.

Heads or tails! This coin flipper is powered by an ATmega328

This project by Maker Max Kessler is exactly what it looks and sounds like: a coin flipper. The robotics and programming behind the gizmo were based on an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a mini photocell, and a Jameco 12V DC Motor.

While the prototype was devised using medium-density fiberboard (MDF), the final model was comprised of custom-cut 1/8” acrylic. “Using the angles, spring ratios, and spacing, I was able to create a more developed model,” Kessler writes. “I used a mini photocell to measure the proximity of the hand to the landing pad.”

Once ready to go, the sensor determines the proximity of the coin using analog output. Meanwhile, a NeoPixel ring indicates that the flipper is in action, creating a simple yet elegant interpretation for “a typically over-looked interaction.”

So… heads or tails? Call it in the air! While it certainly may not be the most complex contraption we’ve seen recently, it’s pretty cool nevertheless! Check out the ATmega328 powered project in action below!

This $11 robot can teach kids how to program

A group of Harvard University researchers — Michael Rubenstein, Bo Cimino, and Radhika Nagpal — have developed an $11 tool to educate young Makers on the fundamentals of robotics. Dubbed AERobot (short for Affordable Education Robot), the team hopes that it will one day help inspire more kids to explore STEM disciplines.

Fueled by the recent emergence of the Maker Movement, robots are becoming increasingly popular throughout schools in an effort to spur interest in programming and artificial intelligence among students.

The idea behind this particular project was conceived following the 2014 AFRON ellenge, which encouraged researchers to design low-cost robotic systems for education in Third World countries. As Wired’s Davey Alba notes, Rubenstein’s vast experience in swarm robotics led to him modding one of his existing systems to construct the so-called AERobot. While it may not be a swarm bot, the single machine possesses a number of the same inexpensive components.

So, what is the AERobot capable of doing?

• Moving forward and backward on flat, smooth surfaces
• Turning in place in both directions
• Detecting the direction of incoming light
• Identifying distances using reflected infrared light
• Following lines and edges

With a megaAVR 8-bit microcontroller as its brains, the team assembled most of its other electronic parts with a pick-and-place machine, and to reduce costs some more, used vibration motors for locomotion and omitted chassis. AERobot is equipped with a built-in USB plug that also enables it to be directly inserted into any computer with a USB port — unlike a number of other bots.

“Using this USB connection, it can recharge its lithium-ion battery and be reprogrammed all without any additional hardware. AERobot has holonomic 2D motion; using two low-cost vibration motors, it can move forward, backwards, and turn in place on a flat, smooth surface such as a table or whiteboard. It also has three pairs of outward-pointing infrared transmitters and phototransistors, allowing it to detect distance to obstacles using reflected infrared light, and passively detect light sources using just the phototransistors.”

In addition, the bot features one downward-pointing infrared transmitter along with a trio of infrared receivers to detect the reflectivity of the surface below, which is useful for line following. To aid in learning programs and debugging, AERobot also boasts an RGB LED.

On the software side, AERobot uses a graphical programming environment, which makes reprogramming easy for beginners. By modifying the minibloqs programming language, Rubenstein says you don’t really need to type code, instead you just drag pictures. He went on to tell Wired, “Say I wanted an LED on the robot to turn green. I would just drag over an image of an LED, and pick the green color.”

Interested in learning more? You can scroll on over to the project’s official page or read its entire Wired feature here.