During this year’s MakerCon keynote, Arduino Co-Founder Massimo Banzi announced that the company is working on an “open apartment” that will soon be available to rent.
The project is a collaboration with futurist Bruce Sterling and will be located in Arduino’s Turin, Italy headquarters — which is actually an abandoned car factory. The apartment will serve as a test ground for the latest developments from the Maker community, equipped with furniture from OpenDesk, a plethora of Atmel based devices as well as other hardware creations.
“All of the houses of the future are fake, but you’ll be able to rent ours on Airbnb,” Banzi told the crowd.
Unlike other so-called “homes of the future,” this Arduino-powered space will be more than a livable showcase. In fact, the inhabitants’ responses to the elements inside will be registered for the project’s research, MAKE Magazine reports.
Following the pre-World Maker Faire presentation, Mike Senese went 1:1 with Banzi to get some more details around the project and to learn more about what’s next for the open-source platform.
A few weeks later, Banzi “officially” launched the apartment at Maker Faire Rome; however, as for when you will be able to rent the house yourself, you will have to stay tuned. During his session, the Arduino co-founder unveiled the official name for the open-source apartment: Casa Jasmina.
“Casa Jasmina is a real-world testbed for hacks, experiments, exhibitions and a guest house for IoT and open design… We’ll do stress test the concept of open-source home automation with Casa Jasmina,” Banzi explained. “It’s time for a new Italian domestic landscape.”
Collaborator Bruce Sterling also shared his thoughts on the soon-to-launch project by stating, “I’ve known for a long time that Torino would be the center of digital manufacturing for Italy. What we are going to see is a national open-source. What’s needed is now is not more gadgets… [but to] figure out how to move this from the hobby level to a level of professionalism, and how to establish making with Italian characteristics.”
When discussing Arduino and the nature of the open-source movement, he added, “Just like the slow food movement defeats the fast food movement by being good, clean, fair and putting everything on the table in a very open fashion.”
Are you excited? We sure are! Atmel is getting ready to take center stage at the 5th Annual World Maker Faire 2014 in New York City on September 20th and 21st. Undoubtedly, this year will be amazing as an expected 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees head to the New York Hall of Science to see the latest DIY gizmos and gadgets. Once again a Silversmith Sponsor of the event, Atmel will put the spotlight on everything from Arduino to Arduino-related projects.
Our team is en route to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, where you will soon find us setting up booth #EP24. (Program guide available here.) During this weekend’s show, we will be showcasing a wide range of projects, platforms and devices from the Makers and companies inspiring today’s DIY Movement.
Even better, you don’t need to wait until Saturday for the making to begin! On the evening of Friday, September 19th, Atmel and Arduino will be hosting a Maker Meet & Greet at the New York Hall of Science. Starting at 6:30pm, join the one-and-only Massimo Banzi and Atmel’s Reza Kazerounian for live demos, Q&A with guests, a paella dinner and… wait for it…. a special announcement! Space is limited and RSVP is required. Those interested may send a request to pr@atmel.com.
So, what else will you find in booth #EP24?
Bob Martin, also known as Atmel’s Wizard of Make and Warp Drive Propulsion Engineer, will be demonstrating uToT Robots and hacking Hexbugs.
Dan Ujvari, Atmel’s MakerBot Magician and Senior FAE, will be showcasing some of his latest creations from a MakerBot desktop 3D printer.
Arduino will be highlighting some of its latest boards, as well as exploring basic principles of electronics and programming. Booth visitors will have the chance to experience firsthand how easy it is to make LEDs blink, turn motors and make buzzers buzz.
SparkFun will be joining us in our booth to run a number of soldering workshops, where participants will have the chance to solder new PTH SparkFun interactive badges! Once soldered, these badges will become a trivia game. The participant can put the badges into three small interactive stations which have electronics-based trivia questions on them. If the questions are answered correctly, the stations add points to the badges. Each point adds a new color to the LED on the top of the badge. Points add up to discounts at SparkFun.com!
AVR Man, the Maker community’s favorite superhero will be in attendance for the first time EVER!
Look who’s talking! Don’t miss Saturday’s Curiosity, Imagination and Motivation: The Natural Inclinations of Young Makers panel discussion on the MAKE: Live Stage at 5:30pm. Atmel’s Bob Martin and Daniel Ujvari will explore the how the STEM initiative and Maker Movement are influencing young Makers and helping to create tomorrow’s industry innovators. The panel will feature Arduino’s Massimo Banzi, Qtechknow’s Quin Etnyre, and littleBits’ Ayah Bdeir.
Step 1: Tweet a pic of you and @TheAVRMan using the hashtag #AtmelMakes.
Step 2: Once your tweet is favorited by AVR Man, come on by the Atmel booth.
Step 3: Submit your contact information and away you go with a free kit. (While supplies last.)
Aside from kits, you can walk away with an Atmel Maker Bag, flair, stickers or even a pair of Atmel Maker Converse (which are amazing… and available for purchase).
World Maker Faire will kick off at the New York Hall of Science on Saturday, September 20th, from 10am to 7pm and Sunday, September 21st, from 10am to 6pm. Can’t make it to the Faire? You can always follow @Atmel live on Twitter for the latest updates, trends and happenings from the show. Tweet #AtmelMakes!
A braille printer, a retro robot, a marshmallow canon, or perhaps even a prototype of the next big IoT device? If you’re feeling inspired this weekend go and make something, don’t forget to submit your 8-bit idea for a chance to win $1,500 in cash, social stardom and of course, some Atmel swag.
Program writers and developers spend countless hours creating code used to build computer software, sites and applications we may take for granted. Celebrated annually on the 256th day of the year — hexadecimal 100th, or the 28th — Programmers’ Day commemorates the hard work of these tech-savvy individuals.
Why 256 you ask? It represents the number of distinct values in an 8-bit byte, and well, it is also the largest power of two that comes to less than the 365 days found in a regular year. What this means is that the “holiday” will always fall on September 13, except of course on leap years. (Pedants might note that the binary representation of 1111 1111 is actually 255, making Programmers’ Day 24 hours too late. Because as any programmer knows, this ignores the use of zero as a value!)
The sheer number and diversity of programming languages in use today continues to grow. In collaboration with journalist Nick Diakopoulos, IEEE Spectrum recently unveiled some of the world’s most popular languages, ranging from Java to C++. (Given the rise of the Maker Movement, you may notice Arduino made the list!)
As many will attest, a programmer is a unique breed. Seeing as coding culture leaves no shortage of character, InfoWorld recently compiled a list of the 13 classic archetypes of those you would find in most IT departments and hackerspaces. Which one best categorizes you?
“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand. ” — Martin Fowler
Resultantly, only those with coding in their DNA will (probably) identify with the following comical images…
This shirt.
(Source: imgur.com/XMmAe40)
This mug.
(Source: Zazzle)
This week.
(Source: Explosm.net)
This relationship situation.
(Source: Twitter via @ipixel_au)
This chart.
(Source: memebase.cheezburger.com)
This Facebook post.
(Source: imgur.com)
This sign. (You’ve been warned…)
(Source: ThinkGeek)
This desk. (The struggle is real…)
This tattoo.
(Source: Mervy.net)
This car.
(Source: imgur.com/d6RiDgk)
This comic.
(Source: imgur.com/CfSwf)
This hierarchy of needs.
This thought pattern. (No really though…)
(Source: Pinterest)
This base-ic reference. (See what we did there?)
(Source: izifunny.com)
This meme.
(Source: funny-quotations.net)
As professional days go, this one is surely one of the best. So, if you know a programmer (developer, coder, hacker or software engineer) slaving away at the computer this weekend, be sure to stop and share some praise. After all, they deserve it!
“The best programmers are not marginally better than merely good ones. They are an order-of-magnitude better, measured by whatever standard: conceptual creativity, speed, ingenuity of design, or problem-solving ability.” — Randall Stross
Heck, we couldn’t end this blog about programming without some sort of self-promotion! Available for free, Atmel Studio 6 connects seamlessly to all Atmel debuggers, programmers and the simulators for both ARM and AVR devices:
The latest version of our Studio includes the GCC C and C++ Compiler, assembler and a simulator, and interfaces seamlessly with in-system debuggers and programmers to make code development easier.
The Arduino Yún – which was designed in collaboration with Dog Hunter – is based on Atmel’s ATmega32u4 microcontroller (MCU) and also features the Atheros AR9331, an SoC running Linino, a customized version of OpenWRT. Now, one year later, the Yún celebrates its one-year anniversary! With over 9,200 forum posts, 8 OpenWrt-Yún releases and 492,000 search results, the AVR based board has become quite a hit for Makers. We think this deserves an Arduino high-five, for sure!
Made available last September, the Yún was a somewhat unique addition to the existing Arduino line-up, as it boasts a lightweight Linux distribution to complement the traditional MCU interface.
Yún, which means “cloud” in Chinese, aspired to make it simple to connect to complex web services directly from Arduino. The board features WiFi and Ethernet connections, therefore enabling the board to communicate with networks out of the box. Additionally, the Yún’s Linux and Arduino processors link through the Bridge library, enabling Arduino sketches to send commands to the command line interface of Linux.
“The Arduino Yún has the same footprint as an Arduino Uno but combines an ATmega32u4 microcontroller (the same as the Leonardo) and a Linux system based on the Atheros AR9331 chipset,” Arduino’s Federico Vanzati explained. “Additionally, there are built-in Ethernet and WiFi capabilities. The combination of the classic Arduino programming experience and advanced internet capabilities afforded by a Linux system make the Yún a powerful tool for communicating with the internet of things (IoT).”
According to Vanzati, the Yún’s layout keeps the I/O pins the same as the Leonardo and is therefore compatible with the most shields designed for Arduino.
“With the Yún’s auto-discovery system, your computer can recognize boards connected to the same network. This enables you to upload sketches wirelessly to the Yún,” he continued. “You can still upload sketches to the Yún through the micro-USB connector just as you would with the Leonardo.”
On the connectivity side, the Yún is equipped with two separate network interfaces, a 10/100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet port and a IEEE 802.11 b/g/n standard compliant 2.4GHz WiFi interface, supporting WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption. As expected, the WiFi interface can also operate as an access point (AP). In AP mode any WiFi enabled device can connect directly to the network created on the Yún. While a Yún in this mode can’t connect to the internet, it could act as a hub for a group of WiFi enabled sensors.
As Vanzati notes, interfacing Arduino with web services has historically been rather challenging due to memory restrictions.
“[However], the Yun’s Linux environment simplifies the means to access internet services by using many of the same tools you would use on your computer,” he said. “You can run several applications as complex as you need, without stressing the ATmega microcontroller.”
To help engineers and Makers develop applications that can connect to popular web services, Arduini has partnered with Temboo, a service that simplifies accessing hundreds of the web’s most popular APIs. In fact, a Temboo library is packaged with the Yún, making it easy to connect to a large variety of online tools.
Facilitating a seamless connection between the two processors is achieved via the Yún’s Bridge library, which connects the hardware serial port of the AR9331 to Serial1 on the 32U4 (digital pins 0 & 1).
“The serial port of the AR9331 exposes the Linux console (aka, the command line interface, or CLI) for communication with the 32U4,” Vanzati confirmed. “The console is a means for the Linux kernel and other processes to output messages to the user and receive input from the user. File and system management tools are installed by default. It’s also possible to install and run your own applications using Bridge.”
Of course, the ATmega32u4 can also be programmed from the AR9331 by uploading a sketch through the Yún’s WiFi interface. When connected to the same WiFi network as your computer, the board will appear under the “Port” menu of the Arduino IDE. The sketch will be transferred to the AR9331 and the Linux distribution will program the ATmega32u4 through the SPI bus, emulating an AVR ISP programmer.
Last, but certainly not least, the Yún can be powered through the micro-USB connector, the Vin pin, or the optional Power Over Ethernet (POE) module. When powering the board though the Vin pin, users must supply a regulated 5VDC, as there is no on-board regulator for higher voltages.
Don’t forget to join the Atmel team in Queens later this week for the 5th Annual World Maker Faire. Undoubtedly, this year will be amazing as an expected 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees head to the New York Hall of Science to see the latest DIY gizmos and gadgets, as well as AVR Man in the flesh. Once again a Silversmith Sponsor of the event, Atmel will put the spotlight on everything from Arduino to Arduino-related projects. See you soon!
It’s official! Trondheim, home of AVR architecture, has officially hopped onboard the Maker Movement train and is going full steam ahead. This year, the region has seen the emergence of Makerspaces, coworking spaces and of course, its first Maker Faire. The inaugural Maker Faire Trondhiem kicked off in the heart of the city on August 29-30th, smack dab in the middle of Trondheim’s town square. Over 70 projects were on display, a majority of which powered by Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs).
From cycles and contraptions to swarming robots and invisible mosquitos, this year’s event had it all. Reporting for MAKE Magazine, Alasdair Allan highlighted some of these Atmel based creations, among a number of others, that generated some buzz from attendees.
Now, here’s a look back at the event in photos.
As one Maker Faire comes to an end, another is set to begin. Don’t forget to join the Atmel team in Queens later this month for the 5th Annual World Maker Faire. Undoubtedly, this year will be amazing as an expected 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees head to the New York Hall of Science to see the latest DIY gizmos and gadgets, as well as AVR Man in the flesh. Once again a Silversmith Sponsor of the event, Atmel will put the spotlight on Arduino and Arduino-related projects. See you soon!
The World Cup and RoboCup have both come to an end. The Summer Olympics are still another two years away. So why are we heading to Brazil next week? The Embedded Systems Conference, of course! Held August 26-27th in São Paulo, Atmel is excited to be an exhibiting sponsor of this year’s ESC, which will bring together over 5,000 engineers from the vibrant Latin American embedded community.
Whether you live nearby or plan on swinging over to the Transamerica Expo Center, be sure to mark “stopping at Booth E 20” on your daily planner. There, you’ll have a chance to ask Atmel’s Tech Experts your toughest design questions, learn about industry trends, and see live demos of the newly-unveiled Atmel® | SMART™ product line. Experience firsthand how our latest solutions can help achieve high-performance standards, while meeting your power consumption expectations. With our configuration options, you’ll be able to implement our chips in all sorts of applications, ranging from smart metering to wearables. Atmel products are driving a vast majority of IoT and Maker devices in the market today, all of which will be on display during the two-day show.
We’ll be showcasing our complete offering of microcontrollers and microprocessors together with the all-important adjacent technologies like connectivity, sensor solutions, capacitive touch sensing and Atmel CryptoAuthentication devices. Here are several of the smart and secure ‘things’ you can expect to see this week:
Atmel AVR for IoT
Atmel AVR® MCUs are superior in terms of power consumption and are a better suited battery-powered application than any 32-bit MCU. The demo shows the AVR with a wireless connection running of battery. A graphical display also shows power consumption data.
Atmel | SMART SAM D20 QTouch Robustness
The Atmel | SMART SAM D20 QTouch® Robustness showcases not only the high touch performance of this device but also best-in-class conducted immunity and moisture tolerance required in home appliance and industrial applications.
Atmel SmartConnect
The Atmel SAM W23 includes the industry’s lowest-power Wi-Fi tailored for IoT use cases. It is positioned as an add-on turnkey solution for retrofit or new development with a highly scalable MCU approach that leverages the Atmel portfolio.
Thingsquare Open Source 6LoWPAN using Atmel | SMART SAM R21
The Atmel | SMART SAM R21 shows the latest generation of ultra-low-power ARM Cortex® M0+ based wireless MCU combined with an open source IPv6/6LoWPAN embedded communication stack provided by Thingsquare. The application targets ultra-low power-applications in home and building automation. The solution is also ideal for gas and water meters, which demand years of maintenance-free operation on a single battery cell.
Atmel | SMART SAM D20 GPS Tracker
The GPS asset tracker reference design with GSM connectivity is controlled through SMS messages and can support features like geo fencing, automated alarms, panic button and position tracking to SD card. It uses an accelerometer to determine if the GPS should be enabled or not, allowing lower power consumption. The high number of serial communication interfaces on a small, low power device makes the Atmel | SMART SAM D20 a perfect fit for asset tracking applications.
Atmel | SMART SAMA5D3 Qt-based Applications
The Atmel | SMART SAMA5D3 is a versatile, high-performance, low-power embedded MPU shown here in home automation and smart fridge applications. The demo also shows the SAMA5D3’s UI capability and system performance on a WVGA screen resolution.
Atmel QTouch
Atmel | SMART SAM D21+ QT1 Xplained Pro demonstrates high-performance Atmel QTouch button, slider and wheel use for easy integration in any application requiring human control. The SAM D20 + QT2 Xplained Pro demonstrates QTouch Surface ideal for any consumer or wearable application.
Atmel CryptoAuthentication Devices
The Atmel CryptoAuthentication ATSHA204A is an easy to use, low-power hardware key storage device. The demo shows symmetric authentication between the drill (host) and client (battery). Each contains an ATSHA204A with identical stored secret keys. The drill sends a random number“challenge”to the battery, which processes that with its secret key to send a coded response back to the host to verify if the stored secret keys indeed match.
Also, don’t miss Sander Arts, Atmel VP of Corporate Marketing, present on how Atmel is fueling the Maker Movement. Arts will share insights into Atmel-basedArduino boards, the growth of the worldwide Maker community, as well as how Atmel microcontrollers were there from the outset, providing simple but powerful MCUs as the hardware side of the equation. Discover why a countless number of artists, designers, inventors, engineers, musicians and even students are turning to Arduino boards designed around Atmel AVR® or Atmel | SMART MCUs to transform their ideas into fully-functional “things.” Details on the session can be found below!
Title: Atmel and the Maker Movement Presenter: Sander Arts, VP of Corporate Marketing, Atmel Corporation Date / Time: Tuesday, August 26th @ 5:00 pm Location: Makers Club
So there you have it, folks! Don’t forget to visit Booth E 20, pick up your Atmel Xplained Mini Kit, chat with a tech expert and of course, partake in a number of hands-on demos!
After tirelessly crisscrossing the globe for several years offering hands-on technical training, the Atmel team kicked off a new Tech on Tour era this past January with a tricked-out mobile trailer. Designed to literally drive the Internet of Things (and other next-gen technologies), 40’ x 85′ trailer brings hands-on training, hackathons, key technology demonstrations and other gatherings based around Atmel MCUs, MPUs, wireless, touch solutions and easy-to-use software tools. With more than 150 stops spanning across 30 states and 4 Canadian provinces, Tech on Tour is estimated to reach nearly 4,000 engineers this year alone.
Tens of thousands of miles later, the big rig has navigated the country — from Silicon Valley to the Hudson Valley, Atmel’s XSense Fab to the White House, Southern California to North Carolina, the deserts of Arizona to the plains of Kansas, the woods of Washington to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Thousands of engineers, execs and Makers alike have set foot onboard the trailer, including AVR Man, Sir Mix-A-Lot and even 13-year-old CEO Quin Etnyre. It has shared good times with our valued partners and lovable ol’ pals while turning heads and making new friends along the way. It has hosted a number of expert panel discussions, found itself parked in a middle of a tradeshow floor (link) and even had the chance to take in some of the landmarks in our nation’s capital. There have been sightings in the wild to selfies standing before the truck. And, after all of that, as we take a look back at the first six months of its inaugural tour, we must say that it’s been pretty truckin’ awesome!
“The IoT is being led by a rising generation of tinkerers, inventors and innovators. These are dedicated people who are working out of universities, garages and small companies. We are going and meeting them,” explained Sander Arts, Atmel VP of Marketing.
Already having made stops in both Minnesota, Illinois and Pennsylvania, the second leg of the tour is well underway. The Tech on Tour trailer will continue driving the Internet of Things (literally…) en route to:
Cleveland, OH
Detroit, MI
Indianapolis,IN
Milwaukee, WI
Madison, WI
Next up, the teched-out truck will be making its way to Long Island with our friends from Avenet Electronics on September 17th to showcase a wide variety of tech, conducting training to include touch, mass storage class boot loading and Atmel’s SAM D21 Xplained Pro (ARM-based MCUs).
Get your hands-on training and roll up your sleeves with first-hand instruction and building with Atmel’s latest ARM Cortex M0+ microcontroller and development board. This Atmel | SMART SAM D21 is intended for the next IoT, wearables, or industrial embedded system. With connectivity options including interface integration, the SAM D21 device also has various design tools and development boards to quickly jump start learning and design integration. Accelerating your product to MVP and fit the connectivity design parameters and ultra low power sipping parameters are key to today’s next emergent embedded systems.
In a majority of upcoming stops, the one-day sessions will feature hands-on technical training based on the Atmel | SMART SAM D21, an evolution of the industry’s first microcontroller with robust, high-performance, easy-to-use capacitive touch support. The SAM D20/21 represent a paradigm shift for capacitive touch sensing in terms of noise tolerance, power consumption, touch quality, and application integration. This is enabled through the on-chip hardware Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC), complemented with this new generation of touch support in the Atmel Studio 6 development Ecosystem. While onboard the big rig, explore how to easily configure the noise filtering and sensitivity of your user interface, based on specific application based considerations, using the QTouch Analyzer, using live trace logging of capacitive sensing signals. Understand the significantly simplified process of building and integrating a touch based user interface alongside your application, leveraging the interrupt-driven, non-blocking QTouch library code (only 5% of CPU resources, while scanning 10 channels at 50ms scan rate).
Become familiar with this Atmel Software Framework (ASF) compatible design process, giving you the ability to mix and match capacitive buttons, sliders and wheels with standard MCU components of your application such as the differentiated USB, DMA and TCC peripherals on the SAM D21. SMART Microcontroller based products go to market with firmware programmed at the factory.
Whenever a bug is fixed or new feature is implemented, the firmware on the product needs to be updated. The process of updating the firmware becomes easy if the product has the capability of updating its firmware by itself. In this hands-on training we will develop a USB Host bootloader project for a SAM D21 device, that can detect a mass storage device (for example a USB thumb-/flash-drive) when connected to the USB-port. If this device contains an updated firmware image, the bootloader will then update the flash of the device with new firmware.
The New York Times has a regularly occurring section entitled “Room For Debate,” where they bring in knowledgeable people to discuss timely topics and events. Last week, the newspaper posed the question, “Reinventing the World’s Fair, or not. Is there a way to give the fairs of the past new life? And if so, what would they look like?”
A World’s Fair offered the promise of what the future would bring, and its standard bearers were large companies who built elaborate pavilions that helped to make a vision of the future seem real. At the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens, Westinghouse introduced Elektro, a 7-foot tall robot that could speak with a vocabulary of 700 words, smoke cigarettes and blow up balloons. The voice box for this electro-mechanical robot was a 78-r.p.m. record player.
Today, we have lots of people building robots that are much more sophisticated than Elektro, and easier and cheaper to construct; indeed you can see some of them at this year’s Maker Faire in Queens. As the founder of Maker Faire, where individuals and groups of tinkerers, hackers, artists, inventors and builders come together to demonstrate how technology and talent can change our lives and the world around us, I think of the Maker Faire as the new World’s Fair: the people’s fair.
It is important for us as a society to imagine the future, and the World’s Fair provided a context for doing so. But it is also vital that we see ourselves participating actively in creating or making that future, and that’s what we believe Maker Faire is doing. Oh, and Mr. Greenhalgh, we just had one in Detroit — for the fifth year in a row!
For those unfamiliar with the event, we hope to see each and every one of you next month at the 5th Annual World Maker Faire, held September 20-21st at the New York Hall of Science. If this year’s Maker Faire Bay Area was any preview of what is to come in Queens, we are certainly in for a treat. With an anticipated 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees, there should be enough to inspire, inform and entertain the thousands of attendees. This family-friendly event that celebrates technology, education, science, arts, crafts, engineering, food, sustainability and much more will once again have Atmel as a Silversmith Sponsor.
Don’t forget to join the Atmel team in Queens for the 5th Annual World Maker Faire! Undoubtedly, this year will be amazing as an expected 750+ Makers and 85,000+ attendees head to the New York Hall of Science to see the latest DIY gizmos and gadgets, as well as a number of the Makers mentioned above. Once again a Silversmith Sponsor of the event, Atmel will put the spotlight on everything from Arduino to Arduino-related projects.
30 years ago, President Ronald Reagan signed Joint Resolution 298 proclaiming that the third Sunday in every July as National Ice Cream Day, giving delicious dessert lovers an excuse to indulge in a cold, creamy treat. To commemorate yesterday’s festivities, we’ve decided to highlight some of our favorite, Maker-inspired creations.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for 3D-printed ice cream!
A trio of MIT students recently created an ice cream 3D printer capable of extruding customized frozen treats using a Solidoodle printer and a Cuisinart soft-serve machine.
“We imagine this technology being marketable in ice cream parlors such as Dairy Queen where customers can order an ice cream treat, wait 15 minutes, and see the shape they chose be created,” the students told 3DPrint.com.
Ice cream that plays music when licked.
Artists Emilie Baltz and Carla Diana explored exactly that idea. Their project entitled “Lickestra” is a musical performance in which ice cream is used as the instrument. The concept was conceived after the pair of Makers began looking into the intersection of design around food and the senses and objects with electronic behaviors. To bring this idea to fruition, 3D-printed cones were embedded with capacitive sensors and perched atop pedestal-like boxes. “Musicians” stood inside the boxes, arms along their sides, and began licking away. When a tongue made contact with the creamy treat, a signal was sent to a hidden Atmel-basedArduino board, assigned a sound by onboard software, and pumped out through speakers.
Cornell University’s Robot Learning Lab recently debuted their latest project called “Tell Me Dave.” Equipped with a 3D camera, the robot scans its environment and identifies the objects in it, while responding to complex commands. Created by doctoral students Dipendra K Misra, Jaeyong Sung, Kevin Lee, and Professor Ashutosh Saxena, watch as the robot fills a rather open-ended ice cream order: “Take some coffee in a cup. Add ice cream of your choice. Finally, add raspberry syrup to the mixture.”
High-tech trend brings back old-fashioned ice cream.
Robyn Sue Fisher, Founder of Smitten Ice Cream, has unveiled a way to give an old-school treat a high-tech, futuristic twist. Through her patented mixing technology, liquid nitrogen instantly freezes ingredients at the very low temperature of negative 321 degrees to provide patrons with a smooth-textured, creamy treat. What’s even ‘cooler’ is that the process doesn’t require traditional stabilizers used in commercial ice cream, and yields much tinier ice crystals than those found in most store-bought ice cream.
RFID provides real-time flavor availability.
A couple of years ago, Izzy’s Ice Cream Café in Minneapolis, Minnesota outfitted their serving freezers and scoopers with embedded RFID technology in order to continuously update patrons with real-time flavor availability. The nameplates for each flavor were equipped with RFID chips, which were then read by an antennae anchored in the dipping cabinet. The inventory was automatatically updated simply through the act of an employee changing flavors in the dipping cabinet. That act triggered an inventory update, which in turn publishes the current flavors to multiple channels, ranging from the in-store screen and website to Twitter and Facebook.
Last Friday (July 18th), Uber served up cold treats on demand throughout 144 cities in 38 countries on 6 continents via an ice cream truck or an uberX car. To order the ice cream, users simply needed to open the Uber app and select an ice cream option. When a vehicle was available, the dessert was delivered in just minutes.
“You’re seeing the same kinds of trends in ice cream that you’re seeing in other foods,” explained Peggy Armstrong, Spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association. “People are willing to experiment.” So we’ve got to wonder: How long before we see an ice cream cone delivering drone?
Back in December 2013, Atmel kicked off its global Bend Your Mind XSense Design Contest, where participants ranging from students to fashionistas were encouraged to stretch their imagination by submitting drawings unique designs utilizing Atmel’s flexible XSense touch sensor. Four winners — two first place and two second place — were ultimately selected by Atmel judges, based on originality, creativity and uniqueness of the designs, with winners receiving cash rewards.
Contest winners included:
Technical Grand Prize Winner: Joseph Malkom, NewGen
Creative Grand Prize Winner: Raghu Vamsi, Touchscreen ID Card
Creative Runner Up: Arun Magesh, Rollable Laptops
“The devices and technological use cases seen in the ‘Bend Your Mind XSense Design Contest’ is yet a glimpse into the innovation and creativity that we see in today’s market,” explained Sander Arts, Atmel’s VP of Marketing. “Atmel congratulates all of the contestants and is thrilled to see such imaginative uses for XSense technology. With XSense’s flexibility and high-performance capabilities, the future of innovation is bright when creative minds have the technology to turn vision into reality.”
Joseph Malkom
“Using the XSense touch sensor, this design can be used in the medical world. I got this inspiration after my grandmother had a small needle stuck in her foot and the doctor used three different xrays wrapped around her leg in order to pinpoint the exact location of the needle in her foot. However, by using this screen, doctors can have a 3D view of bones, veins and nerves, and can pinpoint exact locations of injuries. Moreover, by being able to change the view from bones to veins and nerves, they can prevent creating serious injuries, like accidentally cutting into a major vein. By using fiduciary markers, physicians can pinpoint the exact location of an object even if the patient changes their position. As there is a metal stand at the bottom supporting the flexible screen, the PCB can reside inside there.”
Andi Hidayatullah
“The idea of this design is to make a “wrist curved tablet” using combination of XSense and flexible OLED display as a curved touchscreen… It can be used by people in their jobs or activities while it’s not necessary to stop what they are doing or unable to take care the device.”
Raghu Vamsi
“My idea is to provide some additional features to an ID card.”
Atmel XSense is a revolutionary, highly flexible film-based touch sensor that enables a new generation of smartphones and tablets, and extends touch capabilities into a wide array of new consumer and industrial products. Optimal for a broad range of touchscreen products, XSense enables thinner, lighter and faster touch products. XSense creates flawless touch performance, enhanced noise immunity, low sheet resistance and low-power consumption allowing designers to turn unique touch-based concepts into functional designs at lower total system costs compared to current market alternatives.
