Watch-a making? While most kids would just go and ask for a watch, this eight-year-old decided to build one himself.
We had the pleasure of meeting eight-year-old Omkar back at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014. Since then, the young and talented Maker has been hard at work devising a DIY smartwatch, or what he describes as a “precise timekeeper.”
The aptly-named O Watch uses a real-time clock module, a LiPo battery, an Adafruit charger and a Sparkfun Microview, which is a tiny ATmega328P based board with its own built-in OLED screen. At the moment, the device can tell time, day of the week and temperature, yet Omkar does reveal future plans for games, apps, reminders, an accelerometer, GPS, and perhaps even Bluetooth. We’ll let him tell you all about it himself…
The newest version of the Adafruit GEMMA features an on/off switch and Micro-USB.
We’re not quite sure as to how we missed this bit of news on #WearableWednesday, however if DIY wearable projects are your thing, then perhaps you’d like know about the brand-spanking new Adafruit GEMMA v2.
The latest version — which is essentially identical to its predecessor in terms of aesthetics and code — has swapped out the Mini-B for a Mirco-B USB connector to provide some more on-board space. With all that new room, the GEMMA now is able to welcome the addition of an on/off switch.
For the 1% of you who are not familiar with Adafruit and its versatile lineup of Atmel based body boards, GEMMA is a tiny wearable MCU that packs a whole lot of awesome in a 1-inch (27mm) diameter area. The mini yet powerful platform is powered by an ATtiny85 and is programmable with the Arduino IDE via USB. It also features a 3.3V regulator with 150mA output capability and ultra-low dropout. Beyond that, v2’s ATtiny85 chip package has switched from SOIC to QFN.
“We designed a USB bootloader so you can plug it into any computer and reprogram it over a USB port just like an Arduino (it uses 2 of the 5 I/O pins, leaving you with 3). In fact, we even made some simple modifications to the Arduino IDE so that it works like a mini-FLORA,” the Adafruit team explains.
Ideal for small and simple projects sewn with conductive thread, the [tinyAVR based] GEMMA fits the needs of nearly every entry-level wearable creation — ranging from reading sensors to driving addressable LED pixels.
“We wanted to design a microcontroller board that was small enough to fit into any project, and low cost enough to use without hesitation. Perfect for when you don’t want to give up your Flora and you aren’t willing to take apart the project you worked so hard to design. It’s our lowest-cost sewable controller.”
Aside from the ATtiny85 MCU, other key hardware specs of GEMMA include:
Operating Voltage: 3.3V
Input voltage (recommended): 4-16V via battery port
Digital I/O pins: 3
PWM channels: 2
Analog input channels: 1
Flash memory: 8KB (ATtiny85) of which 2.75KB used by bootloader
SRAM: 512 bytes (ATtiny85)
EEPROM: 512 bytes (ATtiny85)
Clock speed: 8 MHz
Micro-USB for USB bootloader
Interested in learning more? Head over to its official page here. Or, watch Adafruit’s Becky Stern show off the new and improved GEMMA v2 below!
Upgrade your in-home NERF basketball game with this Arduino-powered scorekeeper.
Who could forget the days of playing NERF basketball inside the house? If so, chances are that you also vividly recall the yelling of parents urging you to stop. Nowadays, you may even have a similar hoop the back of your office door — you know, something to keep you occupied during those boring conference calls. Sparking up some of that childhood nostalgia is this latest project from Maker Robbie Frazelle, who recently devised an in-home hoop scorekeeper powered by an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4).
Inspired by an earlier Instructables project, the Maker acquired an indoor hoop and coupled it together with a digital distance sensor, a quad alphanumeric display, a Perma-Proto half-sized breadboard, a USB charger, and most importantly, an Arduino Micro — though he had initially hoped to use an Adafruit Trinket (ATtiny85) — to control the system. These electronics were all housed inside a plexiglass enclosure. Double-sided Loctite tape was used to secure the proto-board to the backboard and placed below the acrylic case. Meanwhile, a dual-AA battery pack was affixed to the back of the hoop, directly behind the proto-board using the same tape.
How the system works is relatively simple. A user shoots the ball. As it makes its way through the net, a distance sensor is triggered and the score is displayed via the Arduino. The entire unit is powered on/off by plugging the USB cable into the Arduino, or from the battery pack side. According to Frazelle, the scorekeeper could run for about three hours before dying, though he does note that a rechargeable USB power stick would be much more efficient.
“This worked on the first test, which was pretty awesome! I was concerned about the net movement giving false readings to the sensor, but I wasn’t able to create an erroneous score even with rim shots and air balls. I give credit to the sensor placement in relation to the holes in the net.”
Be stylish and on time with this AVR based DIY watch.
Flashy watches seem to be a dime a dozen these days. However, there are some wrist-adorned gadgets that catch our eye from time to time. Added to that list is this latest creation from Adafruit’s Phillip Burgess and Lady Ada herself, which really speaks to our inner geekery. Not only does it look great, but the 8×8 bit matrix watch is super comfortable and versatile with its repurposed silicone band. What’s more, you too can make your own with this new DIY kit.
64 LEDs illuminate the display to notify you of the time in a variety of ways, whether that’s in scrolling marquee and binary fashion. There’s also a built-in battery meter letting wearers know how much battery remains. Impressively, the watch packs 1,000 full-time displays out of a coin battery and over a year’s worth of ‘resting’ lifetime, which allows anyone to use this as a daily accessory.
The wearable device is based on an ATmega328P. As the brains of the timepiece, it is tasked with handling both the display and buttons. The board was pre-programmed at the Adafruit factory to have an Arduino-compatible bootloader and their default watch display code.
Aside from the MCU, the entire build includes the following components:
A TIMESQUARE PCB
An 8-pin real time clock chip
32.768KHz Crystal
2 x right angle buttons
20mm coin battery holder
0.1uF ceramic capacitor
1 x 10K resistor
8 x 47 ohm resistor
1.5″ 8×8 matrix
Ready to get started? Head over to Adafruit’s step-by-step tutorial here. Those looking to devise their own watch designs can take comfort in knowing that the watch is completely hackable. If you know how to program Arduino, you’re well on your way.
Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and for many of us, that means dashing around trying to do something special for your significant other. And, while the standard chocolates and flowers may suffice for some, it’s just not cutting it anymore for others. So, what can you do that shows you put some work into it, while not breaking the bank? Make something, of course!
Just in time for February 14th, here are some simple yet creative projects for the geek in your life. Oh, and best of all, most of them are Atmel powered.
Hack a Valentine with the ATtiny85
This isn’t just your usual heart-shaped gadget. In fact, it’s something so much more. HeartThrob is capable of creating beautiful and complex light games, and is powered by an ATtiny85 to make that possible. In terms of software, the gift can be modified according to the specific needs of a user, including duration, vibration detection and number of other functions for those who want to add or remove lighting effects.
Just a ‘littleBit’ of love for those far away
If you’re in a long-distance relationship, here’s a pair of devices that enable you to show each other that you’re thinking of them. Just push the button and the heart will spin on their desk. When they push the button on theirs, the heart will spin on your desk. Thinking of Youwill work across the house, or across the globe, just as long as both littleBits’ modules have an Internet connection.
Give your Charliplexed heart to someone
The Open Heartis a matrix of individually addressable LEDs, which can be controlled by an Arduino or any AVR MCU. It can be used to create a broach or bag light with highly-customizable animations, as well as configured to temporarily attach to fabrics with headers. Or, the heart can even be sewn into a project using conductive thread or wire for a more permanent setup.
Out with paper cards, in with electronic
This year, change up the card giving game by showing your admiration of a loved one with this animated Valentine. This card boasts 16 LEDs mounted onto a flexible circuit board, driven by an ATtiny45. What makes this project completely unique is that the lights can emit a pattern which pulses to the beat of your own heart.
Show your love with this POV display
Nothing says “I love you” like a box of chocolate that says, well, “I love you.” Based on an ATtiny13, this POV display was built out of a heart-shaped box of chocolates programmed to read the message “I ❤ U.” In order to make this possible, the software was written using Arduino IDE.
Collect your Valentines with this robotic box
Have several admirers? This simple box-shaped robot — which is ideal for a young Maker collecting cards from classmates — is equipped with a slot for others to insert their treats. In addition, the project also sounds a sexy whistle, raises its eyebrows and emits some flashing LEDs upon receiving a Valentine. This was achieved through a combination of LEDs, motors, sound and, of course, an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).
Not just your ordinary bouquet of flowers
And when regular flowers just won’t cut it anymore, there’s nothing an Arduino, some RGB LEDs, a proximity sensor and fake bouquet can’t solve.
Count the days spent with your loved one
Does your relationship keep getting better with years? Well, this interactive box will help count the days you’ve spent with your special someone. The project itself uses a four-digit seven segment display installed in the lid of a wooden box, which is driven by an Arduino Mini (ATmega168). Meanwhile, the device pulls time data from the Internet via a pair of RF modules.
Offer a teddy bear with some flair
Using a combination of littleBits components — including a power, pulse and bright LED modules — you can now hack a teddy bear that illuminates a heart that beats.
Light up Valentine’s Day for that special someone
Valentine Love Light isn’t just an ordinary bulb. In fact, it features an animated LED message of “I love you” along with a light bulb, whose filament was replaced with an EL-wire heart. The electronics are battery-powered and operated by a push-on-push-off switch on the back of the enclosure. Last but not least, the device is driven by an ATtiny84.
Wear your beating heart
Thanks to Adafruit, you can literally your heart on your sleeve. This badge, which is based on a FLORA (ATmega32U4), was designed to display a wearer’s heartbeat. The project uses a Polar heart rate sensor which is worn round the ribcage as it wirelessly transmits heart beats to a receiver chip. The accessory can be affixed to an article of clothing, a bag or another sort of fabric, as it is held in place by a magnetic pin back.
Surprise your loved one with an electronic Valentine
When that special someone comes home and turns on the light, the heart will spin and the buzzer will sound at different rates. As the heart casts its shadow over the light sensor, the DC motor will spin slower and the buzzer will change pitch. This project uses LEGOs, brick adapters and base kit bits.
Play a love song with this machine
This Valentine’s Day machine was comprised of a series of solenoid-actuated, controlled by an Arduino, capable of emitting special tunes. Using a web-based form, anyone was able to submit a song — chosen from either several pre-defined love songs or create their own unique arrangement — which was then played to serenade that special someone.
Add a special touch to your Valentine’s Day card
Light up your Valentine’s geeky heart using Adafruit’s 3D-printed AdaBot card, some LEDs and Bare Conductive Electric Paint. This interactive gift allows the recipient to turn the gears on the bot’s heart, which applies pressure to the batteries hidden inside and triggers its blinking LED eyes.
Bonus Gifts!
Dress up your box of chocolates
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you can dress up that boring box of chocolates with some blinking LEDs, made possible through an ATtiny13 programmed with the Arduino IDE. While the mini MCU doesn’t have very many pins, with a bit of Charlieplexing, all 10 LEDs could easily be controlled.
Brighten the day with this LED heart
An ideal last-minute Valentine’s Day gift using some extra components lying around, one can easily create an illuminated heart using a bunch of LEDs, which of course, are driven by an ATmega48.
Skip the fortune tellers
This love machine is for those who may be secretly smitten. Based on an Arduino module (ATmega32U4), the project consists of two littleBits pressure sensors tasked with measuring the strength of a connection between a user and their crush. Simply press one end while holding down the other. The greater the connection it senses, the more that the LEDs will illuminate on the barograph.
Etch your love forever
Do something different this holiday by making a custom RGB LED mixer circuit to edge-light a piece of clear acrylic etched with a message of your choosing. Powered by Arduino, you can adjust the speed of the rainbow cycle, as well as program a mode where the user can manually change values for red, green and blue to get any color they desire. Meanwhile, the enclosure is comprised of a wooden picture box along with a piece of brass plate stock to serve as the control panel.
While we’ve covered a number of Becky Stern’s slick wearable creations in recent months, the timeliness of this one couldn’t be better for our friends in the Northeast as they battle these bitter cold months. Thanks to her latest tutorial, Makers can now easily create their own color-changing NeoPixel hoodie using a soft potentiometer, conductive thread, some tiny LEDs and an Adafruit GEMMA (ATtiny85).
Conductive thread is used to connect the potentiometer to the wearable platform board, which is sewn to the zipper on the front of the sweatshirt. This allows for the use of the drawstring to perform a sliding action. The sensor’s ribbon was divided in half, leaving two pieces: one for the pull tab, the other to slide along.
“The yarn in the sensor has a high resistance that GEMMA can measure with its analog input. The charm moves along its length, changing the amount of yarn connected to the input,” Stern explains.
Stern notes that a Maker could also couple a temperature control action of zipping/unzipping the hoodie with the LED color-changing effect. However, for simplicity sake of the demonstration, she decided to keep them separate.
With a simple Arduino sketch and stitching of the NeoPixels tasked with altering colors, you’re just about ready to go. The code uses the changing value of the slide sensor to adjust the blinking speed of GEMMA’s onboard LED. Slide the sensor and watch the LED blink faster or slower.
Before completing the project, a Maker must cut a small hole in the upper inside edge of the hoodie’s front pocket, and thread through a JST extension wire for the AAA battery pack. Store the batteries inside the pocket, and run the extension cable up through the front facing to plug into GEMMA’s JST port. And, voila!
Don’t feeling like buying a smartwatch or waiting around for Apple’s launch in April? You can make your timepiece instead!
Maker James Chin has recently been working on a new watch, controlled by a Pro Trinket (ATmega328) and a real-time clock. The DIY wearable is equipped with a potentiometer under the OLED screen and a momentary button to control the watch.
“But what I think is the best part is on the right. There are female headers that allow me to connect multiple ‘modules’ to it, like the LED shown in the picture.”
At the moment, the Maker has included a white LED, a black light LED, as well as with a switch along the side that he used to play Pong. Moving ahead, Chin also plans on adding a TV-Be-Gone, an XBee, an accelerometer, and some analog sensors. Sounds pretty awesome to us!
We look forward to seeing future iterations of this build. Great find, Adafruit!
Created by Leah Buechley of MIT, and introduced commercially with SparkFun back in 2007, the LilyPad was the first board to feature sew-through contacts for stitching soft circuits. Since then, a number of “ready-to-wear” electronics platforms have emerged, each of which have helped usher in a new generation of textiles that look to redefine wearable technology. In fact, a recent Gartner report revealed that the emergence smart garments will potentially disrupt the market. So much so that embedded clothing shipments are projected to rise from a mere 0.1 million units in 2014 to 26 million units in 2016.
As first noted by MAKE: Magazine’s Boris Kourtoukov, “there’s a plethora of options” when it comes to these microcontrollers. What’s more, they all possess one common trait: they’re powered by Atmel. These so-called body boards are now giving Makers the ability to easily (and affordably) produce their own projects in ways that otherwise would have been unimaginable.
So, without further ado, here’s a look at some of today’s most prominent boards ready for adornment.
The Favorites
LilyPad Arduino
LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed by Leah Buechley and cooperatively brought to life with SparkFun. Each LilyPad was creatively designed to have large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing. LilyPad can sense information about the environment using inputs like light and temperature sensors and can act on the environment with outputs like LED lights, vibrator motors, and speakers. And yes, they’re even washable.
FLORA is Adafruit’s fully-featured wearable electronics platform. The round, sewable microcontroller weighs in at 4.4 grams and measures only 1.75 inches in diameter. 100% Arduino-compatible, the platform is one of the most beginner-friendly ways to create some amazing wearables. The FLORA family includes an assortment of sensors and RGB LEDs that let you add lighting to your projects, not to mention also boasts built-in USB support, eliminating the need for pesky special cables and extra parts.
Those who are seeking the awesomeness of FLORA but in a tinier package are sure to love another one Adafruit’s wearable platforms: the GEMMA. The board, which packs all of its features in a 1″ diameter package, is programmable with an Arduino IDE over USB. An upcoming Arduino IDE-supported version will feature an on/off switch and microUSB connector.
A brainchild of TinyCircuits, the TinyLily Mini is an Arduino-compatible module in an ultra-compact package. Geared towards Makers looking to devise e-textile and wearable applications, the board is very similar to the Arduino LilyPad, with the same processing power and software compatibility – but at 1/12th of the size. The TinyLily Mini also is equipped with sew tabs for eight I/O (four digital, four analog/digital) and four power sew tabs (two for power, two for ground).
SquareWear is an open-source, wearable board. The Arduino-compatible MCU measures 1.7″x1.7″ in size, and is equipped with a built-in rechargeable Lithium coin battery. It is designed to be sewable, which allows Makers to stich conductive threads through its large pin pads, solder a wire directly onto the pads, or solder snaps onto the pads for quick attachment or detachment from textiles and fabrics. Additionally, the MCU packs an on-board miniUSB port that can be used for programming, charging batteries and serial communication, as well as a color LED, a pushbutton, a buzzer, a light and temperature sensor, and three MOSFETs to drive the high-current load. See, it’s hip to be square!
Seeed Studio’s Xadow is a high-performance, low-power board that is perfectly suited for wearable projects. The microcontroller can be powered either via USB or a Lithium battery. Also, there is charge circuit on this module that you can charge for the Lithium battery through the USB port. Xadow has a diverse selection of compatible modules, including a barometer, UV sensor, LED, OLED and even a full GPS antenna.
Trinket goes to show that big things really can come in small packages. In fact, the tiny MCU is one of the lowest-cost Arduino IDE programmable boards on the market today. Adafruit designed a USB bootloader so Makers could easily plug it into any computer and reprogram it over a USB port just like an Arduino. It comes in two different versions: 3V and 5V. Both work the same, but have different operating logic voltages.
A bigger sibling of the aforementioned board, this 5V unit combines everything you love about Trinket along with the familiarity of the common core found in Arduinos. It’s like an Arduino Pro Mini with more pins along with built-in USB. The Pro Trinket, which still only measures 1.5″ x 0.7″ x 0.2” in size, features 18 GPIO, two extra analog inputs, 28K of flash, as well as 2K of RAM. Like its older brother, the MCU has onboard USB bootloading support and Optiboot support, so Makers can either program their Pro Trinket over USB or with a FTDI cable just like the Pro Mini. (Recently, paying homage to our friends at Hackaday, the Adafruit crew even unveiled a Hackaday.io branded board — black solder mask, Jolly Wrencher and all. And, it’s stunning.)
BITalino is a low-cost, easy-to-use toolkit designed for anyone looking to build self-tracking applications based on information from their body. The platform enables Makers to quickly bring projects entailing body signals and quantified self wearable devices to life, as well as learn how to create actual medical devices — which otherwise can cost upwards of $10,000. BITalino is described by its creators as an out-of-the-box solution that offers an array of Arduino-compatible software and hardware blocks equipped with sensors for electrocardiography (ECG), electromyography (EMG), electrodermal Activity (EDA), accelerometry (ACC), and ambient light (LUX).
Launched by Ynvisible, Printoo is a printed electronics prototyping platform that is capable of bringing everyday objects to life. Comprised of various hardware modules that can all be connected to each other, it is currently the only platform that appears to have a robust flexible form-factor. This enables Makers to quickly and seamlessly create first product concepts for smart wearable devices. Moreover, the board is fully-compatible and programmable with the Arduino IDE.
Introduced by Maker Mohsin Farooq, SuperDuino is a coin cell operated, Arduino-compatible board with a built-in 1.7-inch color display and a three-axis accelerometer. As you can imagine, this makes the MCU a suitable match for a wide-range of DIY games, gadgets and most of all, wearable devices.
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.
Looks like Anna Kendrick isn’t the only one to create something awesome from cups and music.
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually coin-operated, that plays a selection from a self-contained library of tunes. These classic machines typically feature buttons with letters and numbers on them that, when entered in combination, are used to play a specific song. Dating back to the 1940s, they have become a common fixture among diners and video arcades along with another ubiquitous machine, the soda fountain. Now, what if these two were combined? Well, Maker Jae-Hwan Jung has done just that.
For a recent assignment, Jung has devised a soda dispenser-styled jukebox in a project he calls Juice-Box. Programmed with an assortment of musical flavors, users can “dispense” tunes in their own cup-shaped MP3 player. Each dispenser denotes a different genre, such as favorites, jazz, hip-hop, or blues. At the same time, visual feedback of a “filling” playlist is indicated by a series of RGB LEDs. This allows users to tangibly select their desired tunes and offers a more enjoyable downloading experience. Furthermore, just like Dr. Pepper, you can blend various tastes to create new playlists. In Jung’s case, this mixing provides a listener with some R&B.
To bring this idea to life, the Maker equipped the Juice-Box with an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a SparkFun MP3 shield, an Adafruit NeoPixel strip, a Bluetooth module, a mini speaker and a LiPo battery.
