Playing the DIY arpeggiator with an Arduino Mega

Designed by Maker Connor Hubeny, the infraHarp is an eight-tone arpeggiator that uses infrared emitters and detectors, Sparkfun’s Musical Instrument Shield and an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280).

The InfraHarp can play in the keys of A, B, C, D, E, F, G in major, minor melodic and harmonic scales, with two octave choices. Additionally, there are a pair of potentiometers that control both the master volume as well as the tempo of the appegiator.

In order to bring this prototype to life, the Maker recommends the following software and hardware:

• Arduino IDE Software
• 1x Arduino Mega 2560 – R3
• 1x Musical Instrument Shield
• 1x Large Breadboard
• 1x Half-Size Breadboard
• 8x Infrared Emitter Detector Pair
• 4x Push Button
• 2x 10k Potentiometer
• 8x 220 ohm Resistor
• 12x 10k ohm Resistor
• Jumper Wires
• 1x 1/8″ input Speakers

When it came to housing his prototype, Hubeny selected this box from Amazon, along with Panel Mounted Pushbuttons and LED Holders from Sparkfun for the casing.

According to the Maker, the code is pretty straight-forward and the project requires just basic soldering skills, which he explains in more detail on his page.

To access the sketch, code and step-by-step tutorial, you can visit the Maker’s official page here.

 

 

Disco is back with this LED coffee table

Apparently disco will never die in the Maker community! Combine the Pixel Drop ceiling we previously showed you with this disco LED coffee table from Instructables and you’ll have the funkiest living room in the neighborhood!

Blair over at Instructables has shared a detailed guide on how to build this hip, customizable LED tabletop. The Maker was in need of new coffee table for her apartment, so in true DIY fashion, turned to her passion of electronics and engineering to create one herself.

She started the project by mocking up a prototype build in CAD. From there, she set out to assemble the frame. Knowing that this table was going to be a centerpiece of the room, Blair built the entirety of the frame in a woodshop. She took plenty of steps to assure the table could withstand daily use.

Next, she began to solder the LED strips that would provide the table’s effects and began to wire them. “Rather than soldering long wires between the strips, I used connectors and cables that I could easily unplug in case something wasn’t working,” she notes.

She proceeded to make the circuit board that would serve as the brains behind the table. Next, the Maker moved on to create the code for the Arduino Mega (ATmega1280) that would provide the dazzling light show. She added a series of diffused plastic dividers to enhance the table’s glow and then began the final assembly.

Once she found her entire contraption was working, she affixed the plexiglass top and sat back to admire her work! If only she had this disco-inspired NeoPixel dress, it could have been a real party!

To build your own Disco LED table, head over to Blair’s comprehensive Instructables guide.

Upgrading a door lock with Arduino Mega

Maker by the name of [HSP] has created an actuator-based locking system to augment his room’s standard lock. Using an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280) and a basic keypad system, this Maker has significantly increased the security of his room with this latest project.

As Hackaday’s James Hobson mentions, the device includes a standard keypad, a 44780 display, as well as a key override “for street cred” as he humorously puts it. The simple locking system is based upon a 12V actuator that was optimized to run off of a mere 7.5V.

After wiring up the device and attaching the keypad, [HSP] furnished a physical housing for his creation out of wood. The Maker notes that this was not a carpentry project and that he “just took some random pieces of wood and made it.”

Once overcoming the initial issues, [HSP] made sure to provide a failsafe for this locking device. He previously learned his lesson by having to climb through his window after he devised and installed “a lock which was locked on power failure, and the machine (Windows) running it, crashed.”

Thus, when the unit lost power he was forced to climb up 7 meters and break into his own room to avoid “trashing” the door. He now claims to, “have a little respect for the possibility of failure, and design my systems for the expected threat-level.”

This new unit’s locking mechanism is, “only locked with power. This is insecurity by design. This is to keep the casual people out.” While this Maker’s project may not keep Fort Knox secure, it surely demonstrates how a creative individual can use these products to upgrade an object as simple as a door lock.

To learn more about [HSP]’s locking device, you can see its entire image gallery here or watch the project in action below.

Arduino powers this autonomous skydiving camera

A team of skydivers and engineers have created an autonomous skydiving robot (camera) powered by an Atmel-based Arduino Mega board.

The Freefall Camera – recently featured on the official Arduino blog – was created by students at the University of Nottingham.

Unsurprisingly, team members David Alatorre, Tom Dryden, Tom Shorten and Peter Storey received third prize at the Student Venture Challenge from the Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for their innovative free fall camera.

For the uninitiated, the Arduino Mega is built around Atmel’s ATmega1280 microcontroller (MCU).

The board boasts 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button.

Essentially, the Mega contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Mega is compatible with most shields designed for the Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila.

Video: 3D printing houses in Minnesota

Andrey Rudenko is developing a 3D cement printer capable of printing medium-sized homes with concrete insulated walls.

The printer – powered by an Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280 MCU) – is built to withstand real-world conditions.

“The next generation is currently in development and will be able to print homes on mountainous/hilly terrain, where traditional construction is more challenging,” Rudenko explained. 

”I’m looking to collaborate with fellow architects, designers, builders and interested individuals worldwide, including students in these respective fields. I’m open to suggestions, discussions and new ideas. ”

It should be noted that Rudenko’s 3D cement printer was recently featured on Engadget by Daniel Cooper, who writes:

“In order to make [the 3D printer] affordable to more than just a select few, the creator is using a cheap cement-and-sand mix, which is layered out 20mm at a time, holding its shape long enough for an operator to add-in some steel reinforcement before it hardens… Rudeno is planning to make a splash with the tech later in the summer, as he’s working on building both a small playhouse to test out the concept, before finding a plot of land upon which we can cook up a full two-story house.”

Video: Tangible Orchestra plays for the masses

Tangible Orchestra – which was recently featured on the official Arduino blog – combines electronic and classical music in a three-dimensional space.

 Designed by Rebecca Gischel and Sebastian Walter, the installation is equipped with 112 ultrasonic sensors controlled by a single Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280 MCU).

“Human interaction within Tangible Orchestra is made possible by 16 ultrasonic sensors on the inside of each cylinder, granting a 360 degree field of view. The sensors are run by one integrated microprocessor per cylinder, evaluating and comparing the readings of all sensors making very accurate assessments,” Gischel and Walker explained.

“To avoid interference between ultra sonic waves of different cylinders, the microprocessors run consecutively rather than simultaneously. All microprocessors are controlled, assessed and coordinated by one Arduino Mega.”

On the software side, Processing is used to communicate with Arduino and the microprocessors in each cylinder.

“It is programmed to coordinate the microprocessors, so that their sensors cast their rays consecutively as with 112 ultrasonic sensors operating at the same time, there would be a substantial risk of interference and acoustic shadow misreading. It also assesses the data coming from Arduino and, after verification, generates the output,” the duo continued.

“If a person detected within the bubble of a cylinder, Processing receives the digital information as an input from Arduino and stops muting the respective instrument which then joins into the melody. Processing also reads the values of each instrumental track to calculate the digital signals for the LEDs and controls the LED stripes inside of the cylinder.”

According to Gischel and Walter, each instrument is played by a separate speaker located in the base of each cylinder – with multiple sound outputs enabled via several external sound cards paired with the minim library by Damien Di Fede.

“When an instrument plays, the beats of the audible track are analyzed and consequently values are calculated to create an equalizer-like light beam,” the two concluded.

”The outcome is transferred via Arduino to a transformer, which converts the 5V Arduino signal into an 230V output operating 192 LEDs per cylinder. Another transformer converts 5V Arduino signals into 12V output powering LED stripes inside of each cylinder as soon as they are activated.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the the project’s official page here.

Arduino Mega drives this Roboartist

A trio of Makers – Niazangels, Maxarjun and Ashwin – have designed a particularly impressive Arduino-based vector drawing robot.

According to HackADay’s Mike Szcys, the most notable feature of the build is the robot’s ability to process what it “sees” via a standard webcam and subsequently sketch an accurate image with a pen and paper.

“The arm itself has four stages and remarkably little slop. The remaining slight wiggle is just enough to make the images seem as if they were not printed to perfection and we like that effect,” he explained.

“The hardware uses an [Atmel-based] Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) to take input via USB or Bluetooth and drives the quartet of servo motors accordingly.”

The Roboartist runs a modded version of the Canny Edge Detector to precisely determine where to place the pen strokes. Currently, MATLAB is included in the software, although Szcys confirms the trio of Makers plan to move towards alternative open source tools in the future.

“In addition to the LEDs you can see around the perimeter of the acrylic drawing surface, there are also rows of RGB strips below,” he said.

“The software runs a filter for the under lighting in order to compliment the lines on the paper. This is why there is a violet hue that fades out toward one side of the drawing.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official HackADay page here.

Crowdfunding the Open Enigma Project

An Enigma machine refers to a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used in the 20th century for enciphering and deciphering secret messages.

The original Enigma was invented by the German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I. According to Wikipedia, early models were used commercially from the early 1920s, although they were later adopted by a number of militaries and governments around the world.

Designed by the ST-Geotronics crew, the Open Enigma (M4) Project – powered by an Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280) – first surfaced towards the end of 2013.

The project, which only recently hit Kickstarter, has already managed to exceed its original crowdfunding goal of $20,000. Stretch goals are now in effect, allowing the ST-Geotronics team to focus on delivering Enigma software enhancements (M3 emulation, Telex behavior, Cloud connectivity) and a new hardware version that uses the physical Plugboard.

“Even in today’s world of fast computers that can encrypt at exceptional levels like 68 bits, 128 bits, 256 bits, etc used for WEP, WPA, or even AES, the Enigma still offers decent and capable encryption capabilities. Any three of the 8 numbered rotors can be placed in any of the three positions on the shaft,” an ST-Geotronics rep explained on the project’s official Kickstarter page.

“There are 8x7x6 = 336 possible sequences of 3 rotors [and] 26 possible internal settings on each of the three rotors. This gives 26 to the third power = (17,576) possible settings. There are 26 possible external settings for each of the three rotors. This gives 26 to the third power = (17,576) possible settings. There are anywhere from 0 to 10 plug wires which can be inserted into any of the 26 sockets, [offering] roughly 532,985,208,200,576 possible settings. Combining these possibilities give us a total of 26,672,901,348,424,004,787,290,112 or about 10 to the 26 power possible starting settings.”

ST-Geotronics says it is committed to producing a goal of 100 units by hand, before shifting to less expensive factory manufactured units.

Interested in learning more? You can check out our original write up on Bits & Pieces here and the project’s official Kickstarter page here.

Video: Mega + Uno drives this 8X8X8 cube invader

Anred Zynch recently debuted a massively slick 8x8x8 LED cube — configured as a Space Invaders style game with a Playstation 1 controller.

According to Hackaday’s James Hobson, the cube is powered by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) which is tasked with driving the 512-LED array. 

Meanwhile, an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) is responsible for generating sound effects during gameplay.

Aside from the two Atmel based Arduino boards, key cube components include:

• 512x LEDs
• 10x Silver plated wire 0.8mm for sinkers and LED grid
• 2x Breadboard 160×100 H25PR160 (sinkers)
• 1x 100 Ohm resistor
• 1x Speaker 8 Ohm
• 2x resistor between 1,5 K and 47 K
• 1x switch 2 or 3-positions
• 1x or 2x 10K ohm resistor

Zynch’s cube — recently surfaced on Instructables — was reportedly inspired by a number of cube projects, including Chr’s and yes, the Borg cube by Das-Labour.

Interested in learning more? You can find additional information, along with a full parts breakdown on the project’s official page here.

LEWE is an open source biometric wristband

LEWE – an open source biometric wristband – is built around the Atmel-powered Arduino Mega board (ATmega1280) and a number of shields, including Bluetooth, RTC and color LCD.

According to Boris Landoni of OpenElectronics, the goal of Project LEWE is to leverage available tech and create a low cost platform using sensors for data collection.

“Clearly this version is quite hulking, but we wanted to explain how to make the [platform],” said Landoni.

“[Ultimately, everything can be] integrated into a single board or two, in a more compact fashion that can be worn thanks to a special container with a wristband.”

The current iteration of the LEWE prototype currently supports at least five functions, including:

• Measuring body temperature and sweat rate
• Local display of recorded data
• Relaying information to a smartphone app
• Sending and storing data to the cloud
• Organizing data in graph form for analysis

On the app side, LEWE is designed to communicates with an Android smartphone.

“The app consists of a main activity, in which the last data received from the wristband are shown, [along with] a secondary activity that displays the diagram containing all the data,” Landoni added.

“By clicking the icon of the gear, you can enter the app settings [to] connect and configure the cloud access information.”

Interested in learning more about LEWE? You can check out additional information on OpenElectronics here.