Fifteen-year-old Angad Daryani has developed a number of open source projects in recent years, including an e-reader for the blind, a solar-powered boat, an automated gardening system (Garduino) and Sharkbot, a 3D printer powered by the Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280).
Daryani, who is also the co-founder of Makers Asylum in Mumbai, recently told DNA that he plans on making SharkBot the most affordable 3D printer in India.
“We have designed almost every part ourselves. We will have different models of SharkBot at different prices- but the goal is to sell 3D printers and expose everyone to 3D printing at a very low cost,” he explained. “The logistics and business of Sharkbot will be handled by my dad’s nationwide computer peripherals company – Kunhar Peripherals. We have offices all over the country and thus we are looking at creating a nationwide revolution.”
Daryani also noted that he specifically chose an Arduino Mega to power the SharkBot.
“One needs a lot of I/O pins for a 3D printer. [You] need pins to drive 4-5 stepper motors, 2 mosphets, a graphic lcd, a digital encoder and several other sensors and switches,” he said. “The board we have developed is an all in one, single sided PCB board for 2,000 INR. It’s [specifically designed to] control 3D printers.”
Last, but certainly not least, Daryani emphasized that he will not be only be focusing on the SharkBot, but rather, looking to create a Maker Movement revolution in India.
“Everything that I make, is open sourced so that everyone else can learn how it works or re-make it,” he concluded.
According to James Hobson of HackADay, the current prototype uses a sheet of plastic coated in thermochromic ink – curved on an MDF frame.
“To display digits, Davide created tiny segments of the 7-segment display by wrapping the nichrome wire around pieces of cardboard, which then have been glued to the back of the display,” Hobson explained.
Meanwhile, Davide noted that although the prototype shows a 7-digit display, the detailed build guide can be easily modded to create a small dot-matrix display.
“The working prototype uses a sheet material printed with thermochromic liquid crystal ink,” Davide wrote in an official Design News description.
“It changes color (bright blue) when heated above 27C. Nickel-chrome wire is used to heat the segments and everything is controlled by an Arduino Mega board.”
The DIY curved display was made with 4mm Mdf, cut with a CNC, although this can also be done by hand. In addition, Davide used a 24V DC power supply, converted to 20Vdc with a KIA7820A. A 1000uF capacitor reduces noise on the 24V line, while a 220uF reduces noise on the 20V line. Last, but certainly not least, the Atmel-based Arduino is USB powered from the PC.
An Enigma machine refers to a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used in the twentieth 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.
“The idea of the Maker Faire project came to me when Google dedicated a doodle to Alan Turing. Reading on Wikipedia his story I’ve learned about the Enigma machine. This project was initially realized to be presented as final project of Middle School (junior high – seventh grade). In the first version I used Xbee to transmit and cryptography was just a table substitution,” Lizzit told Zoe Romano of the official Arduino blog.
“I use Linux for everything I do with my computer and I am very grateful to the open source community and to Arduino for making available online for free a huge amount of documentation. I believe that it is important to share your ideas freely and for free so that others like me can learn and so that the opportunities to know, learn and make do not remain available only to those who can spend more.”
An Enigma machine refers to a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used in the twentieth 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.
Recently, the ST-Geotronics crew designed and built a functioning open-source Enigma (M4) replica powered by an Atmel-basedArduino Mega (ATmega1280).
“Rather than try to immediately cram everything into the final enclosure, the ST-Geotronics gang painstakingly worked out a prototype to be sure the four 16-segment LED displays had been wired correctly and functioned properly,” explainedHackADay’s John Marsh.
“The next step was laying out a swarm of buttons and resistors on a 6″x8″ perfboard. They used charlieplexing to handle the 16-segment displays (which actually have 17 LEDs each), and deceptively disguised each display as a nixie tube by mounting them vertically and encasing them in a transparent dome.”
Aside from the Atmel-powered Arduino Mega, key project components include:
26 Alpha Buttons
26 1/4″ Jacks Mono
10 1/4″ Plugs Mono
36 Pushbuttons
1 On/Off/On Switch
4 16Segment Orange
4 Test Tubes
1 Case Plywood
1 Hinge & Hooks
1 Half-Mortise Lock
1 Perfboard
38 Resistors 470 Ohms
40 Resistors 1K Ohms
7IRF9Z24N P-Channel MOSFET1 Piece of Metal & Spray paint
Battery Case
Rechargeable Batteries
Battery Charger/Connectors
Interested in learning more? You can check out the hardware side of things on Instructables, along with the relevant Arduino sketches.
Selaginella lepidophylla is a species of plant in the spikemoss family (Selaginellaceae) native to the Chihuahuan Desert region. Often referred to as the Rose of Jericho, the plant is renowned for its ability to survive almost complete desiccation (extreme dryness), with stems that curl into a tight ball and uncurl when exposed to moisture.
Unfortunately, most of us probably aren’t in a position to drop everything and go for a cruise along the US-Mexican border to visit the plant in its natural habitat. So that is why we are giving props to Italian artist Daniela Di Maro and the Software Architecture Laboratory of Milan for creating “Anastatica sensibile,” an installation dedicated to studying natural processes as a medium for interactivity.
The installation is built around the stalwart Selaginella lepidophylla, with an interactive irrigation system controlled by an Arduino Mega (Atmel ATmega1280) that monitors the number of people visiting the exhibit.
“When the number significantly increases, one plant is randomly selected: the LED of the selected plant blinks for ten seconds,” a post on the Software Architecture Laboratory of Milan explained.
“When a plant has been selected for a certain number of times, the digital system irrigates the plant and its LED is turned on. An irrigated plant is excluded by the selection process for about four days, a time sufficient for the plant to regenerate itself and then to return in the ‘closed’ state because of the absence of water.”
As the official Arduino blog reports, the irrigation system comprises two electronic control units tasked with managing 45 LEDs and 44 electro-valves. Each is governed by an Arduino Mega (Atmel ATmega1280) microcontroller, along with with a customized Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
Say what you will about Tron Legacy, but the movie did boast some pretty slick special effects along with Daft Punk’s rather memorable soundtrack.
So yes, I think we all can agree that the Grid is a pretty chill place, at least as far as virtual reality goes. Of course I’m not sure I’d want to live there like Kevin Flynn, but I’d certainly like to check out the local vibe along with some bars and clubs.
Unfortunately, the Grid, much like Neal Stephenson’s stellar vision of the Metaverse in Snow Crash is probably light years away. But that didn’t stop Alexander Givens and his friend from designing a Tron-style bar that wouldn’t be out of place at the End of Line Club manned by Shaddix the bartender.
According to the folks at Hack A Day, the rather impressive looking bar – which is powered by an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280) and EL shield – began its life as a half bookcase mounted on the wall.
“Givens and his roommate decided to augment its usefulness as a liquor cabinet by building a bar around it. But why stop there? LED Strips and 120 feet of electroluminescent wire give the bar its inner glow,” writes Mike Szczys of Hack A Day.
“The video showing off its synchronization with the music brings it to the next level. The flashing lights and EL wire put on a quite a show that may make the bartenders feel like they’ve already had a few too many.”
The Tron-style bar is controlled by a rudimentary interface located just under the inside lip of the bar. Pretty impressive, eh? Oh, and yes, more pictures are available here.
Color Field describes a style of abstract painting that first emerged in New York City during the 1940s. The style – inspired by European modernism – is closely related to Abstract Expressionism.
Indeed, Color Field paintings typically feature large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas – thereby creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. This allows color to be free from objective context and becomes the subject itself.
Up until now, all notable Color Field painters have (understandably) been human. However, a robotic arm named Neko is about to shake up the status quo. Designed by Laura Lippincott, Neko was brought to life with an Arduino Mega (Atmel ATmega 1280), hobby parts and a 3D printer. The ‘bot is currently being primed with color data in an attempt to make him more creative.
“I hope to give Neko a brain. The thing all Machine Learning algorithms need is lots and lots of data. I can go through text books and online museum archives on my own, but what I want are individual responses for individual colors,” Lippincott explained in Kickstarter blog post.
“Once all the donations are pledged, Neko will begin at the first tier and work his way up. The higher the donation, the more intelligent Neko will be by the time he gets to it. I’ll also work reverse-chronologically, so that earlier donors get the more informed paintings.”
According to Lippincott, robots are actually “natural painters,” as they are patient, immune to toxins and steady handed. Plus, a robot’s ability to process massive amounts of data allow for new insight into patterns of beauty and symbolism.
“I think the emergence of a non-human standard of taste would have a beneficial impact on the art world. I’ve been building painting robots since 2008,” she said. “I take my work slowly and seriously, only considering one small aspect of painting at a time.”
Although Neko first began painting in late 2012, he has already showcased his work at various events in San Francisco and New York.
“In his first iteration, he painted gradients of whatever two site-specific colors I put on his palette. Right now he only knows the pattern of dipping and applying to create a gradient. He’s more like an old-fashioned automaton than a robot,” Lippincott continued.
“[That is why] Neko needs a learning algorithm. He makes paintings for specific people, in a type of portraiture. Right now I’m doing all the data collection for him: interviewing the sitter, reading books on pigments and color symbolism, testing different pigment blends. I’m collecting all my findings in a comprehensive database. Soon, Neko will be able to consult this database and incorporate his own findings.”
Lippincott also noted that she wanted Neko to be capable of both supervised and unsupervised learning.
“I want him to teach me some novel color associations, so I’ll work on a clustering algorithm to go through art history texts and look for frequently paired words and pigments. That’s unsupervised learning. When Neko proposes a color for someone’s portrait, I’ll ask them to supervise his learning by honestly answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when he asks if they like it,” she added.
A hexapod robot is a flexible, mechanical vehicle that navigates on six legs and is often used to try out various biological theories about locomotion, motor control and neuro-biology.
Unfortunately, many basic hexapods can’t sense they’ve reached the edge of a surface without additional, costly hardware. Servos may also burn out when weight is unevenly distributed between legs, while the energy required for servo operation can overload the typical hexapod power supply, causing the host controller to reset or fail.
Enter the Bot-Logic Hexapod, an easy-to-assemble hexapod kit and controller that enables servos to double as sensors, meaning legs and grippers can set and check applied force, allowing the ‘bot to sense surface edges and uneven servo loads.
Key Bot-Logic Hexapod specs include a switching power supply board, integrated SD card interface, on-board 2X16 LCD display, three-axis accelerometer and 12-pin expansion connectors (up to three expansion boards per ‘bot). The Bot Logic crew is also working on a number of modules, including Bluetooth, Gyro, GPS receiver and a basic prototype board.
Currently, the Bot-Logic components are available in various configurations, from basic shield-level scaling up to full kit level. Specifically, an Educational Bot-Logic Shield is priced at $169 and includes a Bot-Logic LEO Shield (control board only) for Arduino UNO and Leonardo. Next up is the Advanced Bot-Logic (DUE) Shield (control board only) with a $239 price tag for Arduino MEGA and DUE.
Meanwhile, basic kit-level backers will receive a package that allows the use of any builder-supplied MG996R-compatible servos and servo mounting hardware, along with the utilization of any battery pack within the specification of the servos selected. A further breakdown is as follows: $269 Basic Quadrapod Kit, which includes injection-molded plastic parts, Bot-Logic LEO shield and Arduino Leonardo. The Basic HexaPod Kit will cost you $359 and is packaged with injection-molded plastic parts, Bot-Logic DUE shield, Arduino Mega 2560.
The final tier is for full kit-level backers, which includes servos, servo mounting hardware and everything else needed except the 6Volt battery pack. Specifically, the Full Kit is priced at $419 and comes with injection-molded plastic parts, servos, Bot-Logic LEO shield, Arduino Leonardo. The Kit4 offers up injection-molded plastic parts, servos, Bot-Logic DUE shield, Arduino Mega 2560.
