Seeeduino Cloud is an Arduino Yún-compatible Wi-Fi board

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This new MCU is built around the Dragino HE IoT module and the ATmega32U4.

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Adafruit has announced the arrival of the Seeeduino Cloud, an Arduino Yún-compatible MCU based on the ATmega32U4 and Dragino HE IoT module.

The board features both built-in Ethernet and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi support, as well as USB-A port that makes it perfect for prototype designs requiring network connection and mass storage. The HE — which means “core” in Chinese — is a minimal system installed with OpenWrt.

The 802.11 b/g/n-capable MCU boasts a rich interface with Ethernet, USB, UART and plenty of GPIO pins, which offers compatibility with Grove shields. Makers can even use the Seeeduino Cloud as an IoT gateway.

Similar to the Arduino Yún, the Seeeduino Cloud eases the interface between Arduino firmware and complex web services. Makers can use the Yún Bridge library which delegates all network connections and processing of HTTP transactions to the Linux machine.

“Historically, interfacing Arduino with complex web services has been quite a challenge due to the limited memory available. Web services tend to use verbose text based formats like XML that require quite a lot of RAM to parse,” Adafruit explains.

What’s more, the Seeeduino Cloud can be programmed with Arduino IDE via a USB cable or over the Wi-Fi connection without the need to physically access the board. Interested? Head over to Adafruit to get your hands on one today, or delve deeper into the Cloud’s specs on Seeed Studio’s Wiki page.

An Internet-connected, voice-controlled robotic bartender

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One Maker has built his own Internet-connected, voice-controlled robotic bartender with Arduino. 

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If you enjoy mixed drinks, but would rather not have to think about mixing them correctly, a robotic assistant could be quite helpful. Tony Marsico has had a vision of this kind of assistant since he got out of college, and finally got around to building it as his first Arduino-based project.

After some initial testing of how his peristaltic pumps worked on an Uno (ATmega328), Marsico attached five of them to a wooden frame, as well as an Aduino Yún (ATmega32U4) to control everything. A transistor array switched by outputs from Yún the drives the pumps.

The Yún is a little more expensive than some of the other Atmel-based boards on the market, but its built-in Wi-Fi capability made it quite conducive to connecting the device to the Internet. To allow for voice control, he used an Amazon Echo. This control scheme explained around 1:20 in the video below with a nice whitboard illustration. As he puts it, his device is an “Arduino-powered, voice-controlled, Internet-connected, electronic bartender.”

Possible future upgrades include an expanded ingredient capacity, as well as a website for the device that would include a BAC (blood alcohol content) leaderboard. This kind of information could be useful as an estimate, but it’s unlikely that a police officer would listen to any excuse involving the words, “My robot said it was OK.” Seriously, please robo-drink (and normal drink) responsibly!

For another interesting Arduino-Amazon Echo collaboration, be sure to check out this voice controlled wheelchair.

Protect your things with this picture-taking alarm

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This Maker built a simple, Wi-Fi-enabled alarm system with Arduino. 

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For those of you tired of your roommate using your things, colleagues taking snacks from your cubicle or classmates stealing stuff from your locker, Stefano Guglielmetti has come up with the perfect solution. That’s because the Maker has developed an Arduino-based alarm system, aptly dubbed You Can’t Touch This! 

With an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) at its core, the system is comprised of a PIR sensor, a camera, speakers, a microSD card and an optional USB hub. The idea is pretty straightforward: You discreetly place the device around whatever it is that you’d like to monitor. When movement is detected, the alarm will emit a siren and then proceed to take a picture and email it to you. What’s more, you can shame the thief by automatically posting their photo to friends on Facebook or Twitter via a simple IFTTT recipe.

Even better, the entire project is made up of only a handful of steps. These include configuring the Arduino, installing the camera and sound card, snapping a test pic, running an email script, building the circuit and finally uploading the Sketch to the Yún. Lucky for you, Guglielmetti has shared the entire process on MAKE:, including its code and schematics.

Let’s just say, install this alarm in your room, apartment or cubicle, and no one will take your belongings again.

This dress can sense its surrounding environment

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Talk about a fashion sense! This smart dress measures the aggressiveness of the environment to analyze how it affects the mood and behavior of individuals.

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According to co-creator Marìa Castellanos’ website, her custom dress is “equipped with sensors to analyze questions such as variations in noise, temperature, atmospheric pressure, ultraviolet radiation or the amount of carbon monoxide present in our daily life. All this information will be transferred, via Bluetooth or open Wi-Fi networks, to a mobile phone connected to the Internet and it will generate a big database set up with the geolocated references collected.”

This may see like a lofty goal for Castellanos and fellow co-creator Alberto Valverde, but a very good prototype has already been made as seen in the video below featuring model Irene Arroyo in this futuristic (Matrix-esque even) ensemble. Giving this project further credence, the dress was the winning project for Next Things 2015 – Conducta, a Spainish art and technology challenge.

To accomplish environmental monitoring, sensor modules with 3D-printed housings take environmental data and displays this in other modules via an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4). Interestingly, some of these modules use LED lights to interact with humans, while others use a servo to spin a dial in a clock-like display.

Intrigued? You can head over to the project’s page more information to learn more. The site is in Spanish, so depending on your linguistics skills, you may have to dust off your high school Español or use Google Translate to do the heavy lifting for you!

[h/t Adafruit]

Get tomorrow’s forecast with this weather icon display

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This Maker built a neat wall-mounted weather display that gets the current conditions and forecast from the Internet, and then reveals it as colorful icons.

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While we’ve seen plenty of word clocks in recent months, Jason Rolfe decided to do something a little different. Taking inspiration from these nifty projects, the Wyoming-based Maker has created a neat wall-mounted display that doesn’t reveal the time, but the two-day forecast instead.

Similar to how word clocks spell out the hour and minutes, this installation works by illuminating the high and low temperatures, the likelihood of precipitation and even the projected snowfall, along with a corresponding weather image. An Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) pulls data from the Weather Underground API while a sketch displays an icon (such as a sun or a cloud) based on the conditions. The unit shifts between forecasts for today, now, tomorrow and tonight at 15 second intervals.

Rolfe implemented a 10×10 grid of 100 addressable LEDs, which shine through the device’s laser-cut acrylic faceplate. The electronics are all housed inside a handmade wooden frame with a colonial style moulding.

So how does it work exactly? In the example below, the weather for today would be a high of 45°F with a 60% chance of snow. If any significant accumulation was expected, it would be indicated by either trace, 2″-3″, 4″-6” or 6+”. Who needs the Weather Channel, right? Check out the Maker’s entire project here.

Parse for IoT launches four new SDKs

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Parse for IoT has expanded its SDK lineup with four new kits built with Atmel and other industry leaders.

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The Internet of Things is one of the most exciting new platforms for app development, especially as more and more people interact with connected devices every day. But it also poses a host of challenges for developers, as they must wrestle with the complex task of maintaining a backend with a whole new set of constraints. Many IoT devices also need to be personalized and paired with a mobile companion app. Cognizant of this, the Parse team is striving to make it simpler.

At F8 this year, Parse for IoT was announced — an official new line of SDKs for connected devices, starting with an SDK targeted for the Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4). Now, Parse has shared that they are expanding their lineup with four new SDKs built with Atmel, Broadcom, Intel and TI. This will make it easier than ever to use Parse with more types of hardware and a broader range of connected devices. For example, you can build an app for the Atmel | SMART SAM D21 and WINC1500 — and connect it to the Parse cloud in minutes, with nothing more than a few lines of code.

“We’ve been excited to see the creative and innovative things our developer community has built since we first launched Parse for IoT at F8. Already, hundreds of apps for connected devices have been created with the new SDKs,” explains Parse software engineer Damian Kowalewski. “Our tools have been used to build exciting and diverse products like a farm-to-table growing system that lets farmers remotely control their equipment with an app (Freight Farms); a smart wireless HiFi system that syncs music, lighting and more (Musaic); and even a smart BBQ smoker that can sense when meat is perfectly done (Trignis). Here at Parse, we had fun building a connected car and a one-click order button. And we’ve heard that our SDKs are even being used as teaching tools in several college courses.”

As to what’s ahead, this lies in the hands and minds of Makers. From a garage hacker’s weekend project to a production-ready connected product, manufactured at scale — Parse can power them all. Ready to get started? You can download the new SDKs and access QuickStart guides here.

Irrighino is a fully-customizable, Arduino-based watering system

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Irrigation + Arduino = Irrighino!

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As the Internet of Things continues to blossom, there will surely be more and more ways for you to water your lawn and gardens. Whereas some commercial units can set you back thousands of dollars, Makers like Luca Dentella are finding much more affordable and just as effective solutions with the help of low-cost hardware.

Meet Irrighino, a complete watering system based on the mighty Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) along with some other off-the-shelf components. The main features of the DIY irrigation platform include a configurable number of solenoid valves, an AJAX web interface, a weekly schedule, and manual activation/deactivation.

In terms of hardware, the Yún is connected to the switch panel (with three physical switches and status LEDs), a rain sensor and a relay shield to control the solenoid valves. The Arduino also links to your home’s Wi-Fi network, allowing you to open its web-based interface on a mobile device or PC.

The drag-and-drop, Excel-like interface is divided into three tabs: ‘runtime’ to manage the system, ’setup’ to configure the scheduling, and ‘events’ to view system logs. While scheduling the Irrighino is just as easy as putting appointments into your Outlook calendar, it is possible to manually command the water solenoids as well.

“I put the Yún in a plastic enclosure for DIN rails (6 units). When closed, I noticed that the Wi-Fi signal strength was very poor… I therefore decided to add an USB Wi-Fi adapter with an external antenna,” Dentella explains. “I mounted the antenna outside the enclosure and connected it to the adapter with an RP SMA male to female cable.”

A relay module is mounted to a dedicated box, while Irrighino’s power is supplied by a pair of transformers — a  5V for the electronic circuitry and a 24V for the solenoid valves. The two transformers along with the main switch are located in different DIN rail enclosures.

As for outside in the lawn, the watering system itself is divided into zones, each one paired to a solenoid valve. What’s more, a commercial rain sensor acts as a switch surrounded by a spongy material. When this material absorbs the rain, it begins to expand and triggers the switch. The Arduino sees the sensor as a simple digital input.

The software behind Irrighino is broken down into three elements: the web interface (based jQuery, jQuery DataTables and jQuery WeekCalendar), the backend subsystem (based on PHP and SQLite) and the sketch running on the ATmega32U4. Dentella has made all of the code available on GitHub, and provides a detailed explanation of how to install, configure and customize the

Intrigued? Check out the Maker’s entire project here.

Creating a Siri clone with an Arduino Yún

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An Arduino Yún can act just like Siri, allowing users to ask it a question and get an audio response.

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Over the years, voice control applications have risen in popularity with programs like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and “OK Google” revolutionizing the way in which people interact with their mobile devices. With this in mind, Maker Bob Hammell decided to recreate the capabilities of Apple’s intelligent personal assistant using an Arduino.

An Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) was chosen to mimic Siri, enabling users to ask it a question and to receive an audio response moments later. A Proto Shield with a pushbutton sits on top of the Internet-connected Arduino, while an audio interface plugged into the Yún’s USB socket is attached to a microphone and a battery-powered speaker.

Whenever the circuit’s pushbutton is pressed, the Arduino sketch running on the ATmega32U4 launches a Python script on the Atheros AR9331, which emits a tone promoting a user’s question. The inquiry is recorded through the microphone and saved as a WAV file. From there, the file is translated to text using AT&T’s Speech to Text API. This then gets passed into the WolframAlpha computational knowledge engine using the Temboo library, and upon receiving a response, calls another Linux command to share the answer through the speaker.

Interested? You can find out more about the project, including its source code and sketches, on the Maker’s detailed page here. Or, simply watch it in action below.

Hicosy lets you take control of your smart energy consumption

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This open source, end-to-end platform helps you keep tabs on your solar energy use.

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Have you ever wondered about the efficiency of your solar panels or just how much energy was being consumed inside your home? Luckily, there’s an open source monitor that can now provide an answer to those questions. Simply plug Hicosy into your photovoltaic system and smart meter, and immediately begin receiving real-time information and alerts.

Driven by an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4), Hicosy comes in two different versions: one for data transmission over WiFi, the other using a cellular network. Each kit is comprised of a custom board, a microSD card, an Arduino GSM shield and some cables and accessories, all housed inside a specially-designed enclosure.

The kits work by connecting to the inverter, as well as either a HAN via Wi-Fi/Ethernet or a GSM network. From there, Hicosy is able to continuously collect energy production data such as voltage and current, and the status of your plant including warning messages, rate comparison and estimated gross revenue.

Acquired information is then transmitted to secure cloud application where it stored for personal monitoring using the web-based dashboard or mobile app. This allows anyone, ranging from homeowners to facility operators, to easily manage their energy activity and immediately receive push-notifications should something go wrong.

Interested? Head over to Hicosy’s Indiegogo page, where the team is currently seeking $85,000. Units are expected to begin shipping in December 2015.

This beacon shirt lights up whenever it detects nearby devices

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This wearable beacon may look like any other t-shirt, but is able to detect nearby devices.

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As a Masters student at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, Matt Martin was curious about technology and the impact it had on society, particularly wearables. In his exploration of the topic, he decided to wear an embedded shirt around the city of Auckland in search of digital devices. Whenever one was detected, the tee would emit light effects to bring awareness of concealed gadgets in public spaces.

“The result attempts to provoke questions into how we see this technology behaving with people. It is not focused on its literal function, but how it functions at getting a response and direction out of people who see it in action,” the Maker explains.

In order to bring the project he calls Wearable Beacon to life, hundreds of LEDs — 1,056 to be exact — were hand sewn onto the shirt along with the combination of an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) and a Bluetooth module responsible for sensing the devices throughout a surrounding area. Beyond that, it is powered by a pair of LiPo batteries (a 9V and 5V). 

Just like the human nervous system, which sends signals to the brain, wearables are capable of working in similar fashion (no pun intended). Cognizant of this, the Wearable Beacon was designed to simulate its own electrical nervous system for the public to see and ultimately spark a reaction.

“I would say most people were curious as to how it was working and would either approach me or discuss among themselves about it,” Martin tells our friends at Adafruit. “Really it was just great to see people look away from their phones for a few seconds, although I am not used to that sort of attention!”

Marshall McLuhan once said, “The wheel is an extension of the foot, the book is an extension of the eye, clothing an extension of the skin, electric circuitry an extension of the central nervous system.” And as Martin’s endeavor demonstrates, wearables can not only work like the nervous system, but can also become a discreet part of the body — hidden to the world around you.