MIT is developing shape-shifting interfaces

---

Thanks to MIT’s Tangible Media Group, interfaces that bend, hinge and curl will soon be a reality. 

---

Imagine if your iPad case automatically lifted up each time you received a message, or your Post-It notes folded down as you checked an item off your to-do list. Well, that may soon be a reality thanks to a team from MIT’s Tangible Media Group who has unveiled a technology for the rapid digital fabrication of customized thin-film shape-changing interfaces.

By combining the thermoelectric characteristics of copper with thermally sensitive polyethylene, the researchers were able to actuate the shape of the flexible circuit composites directly. The development of UniMorph can be broken down into a few steps, which begins with designing a digital model of the pattern in CadSoft EAGLE or Adobe Illustrator and then fabricating the structure using a standard printer, copper etching, hydrogen peroxide and hyrdochloric acid — the entire process is explained in great detail here.

The base of the interface is made up of two thin layers of material: Kapton on top, plastic polyethylene on the bottom. When these are heated up either using a third layer of copper conduits or exposure to light, they expand at different rates. This will cause the bottom layer to pull up the edges of the top, thereby creating a curling effect.

Passive actuation can leverage access heat, like that given off from a lightbulb or the sun, to create simple shape transformations. Meanwhile, more complex and active shape-actuation can be achieved by designing resistive heating patterns into a flexible circuit. The uniMorph composite also allows for the embedding of additional electronics such as sensors, LEDs and MCUs.

Not only can the film bend, curl, twist and open like a flower, but uniMorph’s unique capabilities unlock the potential for things like the aforementioned smart Post-It notes and iPad covers, as well as responsive bookmark/reading lights that bend into place as you navigate the page.

According to Creative Applications, the listed examples each run on custom Arduino-compatible boards, and in some cases, the flexible circuits are produced in such a way that the ATmega328P can be soldered right on top. Intrigued? You can read all about the project in its paper here, or simply check out its video below.

This artist turns celebrity tweets into psychedelic art

---

With the help of Arduino and LEDs, this Maker combines analog and digital tech to convert tweets into vibrant light shows. 

---

Today, it seems like just about every celebrity has a Twitter account. Whenever big names like Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus send out a post, not only do they receive thousands of retweets, they become an instant trending topic. Interestingly enough, artist Lori Hepner has taken their updates one step further by photographing them. Wait, what? You heard that correctly, she transforms their 140-character rants into psychedelic images.

@KimKardashian 4:06 PM – 1 Sep 2015
September Selfie Cover of @interviewmag #InterviewGang

As part of a series she calls Status Symbols, the Maker combines analog and digital tech to convert the tweets into an actual physical object, which she then photographs to create vibrant, circular shapes. Hepner’s Twitter portraits can best be described as a visual manifestation of celebrities’ fragmented thoughts — an exploration that recognizes the online musings of cultural icons and ultimately studies identity in the era of social media.

The idea for such an eccentric project came about nearly six years ago, after obtaining her first Arduino board and programming it to make eight spinning LEDs flash based on the binary code within a tweet. According to WIRED, a hashtag is red, the @ symbol is orange and quotes are purple. Every word becomes a random color in the light show. From there, Hepner uses a medium format camera to capture long exposures.

“I wanted to leave some of it to chance, but the patterns of language and the inherent patterns of the binary code come through. In my brain, I saw them as circular and presented in a way that you can’t undo the code, you can’t extract it,” the artist tells the magazine.

Intrigued? You can browse through her entire portfolio of Twitter portraits here. You’d be surprised. Even some of the most mundane, accidental pocket tweets translate into beautiful imagery… Right, Lady Gaga?

[h/t WIRED]

Rewind: Atmel @ World Maker Faire 2015

---

Maker Faire New York, Maker Faire New York — a show (and tell) so good we had to say it twice.

---

Ah, Maker Faire. The only place that can you find everything from a 30-foot-tall, flame-throwing robot and a life-sized game of Mousetrap to a pancake printing machine and a floating head choir that sings when you press their keys.

Over the weekend of September 26th and 27th, tinkerers, modders and hackers of all ages flocked a jam-packed Atmel booth housed inside the always popular Maker Pavilion. There, we showcased a number of gizmos and gadgets that have successfully made its way “From the MakerSpace to the MarketPlace.” Meaning, this particular batch of startups have demonstrated what it takes to bring an idea from mere prototype to full-blown product, many by way of crowdfunding. Among those on display included the Kickstarter sensation and wrist-friendly Keyboardio, the credit-card sized gaming system Arduboy, 14-year-old Quin Etnyre and his Qduino Mini, former Pixar engineer Erin Thompson’s Modulo boards, Microduino’s super LEGO-like modules, and Zippy Robotics’ soon-to-launch Prometheus PCB milling machine. Oh, and who could forget big names like Bosch, Arduino and the one-and-only Massimo Banzi, too?

When it came to projects driven by our mighty AVR and Atmel | SMART MCUs, it didn’t stop at our booth either. In fact, countless others throughout the fairegrounds proudly showed off their embedded creations, with some of them even paying a special visit to our tent like PancakeBot, Zymbit, Dr.Duino and eight-year-old CEO Omkar Govil-Nair with his Arduino-based O Watch, to name just a few. On top of all that, several Atmel team members — Bob Martin, Henrik Flodell, Sander Arts and Artie Beavis — took the World Maker Faire stage to talk prototyping, Arduino, debugging, STEM and how to take your product mainstream.

So with another incredible event in the books, let’s take one last look back before flipping the page to Rome!

Napz is a biohacking device that lets you control your dreams

---

This wearable mask wants to make lucid dreams accessible to everyone. 

---

For many of us, getting a full night’s of shut-eye is quite the challenge. Between stress, late nights at the office, the kids or simply finding yourself unable to doze off makes getting the desired six to eight hours of sleep nearly impossible. But what if there was a wearable device that could help you get the most of out your limited time catching z’s?

That’s the idea behind Napz — an electronic, biohacking sleep mask designed to not only help you hit the hay but to induce a state of lucid dreams as well. This is the state where sleepers are aware that they are, in fact, dreaming and can control many elements of what happens during their nocturnal experience.

Developed by COCOLAB robotic engineer Octavio Martinez García, the prototype is meant to measure REM using LED lights that shine through the eyelids to stimulate you and bring you to the brink of consciousness where you can actually become mindful of the actions in your sleep. The wearable itself is comprised of infrared sensors, Adafruit NePixels and an Arduino Lilypad (ATmega328) for its brain.

“Napz is a wearable device intended to schedule lucid dreams and thus produce actual rest and better patterns of REM sleep. Its interface allows the programming, design, and analysis of dreams. As everybody is different the device needs to be calibrated to each individual,” Garcia explains.

Dream manipulation is a method commonly used to assist those who suffer insomnia, severe nightmares, PTSD and other sleep disorders. The idea is that, with Napz, users will be able to access controlled dreams much quicker and without the many hours of training typically required.

Napz was recently showcased at V&A’s Digital Design Weekend.

[Images: British Council Creative Economy]

Arduino-powered nail art is now a thing

---

These embedded nail extensions can help someone with behavior modification and programmed reminders.

---

“Getting your nails done” once was a ritual that determined a person’s social status, which through the years has evolved into a form of expression and aesthetic enhancement. Today, a vast majority of women go to the salon every few weeks or so to change their nail design. And that’s not all that has changed, the options available have grown quite extensively, not just in terms of colors but materials as well. But it looks like acrylics and gel overlays are so 2014.

That’s because Jenny Rodenhouse and Kristina Ortega have discovered that these temporary extensions make for an interesting canvas to tinker with tiny electronics. Combining the context of salon culture with the popularity of nail art, the Maker duo designed a set of touch augmentation nail extensions and a next-generational sensor parlor to go along with it.

The aptly named Sensor Salon is a project that proposes a new service model for the making and customizing of wearable devices. Inspired by the nail culture, manicure process and DIY lab business models, both Rodenhouse and Ortega imagine a physical sensor shop that allows patrons to explore new services that support the growing population of body-adorned technology. People will be given the ability to personalize and modify their wearables as they please, from how it behaves to how it appears, with the help of trained technicians. Ideally, this hypothetical pop-up shop would feature a manicurist, a designer and a development team to handle the coding of the sensors.

Customized interactions and personalized behaviors embedded onto the nail can take on complex roles depending on the needs of the user and the expertise of the salon’s staff. Not to mention, 10 different fingers means 10 different possibilities!

These sensor-laden attachments will be capable of providing biofeedback, monitoring health and fitness, assisting with behavior modification and performing programmed reminders, among various other use cases. For example, these add-ons can buzz the fingertip of a smoker trying to kick the habit each time they reach for a cigarette. This would be achieved using two XBee modules — one placed on the pack of cigarettes, another attached to the user. If the two microcontrollers come within a predefined distance of each other, the wearer would then receive instant vibration feedback to their nailbed.

Throughout the process, the creators experimented with various forms and sensors using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328). Based on their prototypes, Rodenhouse and Ortega finally arrived at five different extensions capable of augmenting a person’s touch and behavior. These included the combinations of an LED and piezo buzzer, a flex sensor and vibration motor, an Xbee/distance sensor and vibration motor, an Xbee/distance sensor and audio module, as well as video and audio modules.

As you would expect, the pair has already received some unique requests. So far, they have incorporated flex sensors and 3D-printed breadboards shaped like cats with LEDs and a nano pixel embedded into the designs. The idea for the project was originally conceived out of an Art Center’s Media Design Practices course called Wearable Ecologies, which examined the possibilities and challenges of wearables.

Interested? Head over to the Sensor Salon’s official page to learn more, or just watch the video below!

Clara is a smart lamp that helps you stay focused

---

Working on a project? Cramming for an exam? This brain-sensing, environment-augmenting lamp uses EEG technology to tell how focused your are and block out distractions. 

---

We’ve all been there: It’s late at night, you’re cramming for an exam when suddenly you’re interrupted by the simplest thing. How cool would it be to have a desktop accessory that could give you a kick in the right direction and increase your intensity as you try to finish your studying? Thanks to a group of Makers from the School of Visual Arts, that will soon be a reality.

The brainchild of developers Mejía Cobo, Belen Tenorio, and Josh Sucher, Clara is a brain-sensing lamp that employs EEG technology to tell how focus you are at a task at hand. Embedded with speaker and LEDs, the scene-augmenting device is capable of responding to changes in brainwaves, then reacting to your level of concentration by increasing the ambient music and shifting the light levels.

To bring this idea to fruition, the team used the combination of an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), an MP3 shield, several Adafruit NeoPixels, a SparkFun Bluetooth modem and a Neurosky MindWave Mobile EEG headset to wirelessly measure your “attention” and map the lamp’s color temperature, thereby subtly altering your environment.

As you begin homing in on a specific idea, the light will become crisper and cooler as the volume of the ambient noise emitted from the speaker slowly rises. This helps to enhance your ninja-like focus and block out other distractions.

“The basic structure of the Arduino code is straightforward. The NeoPixel strip is instantiated, then the Music Maker shield is instantiated, then we take advantage of interrupts to listen for, receive and act on Bluetooth serial data while the music is playing,” its creators reveal. “When the MindWave detects ‘activity’ (a number from 0-100 generated via some proprietary algorithm on the Neurosky chip), we initiate the ‘fade’ of the music and the light.”

Looking ahead, don’t be too surprised if you see Clara on Kickstarter in the coming months. Plus, the team hints that they may even migrate to an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) for its next iteration. Until then, check out rather unique project on its page here.

8 out of the 10 Hackaday Prize finalists are powered by Atmel

---

Hackaday reveals the 10 finalists who are one step closer to a trip into space or some big bucks.

---

One simple idea can make a difference, but together we Makers can change the world. That was the premise behind this year’s Hackaday Prize, which encouraged participants to build something that matters.

As our friends at Hackaday explain:

“The problems that these projects tackle come from many different angles. Some improve safety in extreme situations by giving emergency workers the ability to detect the presence of dangerous gases, or by helping to find unexploded munitions in war-torn areas. Others make improvements in transportation by working on transportation where infrastructure is poor, and looking toward the future of electric vehicle transportation. There are projects that tackle pollution through monitoring and also by scrubbing pollutants from indoor air. Improvements in wheelchair mobility and advancements in prosthetics can transform the lives of people living with loss of function. And feeding the world can start with more automated farming options, and becoming more efficient with farming methods. These are the problems the finalists have chosen to solve with their entries.”

Now, the pool of 100 semi-finalists has been narrowed down to 10 finalists who are one step closer to walking (or flying) away with the grand prize of a trip into space or $196,883. Plus, four others will claim top prizes each valued between $5,000-$10,000. These winners will all be revealed at the Hackaday SuperConference in San Francisco on November 14th and 15th.

And guess what? There’s a pretty good chance that this year’s winner will have Atmel inside… again. We can’t say that we’re too surprised either, as eight of the last 10 are embedded with AVR or Atmel | SMART MCUs. Here they are…

FarmBot

This open source, automated precision farming machine and software package is designed for small-scale precision food production. Similar to 3D printers and CNC mills, FarmBot’s hardware employs linear guides in the X, Y, and Z directions that allow for tools, such as plows, seed injectors, watering nozzles and sensors, to be precisely positioned and used on the plants and soil. The unit itself is controlled by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) + RAMPS stack and a Raspberry Pi 2.

Eye Controlled Wheelchair

The Eyedrivomatic system takes advantage of existing eye tracking technology to enable those who have lost the use of their muscles to operate their own wheelchairs. The system is comprised of a wheelchair-mounted computer running an accompanying app and software, which is connected to a 3D-printed, Arduino Uno (ATmega328) brain box. This command center receives and inteprets the program’s requests and controls a pair of servos that drive an electronic hand to move a joystick in the user’s desired location.

Gas Sensor For Emergency Workers

Designed primarily for emergency response workers, these ‘grenade-like’ sensors can be thrown into dangerous areas to remotely report levels using their voice. With an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) at its core, each ball-shaped gadget is equipped with smoke, liquified petroleum gas and carbon monoxide sensors along with an inexpensive 433MHz transmitter for communication with any basic radio inside the potentially hazardous space.

LUKA EV

The problem that LUKA is attempting to solve is a big one. Mindful that internal combustion engine cars pump billions of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere each year, this group of Makers hopes to provide an open source platform that’ll unlock the possibility for cost-competitive, all-electric automobiles to be built and sold locally, on a global scale. This electric vehicle is capable of achieving top speeds of around 80mph and a range of over 185 miles. Although the concept of an EV is far from new, using hub motors to power it isn’t so ordinary. What’s more, this project will introduce a revolutionary technology to the production line, reducing weight and eliminating a great deal of unnecessary parts along the way. LUKA will also help in energy storage, as your home can power LUKA or vice versa.

Portable Environmental Sensor

The uRADMonitor is able to detect pollutants in the air that otherwise go unnoticeable, ranging from toxic chemicals to radioactive dust or radon. Packed with an array of powerful sensors and an ATmega128, this handheld battery-operated device connects to the Internet via an embedded Wi-Fi module and shares readings to its global network. The online data is then used to build graph, track stats and send automated notifications when certain thresholds are reached.

Light Electric Utility Vehicle

Transportation is major issue in the developing world due to its lacking physical infrastructure, and unfortunately, off-road SUVs are outside the means of the average person. In an effort to make them more accessible to everyone, this light electric utility vehicle is capable of battling harsh environments and rugged terrain. The basic design of the vehicle is made of locally sourced components, and features a frame that can rotate at the point of articulation so that all four wheels are in constant contact with the ground. Steering is accomplished by differential motor control, while each wheel is powered by a single PMDC geared motor via a chain drive. Power comes from two large tubular gel batteries which are charged by solar panels. System control is accomplished by two Arduino Pro Minis (ATmega328) — the first handles the motor controller, the other monitors the current.

OpenBionics

OpenBionics is an open source initiative for the development of affordable, lightweight prosthetic hands that can be easily reproduced using off-the-shelf materials and rapid prototyping techniques such as 3D printing. The fingers are constructed out of Plexiglas with silicone knuckles that are flexed by tendon cables running in sheaths and extended by energy stored in elastomeric material along their dorsal aspects. Each finger can be selectively locked in place using a differential based on the whiffletree mechanism, resulting in 16 combinations of finger positions with only a single motor. Combined with nine unique thumb positions, 144 unique grasp are possible with the prosthetic hand. Meanwhile, electronics are provided by an embedded Arduino Pro Micro (ATmega32U4).

Vinduino

Given the water crises affecting California, wine growers are in need of low-cost, customizable and easy-to-maintain soil moisture monitoring systems. As luck may have it, Vinduino is an accessible measurement tool for irrigation management that isn’t just ideal for cutting irrigation costs for vineyard owners, it can be just as useful for a wide range of other agricultural applications, science class experiments or even to reduce the H2O consumption of your backyard sprinklers. The system consists of moisture sensors, an Arduino handheld device for taking sensor readings, and a series of irrigation valves, water pressure sensors and data loggers for managing the irrigation system.

Congratulations to all of the 2015 Hackaday Prize finalists, especially those using our chips! As we await next month’s announcement, head over to the contest’s official writeup to see more.

Take a black and white selfie with the Qduino Mini Photo Booth

---

The Qduino Mini is an ATmega32U4 based board with a built-in battery charger and fuel gauge that’s just as affordable as an Arduino, but a quarter of the size. 

---

Hot on the heels of a rather successful Kickstarter campaign, Quin Etynre continues to amaze us with his pure ingenuity and passion for creating things. As the quintessential example of what it takes to go from ‘MakerSpace to Marketplace,’ earlier this year the 14-year-old CEO introduced what he calls the Qduino Mini — a tiny Arduino-compatible board equipped with a built-in battery charger and fuel gauge that can let a user know when their LiPo needs a little more juice.

Born out of his own frustrations of having to guess when a project was running out of power, the open source dev board is based on an ATmega32U4 — the same MCU that can be found at the heart of the Arduino Leonardo, which the Maker has used to tinker around with for quite awhile. The small device isn’t only packed with a charger circuit and fuel gauge, but possesses a lightweight, ultra-thin form factor as well. This allows for it to be programmed and have its energy restored simulatenously via USB. On top of all that, each Qduino is also breadboard-friendly and has two RGB LEDs: one for status, another that’s user programmable!

The Qduino Mini measures just 0.8″ x 1.5” in size and weighs a mere fraction of an ounce, making the shrunken down Arduino ideal for drones and high-altitude balloon projects, as well as a wide range of other gadgets like Etnyre’s incredibly popular B&W Photo Booth that had been on display inside our Maker Faire New York booth.

How the selfie machine works is pretty straightforward. A user stands before a webcam mounted to a monitor, presses a button, and 20 seconds later, a thermal printer spits out an instant photo on receipt paper. The best part? It doesn’t require any ink! As you can imagine, this would be a perfect novelty item for any birthday party, prom, wedding or just for some fun around the office. (Heck, even AVR Man seems to enjoy it!)

The system itself is comprised of a monitor and two green 3D-printed parts: a button and a thermal printer, both embedded with an Qduino Mini. Pressing the round button triggers a sketch, which in turn, processes the captured image from the webcam and sends it over to the thermal printer.

Pretty cool, right? But don’t just take it from us. Watch Etnyre explain it himself in the video below! Plus, those wishing to pre-order a Qduino Mini of their own can now do so over on SparkFun.

TailTalk is the world’s first dog emotion sensor

---

TailTalk is a smart device that helps you understand your dog’s complex tail language.

---

Dogs, by nature, are very expressive animals. Like humans, they communicate when they’re feeling happy, sad, nervous, angry, and of course, hungry. Instead of spoken words, our beloved four-legged friends use their tails to convey much of this information — a nonverbal language that can be quite complex and difficult to recognize for most pet owners. But what if there was a smart wearable that could collate this information and translate it in such a way that makes it much easier to understand? In comes TailTalk. 

The brainchild of Yannis Tsampalis and Mike Karp, TailTalk is a tiny, sensor-laden device that comfortably goes around your pup’s tail to capture movement with its embedded accelerometer and gyroscope, and then employs a proprietary algorithm to convert the wagging into the emotion that he or she is expressing.

The lightweight, unobtrusive gadget connects to its accompanying DogStar app over Bluetooth, providing you with a simple, user-friendly dashboard that lets you into the mind of good ol’ Fido even when you’re not around. This consists of your dog’s profile, along with their happiness score, upcoming events and favorite canine pals.

Using the app, you can log and graph their activity, manage their schedules, set reminders for yourself, and even add notes related to a particular event. More importantly, the “emotion sensor” will notify an owner’s smartphone when the dog’s tail moves right, which means they’re happy or energetic, or left, denoting anxious or aggressive feelings. TailTalk boasts a six-month battery life and has been designed to withstand the wear and tear (and chewing) that’s expected with everyday use.

Throughout their journey from the MakerSpace to MarketPlace, the DogStar Life crew has developed their prototype using the highly popular Arduino platform and has already been the recipient of some pawesome awards. Looking ahead, the New York-based startup is hoping to storm past its $100,000 pledge goal on Indiegogo.

Ready for a next-gen, Look Who’s Talking Now-like device that’s take the guesswork out of your daily interaction with Rover? Head over to TailTalk’s crowdfunding page. Delivery is slated for May 2016.

This glove can translate sign language into text and audio

---

Maker designs a smart glove that translates sign language from hand gestures into visual text on a screen and audible dialog.

---

In an effort to improve communication between people with different disabilities, designer Hadeel Ayoub has developed a smart glove capable of converting sign language into readable text and audio.

The aptly named SignLanguageGlove works by using several flex sensors attached to the fingers that record their position, while an accelerometer​ detects which way the glove is oriented. Built around the mighty Arduino, all of the collected data is fed into a computer program that identifies the gestures and displays the correct output.

Ayoub, who is also a student at Goldsmiths, University of London, has gone through a series of prototypes with each version less clunky than the one before. The original model, which looked like a bunch of wires attached to a winter glove, consisted of five flex sensors, an Arduino board and a four digit graphic numerical display. It worked by interpreting the user’s gestures and translating them into visual letters on a screen.

The second iteration was a bit faster, more durable, and featured smaller hardware. The Maker incorporated a LilyPad Arduino (ATmega328) and tinier flex sensors, as well as revamped the software to allow text to scroll on a screen, deleting the old and adding the new.

Her latest piece incorporates a text-to-speech chip with the majority of equipment sewn into the lining of what appears to be a Rawlings batting glove. She is currently working towards integrating a language translation function into the system, too. This way, when finished with her next prototype (dubbed ​Reach All​), a user will be able to connect to a smartphone via an embedded Wi-Fi module. The motions will then be relayed wirelessly and translated in real-time through its accompanying app.

Pretty amazing stuff, right? You can head over to the Maker’s Tumblr page to see the progression of her work.