This bug-like bot enables Makers to easily migrate from graphical style programming to written code.
Pet rocks were all the rage in the mid-’70s, and then came the Tamagotchi in the ’90s. So what could be the next craze in the current millennium? Pet robots? It’s not a far reach. Robotics has been a disruptive innovation in STEM education, with a growing number of kits being deployed by K-12 educators to teach science and engineering. These easy-to-build and even easier-to-understand sets continue to provide students with a basic overview of programming concepts, with hopes of inspiring more children to pursue STEM disciplines. However, students will eventually need to move on to writing “real world” programming languages like Java, Python, C, and C++. Plum Geek saw this need, and came up with the next logical step to prepare the next wave of hackers, tinkerers and Makers.
Meet Wink — a low-cost, Arduino-based robot that instructs students how to write code, while programming the robot’s behavior as well. The project was originally conceived by a team of Makers who wanted to help transition students from graphical programming to more powerful written code languages. With Wink, students will learn the foundations of the C programming language, which is widely used to control microprocessors used in all manner of robotics, embedded systems, automation, and the growing Internet of Things revolution.
The Wink robot includes a free and open curriculum with lesson plans and guide videos that could be easily adopted at home, in the classroom, and at workshops. Students will train their new pet robot by programming common robotic tasks such as line following, light seeking, barrier detection, and autonomous roaming, while also leaving room for students creative experimentation.
If Wink looks vaguely familiar, that’s because the bug-like bot is the sibling of Plum Geek’s earlier Kickstarter success Ringo. These palm-sized pet robots may be small, but still pack quite a punch. Built around an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) at its core, Wink runs on a fast motor and each motor can be independently driven forward or backward. At full speed, it can zoom across the floor or table in the ‘wink’ of an eye — surely quicker than any pet rock you ever had!
What’s more, the bot is equipped with three sensors on top to measure any light that’s straight ahead and 45 degrees to either side, an infrared barrier headlight tucked under its nose to detect obstacles that stand in its way, four more sensors underneath for high-speed line following and edge detection, as well as a piezo buzzer to emit simple chirps and alarms. Onboard is a rechargeable 240 mAh LiPo, giving you hours of fun and experimentation.
Interested in a new pet robot for your house or classroom? Head over to Wink’s Kickstarter campaign, where its creators have once again stormed right by its initial goal. The first batch of units is expected to ship sometime in January 2016.
This tactile interface is designed for fully autonomous cars and hopes to help mediate the trust issues between man and machine.
Self-driving cars are no longer a futuristic idea, with an estimated 10 million expected to hit the roads by 2020. In fact, companies like Mercedes, BMW, Tesla and Nissan are among countless others that have already begun to implement these autonomous features into their automobiles. Although such vehicles offer obvious benefits such as faster travel times, enhanced safety and more convenience, some folks believe it eliminates a sense of freedom, expression and control while behind the wheel. In order to promote a positive relationship between man and his machine, Felix Ros has developed Stewart — a servo-controlled joystick that will help overcome society’s reluctance in embracing fully autonomous vehicles.
Stewart will provide you with constant updates about the car’s behavior and its intentions. However, if you don’t agree on the car’s next course of action, you can manipulate the tactile interface to change this. The device will learn from you in the same way that you can learn from it, hopefully resulting in a mutually trusting relationship. It should be noted that Stewart is merely a middleman between the autonomous vehicle and its driver, and is no way intended to actually control the car.
Through nuanced force feedback, Stewart will tell you what the car plans to do next, such as which direction it will choose and whether it will accelerate or brake. Yet, if you disagree with the vehicle’s planned course of action, you can intervene with the joystick to get the car to take your preferred route, or to simply drive in a different style. According to Ros, this puts emotion back into driving within the margins of what is considered safe.
“So why would you want to control a car that drives itself? Learning to trust a (new) technology takes time. A feeling of control can help to build a mutually trustful relationship,” Ros explains. “Humans are very unpredictable creatures that tend to change their minds frequently. For example: while driving you want to make a detour or you may need a coffee break. These changes of plan can easily be communicated to the car trough Stewart.”
Let’s face it, Halloween is arguably one of, if not, the best night to be a Maker — a celebration full of carving, candy, costumes, and of course, some creative decorations. To pay homage to All Hallows’ Eve, we’ve decided to compile a list of a few tricks, which are surely a treat to see!
Talkin’ Skeleton
Tired of having to greet those trick-or-treaters personally? With an Arduino Duemilanove (ATmega168) for a brain, this talking skeleton will take care of all that mumbo jumbo for you, with a variety of your own prerecorded phrases. Muahahahaha!
Terrifyin’ Demon Costume
A monster mash-up of animated LED backpacks and a wave shield voice changer creates a rather terrifying, electronic demon mask.
Findin’ Out Whose the Fairest of Them All
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest scariest one of them all? This wall-mounted installation plays animations based on input from various sensors and features four characters — with each character responding to the sensor inputs with its own personality. There’s even a photo booth feature as well.
Knockin’ on the Box
Simply knock on this ATtiny45 embedded box and it’ll knock back. If you tap on it a special number of times, it’ll play a secret tune, too!
Rulin’ a Bunch of Scarecrow Minions
Having already become quite the ‘ween must-see in his town, Maker Ryan Hughes decided to up his creative game by making a display of scarecrow minions lorded over by Pumpkin King.
Droppin’ Spiders
Spook those coming to your doorstep by dropping fake spider whenever someone comes near. Using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a ping sensor and a few servos, this automated mechanism will sense when a trick-or-treater approaches and release the eight-legged prop accordingly.
Textin’ Pumpkins
Add some interactivity to your haunted house by devising a Twilio-based web app that changes the color of pumpkins using an Arduino and a few LED strips. As a bonus, Maker Jarod Reyes included a power-switch to turn on a fog machine and also added a little eerie jazz music when trick-or-treaters texted “chaos” to the app.
Playin’ Some Pumpktris
As its name would suggest, Pumpktris is a fully playable version of Tetris built into a pumpkin with 128 LEDs for the display and the stem serving as a game controller.
Creepin’ Out Guests With Skully
This super simple yet creepy skull is attached to a single servo with LEDs in its eyes. Placed on the ground and masked with a net, this decoration will surely catch a couple of guests off guard.
Trickin’ Guests
Trick or treat? Ben Harben’s Halloween gadget comprised of an Arduino, a Nerf gun, a Gatorade bottle water reservoir and a coat hanger-turned-corkscrew makes either a matter of possibility.
Dishin’ Out Treats Automatically
Admit it, waiting around to dish out candy can get a bit boring. Just like everything else, why not automate it? This candy dispenser — equipped with an Arduino, X10 and Twilio — utilizes a pair of servos to both open the chute and mix the contents. What’s more, the contraption can be controlled via smartphone or SMS.
Skippin’ the Candy Bowl
Instead of putting out a candy bowl on your porch, this nifty, Arduino Leonardo (ATmega32U4)-driven vending machine will disperse the Halloween sweets without you ever having to leave the couch. (See it in action here.)
Trippin’ the Alarm
Fill your decorated room with smoke, then challenge haunted house goers to navigate the LASER Maze without tripping the ATmega168 driven alarm.
Snappin’ Selfies With Zombies
This Maker’s build employed a molded silicone arm, a custom steel mount to clip to an office partition and a vibration sensor hooked up to an Arduino. Once the arm is slapped, a photo is taken via an IR LED and passed to an Eye-Fi card in the camera. The pic is then put into a Dropbox folder and an IFTTT recipe tweets it.
Fire-Breathin’ Jack-o-Lantern
Let’s just say: Kids, don’t try this one at home. We repeat: Kids, or adults for that matter, don’t try this at home! One Maker decided to create a fire-breathing jack-o-lantern using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and a sonar proximity sensor to detect distances. As you can see, this wasn’t safe enough place on the doorstep.
Gettin’ Mystical With Gemma
Looking to stir up some fear with your Halloween getup? Adafruit’s Becky Stern has you covered. She has crafted a mystical hood equipped with LED eyes, which is perfect for your next Jawa, Black Mage, or Orko costume. The interactive garment features a Gemma (ATtiny85) that causes two NeoPixel Jewels to slowly fade on and off for the full spooktacular eye effect.
Trappin’ Candy Thieves
Don’t you just hate it when trick-or-treaters take all of your candy? This year, you can stop that! Keep those treat thieves away by using an Arduino to detect when someone has their hand in the candy bowl, and use a solenoid to shoot silly string at those gluttonous visitors!
Lightin’ Up Your House
Shelby Merrick has adorned his home with a light show that would certainly impress Clark Griswold, that’s for sure! The Maker designed special ATXmega8E5 based controller (dubbed FloodBrain) that switches a set of 12 flood RGBs to achieve the desired effects seen below.
Bringin’ Splatterhouse to Life
Clay Cowgill is dead-icated to Halloween, so much so that he made his own Splatterhouse arcade cabinet. Aside from a lot of little details on the outside, the Maker added some circuitry inside that triggers real world effects based on in-game variables.
Soarin’ UFO Style
If you’re not a fan of Halloween and are frightened by the mere thought of aliens, we recommend that you don’t visit this house on October 31st. One Maker has crafted a pretty impressive DIY UFO project using cardboard, tape, tinfoil, 8mm of diffused Adafruit NeoPixels and an Arduino Micro (ATmega32u4).
Controllin’ Zombie Dolls With Arduino
Umm… This. Is. Creepy.
Poppin’ Out of the Ground
Speaking of zombies, this Arduino-powered prop features a motion-activated, pivoting head along with corresponding sound effects and some smoke machine goodness.
Flyin’ Ghosts Around the Neighborhood
Thanks to this dressed up quadcopter, Casper won’t be the only ghost you’ll see flying through the night sky.
Visitin’ the Haunted Mansion
Those who’ve ever been to Disney World’s Haunted Mansion can now bring some of that magic home to their front yard this Halloween… with the help of an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).
Blinkin’ Eyes of Doom
Looking for an interactive way to dress up the walkway while spooking some trick-or-treaters? These randomly-changing, multi-colored and ATtiny85 powered eyes should do the trick.
Protopiper is a computer-aided, handheld fabrication device that allows you to sketch room-sized objects at actual scale.
Let’s face it, trying to decide whether or not a piece of furniture will actually fit in your living room can be quite the hassle. For those times where a tape measure will just not suffice, one team from the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut has arrived at an innovative (and perhaps better) solution. Meet ProtoPiper — a modded tape gun that enables users to quickly create full-scale models of any object and determine right then and there whether or not it’ll properly fit inside a home.
Whereas a 3D printer can produce a prototype of something in hours, ProtoPiper will let you get a sense of what you’re dealing with in a matter of minutes. That’s because it can forgo paying attention to small details. The gadget delivers an open framework similar to the wireframe models on 3D modeling software — only these are capable of taking up a physical space in full scale. Instead of layers of melted plastic, it turns rolls of adhesive tape into strong yet lightweight plastic tubes that act as building blocks for the room-size mockups.
As crazy it may sound, it seems like a pretty darn good idea. The device itself is practically an assembly line all on its own. Tape is drawn from the roll, shaped into a tube and results in a surprisingly somewhat sturdy 3D structure. The good news is that you’ll know immediately if a particular end table will be too snug between the sofa and wall, and visualize how it might look with other furniture. The bad news is that you can’t skimp out on the purchase, as the prototype support your weight!
In terms of electronics, the tape gun is equipped with a four-digit display, an extrude and cut button, an on/off switch, a tool selection dial, servo motors, and an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) to control all of the extrusion, heating and cutting. It’s powered by a single 11.1V LiPo battery.
What’s more, ProtoPiper can be used to devise simple mechanisms that serve a little more function. For instance, the team has even managed to assemble a prototype of a collapsing umbrella, which although may not keep the rain away from anyone’s head, does allow designers to perfect its form and dimensions before paying for a more finished product.
This group of Makers built a 3D-printed, Arduino-compatible robot that can draw and write.
Dating back to the late 1940s, turtle robots have been employed for computer science and mechanical engineering training. These low to the ground gadgets were later perfected by Seymour Papert, co-inventor of the Logo educational programming language in the 1980s. Papert’s models had carried out assigned drawing functions using a small retractable pen set into or attached to the robot’s body.
Well, the MakersBox crew decided to take this concept and apply it to a 3D-printed, Arduino-compatible doodling robot of their own, which was originally conceived as part of a recent 10-hour workshop for ChickTech.org. Their device, equipped with a pen in the center of its body not unlike its predecessors, works by wheeling around a sheet of paper as it simultaneously draws shapes.
The bot is based on an Adafruit Pro Trinket 3V (ATmega328), along with a pair of steppers, a driver, a micro servo and four AA batteries for power. The Makers also created eight different 3D-printed parts, which included the chassis, wheels, pen holder and stepper bracket.
The robot itself is programmed using a set of commands relating to its position on a piece of paper. The Trinket can be configured to move the robot backwards and forwards, rotate it in both directions, as well as raise and lower the pen so it’s not always drawing. Intrigued? Check out the Makers’ entire project here, or simply watch it in action below!
These kids’ Halloween costumes are sooooooo much cooler than yours.
If you think kids are the only ones that can have a blast on Halloween, you’ve clearly never seen Maker parents Cory and Jeremy Newton-Smith, who’ve become well-known for devising some pretty remarkable costumes throughout the past few years. Most recently, the retrofitted a couple of old Power Wheels Jeeps and transformed them itnto a Mad Max trick-or-treating vehicle for their two children.
The Newton-Smiths, both software engineers by trade and Makers by night, are no strangers to creating elaborate Halloween ensembles. Their past three getups have included Elliot on his bike with E.T., the Ghostbusters complete with an Ecto-1, and Marty McFly with a time-traveling DeLorean. And this year, they pulled out all the stops once again by dressing up their four-year-old son as Mad Max and their 11-month old daughter as Imperator Furiosa.
The Power Wheels-based War Rig replica boasts four motors, a smooth starting throttle, power steering, keyed ignition, sounds effects with pull cord truck air-horn and LEDs embedded into the dash, as well as the ability for 11-month-old Furiosa to drive via an overriding remote-controlled iPhone app that communicates with the car over Bluetooth Low Energy. Aside from all that, a heartbeat signal was also added to remote override mode to ensure the car stops when losing connection or goes out of range, which is probably best when you’ve got young ones behind the wheel!
Another Halloween, another incredible Glowy Zoey costume!
We’re not sure what we get more excited about every Halloween: the endless supply of candy or GlowyZoey’s costumes which have become an annual tradition in the Hutain household. Royce Hutain, the Maker dad behind digital LED suit projects like last year’s Minnie Mouse stick figure getup, has done it again. This time, he has pulled out all the stops to create a slick cloud costume, complete with special lightning and rain effects.
Inspired by El Niño (the band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific), Zoey’s outfit consists of 98 LEDs and an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) to control the lightning. There’s also a hidden, handheld switch that triggers a rain system above her head, comprised of a washer fluid pump that sucks water up from a bottle in her backpack.
The cloud hat “turned out to be a little bit too big for her little neck to support and her head wobbled a bit,” Hutain explains. “But she loves making the rain turn on.” As cool as the project may be, Zoey has decided she wants to go as Elsa for Halloween this year instead. LOL! You can see it in action below!
This Maker covered his swimming pool with Rainbowduino-powered LEDs to create one heck of a dance floor.
Like something straight out of Saturday Night Fever, Loren Bufanu has managed to transform his swimming pool into an LED-laden dance floor. And from the looks of its surrounding environment filled with garnished chairs and tables, it would appear to be for a wedding or party of some sort.
To accomplish this feat, the Maker covered the pool with several glass panels, each outfitted with LEDs. Inspired by the Lampduinoon Instructables, the project required nearly 450 meters of RGB LED strips controlled by two Rainbowduinos (ATmega328), driven by 64 power MOSFETs, 64 transistors, 64 bipolar transistors, a few capacitors and some resistors. Producing white light from the LEDs drew 8A from the power supply.
Although he originally thought to use the Colorduino as embedded in the Lampduino, he was unable to find a way to connect two of the boards together and control them with the same interface. So instead, he turned to a pair of Rainbowduino v3.0, which are pin compatible with the Colorduinos and can communicate over I2C. For those unfamiliar with these boards from Seeed Studio, the Arduino-compatible MCU features two MY9221 chips, which are capable of handling 12 channels of Adaptive Pulse Density Modulation.
In terms of software, the Maker used Pixel Invaders. Unfortunately, this portion of the project didn’t come as easy as the hardware installation. Bufanu had wanted the lights to flash in sync with some tunes, but a few setbacks in program didn’t allow for this to work. In the end, he decided to employ some simple visualization software combined with the Pixel Invaders “Screen Capture” mode. Fortunately, that did the trick.
“Basically, MilkDrop-like software is displaying some colors on the screen, and Pixel Invaders capture the screen, controlling the two Raibowduino after that pattern. Both are started by a simple batch file located on the desktop of the controlling PC. It was a ‘ugly hack’ but it is doing the job great,” Bufanu explains.
Two years ago, mechanical engineer and cartoonist Angela Melick (who goes by the nickname Jam) developed a pretty neat Halloween costume based on her favorite prototype development board: the Arduino. And that’s not all. Not only does it look like an Uno, it’s actually powered by one as well.
“It’s hard to tell in the first photo but the outfit is covered in puff-paint traces — all up and down the arms and over the back. It was a lot of work but it looks really cool,” Jam explained in her blog post.
The costume is equipped with a series of LEDs that go down her side and blink to a preprogrammed pattern, handled by an Arduino around her neck. Aside from that, a few glow stocks were used in place of “wires,” which as Maker jokingly notes, “represent the tangled mess that any Arduino project is in its first stages.” And we can’t help but notice the ATmega328 at the heart of this ensemble, which appears to be made of styrofoam.
However, Jam’s favorite part of the entire costume? The matching fascinator which features a second Arduino and a few more flashing lights, of course!
“This was my first time soldering ‘free’ wires and 8/8 of the LEDs worked, which I’m very proud of because the wires go all the way down the side and alllll the way back up the shirt,” the Maker added.
“Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean (golf cart)?”
The DeLorean DMC-12 was a sport car manufactured by the DeLorean Motor Company from 1981 to 1983. The car featured a set of gull-wing doors, an innovative fiberglass chassis and underbody structure, along with a brushed stainless steel body. However, it was the Back to the Future trilogy that made this vehicle a piece of pop culture history.
But where we’re going now, we don’t need an actual DeLorean… That’s because a pair of Canadian auto enthusiasts, Lucas Evanochko and David Heykants, have created their very own version of the iconic time-travelling car — only this time, in the form of a golf cart. You’ll notice that it has the same grey body work, vibrant blue lighting, a flux capacitor and everything else you could possibly imagine from Doc’s ride.
There’s even multi-colored buttons from Retroactive Arcade on the dash, which are attached to an Adafruit Audio FX board. When pressed, they emit several BttF sound effects as well as some of Doc, Marty McFly and Biff’s most famous catchphrases. The sound system uses an 80W class D amp with Bluetooth to allow streaming from any device, too. Additionally, it boasts a built-in seven-inch tablet right in front, which runs the Fluxy88 Time Circuits app and Google Play Music.
All the accessories are juiced up by an isolated 12V system, which is fed off a garden tractor battery mounted under the hood. There’s also a 12V to 5V converter, which provides power to the Adafruit AudioFX and the tablet. Oh, and the capacitor, that’s controlled by an Adafruit Pro Trinket (ATmega328).
From start to finish, nearly 600 hours went into this extremely impressive (and nostalgic) project. And while this vehicle may not travel back in time, even if you’re lucky to hit 8.8 mph), it definitely will look a whole lot cooler than any other cart you’ll find driving around the golf course!
