TetraBIN combines of 8-bit video games and waste removal

---

One Maker duo is combining the old-school game of Tetris and the Internet of Things to create one ‘smart’ trash can. 

---

We’ve seen talking water fountains. We’ve seen smart benches. We’ve even seen LED sidewalks. Now, add interactive trash cans to the growing list of ambient objects you’d likely come across in any public park. The brainchild Sam Johnson & Steven Bai, TetraBIN uses custom-built electronics and LED panels to reimagine an everyday garbage can and to help promote sustainable behaviors and playful experiences throughout a city. A pair of prototype installations initially debuted back at Vivid Sydney 2014, which happens to be the largest lighting festival in Australia.

“It’s the childhood dream of both of us to create products and services to encourage sustained changes in people’s lives. Motivated by the idea of play as a way of inspiring people (especially the younger generation) to be aware of environmental sustainability issues such as littering problems, we have augmented a trash bin with the latest computing technology,” the duo writes.

Reminiscent of ‘80s video games with its sounds and 8-bit images, the aptly-named TetraBIN allows users to collaboratively control Tetris-like blocks on its screen on its outer surface. The pattern of these blocks vary based on the size and shape of the litter, as well as the timing of disposal. 

Each Arduino-compatible TetraBIN is powered by an ATmega32U4 and equipped with WS2812 RGB LEDs, IR beam sensors and chiptune sounds made by an 8-bit processor that are emitted from a built-in speaker. What’s more, the interactive trash can is remotely accessible from the Internet, further bridging the gap between the digital and physical world.

The installation itself utilizes the latest in LED media façade technology. Johnson and Bai implemented custom-produced displays — each with 900 LEDs that were manually mounted onto laser-cut Perspex and covered with a translucent layer of polycarbonate — onto the circular surface of the trash container. Three pairs of custom-developed infrared sensors were used on each bin to recognize the items being thrown away. This information is then relayed to the Arduino, causing similarly-sized digital block to appear on its external panel and fall to the bottom. The vibrantly-colored brick stays there until the next person deposits their rubbish and one row of the panel is filled. Then, just like in the game Tetris, the row disappears.

“TetraBIN explores how digital technologies can be used to motivate positive change in urban environments. It uses gamified approaches – making use of game mechanics and game thinking – turn an activity traditionally considered trivial, such as depositing rubbish into a bin, into a joyful event.” 

The project recently launched on Kickstarter, however was unsuccessful in achieving its goal. Nevertheless, this concept is certainly an innovative way to make litter more entertaining, and more importunity, will hopefully encourage more folks to partake in proper waste disposal. Intrigued? Head over to its official page here, and be sure to watch it in action below!

 

 

Build your own in-home basketball hoop scorekeeper

---

Upgrade your in-home NERF basketball game with this Arduino-powered scorekeeper. 

---

Who could forget the days of playing NERF basketball inside the house? If so, chances are that you also vividly recall the yelling of parents urging you to stop. Nowadays, you may even have a similar hoop the back of your office door — you know, something to keep you occupied during those boring conference calls. Sparking up some of that childhood nostalgia is this latest project from Maker Robbie Frazelle, who recently devised an in-home hoop scorekeeper powered by an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4).

Inspired by an earlier Instructables project, the Maker acquired an indoor hoop and coupled it together with a digital distance sensor, a quad alphanumeric display, a Perma-Proto half-sized breadboard, a USB charger, and most importantly, an Arduino Micro — though he had initially hoped to use an Adafruit Trinket (ATtiny85) — to control the system. These electronics were all housed inside a plexiglass enclosure. Double-sided Loctite tape was used to secure the proto-board to the backboard and placed below the acrylic case. Meanwhile, a dual-AA battery pack was affixed to the back of the hoop, directly behind the proto-board using the same tape.

How the system works is relatively simple. A user shoots the ball. As it makes its way through the net, a distance sensor is triggered and the score is displayed via the Arduino. The entire unit is powered on/off by plugging the USB cable into the Arduino, or from the battery pack side. According to Frazelle, the scorekeeper could run for about three hours before dying, though he does note that a rechargeable USB power stick would be much more efficient.

“This worked on the first test, which was pretty awesome! I was concerned about the net movement giving false readings to the sensor, but I wasn’t able to create an erroneous score even with rim shots and air balls. I give credit to the sensor placement in relation to the holes in the net.”

Interested in a scorekeeper of your own? Head over to the project’s official page here.

This littleBits toilet seat alarm fixes a big household problem

---

littleBits will help you become a more thoughtful and courteous spouse. 

---

It has plagued relationships for ages. Roommates have split because of it. Marriages have been compromised. Now, there may finally be a simple solution to the perpetual problem of leaving the toilet seat up thanks to Tim Cox.

The Maker admits that though he wants to be a better husband, he’s got a bad habit. Like a majority of men, Cox often forgets to be courteous to his spouse and fails to put the toilet seat down after use. So he did what any great husband would do: he designed an Arduino-powered alarm to shame him into doing it.

To bring this idea to life, the Maker used a handful of littleBits components including an Arduino (ATmega32U4), a light sensor, an MP3 player (ATmega168), a pressure sensor, a synth speaker and a power module. First, Cox uploaded the hit song “Rude” by Magic! onto an MP3 player SD card, which he felt was a proper tune to suit the mood of the situation. He then devised a code that would turn the Arduino into a NAND, and connected it all to a light and pressure sensor.

The circuit is then placed on top of the toilet with the pressure sensor propped up by the seat. Only thing left to remember is to crank up the volume, so that the offender learns his lesson. Sound like a project that would be useful in your home? We thought so. Hurry over to the official littleBits project page here.

Rocking out with a DIY Arduino synth guitar

---

Maker creates a slick synth guitar out of an old drum machine, ribbon potentiometers, a joystick shield and an Arduino. 

---

Recently brought to our attention by our friends at Hackaday, a Maker by the name of “Gr4yhound” has devised a slick synth guitar comprised entirely from scratch using an old Yamaha DD-55 drum machine, some SoftPot ribbon potentiometers, a SparkFun joystick shield, and an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4).

The device itself consists of two components, a guitar body and neck. The body is made from a piece of pine that was cut using Gr4yhound’s homemade CNC machine, while three circles were routed out to make room for the Yamaha drum pads, wiring and the joystick shield. Meanwhile, the neck was actually derived from a de-fretted Squire Affinity Strat neck.

Three SoftPot membrane potentiometers were added to the neck to simulate strings. Beyond that, the drum pad trio acts as touch sensors, allowing Gr4yhound to play each string simultaneously and form tunes. The joystick shield enables Gr4yhound to add additional effects to the overall sound, and an Arduino Micro serves as the primary controller and transmits the musical notes as MIDI commands. The Maker used a commercial MIDI to USB converter in order to play the music on a computer, while converter lets him power the Arduino via USB.

Ready to rock out? Head on over to the project’s official build log here, or watch it in action below!

Keyboardio looks to make keyboards better and brighter

---

This next-gen keyboard will give your pinkies a rest and eliminate mice. 

---

The arrangement of characters on a QWERTY keyboard was first designed back in 1868 by Christopher Sholes, who happened to also be the inventor of the typewriter. According to popular myth, Sholes arranged the keys in their odd fashion to prevent jamming on mechanical typewriters by separating commonly used letter combinations. Other than adding a few function and arrow keys, the text entry device has remained relatively unchanged for nearly 150 years. 

Have you ever thought about how you might improve the standard QWERTY layout? Well, Jesse Vincent and Kaia Dekker have with their butterfly-shaped keyboard that places a greater emphasis on the thumb, lessens the stress on your pinkies, and offers a more natural position for the hand and wrist — something that may prove to be a lifesaver for those suffering from carpal tunnel or arthritis.

“The traditional keyboard was designed for typewriters, not hands. Staggered columns made room for mechanical components, without concern for wrist angles or finger lengths. Shift keys were placed under the weakest fingers,” Vincent explains.

Instead, the aptly named Keyboardio puts keys such as control, alt, delete, shift and a new ‘function’ button under the typists’ palms, all within easy reach of the thumbs. Vincent says that the team has also been experimenting with ways to eliminate the mouse altogether by using the W, A, S and D keys for general cursor movements and other keys to tell the mouse where to go on the screen.

And, unlike its predecessors, this next-gen keyboard is Bluetooth-enabled allowing users to switch between devices and carry it from one meeting to the next. Not only does Keyboardio ship with the source code and a screwdriver, it can even be programmed to create your own shortcuts.

The modular keyboard is built around an ATmega32U4 and a pair of Semtech SX1509 IO expanders, along with some battery charging circuitry, World Semi WS2812Bs LEDs and a Bluetooth module — all housed inside a CNC-milled anodized aluminum enclosure with wood-grain hand rests. Beyond that, the keyswitches are Matias Quiet Click switches with ultra-bright, colorful LEDs located under each one.

After quite a bit of prototyping, the team has finally revealed what they’re calling the Keyboardio Model 01 — 20 of which will begin shipping in the coming weeks. Until then, Vincent and Kaia are working intensively on preparing a Kickstarter campaign that is expected to launch sometime this spring. In addition to that, the team is currently planning a “startup kit” with a set of keyboards geared towards the Maker crowd.

While Keyboardio may initially appeal to the enthusiast crowd, the open-source nature of the gadget will certainly entice a number of hardware and software fans to offer their own set of modifications as well. Interested? You can click over to its official page here.

Qduino Mini hits Kickstarter!

---

The Qduino Mini is an Arduino-compatible board with a built-in battery charger and fuel gauge.

---

Recipient of Maker Faire awards, check. Teaching classrooms full of students and engineers, check. Mainstream media coverage, check. Showing off his work to Bill Nye, will.i.am and President Obama himself at the White House, check. It’s safe to say that 14-year-old Maker Quin Etynre already boasts a rather astonishing resume. Yet, it appears that he’s well on his way of adding Kickstarter success to the growing list of accolades in his short yet impressive career.

Recently making its crowdfunding debut, the aptly dubbed Qduino Mini is the first tiny Arduino-compatible board equipped with a built-in battery charger and fuel gauge that can notify a user when a LiPo needs a little extra juice.

“I always struggled to find a way to charge and monitor a battery, bundle with an Arduino and fit inside of every project,” Quin explains. And so, the Qduino Mini was born.

In true Maker fashion, the Qduino Mini is entirely open-source and is based on an ATmega32U4 — the same MCU that can be found at the heart of the Arduino Leonardo. Upon delivery of the board, Quin has revealed that all of its design files, schematics and codes will be made available to the community.

The pint-sized project is not only packed with a battery charger circuit and fuel gauge, but possesses an uber-mini, ultra-thin form factor too. This allows for it to be programmed and have its energy restored simulatenously via USB. Not to mention, the Qduino Mini itself measures just 1″ x 1.5” in size and weighs 0.18oz. Given its lightweight composition, the shrunken down ‘duino is ideal for quadcopters, drones or high-altitude balloon projects, as well as a wide-range of other gadgets like electronic dice, binary clocks and social Androids to name just a few.

Aside from its ATmega32U4, other notable specs include:

• 32KB Flash storage
• 2.5KB SRAM
• 1KB EEPROM
• 3.3V @ 16MHz
• 20 digital I/O (14 dedicated)
• 12 analog Channels (6 dedicated)
• 7 digital I/O also PWM channels
• SPI, I2C, UART available
• LED Indicators for: On, charge status, TX, RX, D13
• TPS78233 3.3V 150mA Regulator
• MCP73832 LiPo battery charger
• MAX17048 LiPo battery fuel gauge

In order to bring the Qduino Mini to life, Quin has partnered with our friends at SparkFun who will serve as the sole manufacturer for the campaign. No stranger to the Kickstarter world, recent SparkFun collaborations have included the highly-popular MicroView as well as MaKey MaKey. If the pattern continues, this all-in-one solution should reach crowdfunding stardom in no time!

Interested? Then hurry over to the Qduino Mini’s official Kickstarter page, where Quin is currently seeking $12,500. If all goes to plan, delivery is expected to begin in August 2015 — just in time for World Maker Faire!

Arduweenie and Linweenie have entered a new era

---

Tenaya Hurst offers some words of wisdom for Makers around overcoming failures. 

---

Even in the Maker world, successes are celebrated sometimes more often than the failures. The wins are documented more than the short-comings. It is because of this that I would like to discuss publically my epic continual failures with my favorite project Arduweenie. And of course, on the eve of the epic success!

Arduweenie started out so successful. I had my Arduino Uno. I knew exactly which pins to connect following the succinct but sufficient explanation from Andrew Milmoe of the Make SF meetup group. Then using a photo from Rebekah Nelson, Prinda started a Twitter feed, thanks Tech Museum Open Make 2014! I had confidence and all my students loved Arduweenie. He was a big attraction at Maker Faires, and it appeared everything was going great.

I wanted to make a second ‘weenie for World Maker Faire 2014, and when I ordered the new LED strip, I assumed it would come with the power supply and female adaptor required (but didn’t). As it turned out, I just didn’t have the physical pieces needed. The sweetest and most knowledgeable maker, Paul Posner of Long Island’s LiTimeClocks, totally helped me to at least power both LED strips from the same Arduino Uno (ATmega328). Even this was a revelation to me. As a next step though, all that was necessary was to make four Y junctions with the four wires that are needed for each LED strip. Red, green, black, and blue – all matched up with their equal and then proceeding to the same connections for power and to the Arduino to make both work. I was impressed, grateful, and SAVED as double ‘weenies at Maker Faire New York made quite a splash. It was a close call — thanks to Paul!

I was determined to solve this LED strip problem and use my Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4) for Arduweenie and my Linino ONE for Linweenie. We had the instructions posted at Maker Faire as to how how to connect to these boards wirelessly. Yet, I admit that I was really nervous to get started. Luckily, I was beckoned to dog hunter’s headquarters in Boston (the dog house!) and had the opportunity to work one-on-one with our talented engineer, Adriano from Sicily. (Not only do I love your name — because it’s one of the words my spellcheck suggests when I’m trying to spell Arduino — but I appreciated it so much to have you show me how easygoing Wi-Fi really is!)

My plans to create a step-by-step progression for our Maker was becoming a reality. It turns out it all came down to a special number. 192.168.240.1. If you know that number, you’ve already got it figured out! Just type that into your web browser and give your board power for 1 minute and 10 seconds, and then you can configure the board on your wireless network and get back to Arduino IDE where you can still upload code wirelessly!

Adriano also started to show me the Linux side of Linino ONE using the Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 chip. I hope to learn more about Linux and how to use other programming languages on the Linino ONE, but for now, Arduino IDE is my best software tool. There is a bridge between AR9331 and the Atmel ATmega32U4, and I’m sure I’ll be glad the hardware was designed that way since using the Atmel side of the board is most comfortable for me.

The failures still seemed to present themselves as I tried to do in repetition what Adriano had taught me. I really believe that for making, the best way to learn how to do something is to do it over and over again. As I started configuring all my dog hunter hardware, I realized the 1 minute 10 second rule! You just need to give it that time twice in the process and then everything is great and working. It is a long time to wait, but do something that takes 1:10 like go to the kitchen and back, or see how many sit-ups you can do!

The final frontier was the power issues, and I didn’t solve it alone. Making is a team sport and though making alone in your apartment can be the most fun ever, it’s important to have some group time and some mentors available for consultation. First, my very good friend who is a maker and breaker at Apple helped me to do math… yes, MATH to find out what kind of power pack my LED strip needed. I had a different power pack for a different LED strip and he said, “Wait! That is not enough power and could damage your LED strip!” He pointed out that one LED strip I had purchased was just NeoPixels, or blocky RGB LEDs, whereas my official LPD8806 strip has chips in it, allowing each LED to be individually programmed. It was an “aha” moment. Buying stuff as a Maker can be hard too! Sometimes you buy the wrong thing, think you buy the right thing, buy the right thing but it breaks, etc.

Next, my good friend J.D. of Workshop Weekend — where we teach Arduino workshops to adults and private workshops in schools — agreed to help me. He also echoed much of what my maker-breaker friend had educated me about, and confirmed that the power pack I recently purchased should do the job. This time I got the right one! Based on the math!) J.D. also helped me do a basic internet search for some tips. He saw that for the Arduino Yun, instead of using the 5V power input, I should actually use the “vin” which is nearby and I had never considered or questioned what that pin was for. Beyond that, J.D. revealed if I did indeed use pins 11 and 13, as Andrew had originally taught me, that maybe the pattern would run faster.

One final revisit with my Maker-breaker friend found total success… and yet, is it really total success? Well, Arduweenie is working, but the patterns are waaaaaay too slow! So, now I’m left with a software issue, or maybe I still need more power. All in all, Arduweenie and Linweenie are totally, completely, absolutely worth it for the struggle because the rewards are great. I will achieve this new roadblock. I will consult with my brother Dakoder (okay, his name is Dakota, but he’s a coder!) because he helped me to write the code in Arduino IDE. And on my own time, alone in my apartment, I’ll certainly try to adjust the delays and anything to do with timing in the code. Also, I may have to try another power pack and see if that speeds up my blinking, rainbonic lights! Ohhh, I just found a library called FastLED…

This Arduino project lets you literally step into someone else’s shoes

---

What if you could actually put yourself in someone else’s shoes? A group of Makers is making the old-school idiom possible.

---

Imagine being able to step into a friend’s shoes and experience their activities? Or having your family follow you around the world? What if you could spend a moment in the cleats of your favorite athlete? Makers Lukas Gächter, Olivia Stadler and Ramon Marc are looking to make that possible through their latest project.

Originally designed for an embodied interaction class, the so-called “Stellvertreter Shoes” are able to convey the feeling of being close to a person who happens to be somewhere else by transferring the activities of the distant person’s shoes into the footwear of others.

The Stellvertreter Shoes are comprised of two components: a pair of input shoes and a pair of output shoes. The input shoes are equipped with two pressure sensors, each of which can record the movements of the wearer. Meanwhile, inflatable silicone cushions are embedded into the laser-cut cork soles of the output shoes. Based on the motions of the input shoe wearer, the cushions expand and deflate accordingly.

The interaction between the two shoes is done via shiftr.io, an IoT prototyping platform that provide users the ability to communicate and share data publicly. The shoes are controlled by two Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4), while movement sequences are recorded and played back through Processing. A real-time view online shows the shoes’ sensor fluctuations.

Ultimately, the project aims to enable people to feel a loved one’s steps as they travel around the world and even, to experience a sport star’s strides. Interested in learning more? Stroll on over to the project’s official page here, and be sure to watch it in action below.

Play Rock-Paper-Scissors against this animatronic hand

---

Talk to the (robotic) hand! 

---

Those looking for a friendly game of “Rock-Paper-Scissors” will be happy to learn of this recent project from our friends at littleBits. While it may not be nearly as high-tech as the unbeatable one from Japanese researchers at the Ishikawa Oku Laboratory, it is impressive nevertheless. Even better, it’s simple to build and play.

The Watson-like gadget is comprised of two parts: the robot and a glove. The robot is controlled by a littleBits Arduino module (ATmega32U4) and programmed to randomly move into either rock, paper, or scissor position when prompted by you. Meanwhile, the glove includes a start button along with two bend sensors on both the index and middle finger. When the button is pressed, the wireless interaction is triggered and a countdown begins. “1,2,3 shoot.”

Choose your hand position, and the animatronic hand will do the same. A wireless module sends what you’ve played to the embedded Arduino module inside the robot. At that point, the robot will choose its playing hand, compare the two results and emit a tune depending on whether you won, lost or tied.

Ready to play? Head over to its official project here. For you Big Bang Theory fans out there, you may also want to check out this pretty awesome Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock device. Bazinga!

This wearable device puts your teacher on your shoulder

---

Like a hawk-eyed professor, this project gives a much more literal meaning to “looking over your shoulder.”  

---

According to Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design student Akarsh Sanghi, the lack of a hands-on approach in distance learning may be what’s constraining the teaching method from reaching a state of mainstream popularity. While some have already begun to embrace the online course approach, others have been a bit more reluctant given the limited access to one-on-one guidance. Cognizant of this fact, the Maker has launched a project that could potentially transform your bedroom into a more real-time educational setting.

To do so, Sanghi has developed a wearable device that provides a mentor with instantaneous insight into a learner’s environment through the coupling of a first-person point of view and an instructional laser pointer — all controlled by a mobile app. This pairing of technology enables a mentor to communicate with a student via the device he calls Grasp as they offer step-by-step instruction through the pointer. Teachers can converse using a built-in speaker/microphone combo, while a digital joystick on the app to direct the laser. The process is driven by an Arduino Yún (ATmega32U4).

“The idea was to learn new skills which are more physical in nature-like craftsmanship and require step-by-step instruction,” Sanghi tells The Creators Project. “In the 21st century when we are surrounded by digital devices and are occupied by a screen most of the time for every possible activity, I wanted to explore how can we break away from this cycle to learn something in a more organic and natural way.”

While the current version of the prototype may still be a bit bulky in size and comfort, the Maker hopes that Grasp could ultimately revolutionize f “on-demand learning.”

Want to learn more? You can head over to the project’s official page. Meanwhile, you may want to check out one of Sanghi’s other creations, The Sensing Umbrella.