Hitting the Beat with good vibrations

Created by Lorenzo Bravi, Hit the Beat is a slick drum machine designed to transform virtually any item into a real-life drum sample.

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a musician or have any sense of time to play the rather unique instrument.

As Filip Visnjic of the Creative Applications Network reports, Hit the Beat comprises a collection of box-like objects packing integrated solenoid actuators – with each containing different granules.

“All boxes connect to the main unit with [an] integrated [Atmel-based] Arduino module which acts as the translator of the MIDI message received. The MIDI message is sent with any MIDI app thanks to MIDI Configuration on Mac,” writes Visnjic.

“Lorenzo used Little MIDI on the iPad to send the wireless message. MIDI instruments can be assigned to each box that eventually triggers a physical solenoid percussion in realtime. Users can build an orchestra-like set of items, creating an intuitive and interactive investigation of music and sound.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out Hit the Beat’s official page here.

Ocular launches Atmel-powered Crystal Touch EDGE

Ocular LCD has added the Atmel-powered Crystal Touch EDGE to its touch panel lineup. Essentially, the EDGE is a single-layer, all-glass projected capacitive touch panel featuring a single FPC and Chip on Flex (COF) assembly.

The new panel boasts increased transmissivity due to a single-layer design, while an all-glass construction offers a scratch resistant surface that won’t deform with frequent use.

“Atmel is proud to foster continued product development leveraging maXTouch technologies to create thinner, functional touch solutions that are visually transparent, such as the Crystal Touch EDGE,” said Atmel exec Jon Kiachian. “Our collaboration with Ocular helps OEMs design natural interfaces that exceed user’s expectations.”

Ocular’s Paul Massey expressed similar sentiments.

“The release of the EDGE product is a significant step forward for Ocular. It was the continued support from Atmel and the efforts of our engineering team that created the ultra-thin, high performance sensor we wanted to bring to our customers,” he explained. 

”Applications that require a thinner stack-up, such as Point of Sale terminals and handheld inventory controls/scanners, will benefit from the Crystal Touch EDGE. The scratch-resistant surface and reduced thickness increases design flexibility and helps reduce the overall thickness of the device.”

According to Massey, the thickness of standard Crystal Touch PCAP panels has been reduced by over 30% to create the ultra-thin, Crystal Touch EDGE.

“Eliminating a layer of glass and optical adhesive gives standard Crystal Touch EDGE panels a thickness of 1.1mm and up to 1.5mm if cover glass is required,” he added.

Crystal Touch EDGE panels – currently available in sizes up to 4.8-inches – will be featured at SID Display Week (booth #721) in San Diego, June 3-5.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Ocular’s Crystal Touch EDGE product page here.

Analyst says IoT a boon for Atmel

Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Andrew Uerkwitz says Atmel is “well-positioned” to benefit from the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT).

According to Uerkwitz, Atmel is one of a handful of companies that makes microcontrollers (MCUs) which will increasingly be in demand.

“As we move toward Internet of Things, if you think about everybody’s connected devices today, everybody has about three to four connected devices, meaning connected to each other in some way. And we believe within five to 10 years, that’s going to be about 10 devices,” Uerkwitz explains.

“Everyone’s going to have 10 things that are connected to the Internet or connected to a smartphone or just generally connected whether it’s in the automobile, in the home or in the office.”

As Uerkwitz notes, a number of devices, such as thermostats and televisions that may not currently be connected to the Internet will increasingly become “smart devices.” 

As this trend plays out, those devices will require the components that Atmel supplies.

“So, their core business has thousands of customers trying to add these microcontrollers to devices, consumer electronics, and we think that core business will grow nicely,” Uerkwitz adds.

Interested in learning more about the IoT? You can check out Atmel’s recent IoT SoMa panel on the subject here, Patrick Sullivan’s EELive! 2014 presentation and our extensive Bits & Pieces IoT article archive here.

HackADay features Atmel-powered Phoenard

Back in February, Pamungkas Sumasta’s Phoenard won Atmel’s AVR Hero design challenge.

According to Sumasta, Atmel’s 8-bit AVR MCUs provide “the best small footprint controllers available in the market – especially when they are coupled with Arduino support.”

Recently, the Phoenard was featured on HackADay, along with a short video interview shot at Atmel’s Maker Faire Bay Area (2014) booth.

“We really like the form-factor but its hackability is where it really shines. Sumasta showed off the menu system which is quite snappy and makes it simple for you to add your own applications,” writes HackADay’s Mike Szczys.

“Software isn’t the only thing you can customize, as there’s a connector at the bottom of the phone. Sumasta showed off a breadboard attachment which was hosting LEDs of various colors. Their intensity can be altered using a simple slider app on the touchscreen.”

Challenging reflexes with the Arduino-based Lightgame

Efstathios Lymperidis and Thodoris Bais recently debuted the aptly named Lightgame, which the two university student designed to challenge the reflexes of four players.

Key project components include:

• A pair of Atmel-based Arduino Uno boards (ATmega328 MCU)
• Breadboard
• TFT LCD screen
• Four buzzers
• Push button square
• LED transparent 5mm RGB
• Resistor 1/4W Carbon 5%
• Diode 1N4148
• 
Jumper wires
• 
USB cable

“The game was developed using two Arduino devices connected in a Master – Slave configuration via the I2C synchronous serial protocol,” the duo explained in a detailed blog post.

“The Master Arduino is responsible for handling the buttons, displaying the correct RGB colors, [executing] all calculations for the score and stages of the game.”

Meanwhile, the peripheral Arduino is tasked with displaying messages on a TFT LCD screen and playing the appropriate music via a buzzer.

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here.

ATmega328 MCU drives this LazerBlade

Designed by Darkly Labs, the LazerBlade is an entry-level laser cutter and engraver kit targeted at Makers, artists and DIY hobbyists.

“LazerBlade is a precision device that can both cut and engrave many materials. It’s compact, quiet, portable and handsome enough to sit on your desk while packing an amazing punch for its price,” a Darkly Labs rep wrote in a recent Kickstarter post.

“You will be able to cut or engrave with vector graphics, CAD designs or even photos. [You can] work with the LazerBlade ready software bundle offered as part of this campaign, or use your favorite program.”

The LazerBlade features a custom designed main-board (controller) and high-efficiency laser diode driver, with an Atmel ATmega328 MCU running modified GRBL software.

Additional key hardware specs and features include:

• Two watt, M140 5.6mm 445nm laser diode
• Three element glass laser lens
• Custom designed, fan assisted cooling system to protect laser diode, optics and eyes
• Available in A4 and A3 sizes
• Variable laser power control, 0% to 100% (not just on/off)
• Stores vertically when not in use, with included stand
• 110-240V AC Mains / 12V 2A DC Power Adaptor (included)
• Step-by-step illustrated assembly instructions
• A special anodized aluminium focus tool
• One pair of laser safety goggles
• 110-240V AC mains / 12V 2A DC power adapter
• USB cable

“To achieve its professional feel and performance, we chose to make the chassis from an industrial plastic that is very strong and will not be susceptible to warping from moisture.
 All the parts are designed and manufactured to fit together precisely, [so there is] no need for drilling or special tools [and it can be] easily assembled within two hours,” the rep explained.

“We used a combination of ‘off the shelf’ components along with a custom designed main board and laser driver. [Meaning], we keep the electronic’s cost down by tailoring features specifically for our requirements and design in expandability for the future.”

On the software side, the LazerBlade is fully compatible with industry standard Gcode, offering Makers easy access to numerous open-source and free packages to create cutting files, such as Inkscape.

In addition, Darkly Labs is supported by Vectric with Cut2D-Laser and John Champlain with PicLaser-Lite. Both packages – ready to use with the LazerBlade – are included at no charge to Kickstarter kit backers.

Interested in learning more? You can check out LazerBlade’s official Kickstarter page here.

ATM90E26 extends smart energy roadmap

Atmel has introduced the ATM90E26, a low-cost metering Analog Front End (AFE) IC. According to an Atmel engineering rep, the ATM90E26 is specifically designed for smart grid communications, electricity metering systems and energy measurement applications.

“The Atmel Smart Energy platform includes several System-on-Chip (SoC) devices built around a unique dual-core ARM Cortex M4-based architecture. The platform includes the SAM4C with advanced security, in addition to metrology-enabled versions for single- and poly-phase metering (SAM4CMx) and Power-Line Communications (PLC) enabled solution (SAM4CPx),” the Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces.

“The new ATM90E26 is pin-to-pin compatible with the IDT 90E22/23/24/25 devices, featuring UART support and improved power measurement resolution. By providing the discrete metrology AFE ATM90E26 as well as various MCU/MPU and PLC/wireless solutions, our Smart Energy Platform offers designers multiple options and various levels of integration to address their smart metering designs. For example, the ATM90E26 can be bundled with the SAM4CPx for a complete smart metering architecture.”

Key ATM90E26 features include:

• Dynamic range of 5000:1 with 0.1% kWh accuracy and 0.2% kvarh accuracy.
• Temperature co-efficient of reference voltage 15ppm/ºC (typ.).
• Single-point calibration for active energy.
• Up to 24x PGA to support shunt sensing in L line current channel.
• Programmable startup and no-load power threshold.
• Measures Vrms, Irms, P(Q/S), frequency, power factor and phase angle. Enhanced resolution for RMS and mean power.
• Measurement accuracy better than 0.5%.
• Configurable high-pass filter (HPF) in each ADC channel.
• On-chip parameter diagnosis function and programmable interrupt output to reduce complexity and increase robustness of the meter.
• Standard four-wire, simplified three-wire SPI interface, or a UART interface.
• Dedicated voltage zero-crossing output pin (ZX); voltage sag detection.
• Software reset available.
• 3.3V single power supply; 5V compatible for digital input.

It should also be noted that Atmel’s ATM90E2x single-phase energy metering demo board can be used to evaluate and test ATM90E2x chips. More specifically, the board is capable of sampling single-phase voltage/current, meter active/reactive energy, output active/reactive energy pulses, as well as measure parameters such as voltage, current and power.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s smart energy platform? You can check out our detailed deep dive here.

Drawing circuits with the Papilio Duo

The Papilio DUO – which recently made its Kickstarter debut – is equipped with both an FPGA and Atmel’s ATmega32U4 microcontroller (MCU).

According to Papilio rep Jack Gassett, the board allows Makers and devs to easily draw circuits, move pins, connect extra serial ports and even link a Bitcoin miner to the ATmega32U4.

“The Papilio DUO is much more than just a hardware project. In fact, the software is the secret sauce that sets the DUO apart from other FPGA boards. It lets you draw up circuits without investing time and energy in learning VHDL/Verilog,” Gassett explained.

“We start with the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and supercharge it by adding circuits into the mix. We bring all of the pieces needed to draw and debug your very own circuits in one place. It’s an easy and seamless user experience that we call Papilio DesignLab for use with both Windows and Linux.”

Aside from Atmel’s ATmega32U4 microcontroller, key hardware specs include:

• Spartan 6 LX9 FPGA
• High efficiency LTC3419 switching voltage regulator
• Dual channel FTDI FT2232H USB 2.0 interface
• 512KB or 2MB ISSI IS61WV5128 SRAM
• 64Mbit Macronix MX25L6445 SPI Flash
• 4 I/O pins arranged in an Arduino-compatible mega form factor
• Digital pins 0-16 connected to FPGA and ATmega32U4

It should be noted that the Papilio team is also offering a classic computing shield that provides the necessary hardware to recreate classic computing systems on the board, such as:

• socz80: Z80 Retro MicroComputer
• ZX Spectrum
• Commodore VIC20
• LadyBug Hardware
• Jet Set Willy on ZPUino
• Bomb Jack
• Sega Master System
• All Classic Arcade Games at Papilio Arcade

Interested in learning more? You can check out Papilio DUO’s official Kickstarter page here.

Video: 3D printing houses in Minnesota

Andrey Rudenko is developing a 3D cement printer capable of printing medium-sized homes with concrete insulated walls.

The printer – powered by an Atmel-based Arduino Mega (ATmega1280 MCU) – is built to withstand real-world conditions.

“The next generation is currently in development and will be able to print homes on mountainous/hilly terrain, where traditional construction is more challenging,” Rudenko explained. 

”I’m looking to collaborate with fellow architects, designers, builders and interested individuals worldwide, including students in these respective fields. I’m open to suggestions, discussions and new ideas. ”

It should be noted that Rudenko’s 3D cement printer was recently featured on Engadget by Daniel Cooper, who writes:

“In order to make [the 3D printer] affordable to more than just a select few, the creator is using a cheap cement-and-sand mix, which is layered out 20mm at a time, holding its shape long enough for an operator to add-in some steel reinforcement before it hardens… Rudeno is planning to make a splash with the tech later in the summer, as he’s working on building both a small playhouse to test out the concept, before finding a plot of land upon which we can cook up a full two-story house.”

SAMA5D3 Xplained for the IoT in India

element14 has introduced Atmel’s new SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit for Internet of Things (IoT) development in India.

“The Internet of Things is one of the most important trends globally that will boost the electronics industry in India. Within these few years it will impact nearly every segment of the economy and society,” said element14 exec Ravi Pagar. 

”[We are] excited to be bringing such a wide range of ground-breaking IoT-enabling solutions to India geared towards inspiring engineers with the ideas and building blocks to turn the Internet of Things into a reality.”

The board – built around Atmel’s SAMA5D3 ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPU – is packed with a rich set of ready-to-use connectivity and storage peripherals, along with Arduino shield-compatible expansion headers for easy customization. 

The platform is also a perfect target for headless Android projects, while a Linux distribution and software package facilitates rapid software development.

Aside from Atmel’s ARM-based SAMA5D36 Cortex-A5 microprocessor (MPU), key specs include:

• 2GBit DDR2 – Micron
• 2GBit Flash – Micron
• 1- Ethernet 10/100/1000 (- Phy + connector)
• 1- Ethernet 10/100 (-Phy + connector)
1- USB Device connector, 2- USB Host connectors
• Active Semi PMIC
• Power measurement straps
• SD/MMCPlus 8-bit card slot
• 1- Micro SDCard 4-bit slot footprint
• 1- 6-lead 3V3-level serial port
• 10-pin J-TAG connector
• 2- push buttons, reset and startup
• 1- general purpose push button
• 2- general purpose LEDs
• Arduino R3-compatible header plus LCD connectors mounted
• Linux distribution
• Bare Metal C code example
• Headless Android support

Simply put, the new board offers features such as mid-range graphical user interfaces, capacitive touch capability, wired and wireless communication, free of charge Linux distribution and a QT developer’s kit.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the ARM-based SAMA5D3 series is ideal for wearable computing and mobile applications where low power and a small footprint are critical.

Atmel’s new SAMA5D3 Xplained eval kit can be snapped up for Rs.6,719.00 here.