Open Garden hardware built around ATtiny84 MCU

Cooking Hacks, the the open hardware division of Libelium, has debuted a new Open Garden hardware platform.

Powered by Atmel’s ATtiny84 microcontroller (MCU), the platform consists of three separate kits equipped with sensors to maintain healthy growth, whether plants are located indoors or outside.

“All kits measure parameters such as temperature, humidity and light; soil moisture is monitored in the Indoor and Outdoor kits; water sensors such as pH, conductivity and temperature are added to the Hydroponics kits,” David Bordonada, Manager of Libelium’s Open Hardware division, explained.

“The Open Garden platform works with various types of actuators that can modify the state of the plants, by irrigating them with droppers or sprinklers or activating lights and oxygen pumps. The sensor nodes periodically send information to an Internet Gateway by using available wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G.”

According to Bordonada, an open-source web application stores data, allowing users to easily access relevant information from a browser or iPhone/Android app.

The system – compatible with both U.S. (110V) and Europe (220V) power requirements – will be showcased at Maker Faire Bay Area, May 17-18, 2014, at booth 231.

“Open Garden helps you get started with plant projects that range from beginner gardens to fully automated watering systems with grow lights,” added Bordonada.

“Now it’s easy to run your garden with microprocessors and a suite of sensors to monitor your plants and make sure they get optimal care.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the official Open Garden page here. Readers may also want to browse through some of our previous articles on open source agriculture, including “The Internet of Things, Stalk by Stalk,” “Smart Urban Aquaponics in West Oakland,” “DIY Farming with Atmel and Arduino,” “Open Source Aquaponics with APDuino,” Agricultural Monitoring with Atmel AVR
,” “Arduino-Based Farming in Maine” and “Building a DIY Moisture Monitor.“

Atmel’s SAM4L powers Intoino DIY kits

Intoino – which recently surfaced on Indiegogo – is a comprehensive lineup of kits that allows Makers to easily build a wide range of electronic devices and Internet of Thing (IoT) platforms.

“Intoino Maker Kits are for inventors, designers, students and all creative minds willing to turn their electronic product idea into reality. [The] kits are LEGO-like boxes containing an Arduino Leonardo (Atmel ATmega32u4 MCU), Tinkerkit sensors, actuators and the Intoino Bulb (the smart WiFi antenna) that connects your Arduino and its sensors to the Internet for IoT applications,” an Intoino rep explained.

“You can [link] the Bulb to the Arduino and start programming it via WiFi without physically connecting it to the PC. Once you have programmed your system, the Intoino Bulb automatically starts to act like a modem, giving your project WiFi connectivity.”

At its core, the Intoino platform (bulb) is powered by Atmel’s ARM-based SAM4L microcontroller paired with an IEEE 802.11 b/g/n wireless module that can be used for wireless programming and connecting various IoT sensors.

Additional key project features and specs include:

• USB-OTG with intelligent host mode (independent from device power configuration)
• Automatic recognition of Arduino boards and USB connected devices
• Self (via power supply) or USB powered with automatic detection and control
• SSL layer for Secure connection with Web apps (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Wireless programming directly from Arduino IDE
• Memory storage capabilities (“store&program” functionality)
• Easy integration with USB Atmel devices

It should be noted that Intoino also maintains an official app store, allowing Makers to share or sell their projects. Current use cases listed on Intoino’s website include an automatic pet feeder, tweeting plant, gas alert alarm and a sound activated lamp.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Intoino’s official Indiegogo page here.

Modding a speech-controlled Game Boy Advance

Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance (ゲームボーイアドバンス), or GBA, is a 32-bit handheld video game console. The successor to the Game Boy Color, the console was launched way back in 2011, giving Makers like Chanudn plenty of time to come up with various mods for the unit.

Indeed, Chanudn recently debuted a slick speech-controlled GBA on Instructables. The basic idea? Players say the name of a button (left, A, start, etc.) and the GBA responds as if the button had been physically pressed.

So, how does it work?

“You say a word into a small microphone (let’s assume you say ‘start’) – and this signal is sent from the microphone to the computer through the [Atmel-based] Arduino Uno (ATmega328 MCU). The speech recognition software BitVoicer sees that ‘start’ is a word it’s supposed to respond to and sends the Arduino the string ‘start’,” Chanudn explained in his Instructables post.

“The Arduino receives the string and sets the voltage of one digital output pin to HIGH and the rest to LOW. The pin set to HIGH is connected to a relay that is in turn connected to two metal pads on the GBA circuit board that correspond to the start button. Since the pin is set to HIGH the relay switches states, making the two metal pads electrically connected. This electrical connection is what happens when you usually press GBA buttons, so the GBA responds as if the start button was pressed.”

Aside from the Arduino Uno, key project components include:

• 

PC with BitVoicer speech recognition software
• 
7 relays
• Two 8-pin female headers
• Two 6-pin female headers
• Adafruit’s microphone amp
4 IC sockets
• Perfboard

“This is a project I worked on for my electronics class at Pomona College. Thanks to Professor Dwight Whitaker and Tony Grigsby for their help and guidance – and credit to Jonathan Wong for the idea for this project,” Chanudn added.

Interested in learning more about the speech-controlled Game Boy Advance? You can check out the project’s official Instructables page here.

ATtiny45 drives this optical theremin

A Maker by the name of Derek recently created an optical theremin to illustrate the types of devices typically found in hacker and Maker spaces.

As HackADay’s Rick Osgood reports, the solderless Noise-o-Tron kit is powered by Atmel’s ATtiny45 microcontroller (MCU).

“Arduino libraries have already been ported to this chip, so all [Derek] had to do was write a few simple lines of code and he was up and running,” writes Osgood.

“The chip is connected to a photocell so the pitch will vary with the amount of light that reaches the cell. The user can then change the pitch by moving their hand closer or further away, achieving a similar effect to a theremin.”

According to Osgood, Derek designed a simple PCB out of acrylic, with laser cut holes to fit the components and leads twisted together.

“I learned a lot with this project and I think some other people did too. I had kids as young as 5 assemble these boards with guidance, some of them with surprisingly little help,” notes Derek.

“Everyone seemed to like them and I ran out of components for kits. I’m calling it a huge success and I hope that this project is replicated and taken to Maker Faires, expos and ‘learn electronics’ nights.”

Interested in learning more about the solderless Noise-o-Tron kit? You can check out Derek’s blog post here and the relevant Github files here.

How to make the IoT a reality

ARM will be chairing a symposium on the sidelines of the upcoming Sensors Expo and Conference in Chicago on Jun 24th from 9AM to 5PM. Titled Making the Internet of Things a Reality: A Toolkit for Designing “Smart,” key speakers include Atmel’s Adrian Woolley, ARM’s Zach Shelby and Sensor Platforms CTO Kevin Shaw.

According to ARM’s Will Tu, Kevin Shaw will be kicking off the session with an overview of how IoT devices can evolve to optimize their interaction with humans – ultimately becoming invisible and predictive.

“We can see sensor fusion at work with smartphones, tablets and wearables and today as they apply the concept of contextual awareness of where a user is and what he or she might be doing,” Tu writes in a recent blog post. “From this awareness a device can respond to offer a service, enable features on a device, conserve valuable battery power or delight users in some novel way. Sensor fusion will bring the same type of value to embedded devices and  these software algorithms will be the key to unlocking the commercial value proposition of future IoT device.”

Next up is ARM’s very own Zach Shelby, a thought leader in the industry who has been heavily involved in connectivity from his early days as co-founder of Sensinode. Zach is currently a key contributor at the IETF for IoT standards with contributions in 6LoWPAN, routing, web services and security related standards, ETSI and OMA standardization on M2M and in several top international research programs.

Atmel’s Adrian Woolley will then discuss the hardware side of the IoT. A 25-year veteran of the semiconductor market, Woolley is the Director of Strategy and Business Development at Atmel’s microcontroller business unit. He has an extensive background in mobile and communication markets, along with a considerable amount of embedded experience in microcontrollers.

“When you are talking about hardware building blocks, Atmel can offer more than just MCUs; they also provide radio technologies,” says Shaw.

Interested in learning more? You can access the symposium’s official page here for additional details and registration information. Readers may also want to check out Atmel’s recent IoT SoMa panel on the subject here, Patrick Sullivan’s EELive! 2014 presentation here and our extensive Bits & Pieces IoT article archive here.

This xylophone is powered by an Arduino Uno

A Maker by the name of LaurenCallahan has created an Arduino-powered xylophone.

More specifically, the xylophone uses an Atmel-based Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and multiplexer to identify when one of 8 keys are struck – playing the selected sound via MIDI on a PC.

Aside from the Uno, key project components include:

• 

9 V battery with Arduino adaptor
• Arduino to USB connector
• 8 piezo disks
• 8 1 M Ohm resistors
• Protoboards (two separate)
• Terminal connectors
• Strips of acrylic and a box (or something to make the xylophone with)
• Plenty of wire 
16 LED lights (two for each bar, cannot be more than two)
• 
Suitable resistor (Maker used 220 Ohms)

“The multiplexer is key to this project, as it allows you to take 8 analog ins or outs, as opposed to the 6 on the Uno,” LaurenCallahan explained in a recent Instructables post.

“Using one analog in and three digital ports on the Arduino, the multiplexer runs through each input and reads any changes. In this case, the multiplexer reads any change in the piezo disks.”

On the software side, LaurenCallahan uses the Arduino IDE, hairless serial to MIDI converter, MAX MSP, Max Patch and the Arduino MIDI Library. After uploading the appropriate sketch, LaurenCallahan recommends opening Hairless, the MAX patch, the “Audio MIDI Setup” on OS X or creating a loopMIDI virtual port.

“After opening Audio MIDI Setup, go to Window–>Show MIDI Window. Make the selections shown in the second photo in the IAC Driver Properties window, assuring that ‘Device is online’ is checked,” she added.

“Return to Hairless, find your Arduino in the left-hand drop down window, unselect ‘Serial MIDI Bridge On,’ and choose the two options in the photo for the MIDI In and Out. Arduino will not be able to upload anything to the Arduino Uno if the ‘SerialMIDI Bridge On’ option is checked, and your computer will likely crash, so this step is very important.”

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

ATtiny85 goes uber-mini with The Nanite

The Nanite is an uber-mini dev board built around Atmel’s ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU). The board – which measures 0.4″ wide – boasts the same pin configuration as a DIP ATtiny85.

“[I wanted] to have my own ATtiny85 based development board based on a USB bootloader and optimized for the ubiquitous 170 point mini-breadboards. [The Nanite] sports a reset button, but lacks an integrated voltage converter as it is supposed to be powered by USB,” Nanite creator Tim explained in a recent blog post.

“Apart from the size considerations, the Nanite also uses a neat circuit trick to share a single pin with the LED and the reset button. The circuit of the board is shown below, the circuit attached to the reset pin, PB5, is to the right.”

Meaning, if PB5 is configured as the standard reset, the push button will simply act as a reset button, with the LED taking on the role of a pull up for the reset button. However, if reset is disabled and PB5 is configured as a normal I/O pin, the state of the button can be polled by simply reading from the port.

“The LED can be turned on by setting the output to ‘low’ and turned off by configuring the output into a high impedance state. It is not advised to set the output ‘high’, since in that case the pushbutton could short the output to ground,” said Tim.

“I use micronucleus in a configuration where it only starts when the button is pushed. This means that the user program is started without a delay after the device is powered up.”

Meanwhile, the functionality of the reset button is emulated via software, periodically polling the state of the button and activating the watch dog timer if it is pressed. If the watch dog times out, the device resets.

“Apart from the LED output, user interaction and soft-reset button, PB5 can also be used as a simple serial debug output – connected to the RX input of a serial to USB adapter. I use a simple software-UART implementation and a macro to redirect STDOUT to the serial output. This allows very convenient debugging with printf(),” he added.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Nanite’s official page here, while the Eagle design files and example code are available on Github here.

ATmega328 powers open source WatchDuino

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Watch-a got on your wrist?

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The WatchDuino is an open source project that combines inexpensive electronic parts with complex Arduino (C++) code.

Key project components include Atmel’s versatile ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU), a crystal oscillator, LiPo battery and Nokia’s 5110 LCD screen.

“WatchDuino is not only programmable, it’s fully hackable from hardware to software. You can build your own out of [inexpensive] components [available] at a local electronics store,” a WatchDuino rep explained.

“[Plus], you have the full source code of the watch’s operative system at your disposal. The ability to build the whole thing from scratch and being able to hack at every level of it will greatly appeal to electronics hobbyists and Makers.”

Currently, primary WatchDuino features include:

• 

Time and date (analog and digital output)
• Alarm / countdown (with custom music)
• Games (Pong & Snake)
• Rechargeable battery (via USB) and meter
• Low-battery mode (lasts up to two years with a 240mAh battery)
• Integrated screen light
• Compact design
• Framework-like architecture to easily program custom screens

On the software side, the WatchDuino can be programmed via two methods: hacking the system itself or simply customizing various features and apps.

“Since WatchDuino’s software is open source, you have the full source code at your disposal to make any modifications you like,” the rep added.

The WatchDuino will likely hit Kickstarter at some point in the near future as a fully assembled device. In the meantime, you can check out the project’s official page here.

Atmel-based ChronosMEGA measures time

A Maker by the name of N.fletch has debuted the ChronosMEGA, a beautifully designed wristwatch powered by Atmel’s versatile ATmega328P microcontroller (MCU).

“I’ve always loved watches; not only are they aesthetic and beautiful, but they are functional, precise and useful. An elegant fusion between engineering and art; two normally opposed perspectives, now joined in harmonic unison,” N.fletch explained in a recent Instructables post.

“However, all technologies like the dial-up internet, the CVT monitor and the abacus, inevitably will become relics of our past with the advent of advancing technology and have since become less pragmatic for the typical person to own. Unlike these archaic technologies, the wrist watch still thrives on the wrists of many, standing forever as a testament to one of mankind’s greatest inventions: the measurement of time.”

Aside from Atmel’s ATmega328P, key ChronosMEGA specs include binary time encoding (via 10 Blue 1206 LEDs), a slew of buttons to control time, sleep mode and display, a 32.768kHz external crystal and an 8MHz internal clock source.

Additional key features?

• Micro-USB and charge management controller (for 400mAh Li-ion battery)
• Draws 4uA in its Deep Sleep mode to last up to 11 years on a single charge
• Battery indicator 0603 LED
• Boost TI switching regulator for power regulation
• Low loss PowerPath controller IC for power source selection
• Total form factor of 10mm x 40mm x 53mm
• Custom 3D designed case cast in pure polished silver
• Genuine crocodile leather watch band

As you can see in the videos above, the layout of the watch configured in a circular array of 10 LEDs. Four of the LEDs account for hours, while six of the LEDs account for minutes.

“The LEDs count in binary to display the time on the watch face. By utilizing a combination of the 10 LEDs, the watch can display any possible time accurate to the minute,” N.fletch continued.

“This is a very clean and elegant way to display time. I also really like this technique because of its esoteric and mysterious nature.”

In terms of the MCU, the ATmega328P is wired in a straight-forward manner, connected to power and ground, with a pull up resistor on the RESET pin. Essentially, the AVR is tasked with driving all the LEDs from its GPIO, although one of the MCU’s AVR’s ADC pin is connected to the battery to detect the voltage level. As such, the watch is equipped with a small red status LED to indicate when battery power is low.

“The AVR has a 32.768 kHz crystal wired to its XTAL pins. It uses the 32.768 kHz crystal to drive its Timer2 module asynchronously for counting the seconds, [while] its internal 1MHz RC clock drives the SW,” N.fletch added.

“32.768 kHz is a very common frequency to drive Real Time Clock (RTC) systems because 32,768 in decimal is equal to 8000 in hex. Therefore, 32,768 can be evenly divided by multiple powers of 2 including 1024. Dividing 32,768 by 1024 yields 32, so configuring the timer to count to 32 with a 1024 pre-scaler will equal an exact second.”

Interested in learning more about the Atmel-based ChronosMEGA? You can check out the project’s official Instructables page here.

TinkerForge launches Atmel-powered IoT starter kit

Designed by TinkerForge, the Atmel-powered Starter Kit: Internet of Things allows Makers and engineers to easily control multiple home automation devices across a wide range of devices, both locally or over the Internet.

More specifically, the Starter Kit can be used to control 433MHz mains switches, dimmers and home automation components.

“With the API Bindings it is possible to control the wireless actuators with any (embedded) PC, smartphone or tablet over the Internet,” a TinkerForge rep explained in a recent product post.

“With the kit, nothing stands in the way of turning your coffee maker on while you are heading home or to dim your living room illumination with your own cloud. [Plus], the IoT Starter Kit website gives you direct access to wireless actuators from any web-enabled device.”

The IoT kit comprises a USB-equipped Master Brick powered by Atmel’s ARM-based ATSAM3S4C MCU and a Remote Switch Bricklet (+ antennae), the latter of which features a 433MHz transceiver.

Additional kit items include:

• 

1x Bricklet cable 6cm
• 1x Remote switch Bricklet case
• 1x USB cable 180cm
• 1x Mounting kit 12mm
• 1x Mounting kit 9mm

“Over the USB connection of the Master Brick you can control remote control mains switches or similar. An (embedded) PC either does the switching itself or it can serve as a gateway,” the rep added.

“With an additional Ethernet Master Extension it is possible to go without a gateway.”

It should also be noted that TinkerForge is offering a number of shields or bricklets for its IoT starter kit, including a motion detector, temperature IR/PTC, ambient light, GPS and hall-effect.

Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered Starter Kit: IoT? You can check out the product’s official page here.