(AT)tiny solution for a big backpack problem

A computer science student at UW-Milwaukee going by the handle of “bergerab” has devised another helpful tool using an Atmel ATtiny85 MCU. (If you recall, we previously highlighted his Helping Eyes visual aid.)

With on-campus backpack thefts on the rise, the Maker decided to take matters into his own hands and devise an anti-theft alarm to help ease his mind as well as those of fellow students.

The creation utilizes an ultrasonic range sensor to denote when a backpack has been lifted a certain distance off the floor. Once it has been moved from a resting location, the alarm will sound notifying those in the immediate surroundings of a possible theft. This is ideal for locations, like libraries or classrooms, where backpacks may be left unattended for extended periods of times.

The alarm itself can only be shut off with the input of a five digit binary code that is analyzed using 5 SPDT switches. In regards to the switches, bergerab writes, “Single Pole Double Throw switches have two positions and connects the center terminal to either the upper or lower terminal. This switch is perfect for our purposes.”

To boot, a buzzer has been linked to the ultrasonic sensor and ATtiny85 to scare off any possible thieves. The alarm will hopefully shock backpack looters enough that they will drop the bag.

Once the switch was soldered and the code uploaded to the device, bergerab’s next goal was to successfully mount and test it. He attached the device to his own backpack with a simple strap, but believes velcro or hot glue could be more secure options.

Have you been a victim of backpack theft? Worried about the safety of your possessions? Then, head over to bergerab’s Instructables page to protect your own belongings with a Maker twist!

This space-inspired LED makeup is out of this world

October is here and while most of us are urgently searching the web for the perfect Halloween costume to wow friends and family, our pals at Adafruit have come up with the perfect Atmel based solution.

Inspired by the Cassiopeia constellation, this galactic makeup uses the GEMMA platform (ATtiny85) along with a series of FLORA NeoPixels. The team behind the build used some clever soldering to link five NeoPixels to the Gemma, while keeping the design light enough so that the LED structure could be worn for long periods of time.

The Adafruit design is directly mounted to the user’s forehead and an accompanying makeup tutorial turns the costumed constellation wearer into a walking galaxy. While some of your friends will likely go with the old standbys this Halloween, such as a cop, a cat, or some assortment of superheroes, why not stand out like a star in the night sky?

Feeling inspired? This timely guide will show you how to bring some celestial luster to this month’s big holiday, or perhaps even a Comic-Con or two.

Prepare a spot of tea with ATtiny85

When making tea, do you always seem to have trouble perfectly timing the brew? Maker Suvinks could certainly relate, and as a result, has devised a littleBits-controlled robotic tea timer. Now, instead of failing to remove the teabag at the optimal time — whether because you were chatting with a friend or reading an Atmel blog — the gadget will take care of the task and notify you when it’s time to enjoy your hot beverage.

Inspired by an Instructable from TaipeiHackerSpace, Suvinks set out to put his own spin on the tiny tea maker. He even took the ‘tiny’ aspect to another level by powering the system with an ATtiny85 chip. The tinyAVR MCU powers a micro servo, some switches, and a piezo buzzer that enables the teabag to be dunked into boiling water repeatedly.

Suvinks put together the circuit on a basic prototyping board and then looked to upload the appropriate software. Admittedly the Maker says the code employed is not the most desirable for the project, but can accomplish the task at hand.

With the brains of the operation complete, Suvinks needed to create a durable frame for the contraption. He cut out his framework from a 3mm piece of plywood that should be available at most hobby shops. Lastly, he assembled his unit with the help of some double-sided tape. A 9v battery was linked to the circuit to power the arm while a screw was fastened to the end of the arm to make holding the tea bag an easier task.

Suvinks is accepting any ideas for improving his design over on the project’s official Instructables page. Cheers!

Lock down your golf cart with ATtiny85

Some of us are lucky enough to live in communities where a typical commute is conducted within the breezy confines of a golf cart. Though, the security on a typical golf cart isn’t necessarily up to snuff.

A Maker by the name of “ramicaza” just happens to live within one of these communities and has a passion for technology. To enhance the security of his own golf cart, he installed a tinyAVR microcontroller-powered biometric fingerprint sensor that initiates his vehicle’s ignition.

Using an ATtiny85 MCU and a “GT-511C1″ fingerprint sensor from Sparkfun, the Maker created a system that enables a driver to simply scan their finger to start their cart. This simple Atmel-based controller then uses a relay to allow power to flow from the cart’s main battery to the motor. The system initiates when a custom-built switch cover is opened and then immediately displays a red LED light. Once the correct finger is scanned, the LED switches to green and the cart is ready to roll. To power down the cart, one more scan is needed and a relay powers down the vehicle. Cleverly, the circuit is designed so that if the cover is pressed while the power is on, the circuit remains active.

Ramicaza successfully replaced his cart’s ignition with home-brewed device and significantly bolstered the ‘cool factor’ of his four-wheeled ride! If you were planning on replicating this project, the Maker has shared his source code and sketches on GitHub that allows the ATtiny85 to communicate with the fingerprints scanner. “This is a sketch that allows the ATtiny line of microcontrollers to interface with the GT511-C1/3 fingerprint sensor from Sparkfun. The advantage of this sketch is that it requires no libraries and thus works on any board that can be programmed with the Arduino IDE. The sketch initializes the connection with the sensor, turns the sensors in-built LED on and continually attempts to capture finger scans. Once one is successfully captured it analyzes,” ramicaza notes.

Recreating the Halo Warthog with ATtiny85

No, that isn’t Master Chief’s signature ride, that is Maker Nathan Gray’s Halo-inspired paintball buggy — though mounting a paintball gun to a moving vehicle may not be as easy as it seems.

Gray had some simple goals in mind when embarking on this project. the Maker simply wanted an electronically firing, easily accessible, and reliable paintball gun mounted to his buggy.

During the development of his initial prototypes, he discovered that the mounted gun’s vibrations had caused many of the fragile paintballs to break within the device’s hopper (akin to an ammunition clip in a real gun) or the barrel. You can imagine the cleanup that is necessary after a series of paint filled balls burst in a confined space!

Therefore, Gray set out to create a mounted gun that could withstand the vibrations and still be easily accessed and cleaned if need be. To conquer this task, he got his hands on a reliable Tippmann A-5.

He tuned his electronic trigger and an ATtiny85-based PCB to fire once the gun had recocked and reloaded itself. Nathan reveals on his Hackaday post that he “tuned the timing experimentally for the minimum time needed to engage the solenoid.” He further notes it was the minimum time needed for the marker to re-cock after firing.

Gray reveals that with his new reliable system in place, he has never broken a paintball within the unit and he can change out the gun in 30 seconds or less. If you have ever played a game of paintball, you know these are both remarkable feats of engineering!

To read Nathan’s full tutorial and download his schematics, you can head over to his original Hackaday post here.

Channel your inner superhero with The Dazzler bracelet

Maker Michael Barretta was searching for the perfect gift for his girlfriend’s birthday. After some deep thought, he decided to develop a project based on her favorite superhero: The Dazzler. So what happens when the superpowers of the X-Men join forces with the low power of today’s microcontrollers? This DIY Dazzler bracelet.

To best personify the bright lights of the Dazzler’s powers, Barretta worked to incorporate light organs into a wearable bracelet. MAKE Magazine best describes light organs as a simple technology that causes light to pulse in tune with the frequency and intensity of sound.

Much like Marcus Olsson’s Trinket design we featured a few weeks back, this bracelet pulses in reaction to the sound around it. Undoubtedly, these wearables would be a massive hit at any party… or Comic-Con, of course!

Barretta linked an Adafruit GEMMA platform (ATtiny85), a microphone breakout board, NeoPixel RGB LED strips and LiPo battery to establish the dazzling effect. The microphone adapts surrounding music into a sequence of LED flashes. For even further customization and personalization, the Maker 3D printed the bracelet enclosure to perfectly fit his girlfriend’s wrist. The schematics for the bracelet itself can be found here.

If you want to build your own bracelet for that someone special in your life, or just want to channel your inner Dazzler, check out Michael’s tutorial here!

Light up your day with this Trinket bracelet

Maker Marcus Olsson has designed ED bracelets before. Marcus’ last project featured an accelerometer so that the LEDs would react to the wearer’s movement. Now, his newest iteration sports a microphone that allows the illumination to react to the sounds that surround it.

The Maker’s friends began to pester him for a creation that interacted with the soundscapes in their environment, so he quickly got to work on this device. Powered by an uber-mini Trinket MCU (ATtiny85), the bracelet allows a microphone to communicate with a Neopixel strip affixed within the casing.

After an initial test, Marcus needed to make some adjustments to the 3D-printed shell of his bracelet to better incorporate the microphone. After some slight tinkering, foam tape enabled the microphone to be secured.

If you want to rock Marcus’ bracelet design at your next dance party, head over to his blog for a full tutorial on how to put the gadget together. For more stylish wearable designs, you always check out the Bits & Pieces archive.

Making decisions with ATtiny85

A Maker by the name Vicor8o5 was frequently finding himself struggling with important decisions. Instead of toiling over making the right choice, he chose to turn to technology to help him out. He devised this clever tool to aid him in the daily decision making process.

To fix his issue, Victor8o5 set out to make the Decision Box, which makes as its name suggests, makes decisions for you by either showing a green or a red light. Outlined in a recent Instructables post, the Maker started with a small wooden cube and hollowed out a space for the technological components in the center. He wired his circuit, including a red/green light and an ATtiny85.

The code uploaded to the ATtiny85 uses a random function to produce either a red or green light. After running a test of 80 random decisions, Victor8o5 ended up with 44 reds and 36 greens. Even though that sounds like an elementary school math problem, it’s a solid distribution for this handy device!

The next time you find yourself stuck on ordering grande or venti coffee at Starbucks, head over to his original Instructables post to learn how you can make your own device.

 

 

Making your own e-textile Arduino with ATtiny85

In a recent Instructables post, a Maker by the name of Jesse Seay has outlined how to create your own entry level e-textile Atmel-powered Arduino.

As the basis of low-cost microcontrollers like the Picoduino, Trinket, and for e-textiles, the Gemma and the LilyTiny, the Maker explains using an ATtiny85 chip is a simple and cost-effective way to get into Arduino.

“These off-the-shelf boards are brilliantly designed and great for one-offs. If, however, you need a bunch (or you’re feeling crafty), you can make your own wearable board.” To do just that, the Maker provides a step-by-step tutorial to demonstrate just how simple it is to fabricate your own Arduino electronic textile component. For this project, Jesse set out to create a collar that mimicked a heartbeat.

Beginning by cutting the stripboard to fit the 8-pin chip, Jesse notes that you could use a common box-cutter to carry out this task; however, be aware that cutting this way is less accurate so make the board larger to compensate, the Maker warns. “The box cutter will also work on the copper traces.”

Next, the leads are to be bent and soldered. Our Maker instructs others to heat up each lead/copper pad with the wet tip of your soldering iron and then feed in your solder.

Lastly, the board is to be connected to the e-textile and sewn into place. Once that’s complete, you’re free to wear your creation proudly!

Get a full breakdown of the tutorial on the project’s official Instructables page here. If you’re looking to explore some other Arduino-based DIY projects, you can head on over to Bits & Pieces archive.

Helping the visually-impaired see with ATtiny85

A computer science student at UW-Milwaukee going by the handle of “bergerab” has created a mountable visual aid using Atmel’s ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU).

Along with the ATtiny85 MCU, the Maker completed his build with the help of these materials:

• HC SR-04
• SPST Slide Switch
• Two CR2032 batteries (with holder)
• NPN transistor
• 1N4007 Diode
• Perfboard (5 cm x 7 cm)
• DC Vibration Motor (salvaged from an Xbox controller)
• A mounting surface (i.e. a hat)

In a recent Instructables post, bergerab described Helping Eyes as “a visual aid, which can be mounted to any apparel to prevent injury to the visually impaired. It uses an ultrasonic range sensor to ‘sense’ objects and sends vibrations to warn its wearer of the incoming object.”

The functionality of the device is designed around the notion that “as an object comes closer, the vibration’s intensity increases.”

Prior to soldering Helping Eyes’ components to the perfboard, the Maker ensured that the batteries could be easily replaced and that the DC vibration motor had plenty of place to spin. He also made an effort to “mount the HC SR-04 straightly with nothing obstructing its view,” in order to get the best signal for the device.

Once the device was assembled, the Maker chose to mount his creation to a hat. “Since this device is so small, it can be mounted to many surfaces (such as clothing, hats, belt buckles, etc..). I chose to mount mine to a hat to prevent against accidents involving low ceilings in homes,” he noted.

Given the variety of mounting surfaces, the Maker says one could either sew an Arduino Lilypad (ATmega168V or ATmega328V) into the fabric, attach via velcro or adhere use hot glue.

Bergerab hopes that his creation will help those with visual impairments, as well as inspire others to develop similar aids. You can find the Helping Eyes project’s official Instructables page here.