The OpenElectronics crew has presented a project dubbed “HeartThrob” in honor of Valentine’s Day weekend.
“You [may] be inclined to think that this is the usual heart-shaped Valentine gadget,” OE’s Boris Landoni explained in a blog post detailing the project.
“In reality this is something much cooler as it’s capable to create beautiful and complex light games… Just shake HeartThrob and it will turn on and crate incredible light animations.”
HeartThrob is powered by Atmel’s versatile ATtiny85 microcontroller (MCU), as the OpenElectronics team required a compact controller that was easy to program and offered a precise balance between energy consumption and performance.
In terms of software, the HeartThrob can be modified according to the specific needs of a user, including duration, vibration detection and number of functions for those who want to add or remove lighting effects.
Interested in learning more? You can check out HeartThrob’s official project page here.
As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s ATtiny85 MCU is routinely tapped by both DIY Makers and professional engineers to power a wide range of projects. To be sure, quite a number of devices and platforms built around the ATtiny85 have surfaced in recent months, including the LED SMD firefly, astrophotography tracker, vibrating timepiece, ATtiny85 ISP!, and Cuboino (Digital Cuboro).
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 