Playing 8-bit video games on an Arduino-powered Game Boy

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One Maker combined the case, buttons and LCD screen from his classic Game Boy with a pair of Arduino.

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Earlier this summer, Kevin Bates launched a Kickstarter campaign for his credit card-sized, 8-bit gaming system. For most of us, just one glance at the Arduboy conjured up childhood memories of playing our Game Boys in the backseat of our parents’ car or on the bus en route to school. But what if you could combine the two?

That’s exactly what Daniel O’Shea has attempted to do by converging the case, buttons, LED indicator and screen of his classic Game Boy with a pair of Arduino boards to create an Arduboy-like device on a larger scale. The Maker embedded the same brains as the Arduboy, the ATmega32U4, along with an ATmega328 as a coprocessor to handle the LCD controller.

Aside from that, he used a 2K dual-port RAM chip and an 8-bit flip-flop which together serve as a memory buffer between the Arduino Leonardo and Nano, and the Game Boy’s power PCB to get the negative 20V required by the LCD. At the moment, the entire setup is attached to a breadboard while he sorts out the interface.

“I had a breakout board made for the 21-pin connector which allows the ribbon cable from the Game Boy’s front daughterboard to connect straight into a breadboard for prototyping. And then started out with just the Nano and the daughterboard, working on hooking up all of the LCD’s control signals and getting something (anything!) to show up on the LCD – the awesome research into this by mARC at robotdialogs.com was a great foundation to be able to start from,” O’Shea adds.

Looking ahead, the Maker hopes to drop in a motherboard replacement for the retro-themed gaming system. This next step would include transitioning to a bigger FIFO and an MCU with more RAM, like the ATmega1284P or Teensy. He has already sourced the parts for the power switch, power jack and volume dial, and says that there is ample room for the new electronics on the original footprint.

Interested? Check out the Maker’s entire breakdown of the project on its original page here, and be sure to see it in action below.

The O Watch is an Arduino-based smartwatch for kids

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Eight-year-old Maker Omkar Govil-Nair has created a smartwatch kit for kids to learn coding and 3D printing.

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Do you recall what you were doing back in the summer of fourth grade? Chances are you weren’t creating a programmable, Arduino-based smartwatch like eight-year-old Maker Omkar Govil-Nair, let alone starting your own business.

The O Watch is built around an Arduino Zero (Atmel | SMART SAM D21) module and packs quite the punch when it comes to portable computing. Not only can it tell time, the wearable device can run a wide range of games and applications. For instance, the smartwatch can calculate the value of Pi, play a recognizable version of “Flappy Bird,” “Pac-Man” and “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and collect measurements in science experiments, among many other things.

Now live on Kickstarter, the O Watch will come in two different models: a base kit and a smartwatch kit. The first is comprised of a SAMD21G18A based programmer board along with a mini color OLED screen, a LiPo battery, a 3D-printed case, and a paracord available in four colors (orange, yellow, pink and blue). Meanwhile, the latter features all of that plus a sensor board equipped with a Honeywell three-axis compass, a Silicon Labs temperature and humidity sensor, and a Bosch barometric pressure sensor.

To bring his idea to life, Govil-Nair has partnered with TinyCircuits for the design and manufacture of the watch’s electronic parts. Helping to reduce the gadget’s inner workings and thickness, TinyCircuits developed a new Arduino module with a color OLED screen, microUSB programmer and charger, all rolled into one board. The O Watch is driven by the highly-popular TinyDuino platform, while its integrated microUSB port is used for both charging and uploading programs.

“Since it’s a fully Arduino-compatible product in a tiny package, you can do a lot more – pretty much anything that is possible using a regular Arduino board and a color screen,” he explains.

What’s truly exciting about this project is that its programmability opens the door for young Makers to explore their imagination, enabling Arduino lovers of all ages to devise games and apps of their own that can be worn around the wrist.

Interestingly enough, Govil-Nair was inspired “to make his own product” after meeting our good friend and fellow whiz-kid Quin Etnyre at Maker Faire two years ago. And it looks like he’s well on his way to following in the footsteps of Etnyre with a successful crowdfunding campaign of his own. The O Watch is currently seeking $15,000 on Kickstarter and expected to begin shipping in February 2016.

We can’t wait to see the wearable on display at the World Maker Faire in New York next month. Until then, ‘watch’ it in action below!

Driving an Arduino-powered RC car with a USB racing wheel

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Maker connects a USB racing wheel to a web browser running HTML5 Gamepad API to drive an RC toy car through WebSockets and a Node.js server.

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Mate Marschalko has created an Arduino-powered RC car that can be driven around with a USB racing wheel or gamepad. In order to wirelessly control the vehicle, the Maker connected the wheel to a web browser running the HTML5 Gamepad API.

“The work started off by taking out the original radio and motor drive modules and the antenna from the car. I was left with two motors, one for steering and one for acceleration, and the plan was to rebuild the whole architecture using Arduinos,” Marschalko writes.

“I succeeded and the motors are now driven with a powerful H-bridge module (L298n) and the wireless connection is handled by two nRF24l01 antennas. The Arduino and the motors are both powered from the original 6V battery pack (4xAA).”

An on-board Arduino Nano (ATmega328) is tasked with receiving wireless messages from an Arduino Uno connected to his Macbook Pro, which communicates with the Node.js server and browser. Looking ahead, the Maker hopes to add other features to the car, including a wireless camera, a more powerful RC battery pack and possibly a few more sensors and lights, too.

Intrigued? Head over to the project’s original page, where you will also find more details on the JavaScript code. In the meantime, be sure to watch it in action below!

Building a 3D-printed, Arduino-powered telescope at home

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The Open Space Agency is currently developing a range of open source automated robotic observatories.

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The Open Space Agency is hoping to do the same for space as the OpenROV has done for underwater exploration. But instead of navigating the deep blue sea with low-cost robots, the latest initiative wants to use powerful telescopes that can be built right from home.

In order to make this a reality, the OSA has devised what they call ARO, or the Automated Robotic Observatory, which will enable Makers and amateur astronomers to contribute to citizen science projects for a significantly cheaper cost than more profesional-grade equipment. As part of the initiative, the group has created a prototype for their open source, 3D-printable telescope named the Ultrascope.

At the moment, the Ultrascope has two versions in the works: one with a 3.5” mirror, another with an 8” mirror. Once completed, both of their design files and control software will be released under an open license. The telescope, which can be made for roughly $300, is driven by simple robotics, and captures celestial images using a smartphone’s high-megapixel camera. On top of that, the OSA has also developed an Arduino shield for controlling the telescope.

How the telescope works is pretty straightforward: A laptop finds a known location in space (such as the ISS) and forwards its whearabouts to Ultrascope’s Arduino shield to move its motors. After the telescope positions itself, the smartphone starts snapping images and sends them to the cloud for post-processing. The team hopes users will one day build up a library of shared pictures online.

“This dream would have been almost impossible just 24 months ago. The levels of precision required for a maker-made scientific quality scope would have resulted in compounding errors conspiring to make observations frustrating for aspiring citizen scientists. However, the emergence of low-cost 3D printers and laser-cutting, paired with microcontroller platforms such as Arduino and Lumia 1020 — with its 41 Megapixel CCD — mean that a project such as this is now eminently possible,” the OSA explains.

Artist creates a touch-controlled, sci-fi instrument with Arduino

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By touching the installation at various points, users can different sounds. These sounds then generate changes in the projection.

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New media artist Balam Soto is no rookie when it comes to mesmerizing musical instruments. Take Exp.Inst.Moon, for example. The interactive installation — which we saw on display at the Westport Maker Faire in Connecticut — incorporates projection and sound generated by a wireless box comprised of wood, plexiglass, an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) and other electronic components.

By touching the experimental instrument’s copper tape sensors at various points, participants are able to create a range of sound effects, which in turn, produce changes in the projection.

“[The project] is an analysis of the social and cultural adoption of tangible user interface. Globally, touch devices are increasingly common; people understand how to use them,” Soto writes. “Exp.ins.X analyzes this new technology and makes use of this new common understanding to fuse sound and visuals into realtime interactivity.”

Most recently, Soto has added another project to the family. This one, dubbed Exp.Inst.Rain, features many of the same electronics and principles as his earlier installations, along with some additional input from the Maker community. By tapping the capacitive touch sensors atop each cylindrical piece of plexiglass, users can make varying sounds, which once again changes the projection in real-time.

An Arduino Mega embedded beneath the crystal-like columns serves as the brains of the operation, which runs custom software acting as a bridge between the instrument and the MIDI program, and links to an iPad via an open sound control interface network. Exp.Inst.Rain has a full octave (12 notes), three different sound modes and knobs to bend the pitch, MAKE: shares.

Safe to say, we’re looking forward to seeing the latest iteration firsthand at the World Maker Faire in New York. Until then, you can watch it in action below!

[Images: MAKE]

This device lets you select music by its tempo

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Radio Activity is an Internet-enabled device that connects to Spotify and lets you choose music by tempo.

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Royal College of Art graduate Gemma Roper has developed a metronome-inspired device that enables users to select music based on the tempo and rhythm at which they’d like to listen.

Radio Activity works by connecting to Spotify and selecting songs based on their beats per minute by sliding a circular metallic dial up and down a vertical pole. From there, it automatically chooses tracks from the user’s music library that best match the set tempo and plays them aloud through its attached speakers.

“The device explores physical and tactile interfacing for online music without a screen through the use of an overtly reduced aesthetic that becomes the central focus for interaction,” Roper explains.

In order to make this possible, the designer had programmed the gadget to recognize Spotify genres and only emit the songs within the categories that match the setting. The metal dial, which can also be rotated to adjust the volume, makes its way up and down the pole at various increments representing different BMPs. It starts at 60-85 BPM, the tempo of slower classical music, and heads upward to 85-110 BPM for hip-hop, 110-135 BPM for techno, 135-160 BPM for dubstep, and so forth.

A marble base houses most of its electronics, which include an Arduino Micro (ATmega32U4), and supports the steel shaft onto which the dial is mounted.

“The internal component composition is incredibly complicated, as the electrical current needed to be carried throughout the length of the rail on small brass tracks that are connected to tiny switches inside the dial all the way to an Arduino Micro in the marble base,” Roper tells Dezeen.

Looking ahead, Roper is hoping to work with developers to apply the idea to other music platforms like Soundcloud. Until then, you can watch the impressive project in action below, or check out its official page here.

[h/t Dezeen]

Building an estimated time of arrival device with littleBits

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The Honest ETA device lets your housemate know when you’re likely to arrive home.

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You’ve all been there: You tell your spouse that you’re on your way home, when in actuality you’ve yet to leave the office. As part of a recent collaboration between littleBits and Popular Science, one new project is looking to put an end to missed dinner dates, late arrivals and the altogether annoying habit of never being home when you said you’d be! In other words, no more “Honey, where are you?” messages.

The aptly named Honest ETA Device was created to let a housemate — whether that’s a parent, a significant other or a college roomie — know when you are on the way home, and more importantly, likely to arrive. The cloud-connected progress meter tracks your whereabouts by reading your smartphone’s location and then displays it on a bargraph module inside the house.

Honest ETA employs a GPS-enabled mobile device, coupled with some IFTTT recipes, the cloudBit and a bargraph to show your proximity. IFTTT recipes are set up using a location channel, tasked with triggering when you enter or exit a pre-set radius.

Given that there are five LEDs on the bargraph, the littleBits team programed five radii, each with recipes related to entry and exit. This allows you to keep tabs on someone as they come and go. Upon leaving the office (or the gym, class, or wherever else you may be), your smartphone will notify the cloudBit as you start to make your way home by illuminating the LEDs on the bargraph. The LEDs will continue to light up the closer that you get.

The project is also equipped with an MP3 player (ATmega168) and speaker, so that you can play a song of your choice when you’re only minutes away. If you happen to make it home first, however, an IFTTT SMS recipe will enable you send a text to your housemate with the press of a button, letting them know that you have indeed made it back safely.

On top of that, littleBits shares a nifty little idea to round out the design. Why not turn the circuit into an interactive wall piece that both displays your progress and holds your wallet? Using just a small hinged platform that sits directly on top of the button, the act of placing your wallet inside the case will automatically press the button, thereby sending a text message. Its creators note that you can add some acrylic edge lighting to the bargraph for nice visual effect, too.

Sound like a project you can benefit from? Hurry over to littleBits’ official page to get started. There, you will find a detailed step-by-step breakdown to help you bring your own ETA device to life, or simply watch the video tutorial below!

Converting a Fisher-Price tape player into a Bluetooth speaker

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Maker transforms his ‘80s Fisher-Price cassette player into a Bluetooth-enabled device with the help of Arduino.

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If you grew up in the ‘80s, it’s likely that you were the proud owner of a Fisher-Price cassette player. While for most folks, these popular toys are merely a distant memory. But for Matt Gruskihe, it was a chance to bring his childhood accessory into the modern-day era. To accomplish this, the Maker decided to transform the retro device into a Bluetooth media system that he could remotely control from his smartphone.

Bringing this idea to life required some new mechanical and electronic components, along with a few 3D-printed parts. The Maker employed a Bluetooth audio module and an amplifier breakout board from SparkFun, and built a custom PCB that would convert the stereo output to mono. Four 1.5V C batteries were used to power the unit.

Meanwhile, an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328) was tasked with two things: providing 3.3V to some of the other electronics and reading the rotary encoder responsible for volume control.

“I connected the rotary encoder to the Arduino and installed the Encoder Library from PJRC. This made it really easy to tell when the volume knob was clicked up or down,” he writes.

Gruskihe had to also modify the device’s existing mechanical buttons to drive the electronics using wire and hot glue.

“After some poking around with the springs and levers, I managed to find some spots that I could modify to get the mechanical behavior I wanted (momentary press/release of all button presses). There is a lever that is pushed down when a tape is inserted,” Gruskihe explains. “Once this was done, I could get all of the buttons to release instantly by holding down the stop/eject button. I found the lever that the stop/eject button was activating, and used some hot glue to lock it in place.”

What’s more, he found a spot for a hidden power switch underneath the cassette tape’s holder, which enabled him to adhere to the vintage aesthetics of the ‘80s toy. With the help of his Ultimaker, the Maker created a custom 3D-printed holder to keep the PCB in place. This allowed the new board to fit in the original compartment and for Gruskihe to keep the volume control in its usual location.

Intrigued? Check out the project in more detail here.

Maker creates an Arduino-powered remote shutter for Beme

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Instead of having to hold his smartphone against his chest to create Bemes, Maker Sean Hodgins built an Arduino-powered remote shutter.

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When the Vine app first emerged, Maker Sean Hodgins had the idea to take an Arduino and to devise a time-lapse rig that would allow him to share unique six-second posts with his friends on the social channel. Keep in mind, this was long before the days of simply editing clips on the computer and then putting them up on Vine as many folks do now. Back then, users were required to actually touch the smartphone’s screen in order to begin recording.

Following the feedback that he received on his earlier project, Hodgins decided to build a remote shutter for use with Beme, a Snapchat-like ephemeral messaging platform that has recently risen in popularity. What separates this network from others before it is the way in which moments are captured. In an effort to migrate away from selfie culture, Beme is instead triggered by a phone’s proximity sensor and photos are snapped by placing the device against your chest.

Rather than always having to hold the phone against his body, Hodgins wanted to create a remote that would enable him to start recording by moving a servo arm over the proximity sensor. To accomplish this, he built a nifty device inside an iPhone case. Housed within the enclosure lies an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328), a 9V battery and a “cheapo” wireless receiver, while a separate button is used to communicate with the unit and activate the system with just a click.

“Right now, since it’s so hacked together, the RF doesn’t like to communicate when the servo moves which means it drops out when you trigger it. As a quick fix, I modified the code to just trigger and wait the minimum time for the Beme to post. As a real fix, I could add a transistor to power the servo so that when its not moving its powered off,” the Maker notes.

Watch Hodgins provide a detailed overview of the simple project in the video below. Interested in making one of your own? Head over to his original post here.

This Arduino-powered device is the purr-fect cat sitter

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If a cat hops onto something it’s not supposed to, this gadget will express your disapproval.

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When the owners are away, the cats will play. If you’re the owner of a feline, then you’re well aware that it’s nearly impossible to keep your furry friend under control while you’re out and about. As a way to solve this common conundrum, a Maker by the name of “Lucky Resistor” has devised a small gadget — which he calls The Cat Protector — capable of detecting movements in projected areas, like tables and counters, and then expressing disapproval with your usual phrases in your own voice. 

In order to bring this purr-fect creation to life, Lucky Resistor employed an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) to serve as the brains of the gizmo, along with an Adafruit data logging shield, a Panasonic motion sensor, a small speaker, a dual-color LED, various resistors and capacitors, a small SDcard, a low voltage power amplifier and a DAC chip.

“I started with a prototype, using an Arduino Uno and a large breadboard. The first step was to realize an acceptable sound output. To realize this I added a shield with SD card adapter and wrote some optimized code to stream sound from the SD card in 22.1kHz using a 12bit DAC,” the Maker explains.

“The amplification to a speaker completed this part of the project where I have two solutions. Next, I experimented with different motion sensors to detect the motion of the cat and finished the hardware part using a dual color LED for a simple status display.”

After successfully testing the prototype, Lucky Resister went on to develop his final product. Creating a compact device was a challenge, as the casing needed to be tidy and simple yet large enough to fit the battery pack, controller, speaker, LED and sensor. (The Maker spells out the entire process here.)

He began with the LED and sensor, and placed them on small stripboards with the resistors. From there, he added a flat cable ending in crimp connectors. After drilling the required holes in the casing, he fixed the boards with the LED and sensor inside. With the circuit board fastened to the bottom of the enclosure, Lucky Resistor soldered the circuits to the shield and connected the shield and rechargeable battery.

“The device was now ready to put into use. I can place it on protected areas like tables or shelves and enable it while I am out of the house. I just have to make sure the sensor area is covering just the protected area and not e.g. the floor. Sometimes it is necessary to put a cup or something in front of the device to reduce the sensor coverage,” he concludes.

Have a cat you’d like to keep under control as you run your errands? Head over to its step-by-step breakdown to get started.