Press a button and this AVR powered street sign will point you in the right direction.
During a recent hackathon, one team from South African hackerspace BinarySpace was tasked with building something that could make use of openly available government data in a creative way. For this endeavor, the group took inspiration from BREAKFAST NY’s XMEGA powered Points Sign — an intelligent street sign that parses real-time data to point you in the direction of the most interesting things happening around you.
With this in mind, BinarySpace developed a similar sign dubbed Pointr. Intended for public use, this DIY installation is capable of guiding people towards one of four different government facilities — home affairs, libraries, child services and courthouses — as well as four types of emergency features: police, hospital, fire department and a panic button for immediate assistance.
The body of Pointr is comprised of PVC pipe, a steel pipe and several 3D-printed parts. Housed inside is the belt/pulley mechanism that allows the arms of the sign to swivel. An offset motor gives the project its ability to rotate 360 degrees, albeit not continuously.
“This means that if the sign is pointing at 340 degrees and needed to go to 10 degrees, it would basically move counter clockwise to 10 degrees instead of just moving forward over 360 to 10 degrees. For our purpose this wasn’t an issue at all,” the Makers explain.
At the heart of the system lies an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) along with a RAMPS 1.4 shield driving the stepper motors. Pointr’s software is handled by the Arduino, which processes the location data directly and then sends the message to its corresponding LED screen.
For the control panel, the team mounted eight buttons onto 3D-printed panels along with 3D-printed icons indicating each use. Moreover, all three arms boast an LED screen to reveal the intended target once a button is pushed. The idea is that, if a user presses the panic button, the police will be immediately notified that someone requires help nearby the sign. Press any of the others and it will point the three signs to wherever you intend on going.
Intrigued? You can see the prototype in action below!
Prankophone is a synthesiser and telephone system hybrid that plays melodies to call recipients generated by their phone numbers.
Russian artist Dmitry Morozov, who we better know as ::vtol::, never ceases to amaze us with his innovative, out-of-the-box projects. Most recently, the Maker has spliced a synthesizer with a telephone and a logic module to create what may be the world’s most annoying machine. (But in the best way possible, of course.)
Who could forget as a kid (or an adult) making prank phone calls using soundboards from sites like eBaum’s World? Well, ::vtol:: has just taken those antics to a whole new level. The aptly named Prankophoneisan apparatus which not only calls an unsuspecting person, but plays them an algorithmic melody based on their phone number. The speakers on the device transmit both the synthesized tunes along with the sound from the individual at the other end, but the recipient can only hear noise from the synth.
“Nowadays it’s averting to hear in the phone receiver any sound other than human voice – music means that we have to wait for the answer of the operator, strange electronic noises imply some mistake in decoding,” ::vtol:: explains. “Thus, the sound from Prankophone would be perceived as some kind of mistake, though in reality it is an individual and anonymous sound message, a micro-noise piece which is unique for each number it managed to reach.”
The artist says that was inspired by two historic pieces of technologies crucial to electronic music: the telephone and telegraph. The Prankophone can be set to one of four different modes to call any random number or intended recipients. In manual mode, a user must dial the number of a selected individual the old-fashioned way. Whereas in autonomous mode, the machine will generate the numbers and proceed to dial and emit the sounds all by itself. As its name would suggest, keyboard mode transforms the dialing of a number into a one-octave keyboard with each of the 10 digits correlating to a different musical key. Live mode, however, is a bit different. The number is defined by any of the previous methods, but the sounds aren’t reproduced automatically but from the keyboard, thereby enabling the user to “communicate” through sound with the person who answered on the other line.
“The system of automatic generation of numbers may be calibrated depending on the region, or there is also the international mode which takes into account the phone codes, length of numbers and other parameters,” ::vtol:: adds.
The Prankophone consists of an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) and a Raspberry Pi at its core, along with a Nokia phone, a two-channel sound system, a GE telephone for its buttons and a one-octave keyboard. In terms of software, the apparatus runs various Python scripts and uses the Pure Data visual programming language. Intrigued? See and hear the gadget in action below, before heading over to the artist’s official page here.
Did you know that 80% of the 2015 Hackaday Prize finalists are powered by Atmel? With only days left until we learn which project will walk away with this year’s crown, we recently sat down with each of the potential winners to get to know them better.
While there are surely amazing bionic hands available for amputees today, their price tag can range anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000. This is life-changing technology that has a tremendous impact on people all over the world, however the vast majority can’t afford it. Not to mention, these devices are often times too heavy. As a result, one group of Makers decided to take it upon themselves to create a low-cost, lightweight, custom bionic hand with the help of 3D printing. The total cost? Less than $1,000 — a mere fraction of its commercial counterparts.
We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with OpenBionics team member Minas Liarokapis to gain a better insight into the project, its inception and what’s in store for the future.
Atmel: What is OpenBionics?
Minas Liarokapis: OpenBionics is an open source initiative for the development of affordable, highly functional, low complexity robotic and prosthetic devices that can be easily fabricated with rapid prototyping techniques and off-the-shelf materials. We have already built a few generations of robotic and prosthetic hands — since 2013 when OpenBionics was founded — and we are continuously working on improving our designs.
Atmel:. How did you come to the idea for OpenBionics? Moreover, what inspired you to enter the contest with your project?
ML: I had the inspiration for the creation of OpenBionics while working on my PhD thesis at the Control Systems Lab (CSL) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), under the supervision of Professor Kostas Kyriakopoulos (lab director). He was motivated by the observation that the state of the art robotic and prosthetic hands are overpriced and lack basic functionalities. So, in 2013 the OpenBionics team was set up, consisting of Agis Zisimatos and Christoforos Mavrogiannis and Prof. Kostas Kyriakopoulos also members of the CSL. In 2014, George Kontoudis joined the team.
Since the early beginnings of the OpenBionics initiative, our main priority was to share open designs with the community of Makers, scientists, hobbyists, robotic enthusiasts and later on with people in need (e.g. amputees). Hackaday appeared to be a welcoming community for projects like ours and upon hearing about the Prize we felt this would be a good motivation for us to accelerate the development of our hands.
Atmel: In line with the Hackaday Prize’s theme, how are you hoping OpenBionics changes the world? What’s the mission?
ML: A lot of companies and initiatives claim that they will change the world, it’s a catchy phrase, a nice slogan. We dream about changing the world, we really hope that we will be able to play a significant role in this process at some point. Until then, we want to change people’s lives. To make them happier, more productive, to inspire them to be creative. To help amputees regain their lost dexterity. To educate young engineers, who will eventually become better than us. People will change the world, not initiatives or companies. Together we can change the world and we can make it a better place.
Regarding our HaD Prize project, we have proposed a fully functional prosthetic hand that can execute 144 grasps with a single actuator. This hand weighs less than 300g and costs less than $200. Currently, we are working also on giving to the design a product feel and make it more beautiful. Nowadays, commercially available prostheses cost up to $100.000, more than a sports car. This is irrational and has to be changed. We really hope that products like ours will reshape the prosthetics market. Amputees can build their own prostheses. Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and Fab-Labs can facilitate this process. We really hope that we will trigger a change in this field.
Atmel: What’s different about it? What’s your vision for the next five years? Where do you see OpenBionics going or what/who would you hope will pick up the project and use it?
ML: Our prosthetic hand design is based on a novel differential mechanism that allows a single actuator to control multiple fingers using a simple intuitive interface based on buttons. This differential facilitates the desired cost and weight reduction. We feel, that the differential is the cool idea.
OpenBionics just started. We have many ideas and many cool designs in mind for the years to come. We want to be part of the open-source revolution! From the beginning our designs have been completely open for everyone to use them and experiment with them. We hope to achieve a level of design simplicity for our products, that will allow everyone — amputees, Makers, scientists and hobbyists — to replicate our hands using the provided assembly guides. Stay tuned for more!
Atmel: As we know, the Maker Movement has opened the door for everyone from hobbyists to tech enthusiasts to hardware engineers to tinker around. What’s your personal background?
ML: We are a team of engineers and we are all working professionally (most of us in academic positions) in the area of robotics.
Atmel: What are some of the core pieces of hardware embedded?
ML: Other than the hardware designed by the initiative, we use [Atmel based] Arduino boards, servo motors and NFC tags for the new design of the NFC ready fingers.
Atmel: What hardware products or projects are you also building at the moment?
ML: We have many different ongoing projects. In the next few months, we will release a new version of our prosthetic hand, based on the Hybrid Deposition Manufacturing technique. Then, we will focus on ameliorating our robot hands. Exoskeletons, rehabilitation and other wearable human augmentation devices are also in our future plans.
Atmel: Why pick Atmel (and Arduino) chips?
ML: Arduino boards with Atmel chips are open source, affordable and well documented. These are characteristics of paramount importance for us.
Atmel:What advice would you offer other Makers when getting into hardware and embarking on a new project?
ML: They should not be afraid to fail. We have failed many times, but we never gave up. We feel that when someone has an idea worth spreading she/he has an obligation to share it with the world, no matter how busy she/he is or what other personal constraints she/he has. Dream, design, build, repeat and in the process you will have a lot of fun!
Atmel: Any plans to launch a startup and perhaps even take to Kickstarter/Indiegogo?
ML: All these ideas have definitely crossed our minds and we are currently in a process of discussing with each other the future of OpenBionics. The only certain thing, is that the initiative will remain completely open source. We are open to new collaborations and we plan to be even more involved in the Makers and open source communities.
Atmel: And… if you win, will you be heading to space or taking the cash?!
ML: Space is fun, but we are four and we cannot decide who to send up there. Moreover, if we get the cash we will be able to do wonderful things and prepare far more exciting designs
Atmel: Anything else you want to tell us and our followers?
ML: Don’t be afraid to dream, design, create, innovate and please keep your minds and your ideas open. Together we are much stronger!
(UPDATE: Liarokapis and the OpenBionics crew took home second place in the 2015 Hackaday Prize.)
A security researcher has developed a USB wall charger that can eavesdrop on nearly every Microsoft keyboard.
Although we shared this discreet hack from Samy Kamkar back in January, a recent tweet from Lifehacker triggered our memory and we just had to share again! KeySweeper is an Arduino-based keylogger for Microsoft wireless keyboards (which use a proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol) that is cleverly camouflaged as a functioning USB wall charger. The stealthy ATmega328 driven device can sniff, decrypt, log and report back all keystrokes — saving users both locally and online.
Keystrokes are then relayed back to the KeySweeper operator over the Internet via an optional GSM chip, or can be stored on a flash chip and delivered wirelessly when a secondary KeySweeper comes within range of the target KeySweeper. In fact, the well-known hardware hacker suggests that an effective reach of KeySweeper is that of a typical Bluetooth device, but could be extended using a low-noise amplifier. A web-based tool enables the live keystroke monitoring.
Users can set up SMS alerts that are triggered when certain keystrokes in the form of words, usernames or URLS are being typed, e.g. “bank” or heck, even “www.atmel.com.” (*Shameless SEO plug.*) If KeySweeper is removed from AC power, it will give off the impression that it is shut off; however, the inconspicuous gadget continues to operate covertly using an internal battery that is automatically recharged upon reconnecting to AC power.
As you are well aware, wireless keyboards have become a popular option for users wanting to connect to a laptop. Kamkar said he picked Microsoft’s keyboards after going into Best Buy and seeing which models seemed to be the most prevalent. Such units often encrypt their data before sending it wirelessly, but Kamkar claims to have discovered multiple bugs that make it easy to decrypt. While the researcher hasn’t tested the device on every Microsoft keyboard, he does believe that due to given their similarities, they will all be affected.
The KeySweeper project builds on previous work from Travis Goodspeed, Thorsten Schröder and Max Moser around the megaAVR controlled KeyKeriki.
Kamkar says the cost for KeySweeper can range anywhere from $10 to $80, depending on the operation and its necessary functions. Aside from the Arduino Pro Mini that he selected for its size, other components include:
nRF24L01+ 2.4GHz RF chip which communicates using GFSK over 2.4GHz
AC USB charger for converting AC power to 5v DC.
(Optional) A SPI Serial Flash chip can be used to store keystrokes on.
(Optional) Adafruit FONA which allows you to use a 2G SIM card to send/receive SMS, phone calls, and use the Internet directly from the device.
(Optional, if using FONA) The FONA requires a mini-SIM card — not a micro SIM.
(Optional, if using FONA): The FONA provides on-board LiPo/LiOn battery recharging, and while KeySweeper is connected to AC power, the battery will be kept charged, but is required nonetheless.
It should be noted that the hacker does say a Teensy MCU can be used in place of the ‘duino. As for the software, the primary code is installed on the microcontroller, while the web-based backend uses jQuery and PHP to log all keystrokes and provide an interface for live monitoring of target keyboards. KeySweeper’s source code and schematic are available on GitHub.
What do you get when you combine a pumpkin with Tetris? Pumpktris, of course! Three years ago, Nathan Pryor built a fully-playable version of the classic game right into the Halloween doorstep decoration with LEDs for the display and the stem serving as its controller.
Instead of the glow of a candle, this particular pumpkin got his illumination courtesy of 128 LEDs embedded inside. The Maker had originally planned to use an LoL Shield for the LED matrix, but logistically decided that it wouldn’t work. And so, he created his own LED matrix and programmed it. Set to a Halloween-themed version of the ever infectious Tetris soundtrack, Pryor’s project has certainly left all the nerds talking for years.
Pumpktris’ face is comprised of a grid of square and holes, which were made using a drill to ensure consistent size and spacing. Pryor then wired each LED bulb externally so that he could space them apart, filling in each hole of the grid. The entire gadget is driven by an Arduino Duemilanove.
Meanwhile, a short-handled joystick was attached to the stem, which was cut off and reattached to ensure easy mobility when playing. The joystem toggles the internal joystick, enabling players to move the Tetris pieces which light up on the LED grid.
And just when you thought your jack-o’-lantern was awesome… Watch Pumpktris in action below and be amazed!
Let’s face it, Halloween is arguably one of, if not, the best night to be a Maker — a celebration full of carving, candy, costumes, and of course, some creative decorations. To pay homage to All Hallows’ Eve, we’ve decided to compile a list of a few tricks, which are surely a treat to see!
Talkin’ Skeleton
Tired of having to greet those trick-or-treaters personally? With an Arduino Duemilanove (ATmega168) for a brain, this talking skeleton will take care of all that mumbo jumbo for you, with a variety of your own prerecorded phrases. Muahahahaha!
Terrifyin’ Demon Costume
A monster mash-up of animated LED backpacks and a wave shield voice changer creates a rather terrifying, electronic demon mask.
Findin’ Out Whose the Fairest of Them All
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest scariest one of them all? This wall-mounted installation plays animations based on input from various sensors and features four characters — with each character responding to the sensor inputs with its own personality. There’s even a photo booth feature as well.
Knockin’ on the Box
Simply knock on this ATtiny45 embedded box and it’ll knock back. If you tap on it a special number of times, it’ll play a secret tune, too!
Rulin’ a Bunch of Scarecrow Minions
Having already become quite the ‘ween must-see in his town, Maker Ryan Hughes decided to up his creative game by making a display of scarecrow minions lorded over by Pumpkin King.
Droppin’ Spiders
Spook those coming to your doorstep by dropping fake spider whenever someone comes near. Using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a ping sensor and a few servos, this automated mechanism will sense when a trick-or-treater approaches and release the eight-legged prop accordingly.
Textin’ Pumpkins
Add some interactivity to your haunted house by devising a Twilio-based web app that changes the color of pumpkins using an Arduino and a few LED strips. As a bonus, Maker Jarod Reyes included a power-switch to turn on a fog machine and also added a little eerie jazz music when trick-or-treaters texted “chaos” to the app.
Playin’ Some Pumpktris
As its name would suggest, Pumpktris is a fully playable version of Tetris built into a pumpkin with 128 LEDs for the display and the stem serving as a game controller.
Creepin’ Out Guests With Skully
This super simple yet creepy skull is attached to a single servo with LEDs in its eyes. Placed on the ground and masked with a net, this decoration will surely catch a couple of guests off guard.
Trickin’ Guests
Trick or treat? Ben Harben’s Halloween gadget comprised of an Arduino, a Nerf gun, a Gatorade bottle water reservoir and a coat hanger-turned-corkscrew makes either a matter of possibility.
Dishin’ Out Treats Automatically
Admit it, waiting around to dish out candy can get a bit boring. Just like everything else, why not automate it? This candy dispenser — equipped with an Arduino, X10 and Twilio — utilizes a pair of servos to both open the chute and mix the contents. What’s more, the contraption can be controlled via smartphone or SMS.
Skippin’ the Candy Bowl
Instead of putting out a candy bowl on your porch, this nifty, Arduino Leonardo (ATmega32U4)-driven vending machine will disperse the Halloween sweets without you ever having to leave the couch. (See it in action here.)
Trippin’ the Alarm
Fill your decorated room with smoke, then challenge haunted house goers to navigate the LASER Maze without tripping the ATmega168 driven alarm.
Snappin’ Selfies With Zombies
This Maker’s build employed a molded silicone arm, a custom steel mount to clip to an office partition and a vibration sensor hooked up to an Arduino. Once the arm is slapped, a photo is taken via an IR LED and passed to an Eye-Fi card in the camera. The pic is then put into a Dropbox folder and an IFTTT recipe tweets it.
Fire-Breathin’ Jack-o-Lantern
Let’s just say: Kids, don’t try this one at home. We repeat: Kids, or adults for that matter, don’t try this at home! One Maker decided to create a fire-breathing jack-o-lantern using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and a sonar proximity sensor to detect distances. As you can see, this wasn’t safe enough place on the doorstep.
Gettin’ Mystical With Gemma
Looking to stir up some fear with your Halloween getup? Adafruit’s Becky Stern has you covered. She has crafted a mystical hood equipped with LED eyes, which is perfect for your next Jawa, Black Mage, or Orko costume. The interactive garment features a Gemma (ATtiny85) that causes two NeoPixel Jewels to slowly fade on and off for the full spooktacular eye effect.
Trappin’ Candy Thieves
Don’t you just hate it when trick-or-treaters take all of your candy? This year, you can stop that! Keep those treat thieves away by using an Arduino to detect when someone has their hand in the candy bowl, and use a solenoid to shoot silly string at those gluttonous visitors!
Lightin’ Up Your House
Shelby Merrick has adorned his home with a light show that would certainly impress Clark Griswold, that’s for sure! The Maker designed special ATXmega8E5 based controller (dubbed FloodBrain) that switches a set of 12 flood RGBs to achieve the desired effects seen below.
Bringin’ Splatterhouse to Life
Clay Cowgill is dead-icated to Halloween, so much so that he made his own Splatterhouse arcade cabinet. Aside from a lot of little details on the outside, the Maker added some circuitry inside that triggers real world effects based on in-game variables.
Soarin’ UFO Style
If you’re not a fan of Halloween and are frightened by the mere thought of aliens, we recommend that you don’t visit this house on October 31st. One Maker has crafted a pretty impressive DIY UFO project using cardboard, tape, tinfoil, 8mm of diffused Adafruit NeoPixels and an Arduino Micro (ATmega32u4).
Controllin’ Zombie Dolls With Arduino
Umm… This. Is. Creepy.
Poppin’ Out of the Ground
Speaking of zombies, this Arduino-powered prop features a motion-activated, pivoting head along with corresponding sound effects and some smoke machine goodness.
Flyin’ Ghosts Around the Neighborhood
Thanks to this dressed up quadcopter, Casper won’t be the only ghost you’ll see flying through the night sky.
Visitin’ the Haunted Mansion
Those who’ve ever been to Disney World’s Haunted Mansion can now bring some of that magic home to their front yard this Halloween… with the help of an Arduino Uno (ATmega328).
Blinkin’ Eyes of Doom
Looking for an interactive way to dress up the walkway while spooking some trick-or-treaters? These randomly-changing, multi-colored and ATtiny85 powered eyes should do the trick.
Protopiper is a computer-aided, handheld fabrication device that allows you to sketch room-sized objects at actual scale.
Let’s face it, trying to decide whether or not a piece of furniture will actually fit in your living room can be quite the hassle. For those times where a tape measure will just not suffice, one team from the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut has arrived at an innovative (and perhaps better) solution. Meet ProtoPiper — a modded tape gun that enables users to quickly create full-scale models of any object and determine right then and there whether or not it’ll properly fit inside a home.
Whereas a 3D printer can produce a prototype of something in hours, ProtoPiper will let you get a sense of what you’re dealing with in a matter of minutes. That’s because it can forgo paying attention to small details. The gadget delivers an open framework similar to the wireframe models on 3D modeling software — only these are capable of taking up a physical space in full scale. Instead of layers of melted plastic, it turns rolls of adhesive tape into strong yet lightweight plastic tubes that act as building blocks for the room-size mockups.
As crazy it may sound, it seems like a pretty darn good idea. The device itself is practically an assembly line all on its own. Tape is drawn from the roll, shaped into a tube and results in a surprisingly somewhat sturdy 3D structure. The good news is that you’ll know immediately if a particular end table will be too snug between the sofa and wall, and visualize how it might look with other furniture. The bad news is that you can’t skimp out on the purchase, as the prototype support your weight!
In terms of electronics, the tape gun is equipped with a four-digit display, an extrude and cut button, an on/off switch, a tool selection dial, servo motors, and an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) to control all of the extrusion, heating and cutting. It’s powered by a single 11.1V LiPo battery.
What’s more, ProtoPiper can be used to devise simple mechanisms that serve a little more function. For instance, the team has even managed to assemble a prototype of a collapsing umbrella, which although may not keep the rain away from anyone’s head, does allow designers to perfect its form and dimensions before paying for a more finished product.
This group of Makers built a 3D-printed, Arduino-compatible robot that can draw and write.
Dating back to the late 1940s, turtle robots have been employed for computer science and mechanical engineering training. These low to the ground gadgets were later perfected by Seymour Papert, co-inventor of the Logo educational programming language in the 1980s. Papert’s models had carried out assigned drawing functions using a small retractable pen set into or attached to the robot’s body.
Well, the MakersBox crew decided to take this concept and apply it to a 3D-printed, Arduino-compatible doodling robot of their own, which was originally conceived as part of a recent 10-hour workshop for ChickTech.org. Their device, equipped with a pen in the center of its body not unlike its predecessors, works by wheeling around a sheet of paper as it simultaneously draws shapes.
The bot is based on an Adafruit Pro Trinket 3V (ATmega328), along with a pair of steppers, a driver, a micro servo and four AA batteries for power. The Makers also created eight different 3D-printed parts, which included the chassis, wheels, pen holder and stepper bracket.
The robot itself is programmed using a set of commands relating to its position on a piece of paper. The Trinket can be configured to move the robot backwards and forwards, rotate it in both directions, as well as raise and lower the pen so it’s not always drawing. Intrigued? Check out the Makers’ entire project here, or simply watch it in action below!
Maker Guido Burger hacked a Burberry skirt with pico-Platinchen to give it a NeoPixels makeover.
A while back, Guido Burger introduced us to his board, the pico-Platinchen. The super small (only 20mm in diameter), Arduino-compatible button features a built-in BNO055 sensor (SAM D20) along with an ATmega328P at its core. Since then, the Maker has found several new and innovative implementations of the technology, particularly around wearables. Remember this ring? How about these smart socks? Adding to that list of projects is his recent hack of a Burberry skirt for Maker Faire Berlin.
For this endeavor, Burger’s goal was to make the electronics easily removable, washable and expandable, while also dramatically reducing the necessary power to run 200 LEDs. He began the process with a CAD design of a fabric frame that would hold the NeoPixel strips in place. In the final project, the skirt’s top layer of fabric was comprised of a laser-cut repeating circle pattern, which allowed just enough light from the LEDs to seep through, giving it a nice blur effect.
The pico-Platinchen enabled the high-end skirt to react to motion with its 9DOF sensor. Aside from that, the Maker decided to add a last-minute BLE module to sense whenever a smartphone or beacon was in close proximity — surely a colorful way to keep an eye on those around you during a night on the town! Normally Berger would operate the controller with a coin-cell battery, but for this wearable chose to go with a pair of AAA batteries instead. This provided the necessary 3V, along with an estimated runtime of four to five hours.
The first Speak & Spell was introduced back in the late 1970s. Admittedly, upon coming across a speech synthesizer like that, one of the first things any of us would do is try some profanity. Well, Maker Alec Smecher has taken that concept to heart and applied it to a simple buzzer mechanism that he recently developed. Powered by an ATtiny85, the “satisfyingly minimalist project” swears repeatedly when you connect its wires to a trio of AA batteries.
“Electronic beepers are ubiquitous — in microwaves, cars, smoke alarms, etc. You can buy them for a few dollars,” Smecher explains. “But since beeping also invokes censorship, I wanted to make an ‘un-censor’ that allows the electronic device to articulate itself properly.”
The Maker had gutted an existing electronic beeper for its plastic shell, which houses the electronics, and used an 8kHz sound sample from Google Translate’s text-to-speech synth. The sample is stored in the code and written to one of the PWM outputs of the ATtiny85 from a timing loop to directly drive the small speaker.
“If you’ve had a little bit of experience with Arduinos and want to try moving to the bare Atmel chip, you can’t go wrong with the ATtiny85. It’s just shy of magic. There’s a little bit of poking around getting the Arduino to program the ATTiny85, but overall it was simple enough and I will definitely be doing more projects using this approach,” Smecher adds.
