Celebrating Tetris with Arduino

Did you know that Tetris turned 30 today?

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Programmed by Alexey Pajitnov, the game was released on June 6, 1984 while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow.

According to Wikipedia, the wildly popular Tetris derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix tetra (all of the game’s pieces contain four segments) and tennis, Pajitnov’s favorite sport.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The game (or one of its many variants) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players and PDAs.

Recently, the folks at jolliFactory designed an Arduino-based, bi-color LED Matrix Tetris game, just in time for the title’s 30th birthday.

The game – which surfaced on Instructables earlier this week – is built around two of jolliFactory’s bi-color LED Matrix Driver Module, a platform that allows Makers to easily daisy-chain multiple components.

“Just for fun, we thought we could build a simple Tetris game by daisy-chaining two of the bi-color LED Matrix Driver modules together driven by an Arduino Nano (Atmel ATmega328 MCU) simply by adapting similar projects found at Instructables… We expanded our search to other online sites and managed to find some information which we adapted to build a simple Arduino based bi-color LED matrix Tetris game,” a jolliFactory rep explained.

“As this project is simply built for the FUN factor with no intention of using it for long, we did not pay too much attention to build a proper enclosure. However, the enclosure should enable the player to hand-held the gadget to play quite comfortably. What we have for the enclosure is a cardboard box backing with a blue tinted acrylic protective front with the game control push button switches mounted.”

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

Video: Atmel demos QTouch tech at Computex

Atmel’s comprehensive QTouch Library makes it simple for developers to embed capacitive-touch button, slider, and wheel functionality into a wide range of microcontroller applications.

The royalty-free QTouch Library provides several library files for each device, supporting various numbers of touch channels – enabling both flexibility and efficiency in touch applications.

Simply put, by selecting the library file supporting the exact number of channels needed, developers can achieve a more compact and efficient code using less RAM.

Earlier this week at Computex 2014, Atmel staff engineer Paul Kastnes demonstrated the integration of QTouch solutions with low-power consumption, using ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontrollers and sensor engines.

In addition, Atmel senior manager Dr. John Logan showcased how mobile applications can be customized using customized sensors, exhibited by a modified SAM D20 ARM Cortex-M0 microcontroller and an accelerometer gyroscope.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Atmel’s official QTouch page here and Atmel’s SAM D lineup here.

Open source IoT with Contiki

Contiki – an open source OS for the IoT – is developed by a world-wide team of devs with contributions from a number of prominent companies such as Atmel, Cisco, ETH, Redwire LLC, SAP and Thingsquare.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Essentially, Contiki provides powerful low-power Internet communication, supporting fully standard IPv6 and IPv4, along with recent low-power wireless standards: 6lowpan, RPL and CoAP.

With Contiki’s ContikiMAC and sleepy routers, even wireless routers can be battery-operated. 

Contiki facilities intuitive, rapid development, as apps are written in standard C. Using the Cooja simulator, Contiki networks can be emulated before being burned into hardware, while Instant Contiki provides an entire development environment in a single download.

Recently, the open source Contiki was featured by Wired’s Klint Finley, who describes the versatile OS as the go-to operating system for hackers, academics and companies building network-connected devices like sensors, trackers and web-based automation systems.

“Developers love it because it’s lightweight it’s free, and it’s mature. It provides a foundation for developers and entrepreneurs eager to bring us all the internet-connected gadgets the internet of things promises, without having to develop the underlying operating system those gadgets will need,” he writes.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

“Perhaps the biggest thing Contiki has going for it is that it’s small. Really small. While Linux requires one megabyte of RAM, Contiki needs just a few kilobytes to run. Its inventor, Adam Dunkels, has managed to fit an entire operating system, including a graphical user interface, networking software, and a web browser into less than 30 kilobytes of space.”

Unsurprisingly, consumer technology companies are beginning to embrace Contiki as well. To help support the burgeoning commercial usage of Contiki, OS founder Adam Dunkels ultimately left his job at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and founded Thingsquare, a startup focused on providing a cloud-based back-end for Contiki devices.

“The idea is to make it easy for developers to connect their hardware devices with smartphones and the web,” added Finley.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

“Thingsquare manages the servers, and provides all the software necessary to manage a device over the web.”

It should be noted that Thingsquare recently showcased various Internet of Things (IoT) applications at Embedded World 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany.

Indeed, a number of Thingsquare’s demonstrations were powered by Atmel’s recently launched SAM R21 Xplained PRO evaluation board – illustrating the seamless integration of Thingsquare’s software stack with Atmel’s new SAM R21 ultra-low power wireless microcontroller (MCU).

Interested in learning more? You can check out Contiki’s official page here and read about Thingsquare’s use of Atmel tech here.

Quick-learning Arduino basics

Writing for DesignNews, Rob Siegel notes that Arduino has come quite a long way since the very first boards hit the streets way back in 2005. 

According to Siegel, the open source, Atmel-powered lineup of boards is “showing up everywhere,” from consumer and industrial products to engineering toys for budding engineers.

“Just look at the last few Gadget Freak projects presented by Design News and Allied Electronics, and you’ll see a wide range of Arduino use, from a touch-sensitive audio desk tray to motion-controlled blinking eyes for a rock sculpture,” says Siegel.

“We recently reported on an artificial arm that can be controlled by Bluetooth-powered brainwaves – powered by an Arduino board and created by a teen.”

As Siegel points out, the Arduino is both user-friendly and well-suited for rapid-development electronics. Which is why both devs and Makers will want to tune into a five-day overview of the Arduino in the continuing education program, “Get Your Project Started with Arduino,” jointly presented by Design News and Digi-Key.

The class will be presented by Don Wilcher, an electronics technology teacher and electrical engineer with 26 years of industrial experience.

“Wilcher worked on industrial robotics systems, automotive electronic modules and systems and embedded wireless controls for small consumer appliances,” Siegel added.

“He’s currently developing 21st-century educational products that focus on the IoT (Internet of Things) for makers, engineers, technicians and educators.”

Interested in learning more about signing up for “Get Your Project Started with Arduino?” You can check out the detailed curriculum calendar here.

$2.6 billion for wearable (animal) tech

Analysts at IDTechEx recently highlighted the lucrative potential of wearable tech for animals. Example such technology for pets and livestock include ultrasound-delivering treatment patches, electronic saddle optimization for horses, as well as collars capable of tracking, identifying and diagnosing.

“Multi-functionality is a trend as with the human equivalents, both facing the challenge of ‘do more but stay simple to use.’ Increased sophistication of function is the order of the day and now mobile phones can often access the data, replacing costly infrastructure, again mimicking the situation with human equivalents,” an IDTechEx analyst explained.

“[We] forecast that the global market for wearable animal tech will reach $2.6 billion in 2025. IDTechEx [also] predicts that during the next decade expenditure on medical diagnosis devices will increase in value market share from 11% to 23% and medical treatment (such as heating, cooling, ultrasound and drug delivery) will increase from a mere 1% to 13%.”

According to the analyst, a percentage of RFID tagging will ultimately be subsumed by diagnostic devices that look the same, such as newly available stomach boluses, collars and implants.

“[The] legal push is in two directions, from requiring tagging of many forms of livestock in certain jurisdictions for disease control and quality improvement to some seeking to ban sale of ‘inhumane’ dog training collars that administer electric shocks,” the analyst added.

“Cameras on pets are surprisingly popular and a dog’s bark can now be interpreted and radioed to the owner when away. The number of protected fish tagged already runs into millions, tagging racing pigeons is a big business too and even bees are being tagged nowadays.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the full IDTechEx report on wearable technology for animals here.

Worldwide IoT market to exceed $7 billion by 2020

Analysts at IDC confirm a transformation is underway that will see the worldwide market for IoT solutions increase from $1.9 trillion in 2013 to a staggering $7.1 trillion in 2020. Indeed, consumers continue to experience and embrace IoT in their homes, cars and in many other aspects of their daily life.

Globally, individuals are developing a high affinity for full-time connectivity, which makes consumer IoT a compelling proposition. Businesses are also intrigued by the efficiencies, business process implications and revenue opportunities IoT solutions are capable of generating.

“Businesses are taking the necessary steps to gain a deeper understanding of IoT and the overall value,” explained Vernon Turner, Senior VP of IDC’s Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer, Network, Telecom and Sustainability Research. “Technology vendors are evolving their solutions in a supply-driven market that’s edging toward becoming a more demand-driven market.”

Carrie MacGillivray, Program VP, Mobile Services, IoT, and Network Infrastructure at IDC, expressed similar sentiments.

“The worldwide IoT market is exploding… IoT solutions are at the heart of IDC’s view of the third platform and the four pillars — mobility, social business, big data/analytics, and cloud — resulting in millions of applications available to billions of end points.”

MacGillivray also noted that developed regions (currently) garner the majority of the IoT market, representing approximately 90% of installed units. However, the worldwide IoT install base is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5% from 2013 to 2020.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel is well-positioned to benefit from the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT). According to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Andrew Uerkwitz, Atmel is one of a handful of companies that makes microcontrollers (MCUs) that will increasingly be in demand.

“As we move toward Internet of Things, if you think about everybody’s connected devices today, everybody has about three to four connected devices, meaning connected to each other in some way. And we believe within five to 10 years, that’s going to be about 10 devices,” said Uerkwitz. “Everyone’s going to have 10 things that are connected to the Internet or connected to a smartphone or just generally connected whether it’s in the automobile, in the home or in the office.”

As Uerkwitz points out, a number of devices, such as thermostats and televisions that may not currently be connected to the Internet will increasingly become “smart devices.” 

As this trend plays out, those devices will require the components that Atmel supplies.

“So, their core business has thousands of customers trying to add these microcontrollers to devices, consumer electronics and we think that core business will grow nicely,” Uerkwitz added.

Interested in learning more about the IoT? You can check out Atmel’s recent IoT SoMa panel on the subject here, Patrick Sullivan’s EELive! 2014 presentation and our extensive Bits & Pieces IoT article archive here.

Walltech SmartWatch tick-tocks with Atmel

After successfully designing and extensively documenting the open source OLED Watch (v 4.2), Walltech founder John Wall has moved on to version 6.0 of the Atmel-powered smartwatch.

The latest wearable device is built around the FemtoduinoBLE, which features an ATmega32u4 microcontroller (bootloaded as an Arduino Leonardo) paired with a BlueGiga Bluetooth 4.0 low energy module to link devices and receive notifications.

The newest Walltech also boasts a 1.5-inch full color OLED display as well as an on-board microSD card slot.

“A step up from the monochrome .96′ OLED display of v4.2, this screen also consumes very little power thanks to the OLED technology behind it and can show beautiful images that will be the GUI for the smart watch,” John explained in a recent blog post.

“Now that there’s an SD card on board, I can use fancy graphics and make it look professional and keep the code to the MCU, enabling more to be coded instead of storing images too.”

In addition, says the designer, the DS1307 and accompanying regulator make an appearance again, with the same battery charging IC from the previous model powering up the 500mah lithium ion battery.

“To make selections, there will be a surface mount three-way navigation switch in the top right that you can flick up, down and push in to make selections and scroll through faces and apps,” he added.

Interested in learning more? You can check out John’s completed OLED Watch (v 4.2) here and the Walltech Smart Watch v6.0 introductory blog post here.

Creating a 3D printer for under $100

Tarkun Gelstronic has created a 3D printer for under $100.

Aptly dubbed the Poor Man’s 3D Printer, the device includes a heat bed and is capable of printing with multiple materials.

Key components purchased by Gelstronic include:

• Atmel-powered Arduino Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560 MCU)
• 
Stackable motor driver shield
• Hotend
• PTFE tube
• Fan
• Additional small items

As 3DPrint’s Monica Aderholt notes, one of the major ways Gelstronic was able to keep the price so low was by recycling old computer and printer parts.

“Tarkun obtained four stepper motors from old DVD and Blu-ray drives, a power supply from an old PC, a NEMA 17-like stepper motor from an old printer and a modified gear from an old Hewlett Packard printer, which was used for the bowden extruder,” Aderholt explains.

“Of course, he had to use a bunch of screws, washers, nuts, wires, etc., but these were things that he and a lot of people would have lying around in their garages. For the frame of the printer, he did cheat slightly, and used some aluminum sheet metal that he had lying around. However, he points out that this could be replaced with wood.”

All told, Tarken ended up spending only 49 Euros, or approximately $67 on all purchased items, which isn’t bad for a 3D printer that offers the following features:

• Fused deposition modeling ABS/PLA
• Heat bed
• Use of open source firmware – a modified version of Tonokip
• Free host software, Repetier-Host
• Bowden-extruder
• Max. build size 40mm x 40mm x 40mm
• Resolution 0.08mm

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

CNC router goes xPRO with Atmel’s ATmega328

Spark Concepts has debuted the CNC xPRO on Kickstarter, a versatile platform powered by Atmel’s ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU).

The CNC xPRO can be used to drive:

• Four-axis CNC Mill
• Three-axis CNC Mill with dual drive motors
• Laser cutter with XY, auto focus and rotary attachment
• Plasma cutter
• Pick and place for SMD components
• Wireless robotics

The GRBL compatible CNC xPRO can be powered via an ATX PSU or a dedicated 12V/24V two wire power supply. The board is also capable of driving four motors with DRV8825 Stepper Drivers at 2.5A (peak) with 1.75A (RMS) and up to 1/32 microstepping.

“One driver is capable of cloning X,Y, or Z or being run as an independent axis, [with] hardware support offered for both USB and wireless operation (XBee, WiFly, or RN42-XV),” a Spark Concepts rep explained.

“In addition, there are 12V and 5V outputs for powering peripherals (fans, pumps, vacuums), [allowing Makers and engineers] to quickly connect Stepper Motors and limit switches with 3.5mm screw terminals.”

Meanwhile, an expansion port supports future upgrades, such as a handheld jog controller and integrated spindle speed control.

“The CNC xPRO ships fully assembled and ready to connect (except for those opting for the bare board). All you need to do is screw down your motor leads and limit switches, plug in your ATX supply (or 12V/24V supply) and computer. You can also add a kill, pause/stop, resume and abort switches,” the rep noted.

“To add Bluetooth wireless, simply plug the RN42-XV into the xPRO and pair it with your computers Bluetooth. When paired correctly, this creates a virtual serial port over Bluetooth linking the computer to the xPRO.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the CNC xPRO on Kickstarter here.

ATmega32u4 + Bluetooth = Blend Micro

RedBearLab has launched the Blend Micro, a mini development board targeted at the Internet of Things (IoT). Powered by Atmel’s popular ATmega32u4 microcontroller (MCU), the board is also equipped with a Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Energy chip.

Blend Micro is compatible with Nordic’s Bluetooth Smart SDK for Arduino, making software development easy via the official Arduino IDE.

So, how does the board work? 

According to the RedBearLab crew, the nRF8001 chip communicates with Atmel’s Atmega32u4 MCU via the ACI (Application Controller Interface). Although the ACI is similar to SPI, it does not actually function as SPI. Indeed, SPI consists of MOSI, MISO, SCK and SS, whereas ACI includes MOSI, MISO, SCK, REQN and RDYN.

“Since the nRF8001 chip may receive data anytime (even when not selected by SPI master) the SS line is not needed. For the ACI, data exchange [is routed] through MOSI and MISO, [while] SCK provides the clock generated by master,” a RedBearLab rep explained.

“When the master wants to request data from BLE Shield, it [shifts] the REQN to low until RDYN line is put to low by BLE Shield. The master then generates the clock to read out the data. After reading out the data, master will release the REQN and BLE Shield release the RDYN, putting them to high.”

The Blend Micro runs at 3.3V to reduce level shifting, since the nRF8001 chip only accepts 3.3V. As such, the onboard LDO converts 5V from the USB power source into 3.3V for the board.

“Normally, you should set Blend Micro to run at 8 MHz/3.3V. However, if you want to run faster and not concern about the reliability (we do not see any issue so far), you can run it as 16 MHz [for a] so-called ‘overclock,’ the rep added.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Blend Micro’s official page here.