Video: Hacking quadcopters with Arduino

A Maker by the name of Dzl recently reverse engineered the communication protocol of an inexpensive quadcopter to work with an Atmel-powered Arduino board.

According to the HackADayCrew, Dzl kicked off his hack by cracking open the quadcopter’s accompanying control handset to determine which transceiver it used.

“[He] then found the relevant datasheet and worked out all the pin configuration involved in the SPI communication. Flying data is transmitted as 8 byte packets sent every 20 mS, controlling the throttle, yaw, pitch and roll,” wrote HackADay’s John Marsh.

“[Dzl] took the build a step further, writing an Arduino library (direct Dropbox download link) that should catch you up to speed and allow you to skip straight to the fun part: hacking and experimenting.”

Dzl offers additional quadcopter hack details on his blog. More specifically, he used an Atmel-powered Arduino UNO (ATmega328) to eavesdrop on the communication between the handset and ‘copter. The annotated list of the initialization sequence is as follows:

* Quadcopter activated.
* Handset broadcast a unique network address or ID.
* Quadcopter receives broadcast, acknowledges, starts listening to data from specific ID.
* Transmitting flying data packet every 20 mS.

“Multible Quadcopters can be controlled simultaneously by assigning them different addresses,” Dzl confirmed. “The passing of ID is done on one fixed radio channel and flying data is sent on one of about 12 random radio channels. The quadrotors seem to auto scan the radio channels until they find data.”

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

Building an Atmel based wireless MIDI floor piano

Jianan Li and a team of Makers recently designed a wireless MIDI floor piano for Duke University’s Hackathon. According to the Hackaday crew, a DIY Pressure Plate for a haunted Halloween house featured on the popular website served as the initial inspiration for the wireless MIDI floor piano.

“Having only 24 hours to compete in the Hackathon, they had to choose something that was fairly easy to build out of cheap materials, and quick to assemble. This was just the ticket,” explained Hackaday’s James Hobson.

“The piano features 25 of the aluminum foil pressure plates, whose state are read by the [Atmel-based] Arduino Mega. This is then transmitted by an XBee radio to an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), which acts as the receiver for the laptop that processes the signals. They even added a remote control using Atmel’s ATtiny85 to allow for octave and instrument changes – it uses an XBee to communicate back to the Uno.”

Unsurprisingly, the above-mentioned pressure-sensitive wireless floor project isn’t the first that we’ve seen powered by Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs). Indeed, earlier this year, Sean Voisen and his team at Adobe were asked to build “something new” for the Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco.

By August, a digital-physical environment for kids called “Sense It” was up and running. With a 14′x8′ touch-enabled LED wall and a 14′x12′ pressure-sensitive floor, the platform can best be described as a place for kids to run, jump, play and create in a world of ‘extra large’ digital experiences. Sense It is built around a system of pressure-sensitive resistors placed under MDF panels, comprising a total of twenty-one 2′x4′ tiles, each one including 8 pressure-sensitive resistors and an ATtiny84 based platform.

Interested in learning more? Additional information about SenseIt can be found here, while the wireless MIDI floor piano project page is available here.

Video: Atmel-based Arduinos in a semi-auto production line

Alexander Kozusyev from Kiev recently contacted the official Arduino blog to describe how he integrated Atmel-based boards into a semi-auto production line designed to cast polyurethane foam.

According to Ardunio’s Zoe Romano, Kozusyev is using an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) to read RFID codes and control a number of components, along with an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) (+ firmware GRBL version 0.9) to control the CNC.

“[The] production line has two independent CNC 3-axis manipulator. The first [is] spraying of [a] release agent. [The] second [is the] automatic pouring [of] polyurethane into the mold,” Kozusyev explained.

“Before spraying or pouring, [the system] reads RFID unique code for the mold, and then loads the G-CODE from the database server based MySQL. After pouring, the mold is moved to the waiting area.”

Building a zombie apocalypse survival lock-box

Maker Matt Reamer is a UX designer and graduate student at VCU Brandcenter. While watching a recent episode of the wildly popular Walking Dead, Reamer imagined the following scene involving a lock-box that requires a fingerprint to be unlocked:

To construct the post-apocalyptic device, he used an Atmel-powered Arduino Uno (ATmega328), a few trusty LEDs and a Sparkfun FPS scanner.

Interested in learning more about creating a customized lock box capable of recognizing a unique fingerprint? Additional information and documentation can be found on Reamer’s site here and Github here.

Building an Arduino-powered (rubber band) launcher

Jonathan from Team Annikken has created an Arduino-powered rubber band launcher that can be wirelessly controlled with a smartphone using Anikken’s Andee Bluetooth Shield. Aside from the Arduino Uno (Atmel ATmega328), key project components include a plywood board, cardboard box, servos, cable ties, screws and nuts.

“I cut the plywood board to about 40cm x 8cm. On one end of the board, I inserted a screw in the middle. That’s to hold one end of the rubber band. On the other end of the board, I fastened a small servo using a cable tie,” Jonathan explained in a recent blog post.

“[For the] firing mechanism we’re using a half-arm for the small servo. When the servo arm is up (about 100 degrees), it’ll hold the rubber band in place. For better stability, I mounted the second servo horizontally down to another board, and attached a small board (using screws) to the servo arm. Next, I mounted the launching board to the top of the small board using two more screws to hold it in place.”

In terms of wiring, the red wires of the servos go to +5V, while the black wires of the servos go to GND.

“As for the white and yellow wires, you just have to hook them up to one of the Arduino pins. For this project, the firing servo is connected to Pin 2, while the vertical turning servo is connected to Pin 3. Lastly, the Arduino is connected to the Annikken Andee so that we can use our smartphone to control it,” he added.

On the software side, the smartphone user interface was programmed in the Arduino source code itself. More specifically, the interface objects are declared at the top of the code, while their individual on-screen appearance is defined in the function setInitialData(). Button actions are coded in a loop() function.

Interested in learning more? You can check out additional details and pictures on the official Rubber Band Launcher Mark I page here.

Keypad door automation with an Arduino Uno

A Maker named Andrea recently constructed a keypad door lock using an Atmel-powered Arduino Uno (ATmega328). As the HackADay crew points out, the entire build is made out of scrap parts: some DVD’s, a bit of wood, an allen key, a motor and belt from a broken printer, an old hard drive (HDD) enclosure and a few power supplies.

“I installed a keypad on my room’s door, and built a simple pulley system to operate the locking mechanism. The final design truly doesn’t look too beautiful because of the major limitations I had to deal with (namely no nails or screws to be used), but it works like a charm,” Andrea explained in a recent blog post. “The big pulley attached to the key-axis is build using DVDs and some scrap wood I had laying around. Such pulley is operated by a DC motor and a belt that I scavenged from my flatmate’s old printer.”

According to Andrea, the case for the electronics is actually an old 3.5 inches hard disk case which conveniently provides nice housing and both 5V and 12V power supply.

“I’ve fit the H-bridge motor driver inside of it, while an homemade I2C keypad driver was fit right behind the keypad, on the outside of the door. A switch is positioned on the inside for easy operation. A timer function is implemented to lock the door after 5 seconds of pressing a button,” he continued.

“A built in speaker serves both as audible output device and (this yet to be implemented) as knocking sensor. The locked/unlocked status of the door lock is stored in EEPROM at every interaction to prevent inconsistencies in case of temporary power loss.”

Meanwhile, the device resets itself every 5 minutes of idle state to prevent possible memory leaks or program halts, with special codes built into the firmware to forcefully unlock the door in case of malfunctioning mechanism (and to modify the pin code). However, Andrea says he isn’t done with the basic design, as it could be improved by installing a sensor to detect the status of the door, along with some form of backup power.

“I am planning to use the existing speaker as a knocking-pattern sensor, as well as adding a door-status LED and infrared remote control. At the moment I have no feedback from my desk regarding the status of the door,” he noted.

Video: Building a tiny Arduino laser cutter

A Maker by the name of SilverJimmy may have already had a full-sized 50 watt laser cutter, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to design something smaller and microcontroller-driven.

Enter the MicroSlice, which HackADay’s John Marsh describes as an adorable little engraver.

“To keep the design simple, SilverJimmy opted for a fixed cutting table, which meant moving the cutting head and the X-Axis as a unit along the Y-Axis,” Marsh explained.

“The solution was to take inspiration from gantry cranes. He snagged a couple of stepper motors with threaded shafts, designed the parts in Inkscape, then fired up his full-size cutter to carve out the pieces.”

The MicroSlice’s bottom platform includes an Atmel-powered Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and the relays for the laser and fans, while two EasyDriver motor controllers sit above them on the next layer.

Interested in learning more about SilverJimmy’s tiny Arduino laser cutter? You can check out the project’s official page on Instructables.

Building a localization beacon with Arduino

A team participating in a recent hackathon hosted by Hub Singapore managed to develop an Arduino-powered indoor localization platform in just 24 (CodeXtreme) hours.

Ted, who submitted the project to the official Arduino blog, explained that the Batman-inspired platform converts existing speakers located inside shopping malls into an indoor localization beacon.

“This allows malls to track the location density without adding extensive infrastructure since it uses embedded inaudible sound signatures in music that shops play in the malls,” Ted wrote in an email sent to Arduino. “In short, instead of tracking Joker, we use Arduino (with WiFI Shield & MP3 Shield) and Android Uno (Atmel ATmega328) to track people (customer) inside a mall.”

Ted’s team is now working on fine-tuning the code with the recently launched Atmel-powered (ATmega32u4) Arduino Yún. As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Yún – designed in collaboration with Dog Hunter – is based on Atmel’s popular ATMega32u4 microcontroller (MCU) and also features the Atheros AR9331, an SoC running Linino, a customized version of OpenWRT. The Yún is somewhat unique in the Arduino lineup, as it boasts a lightweight Linux distribution to complement the traditional microcontroller (MCU) interface.

Creating stories with Footprints

Footprints –  prototyped using the Atmel-powered Arduino Uno – can best be described as a network of interactive soft puppets that help create and share illustrated stories.

Designed by Simone Capano, Footprints links various aspects of a child’s life, including school and family, by collecting and storing relevant data in the cloud.

So, how does it work? Well, according to Zoe Romano of Arduino, Footprints is typically initiated by a parent.

“With [a] smartphone, the parent can record a little vocal story, add some images proposed by Footprints about the story he or she has just told, like the story’s characters or other objects related to it. After, [the parent] can send it all to the child’s puppet,” Romano wrote in a recent Arduino blog post.

“At school, the child can listen to the story by placing the puppet on the tablet and playing with the images he or she has received to [create] a drawing about the story.”

Once the drawing is complete, Footprints send it back to the parent who then tracks the path of the stories shared with a child via the smartphone app.

“The app for the tablet is programmed with Processing, an open source platform for creating interactive digital graphics,” Capano explained.

“In order to make the puppet live I used Arduino, which allowed the communication between Processing and the little LED light placed inside the puppet. The communication between the two is [enabled via] the serial port of a computer.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Arduino Uno is an Atmel-powered microcontroller board based on the ATmega328.

It features 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. Simply put, the Uno contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

TableDuino conference table rules them all

The folks over at One Mighty Roar recently built themselves the ultimate conference table for a new digital age. According to Jake Struzik of ‘Roar, the team wanted design a table that is cognizant of a participant’s presence, easily accessible over the web and capable of showcasing its lights and hydraulic lift on command.

As you can see in the series of pictures, the table, fashioned out of American walnut, is equipped with LED housing that runs through the center and around the bottom of the surface.

“The lights we chose were Adafruit’s WS2801 LEDs so we could easily slap on an Arduino and start programming away. The centerpiece is not just a placeholder for our logo, it serves a much greater purpose,” Struzik explained in a blog post.

“[Yes], a hydraulic engine lifts up the piece to expose a collection of outlets and Ethernet jacks for laptops and alike to receive some juice. A small switch at the bottom of the table controls the centerpiece vertically, so hopefully we’ll install some sensors to ensure a power cable (or a hand for that matter) will never get crushed in the process.”

Additional key components for the IoT conference table include an Atmel-powered Arduino Uno (ATmega328), Arduino Ethernet Shield, HCSR04 ultrasonic sensor, as well as various wiring and power supplies. On the software side, the One Mighty Roar team used Webduino, Adafruit WS2801 Library and HCSR04Ultrasonic.

“As a quick proof-of-concept, we had previously implemented a RESTful API for our office’s sign, using Webduino,” Struzik contiunued. “Once the ‘TableDuino’ API library was banged out, the setup was as simple as attaching the Arduino Ethernet shield and wiring the Ultrasonic sensor to the board. We gave the Arduino some power and an Ethernet hookup then started to fire away some API calls.”

Struzik also noted that the TableDuino is only the beginning of what One Mighty Roar wants to accomplish for its office devices.

“Down the road we want our API to control the table’s hydraulic motor, halt the engine if an object is detected before closing, and change LED color as more individuals sit at the table,” he added.

“These are only a few of the possibilities we could think of for the time being. We’re sure as more people play with our table (and possibly hack themselves) in the next few months, there will be more ideas than we’ll know what to do with.”