Pinoccio – An Ecosystem for the Internet of Things

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[Pinoccio] is currently an Indeigogo crowd-sourced project that aims use the real-world programmability of the Arduino through the internet using a wifi connection. One could rightly point out that this can already be done through the use of a wifi shield. Before ruling this device out, just "shush your shussins" and consider that it's designed specifically for interfacing with "things" over the … [Read more...]

The ultimate low-cost dev board

shrimp

We see a lot of microcontroller dev boards here at Hackaday, so much that we're jokingly considering changing our name to Board a Day. These devices - from Arduinos to Arduino-compatible boards, very, very small boards, to extremely powerful ARM devices - are a great way to learn about the wonders of controlling electricity with code. There's a problem, though: if you're teaching a class on … [Read more...]

OpenPLC, for industrial automation to Halloween displays

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Stepping out onto just about any factory floor you'll find complex automatons building anything and everything imaginable. These machines need to be controlled somehow and before the age of computers these manufacturing robots were controlled with relays wired together to produce a multitude of actions. Relays, no matter how reliable and bulletproof the are, can't be programmed without rewiring … [Read more...]

Emulating the DCPU on an AVR

DCPU

[skywodd] just finished his own DCPU emulator (French, translation) based on [notch]'s upcoming game, 0x10c. The neat thing about [skywodd]'s build is his emulator uses the lowly ATMega328, the same microcontroller found in (some) Arduinos. The DCPU specification goes over the operations required of any DCPU emulator. There's a lot of crazy stuff here - a division instruction that takes only … [Read more...]

Defense Against the Dog Arts

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It's possible that it was [Matt Meerian]'s awesome pun that won us over, not his ultrasonic bicycle dog defense system, but that would be silly. [Matt] wanted an elegant solution to a common problem when riding a bicycle, dogs. While, obscenities, ammonia, water, pepper spray, and others were suggested, they all had cons that just didn't appeal to [Matt]. He liked the idea of using C02 powered … [Read more...]

Talking digital calipers make engineering more accessible

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The team over at NerdKits recently put together a device aimed to help make the process of measuring things more accessible to those with disabilities. [Terry Garrett] is a Mechanical Engineering student, and as anyone who is in the field knows, it’s a discipline which requires taking tons of measurements. Since [Terry] cannot see he was often asking classmates to assist in measuring items … [Read more...]

Hacked parking disc can be controlled remotely

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If you have ever traveled around Europe, you are likely familiar with parking discs. Required in many countries that would rather not deal with parking meters, these devices are placed in the front of a car’s window, and indicate when the vehicle was parked. When parking enforcement officers come through the area, it makes quick work of identifying which cars need to be ticketed. [Michael] … [Read more...]