Stop light converted to control office foot traffic

traffic-light

When [Paul Rea] started work with his current employer, he was intrigued by a traffic light that sat unused near the entrance of the “Engineering Loft” where he was stationed. He promised himself that he would get it working one day, but several years passed before he had the chance to take a closer look at it. He took the light home with him over Thanksgiving weekend last year, and started … [Read more...]

Pee-light gives guidance for nocturnal tinkles

pee-light

This light is a rather dim LED module whose purpose is to give you a very small bit of illumination when using the restroom at night. If you rely on it instead of using the overhead lighting in the bathroom, you'll be able to find your way back to bed with your night-vision undisturbed. [Fred] built the project as a way to learn more about using MSP430 microcontrollers. The protoboard seen … [Read more...]

Building a battery-powered motion alarm

battery-powered-motion-alarm

[Brad] was asked by his Sister to design a motion-based alarm that would help her catch her son sneaking out of the house at night. Obviously this didn't need to be a long-term installation so he decided to throw something together that is only active at night and can be battery-powered. What he came up with is a light-sensitive motion sensor that uses very little power. He knew that an Arduino … [Read more...]

Automated hose keeps cats from watering you

Craig'sCatSprayer

Commenter [TheCreator] reminded us of this fantastic video from [Craig Turner] who you may recognize from SBS's Top Gear Australia Video Competition.  You see, [Craig] has been struggling for some time with the problem of neighborhood cats relieving themselves pretty much all over his stuff. Through surveillance he identified (and named) around 9 separate cats sauntering into his yard during the … [Read more...]

Motion activated monitor wakeup

motion-controlled-monitor-wakeup

This hardware is used to keep a computer monitor awake when there is motion in the room. The monitor displays important information for firefighter in the vehicle bay, but only needs to be on when they are getting ready to go out on a call. The solution is a simple one, a PIR sensor combines with a mouse for motion sensitive input. When the PIR sensor detects motion it causes a mouse button click … [Read more...]

Today’s Arduino Minute

arduino-diecimila

Sometimes projects are vast, complicated, and complex. Other times projects are a bit more on the simple. Today we thought we would share a couple projects with something in common that may be familiar sounding to the more experienced crowd, but may inspire a few readers new to the world of microcontrollers. … [Read more...]

German engineering produces an overcomplicated scarecrow

german-scarecrow

This electronic scarecrow keeps the birds away and makes your neighbors hate you at the same time. That's because its way too loud, even if the next house is far away. The conrad.de folks that brought us the climbing bike storage device are at it again, putting together car audio and strings of lights as part of the bird-shoo-ing technology. In the video after the break you'll see that they're … [Read more...]