Quick Candy Sorting Machine

December 21, 2013 by Phillip Ryals 32 Comments

OCD. Sometimes things just get to you, like those pesky bags of randomly assorted candies. [Torsten] decided to build a sorting machine capable of sorting Skittles or M&Ms into separate cups by color at around 80 pieces per minute. It’s a great implementation, using an Arduino Duo. He based the code on the principles of a finite-state machine, in order to make it as quick as possible.

It works as you would expect: When a candy piece is loaded, the color is determined using an RGB sensor. A 360-degree servo is used to move the chute to the proper position, and interestingly, the system preemptively releases the candy before the chute is in position in order to maximize the speed. If you watch closely, you can see this behavior in the video (embedded after the break).

[Torsten] includes a complete bill of materials, if you’d like to try it for yourself. He also included a list of possible improvements.

Continue reading “Quick Candy Sorting Machine” →

3D Scanner Using A Sharp Infrared Sensor

December 21, 2013 by Phillip Ryals 13 Comments

[Fernando] sent in a tip about a pet project he’s been working on. It’s an interesting take on a 3D scanner. He used a stepper motor to rotate the object being scanned, and an Arduino for control, but the real novelty is the way he used the sensor. [Fernando] mounted a Sharp GP2D120X on vertical surface, and used a second stepper motor to raise the sensor during the scan. As you can see in the videos (embedded after the break), this results in the scan being put together in an ascending spiral.

The Sharp sensor is cheap and decent, but you’re obviously not going to get amazing accuracy. Still, using the average of several measurements, he ends up with a decent result. Happily, [Fernando] has released the code, and it should be easy enough to repurpose it with a more accurate sensor. It would be interesting to see a laser-based sensor paired with this code.

Continue reading “3D Scanner Using A Sharp Infrared Sensor” →

Touching Conversations: Email Snippets Scroll By On Electro-Embroidery Piece

December 19, 2013 by Kristina Panos 6 Comments

[Wei Chieh Shih] really moves the needle when it comes to wearable technology. His textile design project entitled I Am Very Happy I Hope You Are Too is a striking marriage of masterful hand embroidery, delicate circuitry, and careful programming.

[Wei] is using an Arduino micro to drive a matrix of surface-mount LEDs in the Hello, World video, which is a ramp-up to the scrolling text version that’s ~~in progress~~ now finished. That full version is part of his residency project at Arquetopia in Oaxaca, Mexico and displays snippets of emails from his past relationships. It’s huge, with multiple matrices as large as 8×25 pixels!

No build notes could be found for this or any of [Wei]’s similar projects, like this awesomely dangerous 200 laser diode jacket or this eerily beautiful light installation on Taiwan’s north beach. Based on the pictures, our speculation is that he is using ordinary 6-strand embroidery floss to make stem or half cross-stitches on all the paths. He then runs very thin, flexible conductor underneath the channel of stitches and solders the wires to the component pads.

If [Wei] wants another way to wear his heart on his sleeve, he could investigate these dynamic LED clothing hacks.

Update: [Wei] has completed this project, and has more information available at his Behance site.

Continue reading “Touching Conversations: Email Snippets Scroll By On Electro-Embroidery Piece” →

Arduino Xmas Tree Shield

December 18, 2013 by Kevin Darrah 12 Comments

christmasshield

Nothing reminds us that it’s the holiday season more than an LED Christmas Tree submission. This obviously is not the first of its kind, but [Jose] does offer up a new technique using addressable RGB LEDs.

[Jose] decided to use 20 WS2812B RGB LEDs, which if you haven’t seen before, are RGB LEDs with an integrated controller. Yep, that’s right, just power/ground and 1 data line is all that is needed to control hundreds of RGB LEDs. This LED tree’s design is simple: a custom-etched PCB cut it in to the shape of a Christmas tree. The WS2812B LEDs helped keep everything clean, so the tree lacks any ‘ugly’ ornaments, except for the required bypass cap here and there. For an added bonus, the tree’s LEDs are synchronized to music generated by an Arduino via a piezo buzzer. Why is it a shield? Well, the whole tree plugs in nicely to a standard Arduino interface. This looks like the perfect starter project to familiarize yourself with addressable LEDs, or at least to get you warmed up before building your own infinity portal.

Continue reading “Arduino Xmas Tree Shield” →

Tricked-out Arduino-controlled Time-Lapse Is More Than Just A Timer

December 16, 2013 by Kristina Panos 1 Comment

arduinoPhotoRig

[Hlesliebole] wanted a finer degree of remote control over his time-lapse shots, so he decided to build an Arduino-driven infrared shutter. He ended up creating this killer Arduino-controlled photography rig that does a whole lot more.

This hack was built for [Hlesliebole]’s Nikon D3100, but he says it should work with any DSLR and remote shutter. This initial build uses an LED as a stand-in for the remote shutter that he ordered. He intends to update the post once it arrives and he integrates it.

[Hlesliebole] wired a 7-segment display to show the current time delay between photos. This can be set on the fly with a potentiometer, so there’s no need to stop and reprogram the Arduino. And while you’re grabbing a beer and watching the sun slowly sink, the rig can better capture that sunset because of a photoresistor. It detects the ambient light level and minimizes the number of throwaway dark shots.

If that weren’t enough, he’s built servo functionality into the code to support remote control over the camera’s physical position, allowing for panning or rotation over a scene. [Hlesliebole] doesn’t go into detail, but he assures us that there are many tutorials out there. If you think you’re man enough, you could always work in this outstanding versatile motion dolly hack.

Continue reading “Tricked-out Arduino-controlled Time-Lapse Is More Than Just A Timer” →

DIY Hearing Aid

December 15, 2013 by Eric Evenchick 14 Comments

Hearing aids are expensive little devices, typically costing a few thousand dollars each. They need to be highly integrated to fit in the ear, while still providing signal processing to ensure good audio quality.

This DIY hearing aid does some intelligent signal processing. It uses an electret to capture audio, then uses a pre-amplifier to increase the gain 100 times. The next stage consists of four filters, dividing the input signal by frequency into four parts. These are passed into four LTC6910 programmable gain amplifiers, which allow an Arduino to control the gain of each channel. The LTC6910 takes 3 digital inputs that are used to set the gain value.

To determine which gain to use for each frequency band, the Arduino needs to know how much power is in each band. This could be done using a Fast Fourier Transform, but that would require quite a bit of processing power. Instead, an envelope detector averages the signal, which can be read by an analog input on the Arduino. Using this information, the hearing aid can boost specific frequencies when it detects conversation.

This hearing aid won’t quite fit in your ear, but there is a lot of interesting signal processing going on. The schematic, Arduino source code, and a MATLAB simulation are provided.

Cast A Shadow, Play A Note

December 15, 2013 by Kristina Panos 3 Comments

Looking for a way to entertain friends and family this holiday season? Look no further than the Arduino-powered Photocell Piano. [Asahillis] has posted this Instructable for building a 6-note musical command center.

The piano uses photoresistors to turn each note on when the player runs their hand over it. Notes can be tuned independently using potentiometers on the front of the box. The hack uses two circuits: one to generate the tones, and a second to mix them. [Asahillis] adapted [Forest Mims III]’s timeless schematics for the 555 Tone Maker and the 741 Audio Mixer to create his Photocell Piano.

When the instrument is powered on, the code takes a 5-second reading of the ambient light, and sets a threshold based on its findings. Afterward, the first note will sound, indicating the piano is ready to be played. Each note has its own if-else statement that tells it to sound when its corresponding photoresistor reaches a value below the set threshold (when the player casts a shadow). ~~There’s a demo video included in the guide but we couldn’t embed it here.~~ Check out the demo video after the break.

If you prefer to rock out with your lights out, there’s always this impressive laser harp.

Continue reading “Cast A Shadow, Play A Note” →