arduino

2946 Articles

Commodore SQ1000 Twitter Wall: The Twypper

November 24, 2009 by 12 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV9_25N21eM]

Before we begin, let us soothe those first dreaded thoughts. No, the commodore was not destroyed in the process. They can simply clip the 16 wires they added to interface the keyboard and be back to stock. Breathe a sigh of relief, and enjoy the twypper, a twitter wall made from a commodore SQ1000.

[Alex] needed to make an interesting project for his companies Openspace/hack day.  A friend, suggested a twitter wall, and that’s when [Alex] got the idea for a typewriter. After a quick search, he found oomlaut’s typewriter.  They didn’t let that deter them from making their own version though. They found a nice fully functional commodore SQ1000 and began hacking. Ultimately they simply decided to use an Arduino to short the key switches to simulate typing. There are all kinds of details on the necessary steps to get the typing to function absolutely correct on the project page. Over all it was well done and we’re happy to see that it can be undone just as easily.

Hack A Sketch

November 24, 2009 by 24 Comments

[vimeo = http://vimeo.com/7367464%5D

Sometimes we miss that old Etch a Sketch we had when we were kids. The challenge of producing a decent image using those two knobs was always fun and frustrating at the same time. This project lets us recreate this interface on our computer. The Hack a Sketch is a combination of an Etch a Sketch style input and a processing sketch to recreate the experience.  They’re using an Arduino to interpret the inputs and feed it to the computer via USB.  We really like this thing. Simplify the electronics and we could see this as a neat toy for sale somewhere like Thinkgeek.

 

 

[via hacked gadgets]

Rotating Radar Visualization

November 16, 2009 by 32 Comments

[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/peplop/4106571163/]

We ask, who wouldn’t want a rotating motion and distance tracking radar? Sure in today’s day and age anyone could purchase a wide-angle sonar or IR solution that achieves the same goal, but [LuckyLarry] took it old school and made his own rotating radar. He used an Arduino, servo, and ultrasonic sensor as a base to gather data, and the open source programming language Processing to draw the data on the screen. He says it’s a little inaccurate currently, but will try out some other sensors in the future.

Duino Tag

November 13, 2009 by 31 Comments

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During our daily rounds we stumbled upon Duino Tag. Sure it’s not as awesome as a coil gun but it really sparked our imagination. First the base: an Arduino is wired up with IR LEDs and placed inside of a plastic pistol. A second Arduino with an IR receiver is scanning for the first Arduinos signal. A ‘shot’ of IR light is ‘fired’ and detected, you get a ‘kill’.

The base is nothing amazing, but it really gives us some ideas and we would like to see it expanded upon. [J44] has already put in a piezo and other LEDs to simulate muzzle flash and other effects. But we like to go further. Start off with multiple pistols and players. Include GPS to track players current position, and wireless to update each player of another player. A small wrist watch display could act much like a UAV. Add some expansions like IR ‘grenades’ and you’ve got a full-out war! What would you like to see?

Too Much Time, Not Enough Pressure

November 12, 2009 by 14 Comments

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[Audin] got a hold of a pressure gauge and decided to turn it into a clock. We were under the impression that these types of gauges were filled with oil but he didn’t detail cleaning it up for his purposes. Once he gained access to the guts he replaced them with a stepper motor. The motor connects to an Arduino with the help of a Darlington array for handling the large load. [Audin’s] plans include using a real time clock (on order) and moving to an AVR ATmega8 microprocessor once the prototyping is finished. In the mean time, he has posted the code used in his current prototype.

Stay with us past the page break for some video of this in action. He’s got the needle dialed in for very precise movement and has coded a “jitter” effect as well. We’re not sure this would be the most convenient clock, but we’d love to affix it to our kitchen stove for a gnarly looking timer. [Audin] acquired the gauge at his local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a place we’ve used many times to source reclaimed and unused items of all kinds for our projects.

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Battery Capacity Tester

November 11, 2009 by 16 Comments

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[Moris_zen] built a device to accurately measure the capacity of batteries. He needed to have an accurate measurement for the batteries he uses in a RC airplane. Knowing the discharge time allows him to fly the friendly skies while avoiding crashes from lost communications.

He based the tester around the Arduino platform. Instead of using a pre-built Arduino board he referenced the open source schematics and built the device from components to fit his needs. His solution automatically detects the battery type (Lithium-Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride, etc) based on voltage when the battery is added to the circuit. It then uses a 2.2 Ohm resistor and ADC measurements to take the battery through a discharge cycle. A character display shows status information with the ability to track discharge information using a computer to graph the data.

Apart from flashing an LED this was his first Arduino project. It’s a great use of the platform and much more automatic than other solutions we’ve covered.

Roundup: Simple Hacks

November 9, 2009 by 15 Comments

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Here’s a collection of simple hacks you can do in between larger projects. After the break we’ll look at converting an iPod from hard drive storage to Compact Flash, build an LED desk lamp using LEGO and USB power for charging, and use an Arduino shield to add network control at the touch of a button.

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