Arduino Command Interpreter Shell

September 17, 2009 by Matt Schulz 18 Comments

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A lot of people like fancy GUIs and nice graphics, but some of us just feel more at home in a command prompt. [nevdull] is one of those people. Instead of just using the Arduino dev tools that are available for download, he wanted the ability to shell into his Arduino, so he created AVR Shell. AVR Shell is a UNIX-like shell that allows you to “log in” to your Arduino/AVR and see what’s really going on; letting you read registers, scale the CPU speed, create/edit/delete variables, and even set up timers. The shell is even user-customizable! Those of you interested in Arduino shells might also check out bitlash, another open source CLI. Someone ought to hook this up to the Internet enabled Furby and get Flite compiled on there, letting us shell into a Furby from miles away to make it talk.

[Thanks Leesam]

Uzebox Video Player

September 10, 2009 by Jake W 12 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWWsSn_QKLM]
Everyone’s favorite open source game console, the Uzebox (also cloned as the Fuzebox), just got a new feature hacked into it – a video player. At reduced quality (8-bit color), the Uzebox was able to play ‘The Matrix’ off an SD card @ 30fps plus the audio @15kHz. That’s a pretty impressive feat when one considers it is running on 4096 bytes of RAM. The video file had to first be converted into a series of pictures through a Photoshop macro in order to be playable. A Uzebox can be built with little more than a few resistors in addition to an overclocked ATmega644P, and AD725 (which has been skirted in certain incarnations).

Snega2usb Update: Usb Snes And Sega Cartridge Reader

September 7, 2009 by Gerrit Coetzee 32 Comments

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

When we first posted [Matthias_H]’s USB reader for SNES game carts, it was met with enthusiasm. The snega2usb allows you to play SNES and Sega games on your pc right off the cartridge. The latest revision is even more amazing than the first. [Matthias] has added the ability to read Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges as well as the ability to save games directly to the cartridge. The board has also been updated from the rats nest it used to be to a smart looking dual sided PCB. So far [Matthias] hasn’t had any trouble reading cartridges, even ones with the SuperFX chips. [Matthias] also launched a site for the project where the lastest information on its development can be found. [Matthias] is getting close to a production version which will feature better firmware, console quality connectors and a shiny case.

Simple Automatic LED Lamps

September 2, 2009 by Mike Szczys 12 Comments

simple_led_lamps

[woody1189] put together some automatic lighting for his closet. Nine LEDs are grouped into three lamps and controlled by a hall effect sensor. He prototyped this on an Arduino and then migrated over to an ATtiny85. Although the current implementation could be accomplished without a microcontroller, we’d love to see some firmware improvements such as an auto shutoff for when you forget to close the closet door. The hall effect sensor seems to pop up in a lot of projects so make sure you get a few of them with your next parts order. Video of this in action after the break.

Continue reading “Simple Automatic LED Lamps” →

Tiny Light-seeking Robots

August 28, 2009 by Mike Szczys 8 Comments

tiny-light-seeking-bots

[Alex] continues to delight us with his projects. His third-generation tiny Braitenberg vehicle, a light seeking robot, is a big improvement over its predecessor, the mini Braitenberg vehicle. He’s moved from an Arduino based design to using the AVR ATtiny25v, replaced the breadboard with a PCB, and reduced the parts count. We think it was a great idea to use shrink tubing to shield the back of the photo-resistors from ambient light. Don’t miss the video of these little guys chasing a flashlight beam after the break. Continue reading “Tiny Light-seeking Robots” →

Learn From The Ice Tube Clock

August 25, 2009 by Mike Szczys 22 Comments

Looks like they’re at it again over at Adafruit. This time they’ve produced a clock that looks more like it should be attached to a munition rather than cruising bedside. But, geek-cred aside, there’s a lot to be learned from their design. Like we’ve grown to expect, they’ve put together some good documentation on their choice of components.

Start off by taking a peek at their 5v power regulator. There is an extra diode on the output side that prevents reverse current from the 3v backup battery. The AVR ATmega168 that controls the clock is used to detect loss of power and quickly shift to the battery backup. They’ve also used the microcontroller as a boost converter for the high voltage VFD, a nice trick we’ve seen before.

[Thanks pt]

Humanoid Robot + Homebrew Waldo = Big Smiles

August 24, 2009 by Phil Burgess 11 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCTvggKuPvU&feature=player_embedded]

Robot enthusiast [Vitalijus Rodnovas] built this rig to allow a humanoid robot to mimic his own body movements in real time. [Rodonovas] refers to his man-machine interface as a “master-slave suit,” but elsewhere this is often called a waldo after a prescient 1942 [Robert Heinlein] novella. This project page is slight on details and is mostly written in his native Lithuanian, but the pictures speak volumes, and with a little help from Google Translate we can learn the essential facts: The robot itself is a commercially-available kit, the Kondo KHR-1HV from Japan. The custom-built harness uses a collection of surplus Soviet-era military potentiometers (acquired on eBay) to read the positions of his elbows and shoulders, then an ATmega8-based interface board translates these readings into motion commands sent to the robot’s onboard controller. Some additional notes and code can be found on the RoboSavvy Forum.

Does it work? Just watch. His grin as the video progresses is infectious!

Hack a Day has previously covered other Waldos, but this latest deserves style points for its lightweight simplicity.