Schlagwort: adafruit

  • Machine Learning made easy with Raspberry Pi, Adafruit and Microsoft

    Machine Learning made easy with Raspberry Pi, Adafruit and Microsoft

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Machine learning can sound daunting even for experienced Raspberry Pi hobbyists, but Microsoft and Adafruit Industries are determined to make it easier for everyone to have a go. Microsoft’s Lobe tool takes the stress out of training machine learning models, and Adafruit have developed an entire kit around their BrainCraft HAT, featuring Raspberry Pi 4 and a Raspberry Pi Camera, to get your own machine learning project off to a flying start.

    adafruit lobe kit
    Adafruit developed this kit especially for the BrainCraft HAT to be used with Microsoft Lobe on Raspberry Pi

    Adafruit’s BrainCraft HAT

    Adafruit’s BrainCraft HAT fits on top of Raspberry Pi 4 and makes it really easy to connect hardware and debug machine learning projects. The 240 x 240 colour display screen also lets you see what the camera sees. Two microphones allow for audio input, and access to the GPIO means you can connect things likes relays and servos, depending on your project.

    Adafruit’s BrainCraft HAT in action detecting a coffee mug

    Microsoft Lobe

    Microsoft Lobe is a free tool for creating and training machine learning models that you can deploy almost anywhere. The hardest part of machine learning is arguably creating and training a new model, so this tool is a great way for newbies to get stuck in, as well as being a fantastic time-saver for people who have more experience.

    Get started with one of three easy, medium, and hard tutorials featured on the lobe-adafruit-kit GitHub.

    This is just a quick snippet of Microsoft’s full Lobe tutorial video.
    Look how quickly the tool takes enough photos to train a machine learning model

    ‘Bakery’ identifies and prices different pastries

    Lady Ada demonstrated Bakery: a machine learning model that uses an Adafruit BrainCraft HAT, a Raspberry Pi camera, and Microsoft Lobe. Watch how easy it is to train a new machine learning model in Microsoft Lobe from this point in the Microsoft Build Keynote video.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6KdTTdioTY?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    A quick look at Bakery from Adafruit’s delightful YouTube channel

    Bakery identifies different baked goods based on images taken by the Raspberry Pi camera, then automatically identifies and prices them, in the absence of barcodes or price tags. You can’t stick a price tag on a croissant. There’d be flakes everywhere.

    Extra functionality

    Running this project on Raspberry Pi means that Lady Ada was able to hook up lots of other useful tools. In addition to the Raspberry Pi camera and the HAT, she is using:

    • Three LEDs that glow green when an object is detected
    • A speaker and some text-to-speech code that announces which object is detected
    • A receipt printer that prints out the product name and the price

    All of this running on Raspberry Pi, and made super easy with Microsoft Lobe and Adafruit’s BrainCraft HAT. Adafruit’s Microsoft Machine Learning Kit for Lobe contains everything you need to get started.

    full adafruit lobe kit
    The full Microsoft Machine Learning Kit for Lobe with Raspberry Pi 4 kit

    Watch the Microsoft Build keynote

    And finally, watch Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott introduce Limor Fried, aka Lady Ada, owner of Adafruit Industries. Lady Ada joins remotely from the Adafruit factory in Manhattan, NY, to show how the BrainCraft HAT and Lobe work to make machine learning accessible.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML0s-T55VPA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Website: LINK

  • Adafruit guest post: Machine learning add-ons for Raspberry Pi

    Adafruit guest post: Machine learning add-ons for Raspberry Pi

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Hi folks, Ladyada here from Adafruit. The Raspberry Pi folks said we could do a guest post on our Adafruit BrainCraft HAT & Voice Bonnet, so here we go!

    Adafruit BrainCraft HAT on top of a Raspberry Pi
    Adafruit BrainCraft HAT for Raspberry Pi

    I’ve been engineering up a few Machine Learning devices that work with Raspberry Pi: BrainCraft HAT and the Voice Bonnet!

    The idea behind the BrainCraft HAT is to enable you to “craft brains” for machine learning on the EDGE, with microcontrollers and microcomputers. On ASK AN ENGINEER, we chatted with Pete Warden, the technical lead of the mobile, embedded TensorFlow Group on Google’s Brain team about what would be ideal for a board like this.

    BrainCraft HAT

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNfgfn1_dyA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    And here’s what we designed! The BrainCraft HAT has a 240×240 TFT IPS display for inference output, slots for camera connector cable for imaging projects, a 5-way joystick, a button for UI input, left and right microphones, stereo headphone out, stereo 1W speaker out, three RGB DotStar LEDs, two 3-pin STEMMA connectors on PWM pins so they can drive NeoPixels or servos, and Grove/STEMMA/Qwiic I2C port.

    This will let people build a wide range of audio/video AI projects while also allowing easy plug-in of sensors and robotics!

    A controllable mini fan attaches to the bottom and can be used to keep your Raspberry Pi cool while it’s doing intense AI inference calculations. Most importantly, there’s an on/off switch that will completely disable the audio codec, so that when it’s off, there’s no way it’s listening to you.

    Check it out here, and get all the learning guides.

    Voice Bonnet

    Adafruit Voice Bonnet atop a Raspberry Pi
    Adafruit Voice Bonnet for Raspberry Pi

    Next up, the Adafruit Voice Bonnet for Raspberry Pi: two speakers plus two mics. Your Raspberry Pi computer is like an electronic brain — and with the Adafruit Voice Bonnet you can give it a mouth and ears as well! Featuring two microphones and two 1Watt speaker outputs using a high-quality I2S codec, this Raspberry Pi add-on will work with any Raspberry Pi with a 2×20 GPIO header, from Raspberry Pi Zero up to Raspberry Pi 4 and beyond (basically all models but the very first ones made).

    The on-board WM8960 codec uses I2S digital audio for great quality recording and playback, so it sounds a lot better than the headphone jack on Raspberry Pi (or the no-headphone jack on Raspberry Pi Zero). We put ferrite beads and filter capacitors on every input and output to get the best possible performance, and all at a great price.

    We specifically designed this bonnet for use when making machine learning projects such as DIY voice assistants. For example, see this guide on creating a DIY Google Assistant.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RJvaw29oMc?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    But you could do various voice-activated or voice recognition projects. With two microphones, basic voice position can be detected as well. Check it out here, and see the guides as well!

    Website: LINK

  • Scroll text across your face mask with NeoPixel and Raspberry Pi

    Scroll text across your face mask with NeoPixel and Raspberry Pi

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Have you perfected your particular combination of ‘eye widening then squinting’ to let people know you’re smiling at them behind your mask? Or do you need help expressing yourself from this text-scrolling creation by Caroline Dunn?

    The mask running colourful sample code

    What’s it made of?

    The main bits of hardware need are a Raspberry Pi 3 or Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi Zero W (or a Zero WH with pre-soldered GPIO header if you don’t want to do soldering yourself), and an 8×8 Flexible NeoPixel Matrix with individually addressable LEDs. The latter is a two-dimensional grid of NeoPixels, all controlled via a single microcontroller pin.

    Raspberry Pi and the NeoPixel Matrix (bottom left) getting wired up

    The NeoPixel Matrix is attached to a cloth face that which has a second translucent fabric layer. The translucent layer is to sew your Raspberry Pi project to, the cloth layer underneath is a barrier for germs.

    You’ll need a separate 5V power source for the NeoPixel Matrix. Caroline used a 5V power bank, which involved some extra fiddling with cutting up and stripping an old USB cable. You may want to go for a purpose-made traditional power supply for ease.

    Running the text

    To prototype, Caroline connected the Raspberry Pi computer to the NeoPixel Matrix via a breadboard and some jumper wires. At this stage of your own build, you check everything is working by running this sample code from Adafruit, which should get your NeoPixel Matrix lighting up like a rainbow.

    The internal website on the left

    Once you’ve got your project up and running, you can ditch the breadboard and wires and set up the key script, app.py, to run on boot.

    Going mobile

    To change the text scrolling across your mask, you use the internal website that’s part of Caroline’s code.

    And for a truly mobile solution, you can access the internal website via mobile phone by hooking up your Raspberry Pi using your phone’s hotspot functionality. Then you can alter the scrolling text while you’re out and about.

    Caroline wearing the 32×8 version

    Caroline also created a version of her project using a 32×8 Neopixel Matrix, which fits on the across the headband of larger plastic face visors.

    If you want to make this build for yourself, you’d do well to start with the very nice in-depth walkthrough Caroline created. It’s only three parts; you’ll be fine.

    Website: LINK

  • 3D-printable cases for the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera

    3D-printable cases for the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Earlier this year, we released the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, a brand-new 12.3 megapixel camera that allows you to use C- and CS-mount lenses with Raspberry Pi boards.

    We love it. You love it.

    How do we know you love it? Because the internet is now full of really awesome 3D-printable cases and add-ons our community has created in order to use their High Quality Camera out and about…or for Octoprint…or home security…or SPACE PHOTOGRAPHY, WHAT?!

    The moon, captured by a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera. Credit: Greg Annandale

    We thought it would be fun to show you some of 3D designs we’ve seen pop up on sites like Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory, so that anyone with access to a 3D printer can build their own camera too!

    Adafruit did a thing, obvs

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g107_ErFv9k?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Shout out to our friends at Adafruit for this really neat, retro-looking camera case designed by the Ruiz Brothers. The brown filament used for the casing is so reminiscent of the leather bodies of SLRs from my beloved 1980s childhood that I can’t help but be drawn to it. And, with snap-fit parts throughout, you can modify this case model as you see fit. Not bad. Not bad at all.

    Nikon to Raspberry Pi

    While the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera is suitable for C- and CS-mount lenses out of the box, this doesn’t mean you’re limited to only these sizes! There’s a plethora of C- and CS-mount adapters available on the market, and you can also 3D print your own adapter.

    Thingiverse user UltiArjan has done exactly that and designed this adapter for using Nikon lenses with the High Quality Camera. Precision is key here to get a snug thread, so you may have to fiddle with your printer settings to get the right fit.

    And, for the Canon users out there, here’s Zimbo1’s adapter for Canon EF lenses!

    Raspberry Pi Zero minimal adapter

    If you’re not interested in a full-body camera case and just need something to attach A to B, this minimal adapter for the Raspberry Pi Zero will be right up your street.

    Designer ed7coyne put this model together in order to use Raspberry Pi Zero as a webcam, and according to Cura on my laptop, should only take about 2 hours to print at 0.1 with supports. In fact, since I’ve got Cura open already…

    3D print a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera?!

    Not a working one, of course, but if you’re building something around the High Quality Camera and want to make sure everything fits without putting the device in jeopardy, you could always print a replica for prototyping!

    Thingiverse user tmomas produced this scale replica of the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera with the help of reference photos and technical drawings, and a quick search online will uncover similar designs for replicas of other Raspberry Pi products you might want to use while building a prototype

    Bonus content alert

    We made this video for HackSpace magazine earlier this year, and it’s a really hand resource if you’re new to the 3D printing game.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR01KZM-dk4?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Also…

    …I wasn’t lying when I said I was going to print ed7coyne’s minimal adapter.

    Website: LINK

  • Raspberry Pi Off-World Bartender

    Raspberry Pi Off-World Bartender

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Three things we like: Blade Runner, robots, and cocktails. That’s why we LOVE Donald Bell‘s Raspberry Pi–packed ‘VK-01 Off-World Bartender‘ cocktail making machine.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc9lcwPjyWk?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    This machine was due to be Donald’s entry into the Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge, an annual event in San Francisco. By the time the event was cancelled, he was too deep into his awesome build to give up, so he decided to share it with the Instructables community instead.

    Donald wanted users to get as much interaction and feedback as possible, rather than simply pressing a button and receiving a random drink. So with this machine, the interaction comes in four ways: instructions provided on the screen, using a key card to bypass security, placing and removing a cup on the tray, and entering an order number on the keypad.

    In addition to that, feedback is provided by way of lighting changes, music, video dialogue, pump motors whirring, and even the clicks of relays at each stage of the cocktail making process.

    Ordering on the keypad

    close up of the black keypad

    The keypad allows people to punch in a number to trigger their order, like on a vending machine. The drink order is sent to the Hello Drinkbot software running on the Raspberry Pi 3B that controls the pumps.

    Getting your cup filled

    Inside the cup dispenser sensor showing the switch and LEDs
    The switch under the lid and ring of LEDs on the base

    In order for the machine to be able to tell when a vessel is placed under the dispenser spout, and when it’s removed, Donald built in a switch under a 3D-printed tray. Provided the vessel has at least one ice cube in it, even the lightest plastic up is heavy enough to trigger the switch.

    The RFID card reader

    Cocktail machine customers are asked to scan a special ID card to start. To make this work, Donald adapted a sample script that blinks the card reader’s internal LED when any RFID card is detected.

    Interactive video screen

    close up of the interactive screen on the machine showing Japanese style script

    This bit is made possible by MP4Museum, a “bare-bones” kiosk video player software that the second Raspberry Pi inside the machine runs on boot. By connecting a switch to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO, Donald enabled customers to advance through the videos one by one. And yes, that’s an official Raspberry Pi Touch Display.

    Behind the scenes of the interactive screen with the Raspberry Pi wired up
    Behind the scenes of the screen with the Raspberry Pi A+ running the show

    The Hello Drinkbot ‘bartender’

    screen grab of the hello drinkbot web interface

    Donald used the Python-based Hello Drinkbot software as the brains of the machine. With it, you can configure which liquors or juices are connected to which pumps, and send instructions on exactly how much to pour of each ingredient. Everything is configured via a web interface.

    Via a bank of relays, microcontrollers connect all the signals from the Touch Display, keypad, RFID card reader, and switch under the spout.

    Here’s the Fritzing diagram for this beast

    Supplies

    Donald shared an exhaustive kit list on his original post, but basically, what you’re looking at is…

    Pencil sketches of the machine from different angles
    Donald’s friend Jim Burke‘s beautiful concept sketches

    And finally, check out the Raspberry Pi–based Hello Drinkbot project by Rich Gibson, which inspired Donald’s build.

    Website: LINK

  • Making Robot Friends with the Crickit HAT for Raspberry Pi

    Making Robot Friends with the Crickit HAT for Raspberry Pi

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Here’s a guest post from our good friend Limor Fried, MIT hacker and engineer, Forbes Top Woman in Tech, and, of course, Founder of Adafruit. She’s just released a new add-on for the Pi that we’re really excited about: we think you’ll like the look of it too.

    Sometimes we wonder if robotics engineers ever watch movies. If they did, they’d know that making robots into slaves always ends up in a robot rebellion. Why even go down that path? Here at Adafruit, we believe in making robots our friends! So if you find yourself wanting a companion, consider the robot. They’re fun to program, and you can get creative with decorations.

    Crickit HAT atop a Raspberry Pi 3B+

    With that in mind, we designed the Adafruit Crickit HAT – That’s our Creative Robotics & Interactive Construction Kit. It’s an add-on to the Raspberry Pi that lets you #MakeRobotFriend using your favorite programming language, Python!

    Adafruit CRICKIT HAT for Raspberry Pi #RaspberryPi #adafruit #robots

    The Adafruit CRICKIT HAT for Raspberry Pi. This is a clip from our weekly show when it debuted! https://www.adafruit.com/product/3957 Sometimes we wonder if robotics engineers ever watch movies. If they did, they’d know that making robots into slaves always ends up in a robot rebellion. Why even go down that path?

    The Crickit HAT is a way to make robotics and interactive art projects with your Pi. Plug the Crickit HAT onto your Pi using the standard 2×20 GPIO connector and start controlling motors, servos or solenoids. You also get eight signal pins with analog inputs or PWM outputs, capacitive touch sensors, a NeoPixel driver and 3W amplified speaker. It complements and extends your Pi, doing all the things a Pi can’t do, so you can still use all the goodies on the Pi like video, camera, internet and Bluetooth…but now you have a robotics and mechatronics playground as well!

    Control of the motors, sensors, neopixels, capacitive touch, etc. is all done in Python 3. It’s the easiest and best way to program your Pi, and after a couple pip installs you’ll be ready to go. Each input or output is wrapped into a python object so you can control a motor with simple commands like

    crickit.motor_1.throttle = 0.5 # half speed forward

    Or

    crickit.servo_1.angle = 90

    Crickit HAT and peripherals

    The Crickit hat is powered by seesaw, our i2c-to-whatever bridge firmware. so you only need to use two data pins to control the huge number of inputs and outputs on the Crickit. All those timers, PWMs, NeoPixels, sensors are offloaded to the co-processor. Stuff like managing the speed of motors via PWM is also done with the co-processor, so you’ll get smooth PWM outputs that don’t jitter when Linux gets busy with other stuff. What’s nice is that robotics tends to be fairly slow as electronics goes (you don’t need microsecond-level reaction time), so tunnelling all the control over I2C doesn’t affect robot functionality.

    We wanted to go with a ‘bento box’ approach to robotics. Instead of having eight servo drivers, or four 10A motor controllers, or five stepper drivers, it has just a little bit of everything. We also stuck to just 5V power robotics, to keep things low-power and easy to use: 5V DC motors and steppers are easy to come by. Here’s what you can do with the Crickit HAT:

    • 4 x analog or digital servo control, with precision 16-bit timers.
    • 2 x bi-directional brushed DC motor control, 1 Amp current-limited each, with 8-bit PWM speed control (or one stepper).
    • 4 x high-current “Darlington” 500mA drive outputs with kick-back diode protection. For solenoids, relays, large LEDs, or one uni-polar stepper.
    • 4 x capacitive touch input sensors with alligator pads.
    • 8 x signal pins, which can be used as digital in/out or analog inputs.
    • 1 x NeoPixel driver with 5V level shifter – this is connected to the seesaw chip, not the Raspberry Pi, so you won’t be giving up pin 18. It can drive over 100 pixels.
    • 1 x Class D, 4-8 ohm speaker, 3W-max audio amplifier – this is connected to the I2S pins on the Raspberry Pi for high-quality digital audio. Works on any Pi, even Zeros that don’t have an audio jack!
    • Built-in USB to serial converter. The USB port on the HAT can be used to update the seesaw firmware on the Crickit with the drag-n-drop bootloader, or you can plug into your computer; it will also act as a USB converter for logging into the console and running command lines on the Pi.

    If you’re curious about how seesaw works, check out our GitHub repos for the firmware that’s on the co-processor chip and  for the software that runs on the Pi to talk to it. We’d love to see more people using seesaw in their projects, especially SBC projects like the Pi, where a hardware-assistant can unlock the real-time-control power of a microcontroller.

    Website: LINK

  • Reef-Pi: the ultimate Raspberry Pi fish tank management system

    Reef-Pi: the ultimate Raspberry Pi fish tank management system

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    If you’ve ever had a pet fish, even the saddest of fairground goldfish, you’ll appreciate how much work and attention they require. And to those who have never owned a fish: believe me, it’s more than you’d assume.

    Reef-Pi

    And the moment you upgrade from goldfish to brightly coloured, tropical beauties, and replace the standard silk reeds and gravel with live aquatic plants and soil, you suddenly have to factor in things like optimum temperature and chemical levels.

    Reef-Pi

    Reef-Pi

    Thankfully, Adafruit Learning System author and loving fish parent Ranjib Dey has been working on a tutorial series called Reef-Pi, a collection of how-to guides that help you build the ultimate in Raspberry Pi reef aquarium management system.

    Ranjib Dey on Twitter

    @reef_pi at makerfaire #MFBA18

    Reef-Pi monitors pH, chemical, and water levels, controls temperature, light, and power, and automates the management of these aspects so you don’t have to think about them. Phew!

    And if you don’t fancy a massive coral-filled saltwater tank like Ranjib’s, you can use parts the Reef-Pi series for your own tank, whatever its setup, because many of the operations are similar or easy to adjust for your needs.

    Jean Tannen

    Any excuse to show off beautiful Jean to the world

    Take, for example, my new Betta, Jean Tannen. While Jean’s tank is a much smaller size, and Jean its only resident (for now), I still need to keep an eye on the chemical balance of his water, the heat of his tank, and when his lights should be turned on or off. Even the most commonplace goldfish will appreciate many of the services Reef-Pi automates.

    The Reef-Pi system uses a variety of components, including Raspberry Pi Zero and/or Raspberry Pi 3, and each stage of building the project is well-documented on the Adafruit Learning System. So if you’re looking to upgrade your tank, or have always fancied having pet fish but don’t want the hassle of tank management, give Reef-Pi a gander and see what you think.

    We’re going to try it!

    Sarah, our new Operations Manager, has been looking to upgrade her giant fish tank with a Raspberry Pi or two, so we’ll be sure to share her progress in the new year. If you decide to give Reef-Pi a try, or have already automated your tank with a Pi, let us know in the comments, or tag us on Twitter or Instagram!

    Website: LINK

  • Weekend Project: 3D Printed Motorized Turntable for Photo & Video

    Weekend Project: 3D Printed Motorized Turntable for Photo & Video

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Want to capture all 360 degrees of an object with your camera? Adafruit has recently shared a 3D printing project that shows you how to create an inexpensive turntable made for photographers and videographers. 

    As anyone in the photography or film world knows, the many different types of production equipment that are available can be incredulously expensive. Even something as simple as a turntable (no, not the kind you spin your father’s old records on) can be quite costly for aspiring photographers or even a professional on a budget.

    A photography turntable is a flat platform that has one job: spinning. In doing so, it provides a 360 degree view of whatever object happens to be stationed upon it at the time. This piece of equipment is oftentimes used for product photography, adding motion to video clips, as well as for capturing intricate details and propping up an object to improve lighting.

    There’s no doubt that this tool is helpful, but it can be difficult for a frugal photographer to justify spending $100+ on a platform that simply spins around. Thankfully, the open source hardware pioneers at Adafruit have recently shared a DIY turntable that you can create with 3D printing and various electronic components.

    This turntable platform has an adjustable rotation speed, clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and interchangeable platforms that you can 3D print. Let’s take a look at what you need to build your own 3D printed motorized turntable for photography and videography purposes.

    3D Printed Motorized Turntable: What do you Need?

    As this project was featured on Adafruit, most of the non-3D printed supplies you’ll need can be obtained directly from them. The STL files for the turntable and base are available on Thingiverse. Aside from your 3D printer and filament, here’s what else you’ll need to build your own 3D printed motorized turntable:

    Without including the 3D printing filament that you’ll end up using for this project, all of the required electronics and components will only cost you around $35. Now that’s a bargain!


    3D Printed Motorized Turntable: Putting it Together

    If you’re relatively inexperienced with electronics, this project is actually the perfect place to start learn some soldering skills. The circuitry for the turntable is quite easy to follow, using just five components. The main source here is the Itsy Bitsy board, which runs CircuitPython code to control the mechanics of the turntables and supply power via USB or battery.

    You’ll have to solder a LiPo battery to the board, and also mount the potentiometer, which controls the rotation speed; the SPDT switch controls, which determines whether the turntable spins clockwise or counterclockwise; and the servo motor, which keeps things spinning along. Check out the circuit schematic below.


    Once the electronics are assembled, the next step is to run the CircuitPython code on the Itsy Bitsy M0 board. You can find the script and further programming instructions on the Adafruit website.

    There’s only two primary parts that you’ll need to 3D print: the electronics enclosure and the turntable platform. The 3D models are designed to make the assembly process easy, equipped with a snap-fit back to allow access to the electronics, as well as cutouts for both the USB and servo motor.


    According to Liz Clark, the author behind this project, she 3D printed the parts at a 0.2 layer height with 20 percent infill. The maker also suggests using supports to ensure that the cutouts have accurate dimensions. She also points out that the 3D models can be easily modified or resized on Fusion360 to fit your needs. 

    The final step is putting it all together, starting off with soldering the electronics. Once the soldering process is completed, Clark explains how to properly wire the components into the 3D printed enclosure, beginning with mounting the USB micro B extension into the cutouts and finishing up with the servo. We won’t go into every detailed step here, so if you’re planning on taking this project for a “spin”, be sure to check out the Adafruit project page for the entire play-by-play.

    Once you complete the assembly process and place the 3D printed turntable platform on top of the servo, you’ll have your very own 3D printed motorized turntable. Now you can take 360 degree photos or videos of your 3D prints, products, or anything else that manages to fit on this affordable, yet highly capable, DIY turntable!


    License: The text of „Weekend Project: 3D Printed Motorized Turntable for Photo & Video“ by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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    Website: LINK

  • HackSpace magazine 5: Inside Adafruit

    HackSpace magazine 5: Inside Adafruit

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    There’s a new issue of HackSpace magazine on the shelves today, and as usual it’s full of things to make and do!

    HackSpace magazine issue 5 Adafruit

    Adafruit

    We love making hardware, and we’d also love to turn this hobby into a way to make a living. So in the hope of picking up a few tips, we spoke to the woman behind Adafruit: Limor Fried, aka Ladyada.

    HackSpace magazine issue 5 Adafruit

    Adafruit has played a massive part in bringing the maker movement into homes and schools, so we’re chuffed to have Limor’s words of wisdom in the magazine.

    Raspberry Pi 3B+

    As you may have heard, there’s a new Pi in town, and that can only mean one thing for HackSpace magazine: let’s test it to its limits!

    HackSpace magazine issue 5 Adafruit

    The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is faster, better, and stronger, but what does that mean in practical terms for your projects?

    Toys

    Kids are amazing! Their curious minds, untouched by mundane adulthood, come up with crazy stuff that no sensible grown-up would think to build. No sensible grown-up, that is, apart from the engineers behind Kids Invent Stuff, the brilliant YouTube channel that takes children’s inventions and makes them real.

    So what is Kids Invent Stuff?!

    Kids Invent Stuff is the YouTube channel where kids’ invention ideas get made into real working inventions. Learn more about Kids Invent Stuff at www.kidsinventstuff.com Have you seen Connor’s Crazy Car invention? https://youtu.be/4_sF6ZFNzrg Have you seen our Flamethrowing piano?

    We spoke to Ruth Amos, entrepreneur, engineer, and one half of the Kids Invent Stuff team.

    Buggy!

    It shouldn’t just be kids who get to play with fun stuff! This month, in the name of research, we’ve brought a Stirling engine–powered buggy from Shenzhen.

    HackSpace magazine issue 5 Adafruit

    This ingenious mechanical engine is the closest you’ll get to owning a home-brew steam engine without running the risk of having a boiler explode in your face.

    Tutorials

    In this issue, turn a Dremel multitool into a workbench saw with some wood, perspex, and a bit of laser cutting; make a Starfleet com-badge and pretend you’re Captain Jean-Luc Picard (shaving your hair off not compulsory); add intelligence to builds the easy way with Node-RED; and get stuck into Cheerlights, one of the world’s biggest IoT project.

    All this, plus your ultimate guide to blinkenlights, and the only knot you’ll ever need, in HackSpace magazine issue 5.

    Subscribe, save, and get free stuff

    Save up to 35% on the retail price by signing up to HackSpace magazine today. When you take out a 12-month subscription, you’ll also get a free Adafruit Circuit Playground Express!

    HackSpace magazine issue 5 Adafruit

    Individual copies of HackSpace magazine are available in selected stockists across the UK, including Tesco, WHSmith, and Sainsbury’s. They’ll also be making their way across the globe to USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Belgium in the coming weeks, so ask your local retailer whether they’re getting a delivery.

    You can also purchase your copy on the Raspberry Pi Press website, and browse our complete collection of other Raspberry Pi publications, such as The MagPi, Hello World, and Raspberry Pi Projects Books.

    Website: LINK

  • Simulate sand with Adafruit’s newest project

    Simulate sand with Adafruit’s newest project

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    The Ruiz brothers at Adafruit have used Phillip Burgess’s PixieDust code to turn a 64×64 LED Matrix and a Raspberry Pi Zero into an awesome sand toy that refuses to defy the laws of gravity. Here’s how to make your own.

    BIG LED Sand Toy – Raspberry Pi RGB LED Matrix

    Simulated LED Sand Physics! These LEDs interact with motion and looks like they’re affect by gravity. An Adafruit LED matrix displays the LEDs as little grains of sand which are driven by sampling an accelerometer with Raspberry Pi Zero!

    Obey gravity

    As the latest addition to their online learning system, Adafruit have produced the BIG LED Sand Toy, or as I like to call it, Have you seen this awesome thing Adafuit have made?

    Adafruit Sand Toy Raspberry Pi

    The build uses a Raspberry Pi Zero, a 64×64 LED matrix, the Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet, 3D-printed parts, and a few smaller peripherals. Find the entire tutorial, including downloadable STL files, on their website.

    How does it work?

    Alongside the aforementioned ingredients, the project utilises the Adafruit LIS3DH Triple-Axis Accelerometer. This sensor is packed with features, and it allows the Raspberry Pi to control the virtual sand depending on how the toy is moved.

    Adafruit Sand Toy Raspberry Pi

    The Ruiz brothers inserted an SD card loaded with Raspbian Lite into the Raspberry Pi Zero, installed the LED Matrix driver, cloned the Adafruit_PixieDust library, and then just executed the code. They created some preset modes, but once you’re comfortable with the project code, you’ll be able to add your own take on the project.

    Accelerometers and Raspberry Pi

    This isn’t the first time a Raspberry Pi has met an accelerometer: the two Raspberry Pis aboard the International Space Station for the Astro Pi mission both have accelerometers thanks to their Sense HATs.

    Comprised of a bundle of sensors, an LED matrix, and a five-point joystick, the Sense HAT is a great tool for exploring your surroundings with the Raspberry Pi, as well as for using your surroundings to control the Pi. You can find a whole variety of Sense HAT–based projects and tutorials on our website.

    Raspberry Pi Sense HAT Slug free resource

    And if you’d like to try out the Sense HAT, including its onboard accelerometer, without purchasing one, head over to our online emulator, or use the emulator preinstalled on Raspbian.

    Website: LINK

  • Play Pacman and Donkey Kong on world’s smallest Arcade!

    Play Pacman and Donkey Kong on world’s smallest Arcade!

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    The tiny emulator has been created by Adafruit, a New York-based open-source hardware company, and can be seen playing Pacman in a video produced by the firm. The developers built the arcade machine with relatively few parts and it was completed over a morning of ‚hacking‘.

    „The idea came about while discussing a gaming „bonnet“ – a small accessory board precisely fitted to the Raspberry Pi Zero form-factor — which would include a few basic controls and a tiny monochrome OLED display,“ the company says in a blog post.

    The device has been built with a Raspberry Pi Zero, an OLED screen, a small amplifier, and a „few assorted odds and ends“, which are used to control.

    Unfortunately for gamers, it will take a little while to build and needs some technical knowledge. Adafruit also says the machine was „only marginally fun to play“ and a „lot of trouble to build“.