Schlagwort: Alvik

  • Alvik Fight Club: A creative twist on coding, competition, and collaboration

    Alvik Fight Club: A creative twist on coding, competition, and collaboration

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    What happens when you hand an educational robot to a group of developers and ask them to build something fun? At Arduino, you get a multiplayer robot showdown that’s part battle, part programming lesson, and entirely Alvik.

    The idea for Alvik Fight Club first came to life during one of our internal Make Tanks, in preparation for Maker Faire Rome 2024. Senior software developer Davide Neri and senior firmware engineer Alexander Entinger started experimenting with ways to turn our educational robot into a game-ready platform. We teased the outcome in this post last December: a sumo-style arena match where players control their robots in real-time, using power-ups like “banana spin,” “reverse slime,” and “freeze blast” to outsmart and outmaneuver their opponents. The last robot standing inside the ring wins.

    Fun to play, but we think even more fun to recreate! That’s why Pedro Lima from our Product Experience team has recently stepped in to expand the project into a complete, step-by-step guide free on Arduino Project Hub.

    From fun idea to ready-to-run project

    The tutorial for Alvik Fight Club includes full code, hardware setup, and game logic for multiplayer battles using up to four Alvik robots.

    Check it out to learn how to:

    • Control Alvik in real time with a custom remote based on Arduino Nano ESP32 and Modulino nodes
    • Add power-up logic with visual feedback using the robot’s onboard RGB LEDs
    • Detect collisions, edge boundaries, and win conditions
    • Build an arena and create your own game rules!

    Because the code is open and modular, there’s plenty of room to remix and extend the concept – whether you want to add voice commands, integrate more sensors, or simply make the game a bit more chaotic.

    Discover our STEM champion! 

    Yes it’s fun, but Alvik Fight Club also highlights what Alvik does best: it gives students and developers a hands-on way to explore real-world robotics and programming using rock-solid sensors and systems.

    Alvik is designed to inspire creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. It’s an educational tool built by people who love to experiment and share. And projects like Fight Club show just how far that mindset can go! Try the project yourself, or share it with your classroom or club. We’d love to see your own take on the robot battle game – and where Alvik takes you next.

    The post Alvik Fight Club: A creative twist on coding, competition, and collaboration appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Exploring Alvik: 3 fun and creative projects with Arduino’s educational robot platform

    Exploring Alvik: 3 fun and creative projects with Arduino’s educational robot platform

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Alvik is cute, it’s smart, it’s fun… so what can it actually do? 

    To answer this question, we decided to have fun and put the robot to the test with some of the most creative people we know – our own team! A dozen Arduino employees volunteered for a dedicated Make Tank session earlier this fall, and came up with a few great in-house projects for us to share – and you to try! 

    We were so happy with the creative and engaging ideas that we took them on the road for the Maker Faire Rome 2024: they were a hit and attracted many curious visitors to the Arduino booth.

    Hello, Alvik!

    This interactive project, created by Christian Sarnataro and Leonardo Cavagnis, brings to life Alvik’s friendly personality. By waving your hands in front of a Nicla Vision camera, you trigger a cheerful “big hands” gesture in response: it’s Alvik’s way of welcoming newcomers to robotics!

    Why it’s great: The project highlights Alvik’s ease of use and intuitive interactivity, while demonstrating how advanced learners can tap into the robot’s AI capabilities to create meaningful, engaging robotic experiences.

    Robo-Fight Club

    Developed by Davide Neri and Alexander Entinger, this competitive game turns Alvik into a feisty battling robot. Participants control their Alvik to push opponents out of the arena, while trying special moves like “yellow-banana” for spins, “green-slime” to reverse controls, and “blue-ice” to freeze competitors for five seconds. Any robot stepping out of the arena automatically loses the match.

    Why it’s great: Robo-Fight Club demonstrates how Alvik can be used for multiplayer, interactive gaming experiences while teaching users about programming logic and control systems.

    Alvik Mini City

    In this project by Giovanni Bruno, Julián Caro Linares, and Livia Luo, Alvik works tirelessly in a mini city, moving balls from one floor to another. The project showcases how robotics can assist in repetitive and potentially hazardous tasks, inspiring us to imagine practical applications for robotics in their daily lives.

    Why it’s great: This project emphasizes how Alvik is more than just an educational robot – it’s a tool for exploring real-world use cases in automation and problem-solving.

    Your turn!

    Alvik is the perfect companion to learn coding and robotics because it’s easy to get started with, but powerful enough to support complex projects. With the option to program using block-based coding, in MicroPython or the Arduino language, everyone from beginners to advanced users can choose the environment that suits their needs best!

    Inspired by these projects? Check out all of Alvik’s features and specs on this page, or go ahead and start your journey today! Don’t forget to share your creations with us: upload your projects to Project Hub or email creators@arduino.cc – we can’t wait to see what you build!

    The post Exploring Alvik: 3 fun and creative projects with Arduino’s educational robot platform appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • “Catch me if you can!” — How Alvik learns to dodge trouble with AI, featuring Roni Bandini

    “Catch me if you can!” — How Alvik learns to dodge trouble with AI, featuring Roni Bandini

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Have you ever discovered a cool piece of tech buried in your drawer and thought, “This could make for an awesome project”? That’s exactly what happened to Roni Bandini, maker, writer, electronics artist – and Arduino Alvik Star! 

    Bandini began coding at 10 years old, and has always found automatons and robots fascinating. About Alvik, he has said, “I really like this little robot—the elegance of its concept and design. As soon as I encountered it, I dove into several projects aimed at expanding its default capabilities.”

    One of those projects in particular caught our attention, and we are excited to share it with you.

    Getting the building blocks ready

    After stumbling upon a tiny Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 with an OV2640 camera sensor, Bandini saw its potential right away. It was the perfect tool to upgrade Arduino’s Alvik robot with computer vision. His mission? To teach Alvik to evade law enforcement officials – or at least a LEGO® police figure!

    Since both the Alvik main board and the XIAO cam board use ESP32, Bandini used ESPNow – a fast communication protocol – to connect the camera with the robot. He then 3D-printed two support bars and attached them with a pair of M3 screws.

    Learning to react fast!

    But before the epic police chase could begin, Alvik needed some training. Bandini took pictures of the LEGO® police figure and a ball and uploaded them to Edge Impulse. He then exported the trained model as an Arduino library using the EON compiler, before importing the zip file into the Arduino IDE.

    Once everything was set up and the MicroPython script created, Alvik was ready to roll. As it moved forward, the robot took pictures and processed them through a machine learning (ML) model. If it detected the police figure, Alvik would turn around and flash a red light. In other words, it was time to make a quick getaway!

    For more details on this exciting project, including a link to a YouTube demo, visit Bandini’s blog post here.

    Making it useful

    However, the action doesn’t stop there. Although Alvik can drive autonomously, Bandini has also adapted a remote control from the 1980s to give himself even more control. How? By writing C++ routines that translate the remote’s coordinates into commands. These commands are then sent via ESPNow to the MAC address of the ESP32 in Alvik, where they trigger functions to move the robot.

    Inspired by an old-school advertisement for the Omnibot 2000 robot, Bandini has even taught Alvik to bring him a glass of whiskey! While we don’t recommend this for anyone under the legal drinking age, there’s no reason why you can’t substitute it for your favorite refreshments!

    New to robotics? Explore the Arduino Alvik page to learn more or head straight to the store to start your own adventure today!

    The post “Catch me if you can!” — How Alvik learns to dodge trouble with AI, featuring Roni Bandini appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK