Your leather jacket might look cool, but one thing it’s missing—unless you’re maker “abetusk” or perhaps a Japanese musician—is lasers!
After seeing Yoshii Kazuya’s laser-spiked outfit, ‘tusk decided to create an excellent version of the getup by embedding 128 laser diodes embedded in his own jacket. These lasers are powered by an Arduino Nano, along with a pair of I2C PWM output boards, allowing them to be switched in sets of four.
The lasers can be controlled either by joystick, via a microphone in order to react to sound, or in a looping ‘twinkle’ pattern.
More information on the project is available in this write-up as well as on GitHub, which includes Arduino code and other files needed to build your own.
After seeing Wei Chieh Shi’s laser jacket design, I wanted to create my own. These instructions show how to modify a jacket to add laser diodes and control them electronically to produce different laser light patterns. The laser diodes give the jacket an appearance of being “spiky”, like having metal spikes but with red laser light. The effect is especially striking in environments with fog or smoke as the laser light path shows a trail from where it originates.
The concept and execution is relatively simple but care has to be taken to make sure that the electronics, wiring and other aspects of the jacket don’t fail when in use. Much of the subtlety and complexity of the project is providing proper wire routing and making sure that strain relief for the electronics and connections is provided so that it’s resilient under normal wear.
Assuming the basic parts are available (soldering iron, multimeter, wire strippers, laser cutter, etc.) I would estimate that this project is about $300 in raw materials and about 20 hours worth of labor.
Depending on the battery used, the jacket can operate for about an hour or two continuously. Spare batteries can be carried around and used to replace the depleted batteries if need be.
This incredible word clock is controlled by 114 servos
Arduino Team — April 8th, 2019
Word clocks normally use an array of lights to show the time, and although this project does use lights, how it works is much different than others.
LEDs for the device are hidden behind a thin layer of PVC, while 114 tiny SG90 servos move the lights and their 3D-printed frames back and forth. The result is a stunning display where the time is spelled out by the appropriate characters. These progressively come into focus, setting them apart from inactive letters which appear to fade into the background.
An Arduino Nano drives the assembly, along with an infrared controller setup and an RTC module for accurate timekeeping. A demo can be seen in the first video below, and the very involved build process is highlighted in the second clip.
What has 114 LEDs and is always running? As you may know the answer is a word clock. What has 114 LEDs + 114 servos and is always moving? The answer is this servo controlled word clock.
For this project I teamed up with a friend of mine which turned out to be a must because of the large effort of this build. In addition, my electronic and his mechanical skillset complemented each other quite well. The idea for this adaptation of the popular word clock came to us while we were making a regular one as Christmas gift. There, we noticed that it is also possible to project the letters from the back onto a white sheet of paper. At the time this was only a workaround solution to hide our crappy craftsmanship since we ended up with a lot of bubbles while attaching a vinyl sticker with the letters to the back of a glass plate. We then noticed that one can achieve interesting effects when bending the sheet of paper since the letters change size and become blurred. This made us come up with the idea to make a word clock where the letters are projected from the back onto a screen and can be moved back and forth to change the size of the projected image. At first we were a bit reluctant to build this project because of the costs and effort it takes when you want to move each of the 114 letters individually. So we tossed with the idea to make a version where just every word that is used to display the time can be moved back and forth. However, after seeing that the Epilog contest was coming up on Instructables asking for epic projects, and also after finding relatively cheap servo motors, we decided to go all the way and make a proper version where each letter is individually controlled by a servo
Listen to the best of the ‘holdies’ with this Arduino-enabled desk phone
Arduino Team — March 30th, 2019
If you’ve ever thought that your life needs a little more hold music in it, then this Greatest Holdies phone from FuzzyWobble could be just the thing.
The heavily modified device uses the shell of an old-style desk phone, but adds an Arduino Mega, a Music Maker Shield, and an ultrasonic rangefinder for “enhanced” abilities.
Now, when someone comes near the phone, it rings automatically, treating the person curious enough to pick it up to a selection of hold music. Users can choose the tune playing via the phone’s keypad, which is wired into the Arduino, along with the original headset switch that detects when the phone has been picked up.
Would you like a dog? Would you like a robot dog? If so, then this build by Michael Rigsby could be a great starting point.
Rigbsy’s robotic pet features four servo-driven legs, with two-axis shoulder movement, as well as an articulated knee joint. As seen in the video below, it’s capable of picking itself up off the ground, and can then walk using a slow side-to-side gait.
An Arduino Uno uses the majority of its I/O pins to control the legs, and as of now, it travels forward with no directional control or sensor input.
Instructions for the project, along code and 3D print files, are available in Rigsby’s write-up.
In a variety of robotic situations, you’ll need some sort of gripper. In this project, James Bruton attempts to create a force-controlled, three-fingered assembly using an Arduino Uno along with a trio of servos.
Instead of directly controlling the grip fingers, the 3D-printed device is held open with bungee cables. When it’s time to clamp everything down, the servos wind up the cables attached to the inside of the fingers, similar to how human tendons work.
To correlate servo inputs to grip force, he uses a series of springs to allow some amount of compliance, as well as flex sensors attached to the fingers themselves to measure the resulting positions. Arduino code for the build is available here.
The AbleChair by Advanced Fitness Components is nominally a wheelchair, but it’s capable of so much more.
The versatile wheelchair’s enhanced abilities include elevating the user to standing height or lowering for easy transfers. Additionally, the seating assembly can be flattened and positioned parallel to the ground, and even vertically as needed. This vertical position allows it to act as a gait training aid for those that are learning to walk, and the variety of positions has a number of health benefits.
The system itself is powered by Arduino along with brushless motors and sensors, while a joystick, touchscreen, and an Android app are used for control.
Riding a bicycle can be a great way to get around, and/or even to get some needed exercise. When you mix in automobile or foot traffic, though, things get a bit more complicated. This could be blamed, in part, on the fact that bikes don’t have the same running lights, turn or brake signals as motorized vehicles.
To address this problem, BLINK!’s patented Integrated Lighting System (iLS) has been designed to provide a visible communication solution that’s easily understandable by other road users.
This custom saddle—which was prototyped using an ATmega328P-based Arduino— features lighting for 270º visibility, and brightens automatically for braking when deceleration is detected. In addition, iLS includes a pair of remotely activated turn signals. This allows the rider to indicate direction changes without removing his or her hand from the handlebars to awkwardly point.
BLINK! has been embedded into a wide range of saddles and installation should be fairly straightforward. Not only will it certainly help enhance road safety, iLS will look fantastic while doing so.
Arduino Day is quickly approaching and we are blown away by the amazing support of the Arduino community, with over 620 events in more than 100 countries scheduled for March 16th.
As recently announced, the Official Arduino Day (register here)—directly organized by the Arduino team—will be held in Milan at the Milano Luiss Hub for Maker and Students, in collaboration with Manifattura Milano Camp.
The agenda of the official event includes an exhibition of Arduino projects, free kids activities, several keynotes by Arduino team members, and last but not least, an ‘Ask Me Anything’ with Massimo Banzi. The talks and the AMA will be live streamed via Arduino’s homepage, YouTube, and Facebook.
Here’s a look at the Official Arduino Day’s program:
11 AM (CET): Doors open and exhibition of Arduino projects, in collaboration with WeMake
2:30 – 5:30 PM: EDU activities for children ages 5 to 15
1:45 – 3:15 PM: Talks by local makers, in collaboration with WeMake (in Italian)
3:30 – 5:30 PM: Keynotes by the Arduino team. These sessions will be streamed on Arduino’s homepage, YouTube, and Facebook.
3:30 – 3:35: Welcome by Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante
3:35 – 3:50: The State of Arduino with Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante
The AMA will also be streamed on the Arduino homepage, YouTube and Facebook. Have a question? Please register on the Arduino Forum and submit it by 6:45 PM (CET) at this link.
We look forward to celebrating Arduino Day with everyone! In the meantime, don’t forget to share your events on social media using the hashtag #ArduinoD19.
Mancano poche ore ad Arduino Day, e siamo grati ed emozionati per l’incredibile supporto della nostra Community, che organizzerà nella giornata del 16 Marzo 2019 oltre 620 eventi in oltre 100 nazioni.
Come annunciato di recente, Official Arduino Day, ovvero l’evento direttamente organizzato dal team Arduino (registrazione qui) si terrà a Milano presso Milano Luiss Hub for Maker and Students (Via Massimo D’Azeglio, 3 – zona Porta Garibaldi), in collaborazione con Manifattura Milano Camp.
L’agenda dell’evento ufficiale include una mostra di progetti Arduino, delle attività edu per bambini/e teenager dai 5 ai 15 anni, un programma di talk con il team Arduino e, infine, una sessione di Ask Me Anything con Massimo Banzi. Le talk e l’AMA saranno trasmessi in streaming sull’homepage di Arduino e sui canali Youtube e Facebook .
Ecco il programma di Official Arduino Day a Milano:
11.00 AM: Open Day e mostra di progetti Arduino, in collaborazione con WeMake
1.45 – 3.15 PM: Community Talk a cura di maker locali, in collaborazione con WeMake
2.30 – 5.30 PM: Attività educative per bambine/i e teenager. Le attività sono gratuire e continuative, non serve prenotazione.
5-8 anni: Laboratorio di pasta modellabile conduttiva Anche i più piccoli possono giocare con l’elettricità! Con la pasta modellabile si può dare spazio alla manualità e alla creatività, con (in più) la magia dei led!
8-12 anni: Laboratorio di tinkering “Voglio Fare l’Inventore” Oggi tutti possono fare gli inventori! Flussi di energia, luci, suoni e movimenti non sono mai stati così facili da realizzare. Programmando con i sensori e attuatori, si possono costruire un’elica, un semaforo e addirittura un braccio robotico.
12-15 anni: Laboratorio di robotica “mBot and basic robotics” I robot sono tutti intorno a noi, non solo umanoidi ma anche automobili ed elettrodomestici! Con un’ app, cacciaviti e un pizzico d’ingegno, è possibile imparare le prime mosse per dargli vita e controllarli!
3.30 – 5.30 PM: Talk con Massimo Banzi e Arduino team. Le talk saranno disponibili via streaming sui canali social Arduino.
3.30 – 3.35: Welcome con Massimo Banzi e Fabio Violante
3.35 – 3.50: The State of Arduino con Massimo Banzi e Fabio Violante
Anche l’AMA (Ask me anything) sarà trasmesso in streaming sulla homepage di Arduino e sui canali Youtube e Facebook. Vuoi fare una domanda? Per favore, registrati sull’Arduino Forum e invia la tua domanda entro le 6.45 cliccando qui.
Non vediamo l’ora di festeggiare Arduino Day, nel frattempo non dimenticarti di condividere il tuo evento sui social con l’hashtag #ArduinoD19.
Q-Bot is an Arduino Mega-driven Rubik’s Cube solver
Arduino Team — March 14th, 2019
Rubik’s Cubes seem to have been most popular in the 1980s, but never really went away. As such, if you have one lying around your house unsolved, why not ‘simply’ construct a machine to do this for you?
One possibility is the Q-Bot, outlined here. While it won’t break any world records, it’s a solid-looking assembly that appears to be relatively easy to build.
The Q-Bot features six NEMA 17 stepper motors, four of which turn one face at a time. When needed, the other two use timing belts to alternatively pull opposed stepper motor pairs back, allowing the other two to rotate the entire assembly. An Arduino Mega is utilized to control the steppers via a custom shield, with a computer running the Kociemba’s Algorithm.
This DIY radio controller resembles one you’d find on the market
Arduino Team — March 13th, 2019
If you’ve ever considered constructing your own wireless RC transmitter, be sure to check out this build by Electronoobs.
The device uses an nRF24L01+ module to transmit inputs from a pair of joysticks and toggle switches, along with an Arduino Nano for interface and control.
What sets this project apart from his previous versions, however, is the very nice 3D-printed enclosure for the electronics and a pair of high-quality joysticks that allow for precise input.
Additionally, Electronoobs’ latest design features tuning buttons to properly center the sticks, and an OLED display to show the actual input value that it’s sending to the receiver (a simple Nano/nRF24 setup for demo purposes).
Yes, I’ve made another radio controller. Why? well, I wanted to have a more commercial look. So, I’ve designed a 3D case, then I’ve used some high quality joysticks in order to have better analog read, It has an OLED screen so we could see the data we send and we could also digitally adjust the data. It also has 2 modes, linear and exponential
When your car door isn’t shut quite correctly, you’ll normally look down at the control panel to see what the problem is. What if, instead of indicator lights or a low-res image of your doors, you had a tiny actuated version of your vehicle on your dashboard?
Mathis Ochsenmeier’s Analogous Door Display is exactly that. It mirrors his VW van’s front and rear doors using an Arduino Nano to take in sensor information and actuate three servo motors to mimic door positions.
Now when the van’s front doors or rear hatch open or close, the little van on the dash’s doors follow suit—both a useful diagnostic tool, and an entertaining model.
Massive wall-mounted skull lights up workshop under Arduino control
Arduino Team — March 8th, 2019
While you may or may not want a gigantic backlit skull cutout haunting the wall of your workshop, this was perfect for Jay and Jamie of the “Wicked Makers” YouTube channel.
Their device is cut of two 30” squares of plywood with a CNC router. This forms a base layer that holds everything off the wall, while an outer layer provides a nice circuit/skull texture.
They affixed WS2812B LED strips to the base layer, controlled by an Arduino Micro. These strips shine off the wall for a glow through the edges, along with circuit board style cutouts inside the skull, diffused using wax paper.
Arduino code and the circuit diagram are found in the project’s write-up if you’d like to construct your own!
While you might see a CRT by the side of the street and think noting of it, Ryan Mason has come up with a novel use for five of them in a row called the Cathode MK1.
This set uses the Unity game engine along with an Arduino board to spread games across five tube TVs arranged side-by-side.
In order to keep project costs down, Mason’s gaming rig is restricted to displaying a game signal on one TV at a time. This makes gameplay even more interesting, especially considering that the way that each TV handles a loss of signal contributing to the experience.
Several games are available for this unique system, including Long Pong AKA Pooooong, where a ball bounces from screen to screen as shown in the clip below.
Omni-wheel robot slides across the paper as a mobile plotter
Arduino Team — March 8th, 2019
Retired maker “lingb” created an omni-bot, with four wheels that allow sliding motion in the X/Y plane courtesy of their perpendicular rollers. While that alone would have been a fun build, he also attached a pen, along with a servo-based lifting mechanism, turning this robot into a free-range plotter!
The device is controlled by an Arduino Uno and Bluetooth module, and takes movement commands via a linked smartphone or tablet. Four 28BYJ-48 stepper motors with ULN2003 drivers move each wheel, though outputs are shared between opposite motors to save on I/O.
This means that rotating the robot isn’t possible, but as shown in the video below, this isn’t needed to plot straight and curved lines with good accuracy.
As hardware hackers, we’re always on the lookout for discarded components that can be re-purposed into something even more awesome. One such class of component that you may find is the controller-less graphics LCD modules, which can be found on old copiers, tape libraries, and the like.
This project by Ivan Kostoski shows how to drive one of these displays with a 320×240 resolution. He’s tested his code using several types of Arduino board, such as the Uno and Leonardo, using minimal external components.
Summary Repository contains code samples for driving 4-bit parallel controllerless graphics LCD (CLGLCD) module with AVR MCU on an Arduino board, using minimal external components and staying within Arduino IDE.
4-bit Controllerless Graphics LCD modules Controllerless graphics LCD modules are antiques that can be salvaged from old copiers, tape libraries, etc… They commonly are missing, well, the controller chip, the one with the memory. Don’t go buying one of these, for Arduino usage, even if you find them on sale. They are usually industrial, have poor viewing angles, generally slow response time, and pain to work-with. There, I said my peace… But if you already have one, their size (i.e. 5.7in) or simplicity can have its uses and beauty.
I have tested this code with 320×240 STN LCD monochrome module marked as F-51543NFU-LW-ADN / PWB51543C-2-V0, salvaged some time ago from retired tape library, without the controller module (which it appears is based on FPGA and wouldn’t be of much use anyway).
The same type of interface (4-bit data) with various signal names is present on many industrial modules based on multiplexed column and common row LCD drivers, like LC79401/LC79431. Or this is what is behind the controller IC. They all have some variations like LCD drive voltage (positive or negative, depending on temperature and size of the module), backlight (LED/CCFL), some logic quirks (i.e. CL2 is ignored while CL1 is up, etc…), so maybe this code can be adapted to other controllerless modules. Module’s datasheet is necessity for the connector pinouts and timing requirements. Some modules may even generate LCD drive voltage internally, and outputting it on a pin so actual V0 driving voltage can be adjusted.
More info on the build/technique is found on GitHub, where you can also download project code and find more background on how interfacing with these devices works.
Remote control cars are interesting, but as Leon van den Beukel shows in the video below, an RC forklift can be even more challenging and fun to create.
His project was constructed using a variety of hand and automated techniques, resulting in a build that can easily manipulate tiny pallets. Forks are lifted into the air via a motor and belt assembly, and tilted with a small servo.
The device uses an Arduino Mega for control, and is linked to an Android phone over Bluetooth for user interface. Code, along with STL files and drawings, are available on GitHub and the custom Android control app can be found here.
This faux candle lights, flickers, smokes, and smells like the real thing
Arduino Team — March 6th, 2019
Keith of “Keith’s Test Garage” wanted an LED candle. While somewhat realistic flicking units are easy to find, he was in search of something much more like the actual thing, and after several years of work has come up with a rather amazing replica.
The device’s wax-embedded glass enclosure houses an Arduino, along with a series of six RGBW LEDs inside that randomly flicker away to simulate a flame. This effect is triggered via a real match, which is sensed by an IR module. To stop the effect, one literally blows out the candle through a microphone input that picks up on this action.
Most impressively however, upon putting out the faux flame, a length of resistive wire heats up glycerin and smelling oil on a wick, producing a puff of smoke to end the light performance.
Maker Jeremy S. Cook has experimented with both CNC machinery and light painting in the past, and decided to combine these two skills into a new artistic device.
His setup uses a web app found here to program a CNC router as a sort of dot matrix printer. But instead of a pen, pencil, brush or other marking utensil, it uses a button as an input to the onboard Arduino Nano when pressed to the router’s surface.
From this input, the Arduino then commands a diffused RGB LED to “mark” the surface with light, painting an image on the camera’s exposed sensor.
Code and print files are are available on GitHub if you’d like to try your own light art experiments!
Electronic dummy load is a work of readily-available art
Arduino Team — March 5th, 2019
As seen here, Juan had some problems with his power supply, and while he wanted to “simply” build another one, he didn’t let the power supply go to waste. Instead he converted it into an adjustable dummy load based on the design by Dave Jones’ shown below.
This device, however, is no mere duplication of Jones’ and adds an Arduino for control, allowing for voltage, current, power, and temperature monitoring. The enclosure was designed in Fusion 360 and 3D-printed, and the front panel overlay in Inkscape.
Other interesting tricks include using a readily available DC motor for input instead of an encoder, along with an array of 7-segment displays that don’t quite all match, but act as functional outputs nonetheless.
If you’ve ever considered building your own RC hovercraft, be sure to check out the latest project from “How To Mechatronics.”
The build shows how to assemble one using a variety of 3D-printed parts, a pair of brushless DC motors for hover airflow and forward motion, and a servo for steering.
An Arduino Uno along with an nRF24L01 module are employed for control, and as demonstrated in the video below, it slides across a basketball court with the greatest of ease!
More info is available on How To Mechatronics’ write-up, including CAD/3D printing files, a parts list, and Arduino code.
Ultrasonic sensors, which emit a high frequency sound wave then listen for its return to determine an object’s distance, are useful in a wide variety of robotics projects. If you’d like a visualization of how the sensor views an area, this “radar” from Mr Innovative presents a fun option.
The 3D-printed console features a small SG90 servo to pan the sensor over a space, picking up obstacles in its path. The readings are then transmitted to an Arduino Nano, which displays object info on a TFT screen set up to look reminiscent of a radar screen.
I have made a mini compact radar with display for that I have used HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, this sensor emit ultrasonic sound which came back to sensor after reflecting from an object, all the data visualization is displayed on 1.8″ ST7735 display, if any object detect by radar it’ll show in display in red line.
The build could function either as a great teaching tool, or perhaps the basis for a panning robot sensor. Print files can be found here, and code is available on GitHub.
While channel surfing might increasingly seem to be a thing of the past, Kevin Darrah demonstrates that it’s possible to control your streaming computer with a traditional TV remote.
His simple solution reads IR signals with an IR detector module, which can then be passed along and translated into USB keypresses for computer control.
You can see his experimental Arduino Leonardo setup in the video below, which takes advantage of the board’s ATmega32U4 chip to emulate USD keyboard functions directly.
Fun project here that could have a lot of uses – basically a TV remote to USB translator, so could think of a lot of ways to use something like this. For me, I just wanted an easy way to channel surf using the same TV remote that came with the TV. For this, I just read in the IR codes form the remote, then map them to key-strokes to do different things. I could see the up/down left/right keys being used to drive the mouse around… lol, that might be my next project!
The bulk of the clip, however, is around a discussion on decoding IR signals and the programming involved (code available here), starting at about 6:00 in.
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