Schlagwort: mega

  • SPIN is a beautiful and imaginative AI synthesizer

    SPIN is a beautiful and imaginative AI synthesizer

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    If you’re heard the pop music emanating from any recent reality TV show, you won’t be surprised to learn that AI is perfectly capable of generating tunes on demand. It won’t replace true artistry any time soon, but AI music fits all of the technical criteria. But typing a prompt is boring, which is why Arvind Sanjeev constructed this gorgeous and imaginative AI synthesizer called SPIN.

    SPIN is beautiful and looks like a cross between a turntable and a drum machine. Those visual cues hint at its function. The user can press buttons on the right-side pad to define musical characteristics, which then form a prompt for a language model called MusicGen. That synthesizes music according to the selected characteristics, like “happy” and “lo-fi.” The music then starts playing and the user can control its speed and direction using the record on the turntable — even scratching like a DJ if they want.

    A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B runs MusicGen, but it receives inputs through an Arduino Mega 2560 connected to the buttons. There are also dials to set song duration and BPM (beats per minute), as well as control knobs.

    The turntable is a Numark PT-01, but the vinyl is a special dummy record that only contains a time code track. The sound from that then feeds through the audio driver back to the Raspberry Pi, where it is decoded to control the playback of the synthesized music. 

    SPIN is truly stunning to look at and its functionality is quite interesting, but Sanjeev’s real motivation was to raise awareness about the ethics of AI-generated art and the original human-made art it is trained on. 

    The post SPIN is a beautiful and imaginative AI synthesizer appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Build a better spindle controller for your CNC mill

    Build a better spindle controller for your CNC mill

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Proper spindle speed control is necessary to get good CNC milling results. If your spindle speed is inconsistent, your speed and feed calculations will be wrong. That will lead to poor finishes and even broken end mills (and ruined parts) in extreme cases. But cheap CNC mills and routers often have insufficient spindle speed controllers. That’s why Joekutz’s Workbench built an improved spindle speed controller for his generic CNC 3040.

    This DIY spindle speed controller has two major improvements: more precise adjustment and closed-loop feedback.

    The original controller just had an imprecise potentiometer knob and dot markings, making it impossible to set to a specific speed. The new version lets the user set the spindle to a desired speed with a digital readout.

    It also has closed-loop feedback, so it can adjust power to the motor as necessary to maintain the set speed under load. Without that, even a light load could slow down the spindle and throw off the speed/feed balance. 

    Joekutz’s Workbench achieved this using an Arduino UNO Rev3 board. It reads input from a rotary encoder to set the motor speed, then shows that speed on a seven-segment display. It controls the motor speed via PWM through a DIY optical isolator, a transistor, and a MOSFET. At the same time, it receives feedback on the real-world motor speed using an LED and photoresistor. That measures the reflectivity of the spinning spindle, which has a piece of aluminum foil tape in one area to increase reflectivity. That lets the Arduino detect a revolution of the motor and calculate the RPM. 

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ExjwMC0-Nw?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The CNC mill uses an Arduino Mega 2560 with GRBL for controlling the axes’ stepper motors. The Arduino Uno spindle controller can receive g-code speed commands from that, or the user can set the speed using the rotary encoder dial. 

    The post Build a better spindle controller for your CNC mill appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This DIY Jurassic Park pinball machine is a T-Rexcellent use of Arduino

    This DIY Jurassic Park pinball machine is a T-Rexcellent use of Arduino

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Pinball machines are prime examples of the dizzying heights achieved by engineers in the electromechanical era before digital electronics came along. But while those classic pinball machines are extremely impressive from an engineering standpoint, they required an immense amount of expertise and were therefore unapproachable to most. By utilizing modern digital components like Arduino development boards, Barjo was able to construct this amazing Jurassic Park-themed pinball machine.

    From a user perspective, this looks and operates a lot like a classic pinball machine. But instead of relying on complex mechanical linkages and vast arrays of electric switches, it takes advantage of today’s microcontrollers and sensors. The table is mostly wood and Barjo 3D-printed a bunch of custom parts, such as the paddles, pathways for the ball, and enclosures for the electronic components. 

    Some of the parts, like the spring-loaded ball launcher, are standard off-the-shelf pinball components that are available through retailers that sell refurbishment parts. But most are custom and work using electronic circuitry. The electronic components operate under the control of an Arduino Nano and an Arduino Mega 2560. The Nano is tasked with the flippers, while the Mega handles the displays, sensors, and solenoids.

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

    There are a variety of sensors on the table, such as infrared break beam sensors to detect the passing ball. Those can trigger solenoids to open up gates to specific pathways, like the T-Rex paddock that lets the player rack up additional points. Those points, and some status information, show up on an eight-digit seven-segment display. And, of course, there are plenty of flashing lights to create the ideal pinball experience.

    The post This DIY Jurassic Park pinball machine is a T-Rexcellent use of Arduino appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • The best Secret Santa gift in an oversized Furby

    The best Secret Santa gift in an oversized Furby

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Some of YouTube’s most famous makers get together every year for a Secret Santa gift exchange. We already showed you the heartbeat-controlled drum machine that Sam Battle created for Ali Spagnola, but what did Battle receive? Roboticist extraordinaire James Bruton drew Battle and decided to build him this oversized robotic Furby.

    Bruton started by skinning a normal Furby to take a look inside and find out how it ticks. The current models are a bit different than the originals from a couple of decades ago, but they’re still pretty simple. There are basic mechanical linkages for the animatronic movement, sensors to detect touch and movement, a speaker for the sound, and cheap LCD eyes. Bruton didn’t reuse any of those components, but this dissection gave him some direction.

    With a Furby anatomy lesson under his belt, Bruton designed the scaled-up version with a 3D-printed skeleton. That houses several servo motors to actuate the eyes, eyelids, ears, and mouth, along with two small linear actuators that let it rock back and forth. An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls those motors, as well as a DFRobot DFPlayer Mini MP3 player for the sound effects. An infrared proximity sensor lets the Arduino detect nearby movement, so it can react. Under normal conditions, it just cycles through pre-programmed movement and audio. But if the infrared proximity sensor triggers, the Arduino will switch to something new immediately.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV4xyMilqn0?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The final step was to cover the giant Furby in its signature fur. Bruton left an opening in the chest where there is a cavity big enough for a normal Furby to reside, complete with LED illumination. That has some concerning implications, but the entire Furby aesthetic skirts the creepy line and so it seems fitting.

    The post The best Secret Santa gift in an oversized Furby appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • A glockenspiel that plays itself

    A glockenspiel that plays itself

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    A glockenspiel is a pretty ordinary instrument with a very silly name. Many Westerners will immediately notice the similarities between glockenspiels and xylophones, but there are slight differences in pitch and range. Both are played with mallets and so anyone can hammer out some notes. But playing well is much more difficult, which is why CamsLab built this auto-glockenspiel that plays itself.

    CamsLab chose the glockenspiel over other instruments because they wanted an excuse to experiment with solenoids. Compared to string, brass, and wind instruments, a percussion instrument like a glockenspiel is very easy to play by electromechanical means. Each bar is a copper pipe of a specific length calibrated to produce a desired note. Every one of those bars has its own solenoid, which strikes the copper on demand.

    An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls those solenoids through FETs (field-effect transistors). Those are necessary because the solenoids each require about 1A of current, which is more than the Arduino can supply through a pin. CamsLab also implemented flyback diodes to prevent damage, since solenoids are inductive loads. Those components and the copper bars mount onto a simple frame made of aluminum extrusion.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdH86Tfd4jA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    CamsLab programmed each note in sequence within the sketch, which is cumbersome. A good alternative would be MIDI control. But even as it is, the auto-glockenspiel sounds great.

    The post A glockenspiel that plays itself appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Macro DLP mirror array scales up a fascinating mechanical structure

    Macro DLP mirror array scales up a fascinating mechanical structure

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Digital light processing (DLP) devices, which we often see in digital projectors, work by reflecting light off of a two-dimensional array of many thousands — or even millions — of moving mirrors. For that to be practical, each mirror must be microscopic and that makes it very difficult to see and understand the way a DLP device functions. To make that more intuitive, Jon Bumstead scaled up a mirror array to build a “macro” DLP mirror device.

    Bumstead’s DLP mirror device only has 25 mirrors arranged in a 5×5 grid, so the resolution is too low to be of any use for displays. But the large size makes this the perfect educational demonstration, because users can easily see how the device operates. Each mirror can pivot to one of two states. The first state angles the mirror so light reflects out to where a lens would be. The second state angles the mirror inwards, so light reflects to where an absorbent pad would be. The first state is an “on” pixel and the second state is an “off” pixel. A real DLP device can switch between states fast enough to create shades of gray and the light would go through filters to introduce color.

    Each mirror in the macro DLP device is a square half an inch to a side. Mini push-pull solenoids actuate the mirrors between states and an Arduino Mega 2560 board controls those solenoids through transistors on a custom PCB shield. The frame and mechanical components were 3D-printed to keep costs down.

    This device isn’t practical for a display, but it is functional and works great as a tangible illustration of DLP technology. In a hazy room, users can see the reflected rays of light in order to grasp the underlying concept.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtsJR2oc2Jk?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post Macro DLP mirror array scales up a fascinating mechanical structure appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Analog gauge array helps evaluate compilation efficiency

    Analog gauge array helps evaluate compilation efficiency

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    There is an old joke response in the programming industry for whenever you’re caught slacking off: “I’m waiting for the code to compile.” That still holds up, because even today’s blazing fast computers can take ages to compile. That’s true even when the compiler can run tasks across multiple CPU cores. To find out if that is as efficient as it could be, Lex built this analog gauge array that displays the utilization of each core.

    Lex created this for their own computer, which has a 12-core CPU. There is one gauge for each of those cores, plus an additional gauge for swap memory and another for RAM. The same basic idea could apply to computers that have CPUs with fewer cores — the device would just need a number of gauges equal to the number of CPU cores, plus two.

    The device contains an Arduino Mega 2560 board and it receives utilization data through serial from a PC running a custom Rust program. That program uses some resources, but it is trivial compared to everything else. The Arduino employs pulse-width modulation (PWM) to control the positions of the gauge needles. There is also a strip of WS2812B individually addressable RGB LEDs illuminating the gauges, with the colors corresponding to utilization. So high utilization will move a gauge’s needle to the right and cause it to light up red.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-DTbZlJ5I?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    This gives Lex a quick and easy way to visualize how their computer distributes tasks across the CPU cores. That is interesting when compiling code, but it is also useful for other jobs that attempt to parallelize tasks.

    The post Analog gauge array helps evaluate compilation efficiency appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • TAST-E is an animatronic robot head with a sense of taste and smell

    TAST-E is an animatronic robot head with a sense of taste and smell

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    There are many theories that attempt to explain the uncanny valley, which is a range of humanoid realness that is very disconcerting to people. When something looks almost human, we find it disturbing. That often applies to robots with faces — or robots that are faces, as is the case with the TAST-E robot that has a sense of taste and smell.

    The TAST-E robot created by M. Bindhammer looks a bit like a human face, sans skin. Servo motors let it pan and tilt, flap its lips, move its unsettlingly realistic eyeballs, and waggle its eyebrows. It can even speak thanks to a Parallax Emic 2 text-to-speech module connected to an Arduino Mega 2560 board.

    But TAST-E is most intriguing because of its sense of taste and smell, which let it identify specific compounds and molecules.

    Our own tongues can only detect five distinct tastes: saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and umami (savoriness). TAST-E can do the same by recognizing the compounds that stimulate those receptors on our tongues. It does so with colorimeters, which detect the color produced when certain reagents mix with those compounds. This is similar to how a woman might look for a blue or pink line on a pregnancy test. TASTE-E has custom colorimeters that look for the reagent colors associated with those taste compounds.

    TASTE-E’s sense of smell is a bit more straightforward, but also less analogous to human smell. Its electronic nose uses a Grove gas sensor breakout with four modules: a GM-102B for NO2, a GM-302B for ethanol, a GM-502B for VOCs, and a GM-702B for CO/H2. Those let it analyze the concentration of those compounds in an air sample.

    It isn’t clear what M. Bindhammer intends for TAST-E, but this robot is as impressive as it is chilling.

    The post TAST-E is an animatronic robot head with a sense of taste and smell appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This RC tank has Möbius strip tracks

    This RC tank has Möbius strip tracks

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Möbius strips are often used to symbolize infinity, because they are continuous loops with only a single surface. They can’t exist in real life, because every solid object in reality has thickness — even if it is very thin, like a piece of paper. But we can construct similar objects that loop and twist over on themselves. James Bruton demonstrated that concept by building an RC tank with Möbius strip tracks.

    This project doesn’t seem to have any real purpose beyond curiosity. Bruton wanted to see how Möbius strip tracks would work and so he constructed this tank to find out. The treads and most of the rest of the tank were 3D-printed, with the tread links getting a special design that lets them pivot relative to each other. They pivot just enough that the each track was able to make a half-twist over the course of 8 or 9 links. That half-twist is what makes the tracks similar to a Möbiusstrip, because the “outer” surface continues endlessly and transitions to being the “inner” surface and then repeats forever.

    As is the case for many of Bruton’s creations, this tank has an Arduino Mega 2560 for control. It receives commands from Bruton’s universal remote through an OrangeRX DSM2 radio receiver. A DC gear motor drives each track, providing plenty of torque.

    In testing, this tank performed similarly to a standard RC tank—though there is, presumably, more friction to overcome. When the tracks are bare plastic, they slip on hard surfaces a lot. When Bruton added grippy pads, they didn’t slip quite enough. But interestingly, the unique geometry of the tracks means that one “side” can be grippy and the other slick. The track will then alternate between the two, even though that doesn’t seem to provide any real benefit.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoWeljpA6-U?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post This RC tank has Möbius strip tracks appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Open-source loom encourages interdisciplinary learning

    Open-source loom encourages interdisciplinary learning

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    You don’t need to go back more than a century to find people who carried the job title “scientist” without any qualifiers. But as STEM fields advanced, people had to become increasingly specialized in more niche disciplines. In recent years, however, we’ve seen a bit of a reversal in that trend and modern occupations often require interdisciplinary knowledge. To foster such knowledge, the open-source SPEERLoom encourages interdisciplinary learning.

    Created by a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and UC Irvine, the SPEERLoom is an open-source robotic Jacquard loom kit that, after assembly, can produce complex textile weaves. Looms like this certainly have practical applications in the textile industry, but SPEERLoom’s true purpose is educational. By building a SPEERLoom and learning the skills to operate it, students can develop ingrained knowledge and experience that crosses the boundaries of traditional disciplines to yield a well-rounded STEM base.

    To encourage that education, SPEERLoom’s designers wanted the machine to be accessible and affordable for classroom environments. Most of the machine’s parts are available off-the-shelf and the custom parts can be fabricated using basic tools and 3D-printing.

    Jacquard looms are complex machines with many moving parts, but the accessible design extends to the electronic components and actuators. SPEERLoom requires 40 linear actuators and an Arduino Mega 2560 board controls those through MCP23017 I2C port expanders and 40 EasyDriver modules. A custom GUI written in Python lets users send weave patterns, stored as CSV files, to the Arduino to get the process started.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEAPo4e6N9E?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Educators looking for interdisciplinary classroom projects, SPEERLoom appears to be a very alluring choice.

    The post Open-source loom encourages interdisciplinary learning appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Replicating Penny’s computer book from Inspector Gadget

    Replicating Penny’s computer book from Inspector Gadget

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The Inspector Gadget cartoon was, naturally, full of fun gadgets. Even the eponymous inspector’s niece, Penny, got some nifty gizmos. One notable example was her computer book, which was exactly what it sounds like. To pay homage to the classic cartoon, Becky Stern recreated Penny’s computer book using a pair of Arduino boards.

    It isn’t clear exactly which functions Penny’s computer book possesses within the canon of the Inspector Gadget cartoon, so Stern got a chance to exercise her own creativity. She referenced the cartoon to get a sense of the device’s aesthetics, design, and some of its capability. That helped her define the look of the replica device and how it should act. She determined that it should have several buttons (including a grid of illuminated buttons), a small screen on one side, and a big screen on the other side — all inside of a book.

    Stern used two different boards to bring the device to life: an Arduino Nano ESP32 and a Mega 2560. The former monitors some of the buttons and controls the LCD panel on the left side. The latter monitors the green buttons and controls their LEDs. It also drives the LEDs behind the right “screen,” which is actually a static semi-transparent image. The LEDs light up in sequence to create an effect similar to what we see in the cartoon.

    Most of the buttons lack actual functions, but Stern did add some interactivity by utilizing the Nano ESP32. The board hosts a web interface that users can access after connecting to the Wi-Fi network. That interface lets the user select images to show on the left screen, like a video call from Brain the dog, to really sell the visuals.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM45EVcGCyo?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post Replicating Penny’s computer book from Inspector Gadget appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Building a school bus ride to buy a toddler’s love

    Building a school bus ride to buy a toddler’s love

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We all know that a child’s love can be bought. But how can working class parents compete with the lavish gifts that wealthy parents can afford? The answer is simple: by building toys that aren’t purchasable. Not only will a DIY gift have far more meaning, but it will impart a sense of superiority that comes from the knowledge that other parents can’t simply outspend you. That motivated Firth Fabrications to construct this school bus ride for his toddler.

    This resembles one of those coin-operated rides that we used to see in front of every grocery store. The bright yellow wood school bus is big enough for a toddler to sit comfortably inside. When powered on, it begins rocking around on linear actuators. A dashboard inside the school bus gives the “driver” buttons and switches to play with, but they don’t actually move the vehicle. Instead, the linear actuators move according to commands sent by a remote control unit.

    The remote looks like a small version of the school bus, which hints at its operation. It monitors its own orientation, then tells the linear actuators to move so that the ride matches. The remote unit contains an Arduino Nano board and an IMU module. It communicates with the Arduino Mega 2560 in the school bus via RF modules. Another Nano handles the dashboard functions, including swinging out the stop sign with a servo motor.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAal9MjD_Nw?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    We have to assume that this gained Firth Fabrications far more love from his toddler than could ever be purchased with an off-the-shelf toy.

    The post Building a school bus ride to buy a toddler’s love appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Automatic xylophone bings and bongs on demand

    Automatic xylophone bings and bongs on demand

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Xylophones are popular kids’ toys because they’re simple, affordable, and cheery. The name is also fun to say and gives us something to fill in the X spot in alphabet books. But while many of us banged on xylophones as children, few learned how to play them properly. To make such learning unnecessary, Rachad El Moutaouaffiq built this automatic xylophone.

    If you listen to the melody in the video, you can hear that this sounds far more pleasant than any toddler smacking their toy xylophone while their parents pretend their ears don’t work. That’s because it is fully computer-controlled. Each bar has its own solenoid that acts as a mallet, for a perfect strike every time. Those operate according to MIDI files, so the automatic xylophone can play any tune.

    To gain some experience with electromagnetism, El Moutaouaffiq constructed all of the solenoids himself. Each one consists of a nail, a short length of flexible tube, a couple of washers, and a hand-wound coil of wire.

    An Arduino Mega 2560 controls all of the DIY solenoids through bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). It has a sketch that activates the solenoids according to incoming MIDI notes received via serial. Those come from a computer running LMMS MIDI software and are sent through serial by Hairless MIDI. El Moutaouaffiq simply had to define a pin for each MIDI note and connect the proper transistor to each pin.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-72ajURT8?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    El Moutaouaffiq hopes to add some AI functionality to send MIDI notes based on sheet music, but that isn’t working yet. For now, the automatic xylophone can play existing MIDI files.

    The post Automatic xylophone bings and bongs on demand appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • A gorgeous escape room puzzle with an Alien theme

    A gorgeous escape room puzzle with an Alien theme

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Alien is an icon of the sci-fi horror genre and it owes its status to the legendary design work of H. R. Giger. He was responsible for the very original xenomorph and much of the set design throughout franchise. Alien and its sequels have a distinct visual aesthetic that inspired Redditor Wired_Workshop to build this escape room puzzle.

    Wired_Workshop attended the Maker Alliance Summer Camp event in Kentucky and was tasked with contributing a puzzle to that event’s ’80s-themed escape room. Being a massive Alien fan, Wired_Workshop chose to borrow the design aesthetic and some of the effects from that franchise. The puzzle itself takes sequences from the films and even has a Predator Easter egg, since both franchises exist within the same cinematic universe.

    This project required several different fabrication techniques, including 3D printing, CNC routing, and welding. An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls LEDs and monitors user input through a keypad, a huge switch lever, and glowing canisters that the player must lift. There’s also a fog machine to produce a smoke effect, driven by an Arduino Nano. Because this is a puzzle, the player has to complete those in the right order by following the available clues. And because this is just one part of an escape room, solving this puzzle provides a clue for the next puzzle developed by another attendee.

    Be sure to watch Wired_Workshop’s full video on this project to learn about all the details and to see the various Alien references. Eagle-eyed viewers should be able to spot some homages to specific scenes and props from the films.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu4frV1Wf_0?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post A gorgeous escape room puzzle with an Alien theme appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This machine automatically threads beautiful string art

    This machine automatically threads beautiful string art

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    String art is impressive precisely because it is so difficult to make. Even a simple piece of string art will contain hundreds of feet of thread carefully looped around posts to create areas of varying density that act as shading. Everything from calculating the string’s path to physically laying down the string is a challenge. But after an immense amount of work, Paul MH was able to develop a machine that can produce string art at the touch of a button.

    Paul spent years working on this project and it shows. Every step of the process required trial-and-error with different prototypes. To create an art piece, the machine first has to insert dozens or hundreds of nails into the foam bed. That necessitated the invention of a mechanism to feed nails and a neural network to verify that each nail feeds properly. The machine then has to convert an image into a string path, with that path avoiding collisions with nails, looping around nails enough to maintain tension, generating the proper string density, and preventing any tangles.

    At its heart, this is a CNC machine that accepts custom g-code generated by Paul’s software. That G-code runs on an Arduino Mega 2560 board, which controls the machine’s motors through a RAMPS 1.4 shield. The concept is similar to a conventional DIY CNC router and the kinematic system is familiar, but this machine needed a multitude of custom parts. Most of those were 3D-printed over many iterations until Paul had a working machine.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPYEd50j3s0?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    As you can see in Paul’s recent video update, the machine can produce very nice string art. It can take any image as input, but high-contrast pictures without a lot of fine detail work the best.

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    Website: LINK

  • Automating Connect Four setup and cleanup

    Automating Connect Four setup and cleanup

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Good old-fashioned tabletop games are a lot of fun to play, but they’re a pain in the butt to set up. We all know the pain of divvying out Monopoly money and organizing tiny plastic houses. Connect Four players might spend as much time organizing pieces between games as they do actually playing. To facilitate Connect Four speed runs, Jared Dilley built this board that automatically sorts the pieces after a game.

    A normal Connect Four board just dumps all the pieces out of the bottom after a game, forcing players to classify them by color. Dilley’s updated board does all of that automatically. At the push of a button, it will begin ejecting pieces from the bottom. Little motorized flaps cause the falling pieces to drop one way or the other. The machine repeats that process for all the rows and each player ends up with a pile of the appropriate pieces on their side of the board, ready for a new game.

    An Arduino Mega 2560 detects whether a piece is red or black using an infrared sensor. Dilley adjusted the sensor so that it registers an infrared reflection for red pieces, but not black pieces. Each column has its own sensor, so the Arduino can recognize the colors of the entire bottom row. It then sets the positions of the flaps accordingly using servo motors controlled through a servo shield. Finally, another servo quickly releases the bottom row and then moves back to block the following row. That process repeats until all the pieces have been sorted.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tsY3SJziWs?start=1&feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    We can’t imagine that many people play enough Connect Four to make this worthwhile, but it is still a lot of fun to see in action and crosses into “oddly satisfying” territory.

    The post Automating Connect Four setup and cleanup appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Piloting spaceships with a DIY cockpit

    Piloting spaceships with a DIY cockpit

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Take a moment to go and look up some photos of the cockpits of airplanes and spacecraft. All of them are packed full of instruments and controls. So why do we feel like we can play a flight simulator with a regular gamepad? If you’re doing so, then you’re missing out on a lot of the experience. To get that deep immersion, Beko Pharm constructed a DIY cockpit for space sims like Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen.

    Beko Pharm runs their sims on a Linux PC and that limits the compatibility with off-the-shelf rigs. But most of those are expensive and lackluster anyway, so Beko Pharm built a custom controller. Front and center is an LCD panel to display all kinds of data. Surrounding that are a multitude of indicator lights, buttons, and switches. The cockpit also includes a joystick and head tracking, so Beko Pharm can have complete control over their virtual spaceships.

    An Arduino Mega 2560 drives all of the lights, which are WS2812B individually addressable RGB LEDs. It also monitors the joystick and buttons. The Arduino communicates with the simulation software using a custom interface developed with Node-RED and Rust. This lets it send commands and receive status data. It can, for example, illuminate a specific LED indicator if the simulation reports something like an engine failure.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiV5hP8fZ7Q?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    All of those components mount onto a custom frame made of wood. That sits below Beko Pharm’s triple-monitor setup, creating the illusion that they are sitting in a real cockpit surrounding by controls and looking out of the windows.

    The post Piloting spaceships with a DIY cockpit appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • This gargantuan 3D-printed robot hand is just the beginning

    This gargantuan 3D-printed robot hand is just the beginning

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Ivan Miranda has a humble dream: he wants to build a massive 3D-printed robot that he can ride upon. In other words, he wants a mech. But that is obviously a very challenging project that will take an incredible amount of time and money. So he decided to test the waters with one piece of the mech: a huge 3D-printed robotic hand.

    Miranda designed this robotic hand at the scale necessary for an enormous rideable mech, but he has only built the one hand at this point. This let him test the idea before jumping into the deep end with the full project. The structure and most of the mechanical components were 3D-printed. It has four fingers and a thumb, each with three joints (like a real human hand). It is mostly rigid PLA, but there are some flexible TPU parts that add grip.

    Servos actuate all 15 of those joints. Most of them have 11kg-cm of torque, but the base of each finger has a more powerful servo with 25kg-cm of torque. An Arduino Mega 2560 controls all of the servo motors with pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals. Power, of course, comes directly from the power supply and not the Arduino.

    In testing, the hand seems to work quite well. It can move and grip large objects, though the belts do slip and need to be replaced with a type that can’t stretch. We’re not sure if Miranda will complete the entire mech, but we sure hope that he does!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVPNh0MUDxE?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post This gargantuan 3D-printed robot hand is just the beginning appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Toddler receives a custom cyberdeck

    Toddler receives a custom cyberdeck

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The cyberdeck community has exploded in recent years, because makers like to use their creativity to create custom machines tailored to their tastes and requirements. But the community has overlooked one very significant target market: toddlers. Young kids love fiddling with buttons and switches, and there is a plethora of evidence that suggests that interactive toys are good for development. With that in mind, a hacker dad named Josh built his son this cyberdeck for little ones.

    Unlike most cyberdecks, this doesn’t actually have to do any real computing. Josh’s son won’t be performing any pentesting with Kali Linux. Instead, it just needs to be fun and engaging for a two-year-old. That means lots of switches, buttons, dials, and LEDs. The top does have a single-board computer and screen from a promotional video player, but it is self-contained and just loops videos. All of the real magic happens in the bottom half.

    Josh created this cyberdeck using a waterproof hard case. The bottom half has a panel covered in buttons and switches. Each of those also has a corresponding LED. An Arduino Mega 2560 board monitors the states of the inputs, then sets the LEDs accordingly. Right now, that is just a one-to-one direct relationship, so flipping a particular switch turns a specific LED on or off. But Josh envisions more complicated relationships, like logic puzzles, that he can incorporate as his son gets older. Implementing those would be as simple as uploading new sketches to the Arduino.

    The post Toddler receives a custom cyberdeck appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • James Bruton builds a real Zelda Stabilizer Zonai Device

    James Bruton builds a real Zelda Stabilizer Zonai Device

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The central gimmick of the new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game is the construction system, which is a lot of fun. You can fuse simple objects to build structures, but you can also add Zonai Devices to increase their functionality. One of those devices is the Stabilizer, which forces any attached vehicle or structure to stand upright. It seems like magic, but James Bruton set out to create a Stabilizer in real life.

    There are many robots and vehicles available today that are capable of balancing themselves, with the Segway being the most famous example. These all rely on mass and inertia to stay upright, but most do that through either moving the base (like a Segway) or with a reaction wheel. Bruton went a slightly different direction for this project and chose to use gyros. When spinning, a gyro resists any motion that pushes it off its axis. By using two gyros, Bruton figured that he could keep the stabilizer upright.

    Bruton built those gyros with automotive disc brakes for the mass wheels. Those rotate in frames constructed using aluminum extrusion and 3D-printed parts. An Arduino Mega 2560 controls the motors, including the brushless DC motors that spin the gyros and the geared DC motors that rotate the gyros to counteract tipping.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMxkgs487QM?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    This doesn’t work quite as well as it does in the game — there are limits to what anyone can achieve with physics. But it is still cool to see in action!

    The post James Bruton builds a real Zelda Stabilizer Zonai Device appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Adding a turbo readout to a vintage PC case

    Adding a turbo readout to a vintage PC case

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    If you are young, you may not remember the turbo buttons of the 1990s. These existed for backwards-compatibility with older games and software that wouldn’t run properly at the blazing-fast processor clock speeds of the time. The turbo button simply told the CPU to run at a slower clock speed that would work with that older software. Joshua Woehlke uses an old PC with a 486 processor and decided to add his own useless turbo readout to complement the turbo button.

    Woehlke’s computer uses a vintage ATX case from the ’90s that does, in fact, have a turbo button. But that case lacked the kind of clock speed readout that was popular when it was new. Those readouts were usually three-digit seven-segment displays and the implication was that they would show the processor’s current clock speed. Except that was all a farce and, in reality, they just switched between two preset numbers: one for the faster speed and one for the slower speed. Woehlke’s project mimics that non-functionality.

    The hardware for this project includes an Arduino Mega 2560 board and a small OLED screen. Woehlke chose the Mega because he had it on hand, but any Arduino board would have worked. The Arduino receives power from one of the power supply’s 5V rails. And like the real turbo readouts of the ’90s, the Arduino doesn’t measure clock speed at all. It just looks at the LED above the turbo button to see if it is active, then uses that state to determine which number to display on the OLED. For extra flair, Woehlke added a starfield “screensaver” that appears on the OLED 10 seconds after pushing the turbo button.

    The post Adding a turbo readout to a vintage PC case appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Can tripedal robots actually walk?

    Can tripedal robots actually walk?

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Building walking robots is difficult, because they either need a lot of legs or some ability to balance through their gait. There is a reason that the robots designed by companies like Boston Dynamics are so impressive. But lots of hobbyists have made bipedal and quadrupedal robots, while largely ignoring tripedal robots. To find out if they could be practical, James Bruton created a prototype tripedal robot.

    When compared to a bipedal robot, a tripedal robot is more stable when standing still. But a bipedal robot is more stable when walking. That’s because it can keep its center of gravity almost directly above the foot that contacts the ground. A tripedal robot, on the other hand, needs to attempt to balance on two legs while move the third, while the center of gravity is somewhere above the middle of a triangle formed by the three feet. That makes walking gaits difficult to achieve.

    Bruton built this prototype using a 3D-printed body, legs actuated by servo motors, and an Arduino Mega 2560 for control. The three legs are arranged with radial symmetry and each leg has three joints. Bruton attempted to give the robot a gait in which it tries to momentarily balance on two legs, while lifting and swinging the third around.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wobHLlWGX98?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    But that was very inefficient and clumsy. Bruton believes that he could achieve better results by equipping the robot with an IMU. That would give it a sense of balance, which could help it remain steady on two legs through a gait. With a counterbalancing weight, that could make a big difference. But for now, Bruton is putting this experiment on the back burner.

    The post Can tripedal robots actually walk? appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK