Schlagwort: micro

  • This custom flight joystick provides force feedback with stepper motors

    This custom flight joystick provides force feedback with stepper motors

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The joysticks found on ordinary controllers are quite simple, and as a result, they fail to provide much in the way of haptic feedback for the user. This is especially tough in racing or flight simulator games where making sharp turns should require a greater amount of force.

    YouTuber zeroshot’s project aimed to overcome this by combining a pair of stepper motors and positional sensors into a single two-axis joystick for use in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Based on how a gimbal can rotate in several directions while moving along static axes, the custom 3D-printed housing features a central pivot point and two sub-frames that each connect to ball bearings in the base for smooth movements.

    The motors are responsible for applying a varied amount of force that is constantly trying to realign the joystick to the center. An Arduino Micro was selected since it could act as a native USB human interface device (HID) to relay the positions being sensed by the magnetic encoders to the host machine. This data was also used to instruct the motors on how far to move in each axis.

    Once fully assembled, zeroshot’s next-level flight joystick was able to provide plenty of resistance when flying in a virtual cockpit and could even fly the plane itself once a few inputs had been preprogrammed into the Micro.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdNP5jIJ0dU?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post This custom flight joystick provides force feedback with stepper motors appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • Voice-enabled controller makes video games more accessible

    Voice-enabled controller makes video games more accessible

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Almost all modern video games require either a gamepad or a keyboard and mouse, which means that they’re inaccessible to many people with disabilities that affect manual dexterity. Bob Hammell’s voice-enabled controller lets some of those people experience the joy of video games.

    This is a simplified video game controller with a minimal number of physical buttons, but with special voice-activated virtual buttons to make up the difference. The gamepad only has six physical buttons, plus an analog joystick. That makes it much easier to handle than a typical modern controller, which might have a dozen buttons and two joysticks. If the player has the ability, they can utilize the physical controls and then speak commands to activate the game functions not covered by those buttons.

    The controller’s brain is an Arduino Micro board, which Hammell selected because it can be configured to show up as a standard USB HID gamepad or keyboard when connected to a PC. The physical controls are an Adafruit analog two-axis joystick and tactile switches. An Adafruit 1.3″ OLED screen displays information, including the status of the voice activation.

    An Elechouse V3 Voice Recognition Module performs the voice recognition and it can understand up to 80 different commands. When it recognizes a command, like “menu,” it tells the Arduino to send the corresponding virtual button press to the connected computer. It takes time for a person to speak a command, so those are best suited to functions that players don’t use very often.

    If you know someone that would benefit from a controller like this, Hammell posted a full tutorial and all of the necessary files to Hackster.io so you can build your own.

    The post Voice-enabled controller makes video games more accessible appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • Building a custom broom controller for Hogwarts Legacy

    Building a custom broom controller for Hogwarts Legacy

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    For fans of Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy is a dream game. It drops you into the Potterverse where you can become a wizard, casting spells and riding brooms to your heart’s content. It is a very immersive game, but you lose some of that immersion when you realize you’re actually just pushing buttons on a gamepad. That’s why YouTuber ‘That’s So Mo’ built a custom Hogwarts Legacy controller on a replica Nimbus 2000 broom.

    The broom itself is the property of Mo’s friend. It is a very expensive prop replica that looks just like the Nimbus 2000 from the films. Mo couldn’t risk any damage to that, so he attached all of the components to a block of packing foam that can slide on and off the broom handle. Those components include an Arduino, an accelerometer, and an ultrasonic distance sensor.

    Thanks to its onboard ATmega32U4 microcontroller, the Arduino is configurable to appear as a USB HID gamepad when connected to a PC. The button presses it sends depend on the orientation of the broom stick and the position of the rider’s body. The accelerometer monitors orientation while the ultrasonic sensor checks the distance to the rider’s torso. So if the rider tucks in close to the Nimbus 2000, the in-game avatar will speed up. If the rider leans right, the avatar will turn right.

    With this controller, Mo can play like he’s really riding a broom — at least for as long as his friend lets him borrow the Nimbus 2000!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-Sf7CjN4E?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post Building a custom broom controller for Hogwarts Legacy appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • Bolt Bots are perfect for aspiring roboticists

    Bolt Bots are perfect for aspiring roboticists

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    While it is easier now than ever before, getting into robotics is still daunting. In the past, aspiring roboticists were limited by budget and inaccessible technology. But today the challenge is an overwhelming abundance of different options. It is hard to know where to start, which is why Saul designed a set of easy-to-build and affordable robots called Bolt Bots.

    There are currently five different Bolt Bot versions to suit different applications and you can assemble all of them with the same set of hardware. Once you finish one, you can repurpose the components to make another. The current designs include a large four-leg walker (V1), a tiny four-leg walker (V2), a robot arm (V3), a car (V4), and a hanging plotter that can draw (V5). They all have a shared designed language and utilize 3D-printed mechanical parts with off-the-shelf fasteners.

    Every robot has an Arduino Micro board paired with an nRF24L01 radio transceiver module for control. Users can take advantage of existing RC transmitters or build a remote also designed by Saul. The other components include servo motors, an 18650 lithium battery, and miscellaneous parts likes wires and screws. Some of the Bolt Bots require different servo motors, like continuous-rotation and mini 1.8g models, but most of them are standard 9g hobby servo motors.

    Because there are five Bolt Bot variations that use the same components, this is an awesome ecosystem for getting started in robotics on a budget — especially for kids and teens.

    The post Bolt Bots are perfect for aspiring roboticists appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • An open-source, breath-controlled MIDI device

    An open-source, breath-controlled MIDI device

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The simplest MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) input devices use good ol’ fashioned buttons: push a button and the device sends a MIDI message to trigger a specific note. But that control scheme doesn’t replicate the flexibility of a real instrument very well, because a standard button is a binary mechanism. To introduce more range, Xavier Dumont developed this breath-controlled MIDI device.

    This looks like a cross between a flute, an ocarina, and an old cell phone. The front face has 35 buttons to trigger specific notes. But there are two ways for the player to gain almost analog control over the output: a mouthpiece with a breath sensor and a linear touch sensor. The breath sensor lets the player control the intensity of a note by blowing into the mouthpiece like a wind instrument. The linear touch sensor, mounted on the bottom of the device, lets the user bend the pitch of the notes with their thumb.

    Inside the 3D-printed enclosure is a custom PCB. Almost every component mounts directly onto that board. The exception is the touch sensor, which connects to the PCB through a jumper cable. An Arduino Micro monitors the keypad matrix, the touch sensor, and the breath sensor. It outputs MIDI messages to a computer connected via USB. There is a TFT screen for the control interface, which lets the user change modes, switch octaves, and tweak settings

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un9H4gYTB4s?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post An open-source, breath-controlled MIDI device appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • This 3D-printed robot is made for sumo battle tournaments

    This 3D-printed robot is made for sumo battle tournaments

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    While the majority of makers are unable to afford the fancy equipment and components that go into modern state-of-the-art battle robots, there do exist lesser-known tournaments for more DIY designs, including sumo robot battles. Instructables user noclaf8810373’s design incorporates all of the high-powered components one would expect to find, along with an innovative defense mechanism.

    Construction of the robot began by 3D printing nearly everything from ABS filament due to its strength and resistance to high temperatures, whereas nylon was used in the gear. Once cleaned up, a series of strong magnets were set into both the front blade and undercarriage to assist in preventing the robot from flipping over due to an opposing robot. Internally, a pair of motors drive the wheels through several gears for increased torque, and they are both controlled by an Arduino Micro. In this case, the microcontroller’s role is to take incoming data from the radio transmitter, convert it into commands, and set the motors accordingly.

    After assembling the electronic components, including the Arduino, motor drivers, and large capacitors onto a piece of perfboard, they were securely fastened inside the robot’s interior compartment. To see more about the build process, you can check out the project’s write-up here on Instructables.

    The post This 3D-printed robot is made for sumo battle tournaments appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • Wesley Kagan’s PorscheKart project returns with a new Arduino-powered F1 steering wheel

    Wesley Kagan’s PorscheKart project returns with a new Arduino-powered F1 steering wheel

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    As part of his ongoing PorscheKart project, YouTuber Wesley Kagan wanted a better way to steer his V12 custom-built race car, as the previous wheel was simply a mechanical linkage to the front steering. Instead, this new version would closely mimic the layout and functionality of an actual Formula 1 wheel, complete with all of the buttons, dials, switches, and the central screen.

    The base of the wheel was formed from a laser-cut sheet of aluminum while the surrounding grips were painstakingly 3D-printed out of TPU filament. For the electronics, Kagan decided to use a pair of Arduino Micros, which were split between handling button inputs and driving the display, while an Arduino Mega 2560 gathers sensor data and sends it as a string to the two boards. Because of the limited number of pins, he wired each of the three rotary switches’ output pins to a differently valued resistor, thereby letting the analog input on the Micro know which position is selected by the incoming voltage.

    The final steps of building this upgraded steering included connecting the 3.5” LCD screen to one of the Arduino Micro boards and wiring everything together with the help of a couple harnesses to minimize the mess. However, creating the graphics program proved to be a challenge due to the limited space in ROM for storing all of the draw function calls, which is why Kagan plans on eventually swapping it out for a static image that has the values filled-in. To see more about the project, you can watch his build log video below and read this blog post.

    The post Wesley Kagan’s PorscheKart project returns with a new Arduino-powered F1 steering wheel appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • Zen sand garden in a suitcase doubles as MIDI controller

    Zen sand garden in a suitcase doubles as MIDI controller

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    At the shallow end of the pool, a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) controller can be as simple as a handful of buttons that correspond to different notes. But even as one wades into the deep end of the pool, MIDI controllers tend to still look like hunks of plastic with some knobs and keys. Redditor Gilou_ wanted something that felt more organic (actually, “inorganic” if we want to be technical) and so they built this unusual MIDI controller that looks like a Japanese-style sand garden in a suitcase.

    If you stumbled across this device without any context, you would assume that is exactly what it is: some kind of portable sand garden. Opening the top of the suitcase reveals a handful of dark stones resting in a bed of sand. Traditional rakes and scoops hang in straps on the lid of the suitcase. But underneath the sand there are a few electronic components that turn the sound garden into a functional instrument. A piezoelectric pickup, like the kind you’d see on some acoustic-electric guitars, in the sand translates the vibrations of sand raking and sifting into an audio signal that feeds into a computer’s sound card.

    The sound from the piezoelectric pickup might be interesting to a foley artist, but it wouldn’t be very musical on its own. To make this a useful electronic instrument, Gilou_ added an Arduino Micro board as a MIDI controller. The dark stones are knobs that sit on potentiometers, which lets the musician adjust the sound of the sand as it plays through the computer. Each potentiometer controls a different effect, such as reverb or delay, that dramatically alters the sound of the sand. Instead of something that sounds like a lapel mic rubbing on a shirt, the musician can create ambient music that is quite pleasant to hear.

    Boards:Micro
    Categories:ArduinoMIDI

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  • Classic Macintosh gets a massive ePaper display

    Classic Macintosh gets a massive ePaper display

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — August 24th, 2022

    The original Apple Macintosh computer, launched in 1984, was fundamental for ushering in GUIs (graphical user interfaces). It wasn’t the first personal computer to feature a GUI operating system and the concurrent Apple II still retained a more traditional command line interface for years, but we largely have the Macintosh to thank for modern GUIs. So it is appropriate that Dave Luna chose to use an Apple Macintosh Classic II to retrofit with a modern ePaper display.

    The Macintosh Classic II hit the market in 1991 as a low-cost model, but it retained the design aesthetic of the original Macintosh. It was also the last Macintosh computer with a black-and-white screen. Luna replaced that CRT (cathode-ray tube) with a 9.7” Waveshare ePaper display. He also removed all of the original PCBs and replaced them with a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B single-board computer. Interestingly, Luna added an adapter to feed the output from a Chromecast device to the Raspberry Pi’s camera input in order to show family pictures stored in Google Photos.

    But there were two components that Luna couldn’t replace without ruining the look of the system: the keyboard and mouse. They utilized proprietary connection protocols and are not compatible with today’s computers. To make them work with the Raspberry Pi, Luna turned to Arduino. He  used an Arduino Micro to create an adapter for the keyboard and mouse. That runs TMK’s ADB (Apple Data Bus) to USB Keyboard Converter Arduino library, which deciphers the signals coming from the keyboard and mouse and then connects to a computer as a modern USB HID. Finally, Luna programmed a custom Python script to display a Macintosh-styled GUI for the Raspberry Pi.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWcCrB2_0RQ?feature=oembed&w=500&h=375]

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  • Adding a battery gauge to a Citroën C-Zero electric car

    Adding a battery gauge to a Citroën C-Zero electric car

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    Arduino Team — August 3rd, 2022

    The Citroën C-Zero is an electric city card sold in the European market. It is a rebadged Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which is based on the Mitsubishi i kei car platform. Kei cars, in Japan, are a special class that receive government and insurance benefits for being so small. As a result, the C-Zero is tiny and cheap, unlike the Tesla electric cars that are so popular in the US. One way that Citroën cut corners was by omitting infotainment and dash screens, which means there isn’t any way for drivers to see detailed data on their battery status. Pierre Muth wanted that information and so he used an Arduino to add a new battery gauge to his Citroën C-Zero.

    The Citroën C-Zero may not show drivers detailed battery information, but the car’s computer does have that data. As with the car’s various sensor readings, statuses, and commands, that data flows through the CAN (controller area network) bus.However, Citroën (like most automakers) uses a proprietary protocol for their CAN bus and doesn’t publish its specifics. Users can access the CAN bus, but can’t read or inject messages without understanding the protocol. Fortunately for Muth, enthusiasts of the C-Zero/i-MiEV reverse engineered the CAN bus protocol and posted the details online.

    With that information, Muth was able to access the CAN bus with an Arduino Micro board and a CAN bus shield based on an MCP2515 CAN transceiver. That let him pull the data on the real-time battery output, voltages of the C-Zero’s 80 battery cells, and the overall charge percentage. Muth displayed that information on an OLED screen inside of a nice 3D-printed gauge pod enclosure that he mounted to his dash. With less than $75 worth of hardware, Muth was able to add a status display that Citroën couldn’t find room in their budget to implement.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng3ovxGFdM4?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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  • Converting a Commodore PET into a USB docking station

    Converting a Commodore PET into a USB docking station

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    Arduino Team — July 22nd, 2022

    The Commodore 64 is one of the most iconic computers of all time and it is Commodore’s best known model. But Commodore made many other well-loved models, including the VIC-20, the Amiga, and the PET. The Commodore PET 64, which Commodore released late in the model range’s life for educational use, was Dave Luna’s first computer. Sadly, it bit the dust sometime in the ‘90s and Luna was never able to revive it. In 2005, he attempted to convert it into a PC, but never completed the project. Older and wiser, Luna was finally able to give the PET new life as a docking station.

    Docking stations come in many forms with many different purposes, but the general idea is always to expand a laptop’s (or tablet’s) capabilities. In this case, it turns the connected laptop into a desktop experience with a dedicated screen and a full tactile keyboard. The keyboard wasn’t actually very good in the Commodore PET 64, but Luna has plans to upgrade it with a MechBoard64 to keep the original look with modern high-quality mechanical keyswitches. As it stands, the PET 64’s keyboard connects to the docked laptop and a 12” TFT LCD screen (in place of the PET 64’s original CRT monitor) acts as a second monitor for the laptop.

    The screen connects to the laptop through a WAVLINK USB 3.0 DisplayLink adapter, but the keyboard connection is more complex. Because the PET 64 was an all-in-one computer, the keyboard interfaces directly with the mainboard in a manner similar to today’s laptops. There is no USB interface or standardized output at all. For that reason, Luna had to create his own adapter. He used an Arduino Micro to scan the keyboard matrix’s rows and columns looking for key presses. When it registers a key press, it sends the corresponding character to the connected laptop via the USB connection. The Micro appears as a standard USB HID keyboard, so it doesn’t require any special software.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aGDmUnk1no?feature=oembed&w=500&h=375]

    The result is a functional laptop dock in a vintage Commodore PET package. 

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  • Get fit while you scroll TikTok with the PELOTok!

    Get fit while you scroll TikTok with the PELOTok!

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    Arduino Team — June 2nd, 2022

    The convenience of smartphones combined with our infinitely scrolling social media feeds has led to some less-than-ideal results, including the fact that a person can sit down and be entertained for hours without even realizing it. This inactivity and lack of exercise can lead to a whole host of health problems, which is why Eric Guidry built the PELOTok device after coming across one of Simone Giertz’s tweets.

    The PELOTok relies on a Hall effect sensor and a magnet positioned on the back wheel of a stationary bike to read its current speed by multiplying the number of rotations in a few seconds by the tire’s circumference. This value is then displayed on a small OLED screen and is used to determine if the rider is pedaling fast enough to scroll through their feed. Along with these components, an Arduino Micro also checks for any button presses from the user that signal a command to either scroll up/down or like the video. However, any speed below 16kph will result in a loud buzz letting the rider know they need to increase their pace.

    If the pedaling is fast enough, pressing a button will cause a corresponding keystroke to be sent to the attached iPad thanks to the Arduino’s USB keyboard functionality. For more details on the PELOTok, watch Guidry’s video below!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5exxoLeaQ?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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  • MacroMitt increases AutoCAD productivity

    MacroMitt increases AutoCAD productivity

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    MacroMitt increases AutoCAD productivity

    Arduino Team — May 25th, 2022

    AutoCAD is conventional 2D CAD (drafting) software that still contains many “legacy” features that you won’t find in modern 3D CAD programs. One of those features is the command line, in which users can type short commands to perform various functions or launch tools. For example, typing “line” and pressing Enter will launch the line tool. It can be a pain to enter commands, which is why Wingletang created MacroMitt to increase their AutoCAD productivity.

    MacroMitt is a simple macro keyboard dedicated to AutoCAD functions. Its buttons are arranged to be comfortable for the user’s left hand, leaving their right hand free to manipulate the mouse. It has six functions: OSNAP (toggles object snapping), ORTHO (toggles orthogonal mouse movement), PICKSTYLE (toggles group/individual object selection), CANCEL (escape key), RETURN (enter key), and volume control. Pressing one of the main buttons will automatically move to activate the command line, enter the appropriate command, and then exit the command line. 

    An Arduino Micro board controls the MacroMitt’s functions. Wingletang chose the Micro because its ATmega32U4 microcontroller can appear as a USB HID (like a standard keyboard) when plugged into a computer. Other components include Cherry MX-style mechanical key switches and key caps, a rotary encoder, and a stripboard for wiring.

    MacroMitt’s enclosure is 3D-printable and MacroMitt published the 3MF files along with the necessary Arduino sketch in their Instructables tutorial. If you work with AutoCAD and want to speed up your workflow, MacroMitt is a configurable system that should help.

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  • ESsense turns an ordinary conductor into a contactless motion sensor

    ESsense turns an ordinary conductor into a contactless motion sensor

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    Arduino Team — May 23rd, 2022

    When imagining motion sensors, devices such as accelerometers, infrared detectors, and LiDAR units probably come to mind. But due to the complexity and oftentimes high costs of these parts, researchers Joseph Liew and Keng Wei Ng from the National University of Singapore wanted to create a lower-cost and easier-to-assemble alternative. Their solution, called ESsense, uses the electrostatic properties of objects to sense motion.

    At the core of the product, ESsense relies on a pair of materials and an Arduino. The first material is a dielelectric that carries a static charge, whereas the second is a stationary conductive material such as a copper pad. The movement of the former near the surface of the latter causes a current to be induced, which can then be read by the connected microcontroller. Lower humidity levels are greatly preferred since they allow the air to more effectively transfer a charge, but for higher ones, the team created a small PCB-mounted circuit that boosts the signal via an amplifier.

    With the basic sensor now working, the final step was to come up with creative ways to implement contactless motion sensors that use ESsense. One creation involved a pair of gates that detect when an object has gone past both detectors. By subtracting the time difference, speed and direction can be determined. They also designed two basic games that take advantage of the direction-sensing capabilities of the device.

    For more information about ESsense, you can watch the team’s CHI ’22 presentation below!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KTQ_V6MOa4?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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  • Reverse engineering an ’80s NeXT keyboard

    Reverse engineering an ’80s NeXT keyboard

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    Reverse engineering an ’80s NeXT keyboard

    Arduino Team — January 27th, 2022

    Working with vintage computer technology can feel a bit like the digital equivalent of archeology. Documentation is often limited or altogether absent today — if it was ever even public in the first place. So you end up reverse engineering a device’s functionality through meticulous inspection and analysis. Spencer Nelson has a vintage NeXT keyboard from the ’80s and wanted to get it working with modern computers via USB. To make that happen, he reverse engineered the protocol and used an Arduino as an adapter.

    NeXT was a computer company founded by Steve Jobs in the ’80s, in the period after he left Apple. A little over ten years later, Apple bought NeXT and Jobs rejoined the company. NeXT only released a few computers, but they are noteworthy and desirable to collectors. This particular keyboard is from 1988 and worked with the first generation NeXT Computer. Unlike modern keyboards that share the USB protocol, keyboards from this era utilized proprietary protocols. This particular model had an enigmatic protocol that Nelson became obsessed with deciphering.

    Nelson started with an Arduino Micro with the intention of using an existing library. But that resulted in unpredictable and jumbled text. After inspecting the keyboard’s output signal with both an oscilloscope and a logic analyzer, Nelson determined that the keyboard protocol worked at an unusual 52.74 microsecond pulse width that the library didn’t account for. It turns out that that was the result of NeXT using a cheap 455 kHz resonator intended for AM radios. Every 24 ticks of that resonator, it would send a data bit (18,958 hertz equals once pulse every 52.74 microseconds).

    With this information in hand, Nelson was able to create his own Arduino sketch to analyze the signal coming from the NeXT keyboard. It can output the text via the serial console, but it is also possible to configure an Arduino as a USB HID to output the text to any modern computer.

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  • This 3D-printed, Arduino-controlled kit makes microfluidic pumps more accessible

    This 3D-printed, Arduino-controlled kit makes microfluidic pumps more accessible

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    Arduino Team — December 27th, 2021

    In circumstances where extreme precision is required when dealing with the movement of microscopic amounts of liquids, such as lab-on-a-chip (LoC) and organs-on-a-chip (OoC) systems, obtaining a pump that is both cheap and accurate is nearly impossible since they often cost several thousands of dollars to procure or are too bulky. To combat this problem, a team from the Singapore University of Technology and Design Soft Fluidics Lab created a custom solution that can be fabricated with off-the-shelf 3D printers. 

    The device they came up with relies on a single Arduino Micro to control the flowrate of the pump by adjusting the speed of the connected motor. There is also an optional OLED that can be added that lets users see the exact flowrate which has been selected. Altogether, this DIY pump system is capable of moving a mere 0.02 microliters up to 727.3 microliters per minute with a footprint of around 20mm by 50mm. Perhaps best of all, this project can be easily sent as a kit and built onsite with incredible speed, further reducing the cost to use it.

    For more details on this 3D-printed peristaltic pump system, you can read the team’s research paper.

    (Image credit: T. Ching et al.)

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  • Converting a Fat Cat plushie into a controller for Final Fantasy XIV

    Converting a Fat Cat plushie into a controller for Final Fantasy XIV

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    Arduino Team — November 26th, 2021

    Mounts in the video game Final Fantasy XIV act like how cars or horses do in our world since they allow players to travel around the map much faster than would otherwise be possible. But even better, mounts are ways to express personality and have some fun, which is especially evident with the infamous “Fatter Cat” mount, as it got so widely beloved that Square Enix, the game’s publisher, decided to start selling a plushie version of it in their store. 

    With his own Fatter Cat cushion, FFXIV modder Louis Hamilton (SuperLouis64 on YouTube) decided to add some extra functionality by attaching both a touch sensor and a passive infrared module that lets it sense when someone has sat on it. This in turn causes an Arduino Micro board to send out a keystroke that activates a macro in the game, thus causing the Fatter Cat mount to appear. 

    You can watch SuperLouis64’s video below for a short demonstration of how this fun system works.

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  • Scale up your dragon costume with wings that extend, flap and retract

    Scale up your dragon costume with wings that extend, flap and retract

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    Arduino Team — November 1st, 2021

    This year for Halloween, Quint BUILDs wanted to make something special for his daughter’s costume. Quint’s idea was to design and fabricate a pair of mechatronic dragon wings that can mount to a user’s back and move in three different modes by utilizing a set of pneumatic air cylinders. 

    The prototype began as a single air cylinder connected to a relay that was, in turn, controlled by a single Arduino Micro and button. This way, Quint could finely tune the timings and pressures required for the device. After 3D printing a simple controller, machining a few aluminum plates, and welding it all together into a second prototype, it was time to experiment with programming more complex movements. 

    Three pneumatic cylinders were used to create a couple axes of motion. First, the larger base cylinder moves a central piston vertically, thus extending and retracting them outwards. Each wing can flap independently through the use of two smaller pistons and linkages. Finally, pressurized air is provided by a compressed CO2 canister. These actuators are each controlled by a dedicated relay module that’s connected to an Arduino Uno.

    Whenever one of the three buttons on the controller are pressed, a subroutine for the specified movement is executed. This could include fluttering the wings a couple of times, extending them outwards, and even performing a more complicated flapping motion. 

    To see how this project was built in more detail, you can check out Quint’s write-up here on Instructables.

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  • Light Deck is a MIDI Lightroom controller

    Light Deck is a MIDI Lightroom controller

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    Arduino Team — October 21st, 2021

    Using Adobe Lightroom can be a tedious process, especially for those who don’t have their keyboards set up with a hundred macro shortcuts. Andrea Lunaro wanted to make this process easier by constructing a large, physical bank of buttons and potentiometers that can be used to perform a whole host of functions within Lightroom. It can output commands to copy/paste, set HSL values, do basic transformations, and navigate around the software in general, all over the MIDI protocol. 

    This device — called the Light Deck — is powered by a single Arduino Micro, which is connected to several 16-channel 74HC4067 multiplexer ICs that handle both the input and output with the bank of rotary potentiometers and buttons. Data is outputted via USB to the host computer running Lightroom where it is then converted to Lightroom commands with the help of the MISI2Lr plug-in. 

    Both the PCB and enclosure were custom-designed and assembled, with the enclosure being fully 3D-printed along with its accompanying button/potentiometer covers. As seen in this demonstration video, the Light Deck works really well at providing users with a pleasant analog interface for fine-tuning various image parameters. 

    For more information about this project, you can check out Lunaro’s write-up on Hackster.io and design files on GitHub.

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    Website: LINK

  • Play SNES SPC audio files from your browser using original hardware and Arduino

    Play SNES SPC audio files from your browser using original hardware and Arduino

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    Arduino Team — August 9th, 2021

    Listening to those classic 16-bit sounds from the ’90s video game era brings back a wave of nostalgia for those who grew up with a console. On the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, outputting sound was accomplished by an integrated circuit called the SNES Audio Processing Unit (APU for short), which was responsible for taking SNES SPC files and transforming them into waveforms. Mauri Mustonen — who goes by Kazooie on YouTube — wanted to isolate this chip to play authentic music from his favorite tracks on his browser without needing to boot up the entire SNES console. 

    The system he came up with has an Arduino Micro at its heart that is connected to the SNES APU via series of wires. Some of these links are for putting the APU into read or write mode, while others set the desired port and address for where the song data should be written. Data is sent or received over a set of eight parallel data lines. 

    There is a web-based frontend written in Python that allows a user to select their songs of choice, which are transferred to the Arduino over USB and then sent to the APU via its parallel lines. From there, the IC runs a bootloader that begins playing the audio files. 

    You can read more about how this system works and check out the code here on GitHub, or you can see Mustonen’s demo video below.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sleZUMQwSA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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    Website: LINK

  • This dad built an adaptive USB keyboard for his son and other kids with muscular conditions

    This dad built an adaptive USB keyboard for his son and other kids with muscular conditions

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    Arduino Team — June 3rd, 2021

    Having a disability can severely impact one’s ability to perform tasks that others do regularly, such as eating, walking, or even speaking. One maker by the name of ‘gtentacle‘ has a son who needs to use a ventilator constantly in order to breathe as he suffers from a myotubular myopathy, a disease that greatly impacts the strength of his muscles. Due to his condition, he is unable to talk; however, that that didn’t stop his father from coming up with a solution. This project involves five Logitech Adaptive Buttons and an Arduino Micro to type in letters for a text-to-speech (TTS) system to read. 

    Up to 20 letters can be entered in total, and each one can be accessed with a grid-type system. For instance, the letter ‘T’ can be typed by pressing the 3 button followed by the 2 button. The ‘Enter’ command is sent whenever button 5 is the first key pressed. Thanks to the ATmega32u4, the system works with any device that supports a USB keyboard and has TTS software. The project’s creator even used it with Android Talkback. 

    More information on the the assistive technology project can be found in gtentacle’s Hackster write-up.

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    Website: LINK