Schlagwort: Processing

  • Customizable artificial intelligence and gesture recognition

    Customizable artificial intelligence and gesture recognition

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino TeamApril 15th, 2021

    In many respects we think of artificial intelligence as being all encompassing. One AI will do any task we ask of it. But in reality, even when AI reaches the advanced levels we envision, it won’t automatically be able to do everything. The Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems has been giving this a lot of thought.

    AI gesture training

    Okay, so you’ve got an AI. Now you need it to learn the tasks you want it to perform. Even today this isn’t an uncommon exercise. But the challenge that Fraunhofer IMS set itself was training an AI without any additional computers.

    As a test case, an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense was employed to build a demonstration device. Using only the onboard 9-axis motion sensor, the team built an untethered gesture recognition controller. When a button is pressed, the user draws a number in the air, and corresponding commands are wirelessly sent to peripherals. In this case, a robotic arm.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES_Aw7Hq_OA?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    Embedded intelligence

    At first glance this might not seem overly advanced. But consider that it’s running entirely from the device, with just a small amount of memory and an Arduino Nano. Fraunhofer IMS calls this “embedded intelligence,” as it’s not the robot arms that’s clever, but the controller itself.

    This is achieved when training the device using a “feature extraction” algorithm. When the gesture is executed, the artificial neural network (ANN) is able to pick out only the relevant information. This allows for impressive data reduction and a very efficient, compact AI.

    Fraunhofer IMS Arduino Nano with Gesture Recognition

    Obviously this is just an example use case. It’s easy to see the massive potential that this kind of compact, learning AI could have. Whether it’s in edge control, industrial applications, wearables or maker projects. If you can train a device to do the job you want, it can offer amazing embedded intelligence with very few resources.

    Website: LINK

  • Arduino Donation Program: Making a difference in the open-source community!

    Arduino Donation Program: Making a difference in the open-source community!

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Arduino Donation Program: Making a difference in the open-source community!

    Arduino TeamDecember 1st, 2020

    As an open-source company, Arduino aims to ensure that open-source continues to thrive and remains sustainable for the long term. The Arduino Donation Program is intended to fund projects and institutions that make a lasting difference in the worldwide open-source community. 

    Arduino’s corporate giving efforts are focused on not-for-profit and charitable organizations supporting the free and open-source software movement. Arduino Donation Program recipients have been selected according to the importance of their project, and above all, their dedication to making technology accessible to everyone.

    A giving back program

    Free and open-source software is created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. Arduino endorses the philosophy of creating free tools that allow users to focus on “what” they are developing rather than the “how.”

    Arduino continuously releases open-source products and code, which thanks to community members buying original products, enables Arduino to continue to invest in R&D and develop new innovative hardware and software. Arduino benefits from the continuous contribution of the Arduino community along with many other projects. We are infinitely grateful for these efforts, and are aware that the rich and diverse Arduino ecosystem would not exist without their contributions. 

    From now on, Arduino will donate to the free software and open-source projects that it collaborates with as well as those that embody the Arduino approach and philosophy. 

    Arduino has donated $55,000 to date in 2020. The institutions who have received a $5,000 grant from Arduino are:

    • The Processing Foundation promotes software literacy within the visual arts, and visual literacy within technology-related fields — and makes these fields accessible to diverse communities. The Processing software is free and open-source.
    • Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The Creative Commons licenses let creators communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.
    • Founded in 2015, the RISC-V Foundation is a free and open ISA enabling a new era of processor innovation through open standard collaboration. 
    • The Free Software Foundation is a charity that empowers users to control technology. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt, and share software. These rights help support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
    • The Linux Foundation is dedicated to building sustainable ecosystems around open-source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption. Founded in 2000, it provides support for open-source communities through financial and intellectual resources, infrastructure, services, events, and training. 
    • The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSFF) is a cross-industry effort hosted by the Linux Foundation to improve the security of open source software. The foundation includes technical initiatives and working groups that address vulnerability disclosures, security tooling, security best practices, and the identification of security threats to the open-source project. 

    At Arduino, we really hope that more companies involved in open-source hardware and software will follow Arduino’s example.

    Open-source exists if all of us participate,”  said Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi. “The open-source creators have to be supported but also incentivized: effectively doing open-source is a lot of work. There are multiple ways to keep open-source alive; we decided to take 50,000 dollars and donate back to a bunch of open-source projects and I am sort of challenging other companies whose business model benefits from open-source to also donate to such causes. If we all donate, these open-source projects can thrive and grow to the benefit of all.”

    If you need more information about the program, please contact press@arduino.cc.

    Website: LINK

  • Randomly generated, thermal-printed comics

    Randomly generated, thermal-printed comics

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Python code creates curious, wordless comic strips at random, spewing them from the thermal printer mouth of a laser-cut body reminiscent of Disney Pixar’s WALL-E: meet the Vomit Comic Robot!

    The age of the thermal printer!

    Thermal printers allow you to instantly print photos, data, and text using a few lines of code, with no need for ink. More and more makers are using this handy, low-maintenance bit of kit for truly creative projects, from Pierre Muth’s tiny PolaPi-Zero camera to the sound-printing Waves project by Eunice Lee, Matthew Zhang, and Bomani McClendon (and our own Secret Santa Babbage).

    Vomiting robots

    Interaction designer and developer Cadin Batrack, whose background is in game design and interactivity, has built the Vomit Comic Robot, which creates “one-of-a-kind comics on demand by processing hand-drawn images through a custom software algorithm.”

    The robot is made up of a Raspberry Pi 3, a USB thermal printer, and a handful of LEDs.

    Comic Vomit Robot Cadin Batrack's Raspberry Pi comic-generating thermal printer machine

    At the press of a button, Processing code selects one of a set of Cadin’s hand-drawn empty comic grids and then randomly picks images from a library to fill in the gaps.

    Vomit Comic Robot Cadin Batrack's Raspberry Pi comic-generating thermal printer machine

    Each image is associated with data that allows the code to fit it correctly into the available panels. Cadin says about the concept behing his build:

    Although images are selected and placed randomly, the comic panel format suggests relationships between elements. Our minds create a story where there is none in an attempt to explain visuals created by a non-intelligent machine.

    The Raspberry Pi saves the final image as a high-resolution PNG file (so that Cadin can sell prints on thick paper via Etsy), and a Python script sends it to be vomited up by the thermal printer.

    Comic Vomit Robot Cadin Batrack's Raspberry Pi comic-generating thermal printer machine

    For more about the Vomit Comic Robot, check out Cadin’s blog. If you want to recreate it, you can find the info you need in the Imgur album he has put together.

    We ❤ cute robots

    We have a soft spot for cute robots here at Pi Towers, and of course we make no exception for the Vomit Comic Robot. If, like us, you’re a fan of adorable bots, check out Mira, the tiny interactive robot by Alonso Martinez, and Peeqo, the GIF bot by Abhishek Singh.

    Mira Alfonso Martinez Raspberry Pi

    Website: LINK