The whole point of a robot is that it can operate without direct control input from an operator. Except there are many exceptions and it isn’t uncommon for roboticists and operators to require direct control. The Tinkering Techie needed to add that capability to his rover robot and built his own Wi-Fi controller that also accepts voice commands.
Conventional remote control (RC) vehicles communicate through analog radio. But it is becoming increasingly common to use Wi-Fi instead, because it allows for a lot of data transmission and Wi-Fi is now usually available in most indoor locations (ad hoc is common, too). Makers can also take advantage of development boards that have built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. In this case, The Tinkering Techie turned to the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and a generic ESP8266 dev board acting as a Wi-Fi adapter for an Arduino Nano.
The UNO R4 WiFi is in the controller and is the server. The ESP8266 board is on the robot and connects to that server through a router to retrieve commands. Once it finds a command, such as “turn right 90 degrees,” it passes that along to the Nano that controls the robot’s motors and monitors its sensors.
The controller has a pair of joysticks so The Tinkering Techie can pilot the robot like an RC car. But it also has a DFRobot Gravity Offline Language Learning Voice Recognition Sensor. That has 121 pre-programmed voice commands and also supports 17 custom commands. Using those, The Tinkering Techie was able to make the robot respond to verbal instructions, like “turn right 90 degrees.”
We all love the immense convenience provided by robot vacuum cleaners, but what happens when they get too old to function? Rather than throwing it away, Milos Rasic from element14 Presents wanted to extract the often-expensive components and repurpose them into an entirely new robot, inspired by the TurtleBot3: the PlatypusBot.
Rasic quickly got to work by disassembling the bot into its drive motors, pump, and several other small parts. Luckily, the main drive motors already had integrated encoders which made it very easy to connect them to an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and an L298N motor driver for precise positional data/control. Further improving the granularity, Rasic added a 360-degree lidar module and enough space for a Raspberry Pi in order to run SLAM algorithms in the future.
For now, this 3D-printed robot assembled from reclaimed robot parts is controlled via a joystick over UDP and Wi-Fi. The host PC converts the joystick’s locations into a vector for the motors to follow, after which the values are sent to the UNO R4 WiFi for processing.
Typically, consumer drones take off from the ground or some other solid surface. But that isn’t very cinematic and toss launches — when the pilot throws the drone up into the air — are a lot more interesting to watch. Sadly, NickFPV isn’t very good at tossing his drone and that invites ridicule in his videos’ comment sections. To redeem himself, he built this automatic drone launcher triggered by an Arduino.
When developing the launching mechanism, NickFPV found inspiration in his kitchen. Or more accurately, he found inspiration in the kitchens of cartoons, where toasters rocket charred bread to comical altitudes. He figured that if it works for toast, it could work for a micro drone. He just needed more stored kinetic energy.
As with a toaster, NickFPV’s mechanism stores kinetic energy in a spring. When released, that spring pulls up a platform riding on hardened steel rods. The spring and rods attach to a 3D-printed frame and a pin latch holds the platform in place until the launch. The drone sits on that platform and when the platform reaches the top, it stops while the drone continues skyward.
NickFPV could have tugged a string to pull out that pin, but the launcher is pretty small and that pin requires some force to pull. Doing that while standing safely a few feet away would inevitably drag the entire launcher. To solve that problem, NickFPV added an Arduino to trigger the launch.
That is an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board and it controls a servo motor mounted on the launcher. At the press of a button, the servo yanks the string that pulls the latch pin. Power comes from a portable USB battery pack, so any location can become a launch pad.
The launcher proved to be a success and it throws the drone a good six feet up, where its motors can take over to achieve flight. Now, NickFPV’s viewers won’t see his poor throws.
A conventional model rocket engine is simple combustible solid fuel (black powder or more advanced composites) molded into a cylinder that uses expanding gas to produce thrust. Though it is minimal, there is some danger there. An alternative is compressed gas, which will also expand to produce thrust — just without the explosive chemical reaction. If that intrigues you, then take a look at this compressed air launchpad for paper rockets by Aiden Wyandt.
Compressed air can be dangerous, too. But 80 PSI (the highest tested pressure for this project) doesn’t pose a huge risk with proper hardware. The downside is that all of the gas expansion is immediate and comes from the launcher. In that way, it is more like a cannon than a true rocket. This is perfect for cheap, handcrafted paper missiles and the launcher makes that both fun and safe.
Inside the laser-cut plywood enclosure is an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board. It receives power from a 20V DeWalt tool battery boosted to 24V. That also powers solenoid valves through relays and the Arduino controls those, along with the LED lighting. The Arduino hosts a web interface for arming and launching, so the kids can move to a safe distance. Once the countdown completes, the solenoid will open and compressed air will expand into the launch tube to send the rocket flying.
That air comes from an external air compressor through a standard fitting. It goes into a pair of small tanks and the solenoids sit between those tanks and the launch tubes. Because there are two, this launcher can handle two rockets before needing to be reset.
We are proud to announce the Made-in-India UNO Ek R4! Available exclusively in India in both WiFi and Minima variants, it is born to meet the needs of the country’s growing maker and innovation ecosystem, by combining all the powerful features of the UNO R4 with the benefits of local manufacturing, enhanced availability, anddedicated support for Indian users.
Uno, one, Ek ! In case you are wondering, Ek means “one” in Hindi, symbolizing unity and simplicity. It represents the Arduino UNO’s position as the foundation of countless maker projects – simple yet powerful, and always the first step toward innovation. To pronounce Ek, say “ake” (rhymes with “bake”) with a soft “k” sound at the end.
Supporting innovation in India
The two new boards were developed under the “Make in India” campaign, launched to make India the global design and manufacturing hub, and are being launched as part of the country’s Republic Day celebrations. They were first unveiled at the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos, where they were presented to Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, India’s incumbent Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, and Mr Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. The event was an outstanding opportunity to reflect on India’s huge role in technological innovation and open-source initiatives, with a focus on fostering STEM education and advancing the maker community.
Fabio Violante, CEO (right), and Guneet Bedi, SVP and General Manager (left) with Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and IT (center).
Fabio Violante, CEO (right), and Guneet Bedi, SVP and General Manager (left) with Mr Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (center).
We are committed to empowering the thriving maker and engineering community in India – the second country in the world for Arduino IDE downloads, just to mention one important statistic! As our CEO Fabio Violante shares,“Arduino’s decision to manufacture in India reflects the nation’s immense potential as a rising global leader in technology. This step embodies our deep belief in the power of collaboration and community. By joining forces with Indian manufacturers, we aim to ignite a culture of innovation that resonates far beyond borders, inspiring creators and visionaries worldwide.”
Why choose UNO Ek R4 boards?
The UNO Ek R4 WiFi and UNO Ek R4 Minima offer the same powerful performance as their global counterparts, featuring a 32-bit microprocessor with enhanced speed, memory, and connectivity options. But the Made-in-India editions come with added benefits tailored specifically for Indian users, including:
Faster delivery: Locally manufactured boards with extensive stock ensure reduced lead times for projects of all sizes.
Affordable pricing: Genuine Arduino products made accessible at competitive prices.
Local support: Indian users gain access to official technical assistance alongside Arduino’s vast library of global resources.
Sustainable manufacturing: Produced ethically with eco-friendly packaging and certified to SA8000 and FSC standards.
Guneet Bedi, Arduino’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas, comments: “By adding the Arduino UNO Ek R4 WiFi and Arduino UNO Ek R4 Minima to our product line, Arduino is helping to drive adoption of connected devices and STEM education around the world. We’re excited to see the creative projects this community can create with these new boards.”
The past and the future are Ek
The strong legacy of the UNO concept finds a new interpretation, ready to leverage trusted Arduino quality and accessibility to serve projects of any complexity – from IoT to educational applications to AI.
Catering more closely to local needs, UNO Ek R4 WiFi and UNO Ek R4 Minima are equipped to drive the next wave of innovation in India. Both will be available through authorized distributors across the country: sign up here to get all the updates about the release!
The Arduino UNO is legendary among makers, and with the release of the UNO R4 in 2023, the family gained a powerful new member. But with two incredible options, which UNO should you pick for your project? Here’s a breakdown of what makes each board shine, depending on your needs, skills, and goals.
Why the UNO Rev3 is still a go-to classic
The UNO Rev3 has been around for over a decade, earning its reputation as a solid, reliable board perfect for beginners. Simple, robust, and versatile, it’s the “base camp” of the Arduino ecosystem. Its 8-bit architecture makes it straightforward to understand exactly what’s happening in your code.
Applications and ideal uses
The UNO Rev3 is fantastic for projects like controlling LEDs, motors, and simple sensors – as well as any of the 15 projects included in our best-selling Arduino Starter Kit.
Its ability to handle a higher current directly from each pin makes it ideal for connecting power-hungry sensors or motors without needing extra components. It’s also compatible with an enormous number of sketches and libraries that have been built around it over the years.
One key advantage? The microcontroller on the UNO Rev3 can be removed, allowing you to use it independently – a feature that many seasoned users love.
The UNO R4 builds on everything makers love about the Rev3, adding features that bring it up to speed with the needs of today’s tech. Its 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M4 guarantees significantly faster processing power and can handle more advanced projects. It comes in two versions: the UNO R4 Minima for essential functionality and the UNO R4 WiFi for Internet-connected projects.
The latter is the brains of the Plug and Make Kit: the easiest way to go from zero to tech hero, with step-by-step tutorials to create a custom weather station, a video game controller, a smart timer and so much more!
Advanced features for new possibilities
The UNO R4 packs in features that are groundbreaking for the UNO family:
12-bit DAC: Enables analog output for audio waveforms or other analog components without external circuitry.
CAN bus: Ideal for connecting multiple devices in robotics or automotive projects.
Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® on the R4 WiFi model: Easily build IoT projects and connect to the Arduino Cloud to control your devices remotely.
Enhanced Diagnostics: The R4 WiFi includes an error-capturing mechanism that helps beginners by identifying issues in the code, a fantastic learning tool.
Applications and ideal uses
With increased memory and processing power, the UNO R4 is perfect for projects that require complex calculations or manage multiple processes. Think IoT, data sensing, automation systems, creative installations or scientific equipment where precise measurements and real-time adjustments are key.
What’s more, the UNO R4 has the capability to leverage AI – and our community has jumped at the chance of exploring whole new realms. One user built a gesture recognition system made of cardboard, another added smart detection to a pet door to always know if their cat was home or not, and another yet came up with a great tool to always know what song is playing. Not to mention the possibilities for advanced animationslike this one – inspired by Bad Apple – developed thanks to the LED matrix right on the UNO R4.
Is a 32-bit MCU always better than an 8-bit?
The short answer is, no. We believe the best solution is always determined by the requirements of the project at hand: bigger, faster, more powerful or more expensive is not always better.
8-bit microcontrollers process data in 8-bit chunks, which limits the size of numbers they can handle directly to values between 0 and 255 (or -127 and 128). This limitation makes them best suited for applications with minimal data processing needs, such as basic tasks like toggling LEDs or controlling simple sensors. However, they also tend to be more affordable and to consume less power, making hardware design less expensive, and have a simpler architecture, which translates to easier programming. So, if you are still learning the basics and need the most straightforward tool, or you are tackling a project with minimal requirements, an 8-bit MCU is not only all you need, but probably your best option.
On the other hand, if you need to work on much larger numbers and perform data-heavy calculations, 32-bit microcontrollers can handle advanced applications like image processing and real-time analytics. The difference is not just 4-fold going from 8 to 32: it’s a huge jump from 255 to 4,294,967,295! Almost by definition, any solution that requires this kind of performance will be more complex to design and program, require more memory, and consume more power, often affecting battery life. The upside, of course, is the incredible potential of what you can achieve!
Compatibility and transitioning from UNO Rev3 to UNO R4
If you already have experience with the UNO Rev3 and are considering the R4, but have concerns about compatibility, rest assured: they have the same form factor, pinout, and 5V operating voltage. This makes it easy to transfer accessories such as shields from one to the other.
On the software side, tutorials and projects are often compatible. We have even created a GitHub repository where you can check compatibility for libraries with the new R4 (and even help us update information or add new R4-friendly versions). This is part of the effort we share with our community to make sure that transitioning to the UNO R4 – if you choose to do so – is as seamless as possible.
Which Arduino UNO should I choose?
UNO Rev3
UNO R4
• Best for beginners or those working on foundational projects.
• Great for educational settings, where understanding core programming concepts and hardware interactions are the focus.
• Ideal if you need a reliable, budget-friendly, no-frills board with vast project resources available online.
• Perfect for advanced users or beginners looking to push boundaries with more complex projects.
• Best for IoT, data-intensive, or networked applications that require more processing power.
• A smart choice if you’re experimenting with new peripherals like CAN bus, DAC, or Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity.
Choose your UNO and start creating!
Whether you choose the classic UNO Rev3 or the more recent UNO R4, you’re joining a global community of makers, educators, and inventors who love to create. Both boards offer incredible opportunities, each tailored to different stages and styles of making. Ready to dive into a new project? Buy your next UNO and discover limitless possibilities!
Inventor Charly Bosch and his daughter Leonie have crafted something truly remarkable: a fully electric, Arduino-powered car that’s as innovative as it is sustainable. Called the Batteryrunner, this vehicle is designed with a focus on environmental impact, simplicity, and custom craftsmanship. Get ready to be inspired by a car that embodies the spirit of creativity!
When the Arduino team saw the Batteryrunner up close at our offices in Turin, Italy, we were genuinely impressed – especially knowing that Charly and Leonie had driven over 1,000 kilometers in this unique car! Their journey began on a small island in Spain, took them across southern France, and brought them to Italy before continuing on to Austria.
Building a car with heart – and aluminum
In 2014, Charly took over LORYC – a Mallorca carmaker that became famous in the 1920s for its winning mountain racing team. His idea was to ??build a two-seater as a tribute to the LORYC sports legacy, but with a contemporary electric drive: that’s how the first LORYC Electric Speedster was born. “We’re possibly the smallest car factory in the world, but have a huge vision: to prove electric cars can be cool… and crazy,” Charly says.
With a passion for EVs rooted in deep environmental awareness, he decided to push the boundaries of car manufacturing with the Batteryrunner: a car where each component can be replaced and maintained, virtually forever.
Indeed, it’s impossible not to notice that the vehicle is made entirely from aluminum: specifically, 5083 aluminum alloy. This material is extremely durable and can be easily recycled, unlike plastics or carbon fiber which end up as waste at the end of their lifecycle.
The car’s bodywork includes thousands of laser-cut aluminum pieces. “This isn’t just a prototype: it’s a real car – one that we’ve already been able to drive across Europe,” Charly says.
The magic of learning to do-it-yourself
“People sometimes ask me why I use Arduino, as if it was only for kids. Simple: Arduino never failed me,” is Charly’s quick reply. After over a decade of experience with a variety of maker projects, it was an easy choice for the core of Batteryrunner’s system.
In addition to reliability, Charly appreciates the built-in ease-of-use and peer support: “The Arduino community helps me with something new every week. If you are building a whole car on your own, you can’t be an expert in every single aspect of it. So, anytime I google something, I start by typing ‘Arduino’, and follow with what I need to know. That’s how I get content that I can understand.”
This has allowed Charly and Leonie to handle every part of the car’s design, coding, and assembly, creating a fully integrated system without needing to rely on external suppliers.
Using Arduino for unstoppable innovation
A true labor of love, after four years since its inception the Batteryrunner is a working (and talking!) car, brought to life by 10+ Arduino boards, each with specific functions.
For instance:
• An Arduino Nano is used to manage the speedometer (a.k.a. the “SpeedCube”), in combination with a CAN bus module, stepper motor module, and stepper motor.
• Different Arduino Mega 2560, connected via CAN bus modules, control the dashboard, steering wheel, lights and blinkers, allowing users to monitor and manage various functions.
• Arduino UNO R4 boards with CAN bus transceivers are used to handle different crucial tasks – from managing the 400-V battery system and Tesla drive unit to operating the linear windshield wiper and the robotic voice system.
Charly already plans on upgrading some of the current solutions with additional UNO R4 boards, and combining the GIGA R1 WiFi and GIGA Display Shield for a faster and Wi-Fi®-connected “InfoCube” dashboard.
All in all, the Batteryrunner is more than a car: it’s a rolling platform for continuous innovation, which Charly is eager to constantly improve and refine. His next steps? Integrating smartphone control via Android, adding sensors for self-parking, and experimenting with additional features that Arduino makes easy to implement. “This is a car that evolves,” Charly explains. “I can add or change features as I go, and Arduino makes it possible.”
Driving environmental awareness
Finally, we see Batteryrunner as more than a fun, showstopping car. Given Charly’s commitment to low-impact choices, it’s a way to shift people’s mindset about sustainable mobility. The environmental challenges we face today require manufacturers to go well beyond simply replacing traditional engines with electric ones: vehicles need to be completely redesigned, according to sustainability and simplicity principles. To achieve this, we need people who are passionate about the environment, technology, and creativity. That’s why we fully agree with Charly, when he says, “I love makers! We need them to change the world.”
Follow LORYC on Facebook or Instagram to see Charly and Leonie’s progress, upgrades, and experiments, and stay inspired by this incredible, Arduino-powered journey.
At Cornell University, Dr. Anand Kumar Mishra and his team have been conducting groundbreaking research that brings together the fields of robotics, biology, and engineering. Their recent experiments, published in Science, explore how fungal myceliacan be used to control robots. The team has successfully created biohybrid robots that move based on electrical signals generated by fungi – a fascinating development in the world of robotics and biology.
A surprising solution for robotics: fungi
Biohybrid robots have traditionally relied on animal or plant cells to control movements. However, Dr. Mishra’s team is introducing an exciting new component into this field: fungi – which are resilient, easy to culture, and can thrive in a wide range of environmental conditions. This makes them ideal candidates for long-term applications in biohybrid robotics.
Dr. Mishra and his colleagues designed two robots: a soft, starfish-inspired walking one, and a wheeled one. Both can be controlled using the natural electrophysiological signals produced by fungal mycelia. These signals are harnessed using a specially designed electrical interface that allows the fungi to control the robot’s movement.
The implications of this research extend far beyond robotics. The integration of living systems with artificial actuators presents an exciting new frontier in technology, and the potential applications are vast – from environmental sensing to pollution monitoring.
At the heart of this innovative project is the Arduino platform, which served as the main interface to control the robots. As Dr. Mishra explains, he has been using Arduino for over 10 years and naturally turned to it for this experiment: “My first thought was to control the robot using Arduino.” The choice was ideal in terms of accessibility, reliability, and ease of use – and allowed for seamless transition from prototyping with UNO R4 WiFi to final solution with Arduino Mega.
To capture and process the tiny electrical signals from the fungi, the team used a high-resolution 32-bit ADC (analog-to-digital converter) to achieve the necessary precision. “We processed each spike from the fungi and used the delay between spikes to control the robot’s movement. For example, the width of the spike determined the delay in the robot’s action, while the height was used to adjust the motor speed,” Dr. Mishra shares.
The team also experimented with pulse width modulation (PWM) to control the motor speed more precisely, and managed to create a system where the fungi’s spikes could increase or decrease the robot’s speed in real-time. “This wasn’t easy, but it was incredibly rewarding,” says Dr. Mishra.
And it’s only the beginning. Now the researchers are exploring ways to refine the signal processing and enhance accuracy – again relying on Arduino’s expanding ecosystem, making the system even more accessible for future scientific experiments.
All in all, this project is an exciting example of how easy-to-use, open-source, accessible technologies can enable cutting-edge research and experimentation to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the most unexpected fields – even complex biohybrid experiments! As Dr. Mishra says, “I’ve been a huge fan of Arduino for years, and it’s amazing to see how it can be used to drive advancements in scientific research.”
Art and engineering are not separate concepts. There is a great deal of overlap between the two and many modern disciplines increasingly blur those lines. Mónica Riki is an “electronic artist and creative coder” who embodies that idea: you might remember her and her incredible Arduino UNO R4-powered installations from our blog post last year. In addition to her artistic practice, her technology-forward approach inspires her work as an educator, as she helps her master’s students develop hybrid concepts that use microcontrollers, sensors, lights and a variety of different technologies to create interactive art pieces. The level of creativity that technology is able to unleash is readily apparent in two of her students’ projects: Flora and Simbioceno.
Flora, created by College of Arts & Design of Barcelona students Judit Castells, Paula Jaime, Daniela Guevara, and Mariana Pachón, is a board game in the form of an interactive art installation. It was inspired by nature, with gameplay occurring throughout a simulated ecosystem. An Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board handles the interactive elements, with additional hardware including NFC readers, motors and accompanying drivers, sensors, pumps, LEDs, and more.
Simbioceno, by Ander Vallejo Larre, Andrea Galano Toro, Pierantonio Mangia, and Rocío Gomez, also uses an UNO R4 WiFi. It consists of two ecosystems: one aquatic and one aerial-terrestrial. They exist in symbiosis, communicating and sharing resources as necessary. Hardware includes LEDs, pumps, and biofeedback sensors. The students put particular thought into the construction materials, many of which are recycled or biomaterials.
Both projects are interactive art and expressions of creativity. While they do integrate technology, that technology isn’t the focal point. Instead, the technology helps to bring the two experiences to life.Feeling inspired by this creative use of the Arduino platform? We hope you’ll develop your own projects and share them with us and the entire community: contact creators@arduino.cc or upload directly to Project Hub! You could be our next Arduino Star.
Every decade or two, humanity seems to develop a renewed interest in humanoid robots and their potential within our world. Because the practical applications are actually pretty limited (given the high cost), we inevitably begin to consider how those robots might function as entertainment. But Jon Hamilton did more than just wonder, he actually built a robotic performer called Syntaxx and it will definitely make you feel things.
It is hard to describe this robot without sounding like a Mad Libs game filled out by a cyberpunk-obsessed DJ. Hamilton designed it to give performances, primarily in the form of synthetic singing accompanied by electronic music. It looks like a crude Halloween mask given life by a misguided wizard sometime in the 1980s. It is pretty bonkers and you should probably watch the video of it in action to wrap your head around the concept.
Hamilton needed three different Arduino development boards to bring this robot to life. The first, an Arduino Giga R1 WiFi, oversees the robot’s operation and handles voice interaction, as well as audio playback. The second, an Arduino Mega 2560, moves the robot’s neck according to input from two microphones (one on the left, the other on the right). The third, an Arduino Uno R4 WiFi, controls the rest of the servo movement.
The result is a robot that is both impressive and also pretty disconcerting.
Most people don’t consume poetry in the same way that they do novels. Instead of reading a book of poetry from cover-to-cover over the course of a few sessions, the majority of people seem to prefer enjoying poetry in occasional little chunks. And unlike the epic poems of Greek antiquity, those tend to be short and sweet. Leaning into those tendencies, Roni Bandini built this RFID device to read micropoetry.
“Micropoetry,” in this context, is a style of short poem consisting of three lines. Each of those lines can contain up to 16 characters. That is roughly similar in overall length to a haiku, but doesn’t have any rules regarding syllables. In fact, some haikus couldn’t fit in this micropoem structure, as the lines would contain too many characters.
If these rules seem awfully specific, that’s because they aren’t arbitrary. Bandini created them so that the poems can fit within the limited storage of MIFARE Classic 1k RFID chips. MIFARE didn’t design those to store any significant amount of data, but rather for saving critical attributes like IDs. These rules ensure that MIFARE Classic 1k RFID tags can contain micropoems. Bandini even created a handy utility to write the poem’s lines into a card’s memory.
With that structure defined, Bandini built a device to let users read the stored poetry. When someone is in the mood for some poetry, they can simply place a micropoem RFID card on the device. An Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board will then scan the RFID chip using an MFRC522 module, read the stored data, and display the poem’s lines on a 1.3” 128×64 OLED screen.
As an added dramatic bonus, one datum in the RFID chip’s memory is a counter. On each read, the device increments that counter. When it reaches three, the device deletes the poem from the chip’s memory forever.
Most successful restaurants operating today have to take advantage of online ordering, as a huge chunk of customers have switched to takeout and delivery. But point-of-sale (POS) systems don’t always integrate well into a kitchen’s workflow and that can lead to missed orders — one of the worst things a restaurant can do. To help streamline a POS for a friend’s fried chicken takeout restaurant, Redditor UncleBobbyTO developed this affordable notification bot.
UncleBobbyTO’s friend uses a Square system in her restaurant, which has an online interface and sends an email for each new order. But the kitchen staff is busy and they sometimes fail to notice the emails. This device solves that problem. It can sit in the kitchen or by the expo window and connects to the Square API, checking for new orders every three minutes. When the device detects a new order, it lights up green and displays basic information about that transaction. Staff can then look up the order and press a button on the device to clear the notification.
That’s all possible because the device contains an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board, which has built-in Wi-Fi capabilities that lets it connect to the internet and the Square API. It resides inside of a sturdy 3D-printed enclosure that also contains an RGB LED strip and a 16×2 character LCD screen.
Now UncleBobbyTO’s friend can run her restaurant without worrying that staff might miss an order.
The traditional backyard chicken coop is a very simple structure that typically consists of a nesting area, an egg-retrieval panel, and a way to provide food and water as needed. Realizing that some aspects of raising chickens are too labor-intensive, the Coders Cafe crew decided to automate most of the daily care process by bringing some IoT smarts to the traditional hen house.
Controlled and actuated by an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and a stepper motor, respectively, the front door of the coop relies on a rack-and-pinion mechanism to quickly open or close at the scheduled times. After the chickens have entered the coop to rest or lay eggs, they can be fed using a pair of fully-automatic dispensers. Each one is a hopper with a screw at the bottom which pulls in the food with the help of gravity and gently distributes it onto the ground. And similar to the door, feeding chickens can be scheduled in advance through the team’s custom app and the UNO R4’s integrated Wi-Fi chipset.
The last and most advanced feature is the AI predator detection system. Thanks to a DFRobot HuskeyLens vision module and its built-in training process, images of predatory animals can be captured and leveraged to train the HuskyLens for when to generate an alert. Once an animal has been detected, it tells the UNO R4 over I2C, which in turn, sends an SMS message via Twilio.
Estimates vary, but there are generally a few thousand stars bright enough to see in the sky on a clear, moonless, cloudless night away from city lights. You might be able to identify a couple of them, along with a handful of constellations. But what about the rest? If they intrigue you, you might want to build this Starmap designed by Shabaz over on element14.
Star charts aren’t anything new and astronomers (both amateur and professional) use them all the time. But we like the portable nature of Shabaz’s Starmap, which would be easy to carry along on a camping trip to a dark sky area. It doesn’t require any internet connectivity to work, so it is perfect for use in rural settings. And the round LCD display is pretty darn attractive.
That screen is a 1.28” GC9A01 round TFT LCD with a resolution of 240×240, intended for use in smartwatches. It receives its graphics from an Arduino UNO R4 Minima, modified for 3.3V logic levels to suit the display. Shabaz also added a flash memory chip large enough to contain the star chart data.
The stars visible in the night sky at any given time depend on where you are on the planet, so this uses a GPS receiver module to find the user’s coordinates. Its Arduino sketch then determines the positions of the visible stars and draws them to the display.
Shabaz doesn’t provide one, but a simple 3D-printed enclosure would make StarMap ready for the road. Power can come from a USB battery bank for off-grid use.
Bob Clagett of the “I Like to Make Stuff” YouTube channel has recently undertaken an extensive shop renovation project where he is rearranging tools, tidying up various spaces, and even creating a dedicated “clean” room for his collection of 3D printers/electronics work. With its jet-black walls, Clagett felt it needed some RGB lighting to keep it interesting, and after taking inspiration from the Tron movie franchise, he had a few ideas.
Before anything could be built, he first needed to select the ideal type of LED strip since the typical WS2812B strip lacks a diffuser and therefore emits harsh light. Rather, an RGBIC strip allows for individual segments of LEDs to be controlled from an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and illuminate through a built-in diffuser. Five strips were attached to the ceiling and programmed to display a quickly-moving pixel that starts its animation sequence at a random interval. Clagett was also able to line the room’s large window pane with another one of these RGBIC strips, and thanks to the UNO’s Wi-Fi connectivity, indicate if it has an active internet connection.
The final piece of specialty lighting was made by 3D printing a custom drum featuring various cutouts and placing it around a UV bulb. From here, a secondary Arduino UNO R4 Minima slowly rotates it using a 5V stepper motor that gives nearby fluorescent objects a flickering effect.
To see how Clagett revamped his room’s lighting in more detail, watch his video below!
Weather stations are popular projects in the maker community because they’re useful and usually quite affordable to construct. But most that we see are really weather information displays that gather data through the internet from stations in the region. That data is fairly accurate, but there can be minor differences due to microclimate zones. So, Wilson Malone decided to build his own system with a dedicated outdoor sensor station.
Malone’s system consists of two units: the indoor display and the outdoor sensor station. The latter receives its power from a solar panel and battery backup, so Malone can place it anywhere that gets good sunlight within wireless range of his home. It has a sensor to detect wind speed, another sensor to detect wind direction, and a PHT (pressure, humidity, temperature) combination sensor. An Arduino UNO Rev3 board reads those sensors and then transmits the data using a 915MHz radio transceiver.
Inside the home, the indoor display unit receives that data with a radio transceiver of its own. An Arduino UNO R4 WiFi parses that and then shows each value on a four-digit seven-segment display. The Arduino will also publish the values to a self-hosted webpage every eight seconds. Any users on the same local network can visit that page to view the current information.
Held in Hawaii this year, the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) hosted its annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) that focuses on the latest developments in human-computer interaction. Students from universities all across the world attended the event and showcased how their devices and control systems could revolutionize how we interact with technology in both the real-world and virtual environments. These 12 projects presented at CHI 2024 feature Arduino at their core and demonstrate how versatile the hardware can be.
First on the list is MouseRing from students at Tsinghua University in Beijing that aims to give users the ability to precisely control mouse cursors with only one or two inertial measurement units (IMUs). Worn as a ring on the index finger, data collected from the MouseRing via an Arduino UNO Rev3 was used to both train a classification neural network and model the finger’s kinematics for fine-grained mouse cursor manipulation.
Because objects in virtual reality are only as heavy as the controller, simulating weight has always presented a challenge, which is why five students from the University of Regensburg in Germany devised their MobileGravity concept. With it, the user can place a tracked object onto a base station where an Arduino Micro then quickly pumps in/extracts water from the object to change its weight.
Another virtual reality device, the AirPush, is a fingertip-worn haptic actuator which gives wearers force feedback in up to eight directions and at five different levels of intensity. Through its system of an Arduino UNO, air compressor, and dual DC motors, this apparatus from students at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen can accurately apply pressure around the finger in specific areas for use in games or training.
A Robotic Metamaterial, as described by students at Carnegie Mellon University, is a structure built from repeating cells that, on their own, cannot accomplish much, but when combined in specific configurations are able to carry out very complex tasks. Some of the Arduino Mega 2560-powered cells are able to actuate, sense angles, or enable capacitive touch interactions, thus letting a lattice of cells become a capable robot.
Instead of using pneumatics to bend materials, this team of students from Zhejiang and Tongji universities in China has designed a modular, flexible material using magnets which they call MagPixel. An Arduino UNO powers one such digital clock application leveraging MagPixel by energizing electromagnets within a ring to move the hour “hand” around the clock face.
Proprioception, or the ability to inherently sense where limbs are in 3D space, is vital to how we navigate the world, but VR spaces can limit this ability. The ArmDeformation project from a group of Southern University of Science and Technology students in Shenzhen rests on the wearer’s forearm and then moves the skin below to simulate an external force thanks to an Arduino Mega and several DC motors.
Grasping and moving objects is already quite the task in VR, but sketching a picture takes it to a whole other level of difficulty. Three students from the University of Virginia, therefore, have developed a shape-changing device that attempts to match the forms present in a 3D world for the purpose of sketching. After attaching a piece of paper to the surface, the VRScroll will bend into the correct shape using its two Arduino Uno WiFi Rev 2 boards and six motors.
As an alternative to plastic-based fibers for use in smart textile prototyping/production, four University of Colorado-Boulder students built an open-source machine that is capable of spinning gelatine-based fibers in a compact footprint. Leveraging an Arduino Mega, the machine can spin biofibers through its heated syringe with GCODE input, thus creating a strong thread which potentially integrates wearable sensors.
The art of communication relies on many forms of signals- not just speaking, and harnessing the user’s breathing pattern to better communicate is ExBreath from students at Tsinghua University in Beijing. An Arduino Nano continuously monitors the breathing patterns from a wearer via a bend sensor and translates them into signals for a micro air pump. In doing so, small, externally-worn air sacs are inflated to reflect the sensed breathing pattern.
This smart material, called ConeAct by its creators at Carnegie Mellon University, is a modular system consisting of small cones joined together with four shape memory actuators (SMA) that either flex or become rigid at certain temperatures. An Arduino Nano coordinates the actions of each cone, and when one needs to bend, the onboard ATtiny1616 will activate its MOSFETs to begin heating the corresponding SMA wires.
Targeted to those with blindness or low vision, the Tangible Stats project from a group of students at Stanford University allows them to more easily visualize statistical data by interacting with physical objects. The Arduino Mega-driven platform senses the number of stackable tokens placed into a column and provides quick feedback. Additionally, it can tilt the row of tokens to represent a sloping line.
Everyone needs access to fresh, clean air, but quickly seeing the indoor air quality of somewhere like an office meeting room/lobby is difficult. ActuAir, constructed by students at Newcastle University, is a wall-sized soft robotics display powered by a several Arduino UNO R4 WiFis that can each adjust the shape and color of a wall-mounted pouch to indicate the current CO2, temperature, or humidity levels — all of which is adjustable from an external web application.
It can be tough to get started with building an Internet of Things (IoT) project from the ground-up, as getting connected, serving a webpage, and managing other devices can all be a challenge to a beginner. This is why the YouTuber known as “Mario’s Ideas” made an end-to-end tutorial that details everything one might need to build a smart RGB lamp.
Because the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi contains an ESP32-S3 chip for its Wi-Fi radio and Renesas RA4M1 microcontroller, it was the perfect candidate. Mario’s sketch begins with a call to initialize the Wi-Fi module before attempting to connect to his local access point. Once finished, it enters a loop that continuously checks if a client has connected to the web server, and if one has, reads the requested path while also seeing if the string contains “/H” to denote an “ON” command to set the LED.
Toggling an LED is useful, but Mario wanted to take things a step further by building a tangible — in this case a lamp. His 3D-printed enclosure features a recessed base and translucent cube for diffusing the light emitted by a grid of NeoPixels. Controlling the color was just as easy since any browser could still send a request path containing a color and get back the lamp’s updated status.
To see more about this IoT lamp project, you can watch Mario’s video below!
Fine motor skills correlate strongly with cognition and the accurate assessment of an individual’s motor skills can be critical in diagnosing and treating a variety of conditions. But objective evaluation has been a challenge, as suitable sensors weren’t available. To help medical professionals better test fine motor skills, a team of researchers from Japan’s Shibaura Institute of Technology developed a new EIT-based tactile sensor system.
EIT (electrical impedance tomography) is traditionally used for non-invasive medical imaging of human body parts, but here it is used to image the internal structure of the sensor body in order to classify fine finger movements. When a subject pinches the sensor, for example, they deform the structure and that alters the voltage between the sensor’s 16 electrodes. Each finger movement or grip creates an identifiable pattern of voltages, enabling classification and therefore assessment.
This only works if the system can collect precise voltage readings from the electrodes, so the researchers turned to an Arduino UNO R4 Minima board for the task. The electrodes connect to the Arduino’s 14-bit ADC (analog-to-digital converter) through multiplexer chips, so the system can quickly scan through all 16 electrodes. It would be easy to expand that number in the future to produce more detailed images. After collecting the data, the team was able to utilize conventional EIT image reconstruction techniques for classification and even classify the voltage readings directly.
With the latter technique, the researchers reported 94.1% classification accuracy in testing of 12 subjects performing six unique motions. More details on the work can be found in the team’s paper here.
Image credit: R. Asahi, S. Yoshimoto and H. Sato, “Development of Pinching Motion Classification Method Using EIT-Based Tactile Sensor,” in IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 62089-62098, 2024, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3395271
Maker culture has always been a major part of magic performance. Some tricks are well-rehearsed slight of hand, but many of them rely on clever engineering to sell an illusion. And modern technology offers a great deal of interesting possibilities. That is the idea behind Peter Boie’s Engineering Wonder “STEM infused magic show.” That show includes a drone and Boie needed a way to reliably control it, so he created this purpose-built remote.
This remote works with the Tello drone, which is an interesting piece of hardware all on its own. It is an affordable quadcopter that we would normally categorize as a toy, except that it contains high-quality DJI components (and, presumably, flight control firmware) and versatile control schemes. Users can start flying right away by piloting the drone with a smartphone app, but the drone can also respond to simple commands sent over Wi-Fi by any device. For example, you can connect to the drone’s Wi-Fi network from your PC and run a custom Scratch program to send flight commands.
Boie needed a way to do that while performing during his magic show. He needed to send flight commands without drawing attention from the audience and that had to be very reliable. His solution was to build a custom remote based on the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board.
Boie designed his own shield that contains several buttons to trigger specific flight commands, such as “go up 50” or “do a barrel roll.” That also has two big, bright LEDs. Those provide a very clear indication of the Wi-Fi connection status, so Boie doesn’t risk an onstage blunder if the connection fails for some reason.
When it detects a button press, the Arduino sends the corresponding Tello command over WiFi as a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet. Each button triggers a single function and Boie can find the buttons by touch on the custom 3D-printed enclosure, letting him focus on his magic performance.
The secrets to most of the mind’s mysteries may still elude us, but we’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in reading signals produced by the brain. We may not understand exactly what is going on, but we can see the result and utilize it. And now you can start exploring biosciences and experimenting with brain-computer interfaces on a budget thanks to Ildar Rakhmatulin’s ardEEG shield for the Arduino Uno R4 WiFi board.
The ardEEG is an eight-channel shield with support for electroencephalograph (EEG), electromyograph (EMG), and electrocardiograph (ECG) sensor input. Those all measure biopotential, but at different levels generally suited to different areas of the body. EMG is most often used for specific muscles (detect flexing!), ECG is for the heart (detect elevated heart rates!), and EEG is for the brain (detect certain thought patterns!). Instead of an expensive dedicated device for each, you can measure any of them with this single affordable shield.
The shield fits onto an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi board and provides connections to electrodes. For safety reasons, power must only come from a 5V battery!
Once connected with the Arduino sketch uploaded, users can easily record and visualize readings. This is just raw data, so it is simple to filter, manipulate, and visualize in whatever way makes the most sense for a project. If you want to control something with your mind, for example, you’d just look for the corresponding reading to exceed a threshold.
The ardEEG is now available through Elecrow for $240, though the design is open-source should you want to build it yourself. The possibilities are almost endless and this looks like another big win for citizens scientists!
For those who own a pet with the freedom to move between the house and the yard, keeping tabs on where they are can be a challenge, especially if there’s a pet flap involved. Instructables member “madmcu” wanted to know where their cat was whilst away from the house on vacation, so they came up with an AI-driven solution that could log entrances and exits automatically.
Because a closing flap will induce vibrations, madmcu started the project by adding a three-axis accelerometer just above the pet door’s hinge. The IMU was then connected to an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi in order to collect many data samples of a pet going through the flap. Every loop of the data collection program caused the three axes to be printed out over USB serial and sent to STMicroelectronics’s NanoEdge AI Studio application. It was in this app that madmcu set up and trained a classification model on the dataset using the two labels of either “inside” or “outside.”
Once exported, the model was deployed back onto the UNO R4 WiFi along with an updated sketch that continuously classifies new accelerometer readings and prints the result if there is any. At the end of their project write-up, madmcu provides a couple ideas for adding alerts and even a dashboard thanks to the UNO R4’s built-in Wi-Fi capabilities.
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