The Tesla coil, patented by legendary inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891, is a kind of resonant transformer circuit capable of producing sparks of high-voltage alternating-current electricity. They don’t have many practical uses today beyond novelty, but they were commonly used in spark-gap radio transmitters in the early 20th century. The sparks generated by a Tesla coil would emit strong bursts of radio waves and operators could encode information through patterns of pulses, similar to a wired telegraph. But those sparks are difficult to control, which is why Mirko Pavleski designed this Arduino-based “staccato” controller for Tesla coils.
The purpose of Pavleski’s device is to gain better control over a Tesla coil, with the goal of generating longer sparks with less power. It does so by providing very granular control over the length of each pulse, its intensity, and the interval between pulses. A Tesla coil requires a lot of voltage to create a spark, but very little current. That means that the total power needed to produce a spark is minimal and relatively safe to oversee with a microcontroller.
In this case, Pavleski used an Arduino Nano to manage the circuit. A control panel lets the user adjust the parameters, then the Arduino does the rest. Power comes in from mains via a 12V transformer and the Arduino controls the current going from that to the Tesla coil with a standard triac, with a large capacitor providing some filtering. Almost everything else comes down to the Arduino’s programming, which ultimately determines the characteristics of the electricity supplied to the Tesla coil. Because that’s going through a triac, the Arduino can “dim” the voltage, as opposed to simply toggling it like a relay would.
GitHub’s Martin Woodward made a dedicated repo to help conference attendees learn how to hack their badges. Lo and behold, in it he confirms that the hackable conference badges are indeed a custom version of the Badger 2040 that Pimoroni made especially for GitHub.
An RP2040 is running MicroPython which throws text up on a built-in 2.9-inch E Ink display. All five buttons dotted around the edge of the screen are user-configurable, and there’s also a Stemma QT expansion port so you can connect your own accessories, such as sensors. You can power the badge via its USB-C port, or use either a 2 × AAA battery pack or a standard 3.7V LiPo cell. It’s “extremely low power”, according to Martin, which is what you need when you’re wandering around a conference all day and don’t want to be tied to a power outlet.
Open source ideas
Custom PCB aside, the GitHub Universe Badger is electronically identical to the original Badger 2040. This means conference attendees can make use of all the open-source examples already out there, as people have shared cool things they’ve done with their Badger – the devices aren’t tied to a one-time use as a conference badge. Pre-loaded goodies on the GitHub Universe Badger include an eBook reader, to-do list, and image viewer.
Want cool badges for your event?
Martin’s GitHub repo pointed us towards Badge.team, an open-source community for people who want to create excellent badges for events. There are some magical designs on display in the gallery already. They’re also looking for volunteers to support the project, so join their Telegram group or Discord channel if you think you can help people make next-level event badges.
Fans off Wallace and Gromit will all remember two things about the franchise: the sort of creepy — but mostly delightful — stop-motion animation and Wallace’s Rube Goldberg-esque inventions. YouTuber Gregulations was inspired by Wallace’s Autochef breakfast-cooking contraption and decided to build his own robot to prepare morning meals.
Gregulations wanted his Autochef-9000 to churn out traditional full British breakfasts consisted of buttered toast, eggs, beans, and sausage. That was an ambitious goal, because each of those foods requires several steps to prepare. Gregulations’ solution was to, essentially, create one large machine that contains several smaller CNC machines. Each one is distinct and tailored to suit a particular food. In total — if you add up all of the different sections — this is a 12-axis CNC machine.
The Autochef-9000’s central controller is an Arduino Mega 2560 board. But even with the power and number of pins available, that wouldn’t have been able to handle everything. So it divvies out some tasks to Arduino UNO Rev3 boards.
As you would expect, this takes quite a lot of heat to cook everything. That’s why the Autochef-9000 contains several electric heating elements, which the Arduinos control via relays.
Users can order food using a touchscreen menu system or a smartphone interface. Autochef-9000 will then whir to life. It will open and heat a tin of beans, grab and heat a sausage, hard boil an egg, and toast and then butter bread fed from a magazine. Finally, it will deposit all of those items onto a plate.
There is a lot going on inside of this machine and Gregulations breezes past a lot of the technical details, but it is a joy to see in action. And unlike Wallace’s inventions, this one hasn’t caused any serious disasters (yet).
For owners of Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers in the ‘80s, few games were more desirable than Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner. It is very much a classic and has official and unofficial ports available for just about every console and computer released since. There was even a port made for Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player. And now you can play it on an Arduino UNO thanks to Scott Porter’s custom game engine and port.
This isn’t the first time someone has done this, as James Bowman created a Manic Miner port for Gameduino a decade ago. But Porter’s project is a little different. His port runs on a custom engine on an Arduino UNO Rev3 that produces composite video output through a custom shield. That shield also contains a speaker driver circuit, buttons for control, and a port to connect an NES controller for a more comfortable gaming experience.
Porter’s biggest challenge was generating video, as that requires very accurate timing. For that reason, he recommends using an official UNO and not generic boards that sometimes cut corners with resonators instead of crystals.
The game engine is impressive, with a fixed framerate of 50fps at 256×256 and up to nine sprites on screen. One of those sprites can have pixel-perfect collision detection with all of the others, which is ideal for a game like Manic Miner. But the video is monochrome and there do seem to be some glitches evident in the demonstration video. Regardless, this is very impressive and we’re excited to see what else Porter can achieve with his engine.
Peter Misenko (Bobricius to his friends on GitHub, and YouTube, is the brain behind the original design for PicoZX, and PicoZX Handheld – the Raspberry Pi Pico-based Spectrum emulator that inspired Ken.
Peter’s short and snappy demo video explains the project, but Ken’s longer build video, goes into more detail on how he made his version.
Reason number one why I personally would argue [are you sure you want to do this – Ed.] that PicoZX might be even better than the original ZX Spectrum: it exists in the now. Reason number two: it’s cuter because it’s smaller, meaning you can also use it as a handheld device and carry it around in your pocket. Reason number three: it’s built on Raspberry Pi Pico.
Seeing as Sinclair was a pioneer of affordable home computing with the ZX Spectrum, it’s pretty cool to see a modern-day emulator running on a microcontroller which costs just $4/£4.
How is it made?
PicoZX is made up of several custom PCBs, but the Pico and most of the device’s parts are soldered onto one main board. There’s also a faceplate, which is largely cosmetic and holds everything in place nicely, and a backplate, which holds the battery and the charge controller. The other four PCBs frame the device around its edges, leaving openings for the microSD card and USB ports.
A 2.8-inch IPS display soldered directly onto the main PCB is the screen for the device. Fifty 7mm tactile switches give the tiny QWERTY keyboard its clickety tactility. PicoZX can also be used with a joystick; Ken showcases an Atari 2600 joystick in his build video.
How does it work?
The Raspberry Pi Pico runs Fruit-Bat’s ZX Spectrum emulator and Jean-Marc Harvengt’s Multi-Computer Machine Emulator (M.CU.M.E). So not only do you have all of the original ZX Spectrum programs at your fingertips, but you can also emulate other devices – such as the Commodore 64, Atari 2600, and ColecoVision – all in one compact handheld device. You’ll have 1980s nostalgia coming out of your ears after a couple of hours with this thing.
Remembering Clive Sinclair
I’d wager you’re an admirer of Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor of the ZX Spectrum, who died in 2021. Raspberry Pi co-founder Liz Upton wrote a short but sweet note on the day we heard the news, and the comments section quickly filled with stories from people who had been inspired by his work. Have a look if you’d like to take a scroll down memory lane.
Poppy Playtime is an interesting horror video game — or rather, an episodic series of games — that puts players into the eerie toy factory of fictional company Playtime Co., where they find that the company’s characters are alive and quite aggressive. A big part of the game’s appeal is the creepy character design, with the eponymous Poppy being just one example. But they’re all scary, as Jaimie and Jay of the Wicked Makers proved when they built this life-sized CatNap animatronic.
The Wicked Makers aren’t strangers to this game, as they previously built an eight-foot-tall Huggy Wuggy. Their CatNap animatronic isn’t quite as tall, but it is still huge. And it is a faithful recreation of the monster seen in-game. It can move its head side-to-side, and its body sort of sways like a real, breathing creature’s would. It even breathes glowing red fog to represent the in-game sleeping gas formulated for children.
As usual, that vast majority of the work here went into constructing the animatronic’s skeleton, body, and head. It is a masterful mishmash of PVC pipe, wire, foam, clay, and fabric. But the real magic comes from the movement, which is possible thanks to the use of an Arduino UNO Rev3. That controls the torso’s wiper motor via a relay, the servo motor that moves the head, the LEDs for the eyes and smoke, and the smoke machine.
To simplify the animations, the Wicked Makers turned to Bottango software. That’s free and made specifically for controlling animatronics. It makes programming and uploading animations easy, so the Wicked Makers can alter CatNap’s behavior whenever they want.
The result is just as terrifying as it is impressive.
In virtual reality, anything is possible, yet being able to accurately model things from the real-world in a digital space remains a huge challenge due to the lack of weight/feedback that would otherwise be present in physical objects. Inspired by working with digital cameras and the inherit imperfection they bring to their videos, Bas van Seeters has developed a rig that translates the feeling of a camera into VR with only a few components.
The project began as a salvaged Panasonic MS70 VHS camcorder thanks to its spacious interior and easily adjustable wiring. An Arduino UNO Rev3 was then connected to the camera’s start/stop recording button as well as an indicator light and a potentiometer for changing the in-game focus. The UNO is responsible for reading the inputs and writing the data to USB serial so that a Unity plugin can apply the correct effects. Van Seeters even included a two-position switch for selecting between wide and telescopic fields of view.
With the Arduino now sending data, the last step involved creating a virtual camcorder object in Unity and making it follow the movement of a controller in 3D space, thus allowing the player to track things in-game and capture videos. More details on the project can be found in van Seeters’ write-up here and in the video below!
This month we have the hotly anticipated Argon ONE V3 M.2 NVMe PCIe Case. Hopes are high for this one and we can tell you it hits home runs all the way. Redesigned for Raspberry Pi 5 this board combines the features of the Argon ONE V2 with the – previously separate – M.2 Expansion Board add-on to create an all-in-one computer case with super-fast, and super-large, storage that also cleverly uses passive cooling and heatsinks to keep everything running. This is the one we have been waiting for.
All together now
The Argon ONE is Argon40’s flagship case, containing a daughterboard for Raspberry Pi that adds additional features such as full-sized HDMI sockets and an infrared (IR) receiver.
On the base of Argon ONE V3 is a removable cover that provides access to the M.2 NVMe socket. Here you can insert any M.2 NVMe with M-Key up to 2280 size. The flap is marked “THERML” which nods to its aluminium heatsink and a long strip of thermal pad is included to transfer the heat out into the case.
Two more silicon pads are included to connect Raspberry Pi’s CPU and PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) to the case.
Alongside this impressive passive cooling is a redesigned 30mm fan and blower. This is repositioned at an angle to be “more efficient and quiet”, and we found it unobtrusive even when stress testing.
Argon ONE V3 now sports Raspberry Pi’s RP2040 microcontroller to control various functions like fan speed and power management (via jumper pins on the daughter board). The power button is less of a novelty now that Raspberry Pi 5 itself features one. However, the presence of a 3.5mm audio jack will be a welcome addition for audio buffs now that it has been removed from Raspberry Pi 5’s main board.
One advantage over the Argon ONE V2 board is that the M.2 NVMe now connects directly to the PCIe socket on Raspberry Pi 5. This leaves all four USB-A sockets available.
A removable magnetic flap on top of the case provides access to repositioned GPIO pins alongside a handy pinout guide.
Assembly and testing
Putting together the Argon ONE V3 was a relatively painless process thanks to the included assembly instructions. Raspberry Pi 5 is connected to the HDMI daughterboard, and the PCIE cable is used to connect the bottom half of the case to Raspberry Pi 5. Then the whole thing is screwed together. Finally, the M.2 NVMe storage is connected to the underside making it possible to upgrade the drive without opening the whole case.
As with previous Argon ONE cases, the microSD card is hidden away and can’t be used without opening up the case. This is less problematic these days as a USB thumb drive flashed with Raspberry Pi OS can be used to run Imager and flash the storage drive. Attach an Ethernet cable and you can also use Network Install with Raspberry Pi 5.
Speed-testing of the NVMe drive tells you much more about the quality of your drive than the case itself. We used a 500GB WD Blue storage stick and measured the speed using Raspberry Pi OS’s built-in Raspberry Pi Diagnostics tool to test performance. It returned a sequential write speed 789590 KB/sec (790 MB/s) almost 80 times faster than the recommended pass speed for a microSD card. It’s fast.
The heat test is also interesting. We used stress –cpu 4 and measured the output with the script found herefor 15 minutes.
Raspberry Pi 5 inside the Argon ONE V3 case idles at around 54°c (down from the 65°c baseline of an uncooled Raspberry Pi 5 without a heatsink). We found the fan kicked in at the 60°c mark after five minutes and kept the Raspberry Pi 5 hovering around 61°c for another 10 minutes. At no point did Raspberry Pi OS reach the 80°c mark where performance throttling begins. It compared favourably to a Raspberry Pi 5 and an official Active Cooler unit.
Put it to use
One optional extra we should mention is an internal Argon ONE BLSTR DAC audio board upgrade, which will be sold separately. Alongside the 3.5mm jack this will make Argon ONE V3 ideal for audio fans. We didn’t have one for testing and can’t see it on the Argon40 website just yet, so hopefully that will come down the line.
All of this transforms Raspberry Pi 5 from a hackable board to a desktop computer. A role our favourite computer is increasingly fulfilling with aplomb. The built-in infrared connection, large storage, and full-sized HDMI connection also ensure Argon ONE V3 becomes the perfect media player or home games console. This case is highly recommended.
Verdict
10/10
An excellent case that sees a lot of Argon’s ideas reach fruition. Turn your Raspberry Pi 5 into a smart desktop computer, media player, games console or DAC audio player.
Specs
Components: Argon ONE Pi 5 V3 case, M.2 NVME carrier board, Video/Audio PCB extender (daughterboard), GPIO & Fan board, RP2040-based microcontroller
Input/output: Adjustable M.2 NVME with M-Key up to 2280 size, 2 × standard (type A) HDMI ports, Ethernet, 4 × USB-A ports, USB-C power port, 3.5mm audio jack
Cooling: Aluminium alloy case for passive cooling, blower type PWM programmable 30mm fan
If you have an interest in robotics, it can be really difficult to know where to start. There are so many designs and kits out there that it becomes overwhelming. But it is best to start with the basics and then expand from there after you learn the ropes. One way to do that is by building MertArduino’s adorable app-controlled robot dog.
This is a little more complex than a typical line-following rover kit, but it is still approachable for beginners. It uses eight inexpensive MG90S hobby servo motors to walk on four legs, plus one more servo to rotate the head. The tutorial explains how to create a smartphone app for controlling the robot and there is an ultrasonic sensor hidden in the dog’s eyes to help it detect obstacles.
To construct this robot, you will first need to 3D print the body, legs, and head. Those parts are small enough to print on almost any model of 3D printer. You’ll then need the custom PCB, onto which all of the electronic components attach. You can order that from any PCB fabrication service. Using basic through-hole soldering techniques, you can populate that PCB with an Arduino Nano board, an HC-05 Bluetooth module (for communication with a smartphone), and various miscellaneous components like resistors and a voltage regulator. Power comes from a pair of 18650 lithium battery cells.
After assembly, you can begin controlling the robot using the provided app. Or you can follow the instructions to make your own app with the help of MIT’s handy block-based Scratch programming tool.
“The Nürburgring was built in 1927 with extraordinary length through the middle of the Eifel forests. It remains the longest permanent race track to this day. Even back then, the racing drivers who came to the Nürburgring knew what an incredibly special and challenging track the Nürburgring actually is,” explains Alexander, quoting Rudolf Caracciola, who won the first car race on the Nürburgring and described his experience as follows:
“When we came to the newly opened Nürburgring in 1927, we opened our eyes. We had never experienced anything like it. There was a road in the middle of the Eifel mountains, a closed loop with almost 180 bends spread over 22 kilometers. It was a track with gradients that were a sharp blow to the engine, but also with unspeakably beautiful views far across the country, of valleys and villages.”
On the one hand, it is the almost 100-year history that still inspires awe and respect among motorsport enthusiasts and professional racing drivers alike: 1000-kilometer races, fatal accidents, unforgettable Formula 1 races, new records and impressive performances by the best drivers in the world. Record-breaking world champion Michael Schuhmacher made such a lasting impression that an entire corner was named after him. When Niki Lauda’s Ferrari went up in flames on the Nordschleife in 1976, the entire motorsport world held its breath.
In addition to the history, it is the track itself that accounts for the legend of the Nordschleife: the unique layout, the dynamics, the differences in altitude and the unique atmosphere. If you want to complete a lap, you have to tackle over 70 corners and 300 meters of elevation gain. An experience that demands everything from the driver and is now possible in Forza Motorsport.
In Forza Motorsport, players will discover what makes this circuit an adrenaline-filled crucible, one which pushes professionals, manufacturers, cars – and now, finally, Forza fans – to their limits. YouTuber and racing expert rAii has already put the track through its paces in countless racing games, including the new Forza Motorsport, and shared his thoughts on the presentation with Xbox Wire DACH: “It just feels like the Nordschleife that you know. That’s the most important thing.”
Every button on SNES XL controller has its own custom PCB, created using PCBWay an online service for producing PCB prototypes. Each board is shown fully working by Arnov on YouTube. Tactile switches on the custom boards are positioned just below the 3D-printed buttons, such that pressing a button toggles its switch. Each of the switches is wired up to a pin on a XIAO SAMD21 development board from Seeed Studio (see Figure 1). When SNES XL is connected to a computer (in this case Raspberry Pi 4), the Seeed XIAO appears as a gaming controller icon and can be selected for gameplay.
Too big to print or hold
Arnov designed the controller housing in Fusion360. It had to be 3D printed in three separate parts due to its size, before being superglued together. More videos and images can be found on Arnov’s Instructables.
Retro game emulation here comes courtesy of Recalbox. Power Pi, a Raspberry Pi dock/enclosure with an integrated lithium cell battery pack that Arnov also designed, provides power.
Arnov has to set the controller flat on the table to play games, because it’s too big to hold comfortably. Our favourite Raspberry Pi builds are the ones that are so absurd they turn out to be unusable for their originally intended purpose. The BFG would have no problem, but we’re still not sure if he’s real or not. We’ve let Nessie and Bigfoot go, but we’re hanging onto our oversized childhood friend.
Gamer geek
Arnov has graced us with his Raspberry Pi-powered gaming kit twice before. The first time was with SANDWICH DOT IO, an all-in-one desktop gaming system based around Raspberry Pi 3B+ and featuring on-board power as well as a dedicated cooling layer.
PALPi, a handheld games console with a retro aesthetic that’s powered by Raspberry Pi Zero W, is another of Arnov’s creations. Let’s start taking bets on what he builds next. We’re thinking he might go to the other end of the size spectrum and come up with something miniature. Maybe a teeny, tiny, thimble-sized Wii controller for dainty indoor tennis and golf.
It is amazing how much technological progress humanity has achieved over the past few centuries. But while our capability with electronics has shot ahead, it seems that we’ve almost regressed when it comes to mechanical and electromechanical design. Watches and clocks are great examples of this, as pre-digital craftsmen were capable of astonishing feats that are still impressive today. But some people are keeping those traditions alive, as evidenced by this mechanical seven-segment display clock driven by a single stepper motor.
This clock is truly a work of art. It shows the time across six digits, each of which is a seven-segment display. But those aren’t segments lit by LEDs, they’re physical pieces of plastic. A complex series of gears flips them in and out in the appropriate sequence to display the numeric characters. That is very impressive when you consider that the segments don’t actuate in an order that correlates with the numerical value — the number 4 isn’t simply turning “on” one more segment than the number 3. But even so, the clock progresses through the numbers in order.
That’s only possible because of the genius mechanical design of the clock. Further increasing the wonder is the fact that the clock and all of its parts were 3D-printed — no precision machining necessary. An Arduino Nano board controls the stepper motor that drives the whole series of gears. That ensures that the motor turns at a constant rate, which is required to keep accurate time.
If you’re ever driving through rural Finland about an hour south of Jyväskylä, you might come across the Haihatus art center. That includes KITA, “the house of kinetic arts.” You’ll recognize it right away by its bold swaths of vibrant paint. And if you come by at night, you’ll see the snow illuminated in dancing colors by a kinetic art installation built by Niklas Roy and Kati Hyyppä.
Because the building is unheated and can reach temperatures as low as -30°C (-22°F), KITA remains closed through the winter. Roy and Hyyppä approached this project with the goal of turning the building itself into a kinetic art piece for people to enjoy through the cold months. To achieve that, they lit the windows and added movement. Lights inside the building move along tracks and motors pull them with spools of twine. An Arduino Nano development board controls the motors through H-bridge drivers. Various reflectors and filters alter the lights as they move.
To make that even more dynamic, they animated the illumination and introduced sound. A control box built into an old tool case contains another Arduino Nano that can switch the lights through relays. That Arduino also generates sounds and melodies from algorithms based on random inputs, but synced to the lights.
This project came with unique challenges related to the weather, as many electronic components act unpredictably at these extreme temperatures. But the installation worked well enough to unveil on New Year’s Eve 2023, when the people living in the town of Joutsa got to enjoy the dazzling inauguration.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess will release day one with Game Pass as well as on Xbox Series X|S and Windows in 2024.
Check out all the latest gameplay on the newest Capcom game set in a Japanese-inspired universe, all revealed during the Xbox Partner Preview
Hear directly from Director Shuichi Kawata as well!
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a highly unique, Japanese-inspired single-player game that blends multiple genres to create an action-packed adventure unlike any other! First revealed in June last year during Xbox Games Showcase 2023, this new title from Capcom will release day one with Game Pass, as well as on Xbox Series X|S and Windows in 2024.
The story begins when the legendary Mt. Kafuku is covered by an evil defilement and the 12 masks, including their special powers, are stolen. Our protagonist, Soh, must work together with Yoshiro, the Maiden with divine powers, to purge and cleanse the villages of the defilement.
The masks worn by Soh and the villagers each feature a different divine power, and these powers are the key to protecting Yoshiro. As you cleanse additional villages from their evil defilement, you’ll recover more masks and work together with the various villagers that each mask unlocks to bring Mt. Kafuku back to its original beauty.
Strategic Actions with Dancing Swords and Commands
The game combines the exhilarating action of “dancing swords” with the strategic element of deciding which villagers will join you on your journey to cleanse each village. The cycle of preparing for battle during the day and protecting the Maiden and the village from evil spirits of the mountains (“The Seethe”) at night is critical to Soh’s success. Let’s look at the gameplay during both day and night.
During the day, explore the village, purge defilements, and rescue villagers so they can join you in battle. Repair contraptions to give you an advantage against The Seethe’s attacks at night.
The rescued villagers will fight alongside Soh – but the decision on which power to grant to each villager is up to you. Different masks will grant different powers that help some villagers excel at close-range attacks, while others can heal your crew. Think strategically about which villagers you enlist and where to station them ahead of battle. For example, those with superior melee attacks on the front lines, with long-range attackers in the rear. Use the terrain to your advantage, prepare your positions, and get ready for epic battle once the moon begins to rise.
Each village features the recognizable Torii gates, and ultimate success is decided upon whether Yoshiro, the divine Maiden, can successfully pass through those gates before she faces defeat at the hands of The Seethe. But watch out! Each Torii gate is connected to an evil universe, providing an entrance for The Seethe. Guide Yoshiro to the Torii gates to purge the defilement and save the village.
How to use time wisely before sunset is crucial. In addition to time management, players must strategize for their battle at night. The players’ strategies alongside resource and time management skills are put to the test.
Nightfall brings a distinct blend of intense action and real-time strategy. Protect the Maiden from the oncoming threat of The Seethe by commanding your enlisted villagers while simultaneously doing battle, facing off against The Seethe with Soh’s unique dance-like sword attacks.
In the trailer, you also got your first look at “Kagura” – traditional “dances” derived from the Shinto religion in Japan that has been passed down from generation to generation to purify the defiled. Both Yoshiro and Soh perform Kagura in their own notable ways.
We have named this unique action, in which the player purges the defilement by “dancing,” the “Dancing Sword Action.”
Need to change strategies on the fly? Each villager can be reassigned new roles and repositioned throughout the village any time at night. Protect Yoshiro by making critical calls and decisions in this ever-changing environment.
The Seethe: Evil Spirits Called Upon by the Defilement
The Seethe take many different demonic shapes and forms, with various attacks and abilities. Each enemy is inspired by various Japanese yokai – a catchall word for all manner of ghosts, shapeshifters, demons, monsters, and more – and historic folklore. The Seethe, designed carefully by the director, offers an inside look at the dark aesthetic that immerses Soh and the villagers throughout each night’s battle.
And if The Seethe aren’t enough, the latest gameplay trailer revealed the even more powerful “Festering Seethe.” Catch this intense battle against the Festering Seethe!
Hear From Director Shuichi Kawata
“I hope you enjoyed the new trailer for Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess! It’s been a while since the title was announced last year, but I hope the new gameplay you just watched was worth the wait. After releasing Shinsekai: Into the Depths four years ago, we’re ready to open a new chapter for players around the world to enjoy.
This game features a very distinct blend of action and strategy genres and takes strong inspiration from various elements of Japanese culture. With all of that, we’re excited (and maybe a little nervous…in a good way!) to have everyone experience this game.
We are currently in the final stages of development, and the team is working hard to be able to deliver the best experience this game can offer, so we hope you look forward to it.”
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess will Launch in 2024
We partner with educational organisations around the world to bring coding activities to young people in their regions through Code Club and CoderDojo. Currently involving 52 organisations in 41 countries, this Global Clubs Partner network shares our passion for empowering kids to create with technology.
Learners in a Code Club run by CSEd Botswana, one of our Global Clubs Partners.
A key aspect of how we foster the Global Clubs Partner network is to promote connections between partners. It’s one reason we host regular online meetings and regional in-person events, and connect partners one on one to facilitate information sharing. Today, we’re highlighting three stories from partner organisations that have benefited from working with each other.
Aruba and the Netherlands
In March 2023, the Foundation hosted the first Clubs Conference for educators and volunteers involved with Code Club and CoderDojo. As this event took place in Cambridge, UK, the majority of attendees were from the UK and Republic or Ireland, but a small number came from further away. Much further away, in some cases.
Bruce Harms and his colleague Thanya Croes (Full Stack Vision Foundation, Aruba) were attending the Clubs Conference to share their work to increase digital literacy in Aruba through CoderDojo clubs. At a special conference session for international attendees, they connected with Sanneke van der Meer and Marloes van der Meulen (CoderDojo Netherlands), who were also presenting as part of the session.
Thanya and Bruce at the Clubs Conference in 2023.
After the Clubs Conference, the two organisations remained in touch. Later in the year, Bruce and Thanya attended the DojoCon Netherlands 2023 in the Hague. ”It was an amazing day with great workshops and lots of other CoderDojo Champions”, Bruce said. He and Thanya have plans to invite the CoderDojo Netherlands team to Aruba and hope to collaborate on future projects together.
Malawi and Tanzania
Sylvester Mtumbuka (Computers for Enhanced Education, Malawi) and Mrisho Habibu (AMCET Innovation Hub, Tanzania) first connected at our Global Clubs Partner meetup in Malaysia in late 2022. Sylvester said: “We were the only ones from Africa there and we are from neighbouring countries. We happen to have a lot of goals in common, and we started discussing possible opportunities for collaboration.”
The attendees of the Global Clubs Partner meetup in Malaysia in 2022.
The result is the Tanzania and Malawi (TaMa) Innovation Initiative, which is dedicated to fostering the educational, technological, and entrepreneurial development of young people in Tanzania and Malawi. It aims to empower young people in under-served communities, offering support for sustainable livelihoods and entrepreneurship, and it is already yielding great results.
Sylvester and Mrisho signing their partnership agreement.
As part of their ongoing partnerships with us, Sylvester and Mrisho attended our Global Clubs Partner meetup in South Africa a year later — the perfect opportunity to sign their partnership agreement.
Greece and Portugal
A chance meeting between Homero Cardoso (TAGUSVALLEY, Portugal) and Manos Zeakis (CoderDojo in Greece) at DojoCon Netherlands 2022 in Almere had unexpected consequences. “We discussed a lot of things, including the difficulty in finding venues for our Dojos in Greece”, Manos said. “Then in October 2023, we met at a Global Clubs Partner call and we talked again. With Homero’s help I contacted a Greek company, and they were immediately enthusiastic about helping us. After a few weeks, the Nea Ionia Dojo was live and the first Ninjas had their first session!”
Manos holds a workshop.
Homero added: “Getting to know Manos was transformative for me as well. Because of that chance encounter in Almere, this year 7th and 8th grade students are participating in Astro Pi Mission Zero for the first time, mostly due to the inspiring example of Manos’s United Dojos project presented at DojoCon.”
Could your organisation become a Global Clubs Partner?
To find out more about our Global Clubs Partner network and how your organisation might get involved, visit the CoderDojo or Code Club websites, or contact us directly about a partnership.
Ivan values Raspberry P’s modularity which allows him to create unique devices and has previously used various models including Compute Module 4 in his Compute Blade, an energy-efficient alternative to a rack-mounted server. He praises the “relatively cheap minicomputer with a huge community, which greatly lowers the threshold of entry and increases trust”.
For the Mac Mini KVMac16 project – Ivan describes it as “a console for 16 Mac minis on a shelf that occupies a 6U space in a server rack” – Raspberry Pi is used as a KVM (kernel-based virtual machine) while “the PiKVM HAT is used for video capture and keyboard/mouse command transfer”. Ivan chose Raspberry Pi because it both supports the components and offers long-term software support. He says: “Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB is easily sufficient for the task”.
As Ivan’s blog explains, should a Mac go down due to a failed update or any another reason, the only way to reboot it is to physically press its power button. This is not something that can be done remotely, and is the issue his KVMac device addresses. “To provide full control, with the ability to completely reinstall the OS, you need to press the power button and there are no other options.” Ivan has created the optimal workaround: a Servo HAT and self-written Python scripts control the servos used to physically push buttons on the Mac mini. He also uses RS232 to control a regular KVM switch from the user interface between a Raspberry Pi PiKVM HAT and 16 Mac minis, through which he can connect to any of them.
Third time’s a dream
As Ivan details on his Uplab blog, creating the KVM Mac Mini project involved three different versions, with improvements each time focusing on ease of installation and overall reliability. PiKVM is at the heart of the project, and provides a basic user interface, “but the ability to physically push buttons, and the 16 Mac mini install stand itself, are designed by me from scratch [as were the] custom scripts and UI modifications to give the user full control”.
Many of the challenges were because the project uses servos and levers to push buttons on the Mac minis, which need to work with maximum reliability. He started the project from scratch three times and counsels other would-be makers that if you find your project moving in the wrong direction, stop, reappraise and “have the strength to start over from scratch”. Ivan did this twice here, and says it strengthened his project as well as validating the potential for both a four-Mac mini model and a potential CI/CD one (Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment).
It is just as well that Raspberry Pi proved a good option. Ivan says there are “simply no alternatives. This project was only possible thanks to Raspberry Pi and PiKVM.
After attracting over 1 million players during Game Preview, Hugecalf Studios are proud to announce Turbo Golf Racing will be launching into 1.0 on April 4! Before then, you can download Turbo Golf Racing’s Game Preview on Xbox Game Pass for Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One, or PC Game Pass for Windows Store.
If Turbo Golf Racing is new to you, let me explain: picture yourself playing golf, but instead of the conventional club, you’re using a turbo-charged car to putt the ball. Throw in 7 other players vying to achieve the quickest time (in race mode) or the fewest shots (in golf mode) – not to mention a variety of Power Cores that change your car’s abilities – and you have a recipe for a very different game of golf.
Since launching into Game Preview, we’ve added new Power Cores to the beloved race mode, including Sticky, a core that allows you to attach your ball to your car, and Grapple Hook, a core that tows your car towards your ball, totaling 18 unique Power Cores to date. This has resulted in over 130 possible unique core combinations, including my personal favorite, Magnet and Hyper Glider, which increases my speed while gliding and enables me to pull the ball towards my car with the press of a button.
Frost Beam, Air Strike and Boost Canister have also been added since Game Preview launch. The 3 new pick-ups in race mode have allowed for more ways to sabotage or take the lead on opponents.
Three seasons of content have flown by, including the Aztec and Space seasons, which featured themed cosmetics, fresh biomes, and innovative mechanics. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed utilizing water features to propel my ball closer to the hole, and there’s something truly thrilling about a shot that is rescued from going out of bounds by a shift in gravity on the course.
For those players seeking a more traditional golf experience, 1v1 golf mode was introduced. This new mode allowed players to unwind and focus on accuracy over speed, because victory is awarded to the player who putted in the fewest shots. Though this mode was previously limited to 2 players – more on that later…
Being part of Game Preview meant that many community-requested features were added, including missions, timed events, leaderboards, ranked mode, bots, custom games, tutorial improvements, core balances and many more. All in all, Turbo Golf Racing now features 5 Game Modes, 18 Power Cores, 5 Pick-Ups, 75 Levels, 5 Biomes and over 400 cosmetics. So what can players expect for 1.0?
April 4 will mark the start of Season 4, a Launch Party themed season with 40 new rewards! Pump up the jam or act a clown with the new Bassline and Jester car bodies. Other goodies include party shades, musical boosters, pork pie wheels, and my go-to party hat wheels.
I mentioned earlier golf mode was limited to 2 players, well not anymore! With the launch of 1.0, Turbo Golf Racing will include a new 8-player golf mode. Players will be able to enjoy their favorite mode with more of their friends. Instead of the consecutive turn-taking that occurs in 1v1 golf, players will take their shots simultaneously, competing to sink their ball in the fewest shots.
What’s more, 10 new levels will be added to the roster, and Urban, Wild and Industrial biomes have been revamped with thrilling new themes! Players will also notice new night levels, garage loadouts, a new core, shop items and so much more.
I’m excited to see you all on the starting line, mark April 4 in your calendar, let’s get this party started! Turbo Golf Racing is available in Game Preview on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, and with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
Turbo Golf Racing (Game Preview)
Secret Mode
☆☆☆☆☆250
★★★★★
$9.99$7.99
PC Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass
Free Trial
This game is a work in progress. It may or may not change over time or release as a final product. Purchase only if you are comfortable with the current state of the unfinished game. 1v1 Golf Showdown
Step into the ultimate 1v1 showdown, where precision triumphs over speed, and victory is achieved by fewest shots. Scope out the course with the exclusive aerial camera, and hit your ball further than before with the combined power dash mechanic. Put your golfing skills to the test in casual or custom games! 8 Player Online Race
Take on up to seven other competitors in a Grand-Prix style competition. Boost, dash and glide to be the first to get your ball into the hole. Hit the boost pads to charge past your rivals, take shortcuts to outwit them and utilise pick ups to stop them in their tracks. Time Trials
Race against the clock to earn stars and unlock new courses! Compare your best time on each course against those of your friends, or secure your place on the global leaderboards! Power Cores and Pick Ups
Control the way you play by equipping unique Power Cores to suit your playstyle. Hit your ball with more power, spin, or bounciness, whilst using powerful abilities to grapple onto, freeze or stick to your ball. Customisation
Stand out from the crowd in your personalised vehicle. Enjoy over 1 trillion different combinations with customisable car bodies, balls, wheels, spoilers, shields, paints and boosters! Traverse The Courses
Use your wings, wheels and wit to navigate the terrain, taking advantage of boost pads and boost rings, while avoiding rough, bunkers and trees! Journey through unique biomes, including ancient Aztec temples, gravity defying space courses and industrial wastelands! Full details on the latest status of the game, how you can give feedback and report issues can be found at [https://turbogolf.racing/].
Batter up, friends! We’ve got the next round of games coming soon to your download and install queue. Whether you want to bend reality in Control, check out Bikini Bottom, or more, we have your bases covered… er… loaded! Let’s play ball!!
Available Today
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Cloud, Console, and PC) Load up your Boltgun and unleash the awesome Space Marine arsenal to blast your way through an explosion of sprites, pixels and blood in a perfect blend of Warhammer 40,000, frenetic gameplay and the stylish visuals of ’90s retro shooters.
Coming Soon
PAW Patrol World (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 7 Explore the world of “PAW Patrol” like never before, in a 3D action adventure where anything is PAWsible. Play as your favorite pups, drive their vehicles, and save the day by taking on fun rescues and missions either in single-player or with your family in couch co-op. It’s the ultimate PAW Patrol playtime!
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 12 Are you ready, kids? SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is coming to Game Pass! Play as SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy in this faithful remake and thwart Plankton’s evil plan to take over Bikini Bottom. Battle Plankton’s army of rogue robots – this time with friends in multiplayer mode! Meet all your favorite Bikini Bottomites, voiced by their original voice actors and show Plankton that crime pays even less than Mr. Krabs.
Control Ultimate Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 13 From developer Remedy Entertainment, this supernatural third- person action-adventure will challenge you to master the combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world. Control Ultimate Edition contains the main game and all previously released expansions (The Foundation and AWE).
No More Heroes 3 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 14 No More Heroes 3 follows the otaku assassin Travis Touchdown as he takes up his trusty beam katana once more and slashes his way through 10 of the deadliest fighters in the galaxy. Rack up combos with Travis’ beam katana and experience hack-and-slash action like never before!
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – March 19 Available on day one with Game Pass: Start your interstellar homestead in this peaceful open-world farming adventure! Build your sustainable exofarm, grow alien crops, customize your mech, and explore a new world full of mystery with up to three friends!
MLB The Show 24 (Cloud and Console) – March 19 Available on day one with Game Pass: Swing for the fences, experience game-deciding moments, become a legend and live out your baseball dreams in MLB The Show 24. Want to hit the field early? Game Pass members can unlock up to four days early access plus deluxe edition bonus content with the purchase of the Digital Deluxe Add-On Bundle. Learn more about how MLB The Show 24 continues to tell important stories from the Negro Leagues on Xbox Wire.
In Case You Missed It
Dead Island 2 (Cloud and Console) – Available now A deadly virus is spreading across Los Angeles, turning its inhabitants into zombies. Bitten, infected, but more than just immune, uncover the truth behind the outbreak and discover who – or what – you are. Survive, evolve and save the world in this first-person zombie slaying adventure!
DLC / Game Updates
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Victors and Vanquished – March 14 Embark on a thrilling journey with Victors and Vanquished! In 19 epic scenarios, play as Ragnar Lothbrok, Oda Nobunaga, Charlemagne, and more. Your strategy and choices decide your fate: will you emerge as the ultimate victor, or fall as the vanquished? Secure your pre-order now and save 15% – and be prepared to conquer the battlefield!
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
Stumble Guys Retro Hot Dog Pack – Available now Show off your wackiness as you race to the finish line with your Retro Hot Dog skin, Fire Emote, 250 Gems and 50 Stumble Tokens. This Perk content requires Stumble Guys to use (Free to Play).
Century: Age of Ashes – Forgotten Bay Pack – Available now Brave the silence with the Forgotten Bay dragon, the Flaming Crude Cleaver axe and a 14-Day XP Booster. Requires Century: Age of Ashes to use (Free to Play).
Leaving March 15
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. If you want to keep the fun going, be sure to use your membership discount to save up to 20% off your purchase!
Hardspace: Shipbreaker (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Shredders (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Keep tuned in at @XboxGamePass or @XboxGamePassPC for updates for when these games are available, and we’ll catch you here next time for more games coming to Game Pass!
The EV (electric vehicle) versus ICE (internal combustion engine) debate is more complicated that it may seem, but one fact is quite simple: it is much easier to generate electricity at home than it is to refine fossil fuels. This means that it is possible power a vehicle for free after the initial investment. But doing so takes quite a lot of hardware, which is why Shawn Murphy developed this charging system controlled by an Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi.
Murphy owns a Ford Lightning electric pickup truck, which is inefficient by EV standards thanks to its weight. But even at just two miles per kWh of electricity, he estimates that he can break even on the cost of his solar charging system within four to five years. After that, the electricity to power the Ford will, essentially, be free. Any excess energy can power his home or feed back into the grid.
Just powering the truck alone will require a lot of electricity, so Murphy acquired 10 used 360-watt solar panels. Those feed to a battery backup array, which supplies power to the Ford charging station.
To maximize efficiency, Murphy wants the solar panels to pivot on one axis to follow the sun. He estimates that will increase their output by 20-25% throughout the day, which is a significant amount of energy with a solar panel array this large. An Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi board controls the tilt of the panels via linear actuators. Murphy originally used “dumb” actuators, but is switching to “smart” models from Progressive Automations that include positional feedback through Hall effect sensors.
A GIGA Display Shield gives Murphy access to an interface, which he can also access through the Arduino Cloud. In addition to controlling the linear actuators, the Arduino monitors power generation and consumption.
This is still a work in progress as Murphy continues to make improvements, but he’s well on his way to “free” energy for his truck.
While many of the things we interact with every day have become more usable by people with disabilities, the kitchen remains as one important area of our lives that still lacks many accessibility features. One of these commonplace appliances is the coffee maker and its array of small buttons or even a touchscreen that can be hard to see/touch. Orlie on Instructables has developed a set of wireless buttons and an accompanying receiver that translate simple actions into an easy, end-to-end brewing experience.
Each button started as a custom 3D-printed shell with compartments for a AA battery holder, large arcade button, and the perfboard that also contained the ESP8266 microcontroller. In this system, the ESP8266 communicates with the Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi board via Wi-Fi and an MQTT message broker running on a host PC. This enables each button to be assigned a unique message that dictates the desired task to be performed.
At the coffee maker, the GIGA R1 WiFi was wired into a pair of ULN2003 stepper motor driver modules that move a gantry across a set of linear rails and eventually push the corresponding buttons once the correct position has been reached. Ultimately, this allows for those with less mobility and/or dexterity to select what they want from anywhere in the house — all over Wi-Fi.
Before attaching the NVMe Base to the underside of Raspberry Pi 5 using the supplied standoff kit – demonstrated in Pimoroni’s installation video – you’ll want to insert your NVMe SSD stick into the Base’s M.2 key slot. The board is long enough to accommodate 2280 size SSDs, and has mounting holes for this plus 2230, 2242, and 2260 drives – so you can secure it with a bolt and nut.
Securing the Base
The next step is to attach M2.5 standoffs to the top of the Base using the four mounting holes. The kit helpfully includes both short and long bolts – the latter are useful if you want to securely mount another HAT on top of Raspberry Pi 5.
Connecting the Base’s PCIe slot with the one on Raspberry Pi 5 is done using a small, flat S-shaped cable that flexes and has labels to help you orient it correctly – the end for the Base is slightly wider, at 18 pins. It’s easier to connect Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe slot first, then the Base’s, due to the latter’s less fiddly flip tab. You can then fold the flexible cable over so the Base is underneath Raspberry Pi 5 to form a sandwich, before using a small screwdriver and bolts to secure it. The only downside is that the extra height means it won’t fit in a standard case.
With the hardware installed, you’re ready to start using your SSD… that is, once you’ve checked that your system is up to date and you have the latest bootloader version selected in raspi-config: Advanced Options > Bootloader Version > Latest, then select ‘No’ and reboot. The drive should then appear in the /media directory, and be shown by the lsblk command. If not, make sure it is formatted (you can use Raspberry Pi Imager).
Drive compatibility
While the majority of NVMe M.2 drives should work fine, Pimoroni’s product page notes that a few models have quirks or have proved troublesome. The safest option is to choose a tested model listed there, or purchase the NVMe Base bundled with a compatible 250GB or 500GB SSD.
Raspberry Pi 5 officially only supports the Gen 2.0 version of PCIe, but adding an extra line to /boot/config.txt will force Gen 3.0 for extra speed. In our tests, using the dd command, we achieved a write speed of 514MB/s and a read speed of 858MB/s. While far from our SSD’s maximum (due to only using one of its PCIe lanes), it’s still many times faster than microSD (typically around 30MB/s write, 90MB/s read), and also better than an SSD connected via speed-limiting USB. Check out Pimoroni’s own tests on various SSDs at.
You’ll want to make Raspberry Pi 5 boot from the SSD instead of the microSD card. This is easily achieved by writing the OS to it with Raspberry Pi Imager and then selecting Advanced Options > Boot Order > NVMe in raspi-config. For our drive, this cut around four seconds from the average boot time. We also noticed that some apps, such as Chromium, seemed a little snappier.
Verdict
9/10
A slimline adapter that sits neatly under Raspberry Pi 5 and enables fast PCIe read/write speeds with a suitable SSD
Henry Evans suffered a brain-stem stroke 20 years ago that left him paralyzed with quadriplegia. He can move his head, but other than a small amount of movement in his left thumb, he can’t control the rest of his body. To help Evans live a more independent life, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science developed a motion control interface that lets him operate a mobile robot.
The robot is a Stretch model from Hello Robot, which can navigate a home on its mobile base, interact with objects using its arm and gripper, and provide a live view through a pair of cameras (one on its head and one on its gripper). But this telepresence robot doesn’t have any provisions for operation by a person with quadriplegia like Evans. That’s where the SCS team came in.
They created a head-worn motion control interface consisting of an Arduino Nano board, a Bosch BNO055 IMU and an HC-05 Bluetooth module. The Arduino monitors Evans’s head movement with the IMU, then sends cursor movement commands over Bluetooth to the computer running the software that controls the Stretch robot. That lets Evans move the cursor on the screen, and then he can click a mouse button thanks to the limited movement of his left thumb.
During a week-long testing session, Evans successfully used this system to perform many tasks around his home. He was able to use the robot to pick up tissues and bring them to his face, and even to adjust the blinds on his bedroom window. Clever “Drivers Assistance” software lets the robot operate semi-autonomously in order to complete tasks that would have been difficult for Evans to accomplish through manual control.
While the Stretch robot is expensive at about $25,000 dollars, the HAT (Head-worn Assistive Teleoperation) control interface is affordable. This is just a prototype, but a device like this could help many people around the world living with quadriplegia and other conditions that affect motor control.
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