As a hobbyist, we often want to extend the functionality of our arduino board. In order to minimize wires and maximize functionality, we design special need-based ‘shields‘. A useful step by step tutorial that I found here , breaks down the process into the following stages:
1) Part selection
2) Prototyping the board
3) Schematic design
4) PCB Layout
5) PCB Fabrication
[Via: krisbarrett]
BetterNouveau is organizing a promising workshop about circuit milling with Roland iModela in Turin. Massimo is going to walk you around milling your own shield.
[...] you’ll learn to design and create your very own Arduino shield (‘shields’ are boards that can be plugged on top of the Arduino extending its capabilities). We’ll start from schematics, create the layout and make real prototypes on-site: become a pro Arduino user and learn to design circuits with the Eagle PCB software and make your own Arduino Shields using the Roland iModela desktop milling machine. D.I.Y shields are the best way to move your project from a breadboard-based approach into a professional prototype.
The Workshop is held on February 17-18-19.
via [Better Nouveau]
[Enrico Bassi] from FablabTorino brought to the extent the use of the Roland iModela, using the little (and inexpensive) desktop milling machine for pcb milling. (in the picture we milled the overexposed Fritzing Parking Assistant).
He wrote some Scuola Lessons (here’s the first) to explain how he realized the pcb, starting from Fritzing.
Roland iModela is now on sell on the Arduino Store.
source [FablabTorino]
New fellows in the TinkerKit! family: [T000060] and [T000062] are two versions of the same gyroscope module (1x / 4x sensitivity) based on the LPR5150AL from ST Microelectronics. We are sharing example codes and a visual UI in Processing (hosted on Scuola)
Terrence O’Bien posts a clean music interface (no menus / no buttons) based on RFID, as previously seen some time ago.
There isn’t actually much new about this awesome DIY project, but it’s the way it brings the various parts together that has us impressed. Designed by Instructables user XenonJohn, with help from software developer David Findlay, the Magic Music Table RFID was designed to let a disable child (or other such handicapped user) select albums to play back from an iPod touch playlist. The iPod is connected to anArduino, which tells the device to start playing a particular track based on a selection made with RFIDcards. The whole setup is built into a coffee table and the RFID tags are sandwiched inside clear plastic blocks with the album art. You can see it in action in the video after the break and, if you’ve got the patience and skill, you can build your own using the directions at the source link.
via [Engadget] source [Instructables]
Maker Faire New York is over and we are seeing a lot of reports and reviews about the new products Arduino has announced, we’re sincerely impressed by the amount of positive feedback and offers of collaboration that we have received.
We are releasing a two part video extract of my speech on saturday at Maker Faire New York. The title of the speech is “what’s ahead for Arduino” and it describes the new products we’ve already announced on friday.
Yesterday we’ve had the pleasure of being slashdotted for the first time in our history with the side effect of being mentioned on a lot of websites. In particular what caught my attention is this article by Steve Rosenboaum on the Huffington Post entitled “What Barack Obama Could Learn From Maker Faire” :
Arduino is the kind of innovation eco-system that The White House could support today. Much like the President’s Fitness Challenge drove health and set goals for the nation, it’s easy to imagine an Arduino White House Challenge that would give young people the goals and rewards to drive big ideas into the economy. Today Dean Kamen’s US First Robotics teams are doing that in high schools across the country. And yet President Obama stays almost entirely silent on technology as if somehow the future of America is about us embracing and revitalizing the past.
Education and Community have always been at the core of Arduino….
Another big deal was the announcement that Radio Shack is going to be stocking Arduino in its thousands of stores. Everybody I met was tremendously excited about this (like we have been throughout the negotiation) and a momentous event for an open source project.
We closed our presentation with “Arduino is You”, this is something we like to remind everybody because the community is the lifeblood of Arduino. Give yourself a round of applause like we did in New York.
[Pierre] shares an interesting geo-localization project of sound, narration and culture, made in ”plan d’Aou”, a district of Marseilles – France. The project dates back in September 2010, within the framework of the Smala project in order to trace a sound cartography of Islam in the city of Marseilles: the guys at [Echelle Inconnue] took their time to fully document the all project with schematics, codes, fritzing diagrams and so on.
Several mobile systems were distributed to the people to accompany their walk across the district with, by hand, a kind of speaker to be press on the walls which makes it possible to listen to the sound by vibrating the material of the wall.
The materials of urban furniture or buildings become the speakers required for sound diffusion. Each resonant body had its acoustic specificities, the words take shape in metal, wood or glass… Textures of the sound fluctuate from a surface to another and the listener must juggle with these characteristics to obtain a quality of optimal listening, between documentary in the walls and poetic sound creation.
source [echelleinconnue]
[Micha] has a washing machine with an inaccurate time data displayed on the front panel. How to solve this?
Since it is located in his basement, he hated having to check on the machine continually to know when his clothes were done. Instead of hauling up and down the stairs over and over, he decided to hack in an “end of cycle” notifier of his own.
The washer has an LED that lights when it is finally done doing its thing, so [Micha] removed the LED and soldered in two wires, which he then connected to his Arduino. When the washer is finished and the LED should be lit, the Arduino senses that the input has been pulled low, signaling the end of the cycle. The Arduino was hooked into his home network via an Ethernet shield, enabling him to monitor the process from the comfort of the nearest web browser.
Arduino forum user [Blibo] shares its 2.4 Ghz spectrum analyzer project on the forum. The project is based on the CYWM6935 board (wireless), an Atmega 328 and a Nokia 5110 LCD-
I finished the (mostly) permanent version of my 2.4ghz spectrum analyzer, and soldered it up. I included 3 modes for scanning (fast, slow, and ghost – like the long exposure on a camera), plus a function to display the voltage on an analog pin, and graph it (for when the oscilloscope’s not cooperating). These modes are toggled through by hitting the big push button [...] I have already used it to help setup my wireless network, (channel, location, things that cause interference), and it is always interesting to see what uses the 2.4ghz spectrum. So far, the things that I’ve noticed on the spectrum while walking around with the analyzer are:
-microwave ovens (huge disturbance in the middle of the spectrum)
-Wifi
-Cordless phones
-Bluetooth
-Wireless keyboard
-Wireless speakers
The fast mode is ok for seeing EMI, but for digital signals, the slow mode is best. The ghost mode also gives a general idea of spectrum use over a period of time.
via [HackADay] source(code) on [Arduino Forum]
Nice Oscar Belle Two Band Transistor Radio (1960s) hacked with Arduino.
What it is really doing is playing 24 music tracks that I preloaded onto an SD card in WAV format. There are also 10 tuning noises tracks that get played when the tuner is turned.
Because this is the first time I did this I had a lot of help. Firstly the chaps and chapesses at Hackspace have been very supportive in teaching me how to use and Arduino, particularly Adrian McEwan and Oomlout. Also Jingle Joe who supervised my soldering of the Wave Shield, Brox who helped me decipher the ancient mysteries of FAT16 and Esme who helped dismantle the original radio… PS I did do some of it myself!
via [MycroftMilverton]