As the preeminent tool for makers, Arduino is a versatile platform that covers almost every type of creative making. With its simple-to-use coding language and fun programming concepts, Arduino enables users to create modern electronics with ease. From beginner level projects like flashing LED lights to more advanced builds such as interactive robots, there are an endless number of possibilities when it comes to building projects with Arduino. Whether you are new or an experienced builder in search of fresh ideas, these posts will provide interesting Arduino tutorials and unique ideas that may spark your creativity and motivate you take on any type of maker project!
Getting Started with Parallax. This is a really impressive wiki filled with examples, code and more. Parallax is hands down one of the best “documenters” of learning electronics – they’re also including Arduino code examples too…
This big, gorgeous 2.8″ TFT touchscreen display from the Maker Shed is sure to add some flare to your next Arduino project. It’s capable of displaying 262,000 different colors with 240 x 320 pixels so pictures will be nice and sharp. The built in resistive touchscreen is capable of tracking your finger anywhere on the screen so you can use the display as an input device. An on-board microSD slot lets you load pictures and graphics with ease.
Adrià Navarro created this excellent DIY DJ turntable from a junk pile walkman and PC fan. When you rotate the fan with your fingers, the voltage is read by an Arduino, which smooths and remaps the levels and then uses PWM to control the audio casette player’s motor. For good measure, Adrià added an array of LEDs to show the speed of playback. Inspired by her, I’ll be fishing through my junk pile to see if I can give new life to any dusty old parts.
A group of students competing in PennApps Data Hackathon created a microwave which plays a popular YouTube video that is the length of the time you’ve entered for your food to heat up. They call it the μWave and their hack won them first prize in the competition. Not only does the microwave entertain you while your left over chicken fried rice is reheating, but it also texts you when your food is done and tweets about when you use it. They used an Arduino to read the amount of time on the microwave’s 7-segment display and to communicate that information to a web server with Ruby on Rails.
The Defusable Clock kit is an electronics kit that lets you build a scary looking clock that you can actually “defuse”. Only the electronics are included — you use your imagination to build the device you want!
Nick Johnson’s barbot project has a lot of fun little details, like the laser cut pinch valves he uploaded to Thingiverse. Nick used an Android ADK board to talk to a tablet which provides the drink menu. I love how he solved the problem of dispensing liquids while keeping them food-safe. One problem with any […]
These new Arduino compatible RGB Backlight LCD Displays from the Maker Shed are a fancy upgrade from standard 16×2 LCDs. Instead of just having a single color backlight, these LCDs have full color RGB! That means you can change the background color to anything you want; teal, chartreuse, orange, purple, whatever!
