Arduino microcontroller

Arduino Mail Notifier

Arduino Mail Notifier

Many inventions/hacks often arise out of the need to solve a problem. The Arduino mailer notifier project was no exception. My workshop is in my backyard. During the day, I am far away from my mailbox. Using two Arduinos, some cheap RF modules, and a light sensor, I was able to create a solution that […]

NASA MAKE Challenge 2011 Winner: “Bring It Back” Microgravity Kit

NASA MAKE Challenge 2011 Winner: “Bring It Back” Microgravity Kit

“Bring It Back” Microgravity Kit by Prashant Rao & Subra Sankaran Prashant Rao, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, Barrios/Jacobs/ESCG Subra Sankaran, Ph.D., Senior Thermal Specialist, MEIT/Jacobs/ESCG at NASA JSC, 2224 Bay Area Blvd, Houston TX 77058 Three experiments are described here (with suggestions for additional experiments) that use molten wax in different setups to demonstrate important principles […]

Laser Harp

Laser Harp

I once saw someone playing music by breaking laser beams with his hands. I thought it was fake, but discovered it was real and made my own laser harp.

Arduino and Python: Learn Serial Programming

Arduino and Python: Learn Serial Programming

For this tutorial, you will need (or at least it is helpful to have) a knowledge of the Python programming language. You will also need an Arduino and, depending on how many of the projects below you want to work on, different electronic parts. Let’s dive in!

Using the Parallax RFID Reader with an Arduino

Using the Parallax RFID Reader with an Arduino

If you’ve ever wanted the ability to use some form of hardware-based authentication in your projects then this is the board to do it with. The Parallax RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader is super easy to configure. It only takes four wires! It uses serial protocol to transfer information from RFID cards to the Arduino. […]

Networked On Air Light

Networked On Air Light

You may have seen those “On Air” lights at film, radio or television studios. Now that anyone can broadcast video over the internet, it’s time to learn how to build your own “Now Streaming” light that even wirelessly checks to see if you’re streaming! This guide will show you how to: Set up the XBee […]

Hacking the Wii MotionPlus to Talk to the Arduino

Hacking the Wii MotionPlus to Talk to the Arduino

The Wii MotionPlus (wm+) uses i2c (Inter-Integrated Circuits) for all of its communications. To learn how to make the Arduino talk to the wm+, we’ll program the Arduino to talk to it using the i2c protocol. This tutorial will show you how to wire the wm+ to the Arduino and toss some code into a […]