The Maker Shed Arduino Giveaway
Maker Shed has given us one of their Projects Pack for Arduino V2.0 to give away here on MAKE. The kit includes an Arduino Uno, a MakerShield, breadboards and jumper wire kit, protoboard, a USB cable, motors, and oodles of sensors and basic electronic components, all housed in a component storage box. (See the listing in the Shed for a full contents list.) The kit retails for $100. This is a perfect way to get fully into the Arduino microcontroller hobby.
To be eligible, all you have to do is tell us in the comments below about either the coolest microcontroller project you’ve ever built or one that you dream of building. Maybe you’ll snag this kit and be on your way to making that project happen.
The eligible commenting period will last until Wednesday (4/20) at 11:59pm PDT. The winner will be announced on Thursday morning (don’t forget to check back here to see if you’ve won!).
Update: The winner of the Maker Shed Projects Pack for Arduino is Kelly Cooke. Congrats, Kelly! Please email us with your mailing address and we’ll get your Projects Pack sent out to you.
More:
The Make: Arduino landing page
I’ve never built anything with an Arduino, but I really would like to. I have a little boy and I’m a single mom. I think it would be awesome for us to build something together and let his creativity be our guide. :) He loves music and things that light up, soooooo, this might be the perfect gift for us. :)
I’ve never worked on an arduino project, but I build guitars and I’ve seen plans on arduino effects pedals. It would be a fun project to build one.
How do you choose a single project when this kit gives you SO many possibilities ?!?!?!
I have not built anything with arduino yet, but I would like to incorporate one into an RFI kit for the front door of my house. That way I can give out RFI keys to the people I want access and be able to control when then can get in.
After reading this month’s WIRED all about arduino maker projects, I’m super psyched to build my first project. I’m thinking specifically about ways to leverage online behavior (e.g., tweets) to mechanical action (e.g., lights/sounds). Pick me!
I have to be honest and say I’ve never built anything before but I’m very curious to start.
I really want to build a Laser Tag sensor/emitter/score keeper.
I built a little robot before. My next project is to build a gigapan mount for taking really large panoramas
Robots! Welcome, Robot Overlords!!!!
me and my friend are working on building a kinect controlled plane with a camera shield and Xbee PRO shield for better communications. we started all the planning but we didn’t get the aurdoino yet.
me and my friend are working on building a kinect controlled plane with a camera shield and Xbee PRO shield for better communications. we started all the planning but we didn’t get the aurdoino yet.
i WANT TO BUILD A REVERSE GEOCACHE!!!
‘reverse geocache’ as in…
what, you hide and a little geocache comes and finds you?
A reverse geocache is a locked box with an Arduino and a GPS that opens when you bring it to the correct location (i.e., you wander around with it and triangulate the opening spot based on what it is telling you on its LCD window).
I haven’t done anything with a microcontroller, but I think I would like to build something for the Cub Scout troop. They already have a device to measure the pine wood car derby, but they don’t have anything for the rocket derby. Currently they have dad’s stand around with stop watches to time from start to finish, if they don’t finish, they measure how far they went (they are rubber band powered and hang from a string). I think I can change the line to a wire and the hanger to a carbon pad and measure the distance by sending a signal down the wire and measure the time it takes to get a reflection back. Timing should be easy in that I just have to have a switch at the other end to stop the timer or I can still use my reflector and that way they can have the stopping point varied. I think the hard part would be figuring the freq to use for the pulse what to expect back. It will take some testing, but I have some scouts that would love it.
BEST THING BUILT: Automatic fading night light. An IR motion sensor and three white LEDs hooked up on an Arduino NG. I built it when my son was born so we could see to do baby maintenance at night without turning the room light on. It fades up fairly quickly when it sees movement and fades down over about 3 minutes when there’s no movement – leaving everyone to sleep in a nice dark room. That was almost 4 years ago and it’s still going strong! Wouldn’t be without it.
DREAM BUILD: Arduino video motion-control rig. I’ve actually been working on it (on and off) for a few years but I really want to push it forward to being a solid piece of useable kit.
Last little robotic thingy I made was in school, a little robot that would follow a white line, record it’s speed and distance traveled. I think I want to somehow use this to record how long it’ll take my hedgehog, Prickles, to get to the moon on his little wheel.
i’ll build a car alarm and a keyless car key with yubikey using 2G network and GPS to remote access the car
I want to build something to entertain my kitties.
The cooles microcontroller project I’ve ever built is my Mouse trap Alert. I have had an ongoing issue with mice in my crawlspace. Trapping them got a little easier when I found a battery powered electricution type trap, but it was still a pain to constantly check into the crawlspace all year long. I developer a combination of wireless radios with microcontrollers and LCD displays to send a signal from the trap when it traps a mouse (or runs out of battery) to a receiver that sits on my desktop. Then I only check the trap when there is an actual catch or low battery.
Coolest micro-controller project so far? Hmm, Either my remote controlled power-wheel a WIP or one of my many small robots.
I have been wanting to build some type hamradio morse decoder or digital mode converter for psk rtty or other digi modes — been wanting to work this up for some time!!!
I want to use microcontrollers and a variety of sensors to monitor the houseplants in my home and my office.
Monitor and automate my aquaponic setup.
The coolest microcontroller project I want to build is an RF remote control for Lego trains that has a hand held controller run from an Arduino, LCD, buttons and an XBee which communicates with a Xbee and arduino in the trains to control them but also communicates with track side accessories like signals and switching points so that they work together to simulate a real train operation. So far I have some basic plans and circuit diagrams for it all but an lacking anything to prototype it with.
I haven’t built anything yet, I am just getting into Arduino. I want to build a Moog style synthesizer. That would be the dream, actually, I want to build an army of different synths that can play together. I also want to start teaching my children about electronics so they can build cool things.
I always leave the garage door open so I recently built a garage door sensor with an arduino and ethernet shield. It uses a reed switch to determine if the garage door is open and it sends my wife and I a text message if it is open after 8PM. I also hooked it into the garage door opener so I can reply via text message to actually close the garage door. I can also query the current status (open or closed) via text message. It’s been working great and saved my butt a few times.
Google Reader connected lamp that will change colors from green to red depending on the number of unread items and has a LCD screen that shows the most recent headline
The coolest thing I have ever made was the humble “metrognome” but on a breadboard. It was two weeks ago and my first project. I wanted to play around with the source code and see what I could learn.
It raised question about clock speeds (the arduino seemed to run about 50 times faster than the atmega on the metrognome for example).
I had to learn a bit about crystals and how they even work (though I didn’t have to use them).
In playing with the confused speeds I got to understand the what the seven segment displays work (I didn’t realise it was to do with strobing or whatever the term is.
I learnt to read the product description and datasheets/comments on the product page, because I was convinced there was a way to use what turned out to be an unwired led.
I learnt breadboards run out of space really quickly (and recently found out about Fritzing, which is just rude sounding).
Basically it was a cool project because it was my first hardware programming experience, and I learnt an insane amount in a short time.
I’ve got a data logger with a GPS and several sensors. Battery operated and runs for hours.
Complete my submersible ROV
I’ve used Arduinos to connect pedals to software instruments alread. I’m looking for new ways to integrate microcontrollers into musical instruments, including putting them inside kalimbas and other homemade instruments along with photosensors and acellerometers to control audio parameters.
The coolest microcontroller project I’ve built was an NES controller interface. It was really neat to learn about the builtin shift register in the NES controller, and how to read 2 controllers at the same time. I plan on porting it to AVR from the Arduino, and have it read as a USB gamepad HID. I would feel amazing if I could somehow get it to work with the zapper, too! :)
I am working on a single-arm barn door tracker for astrophotography, driving the tangent arm with a stepper motor and adjusting the drive rate to compensate for tangent error. The whole idea is to track the stars across the sky for long exposures.
However, in the middle of building that, my company had an RC car race… One of the prizes was for best obstacle. What I love about the arduino platform is that I was able to use it to make a moving-ramp trap based on the work I had done to drive the stepper motor in an afternoon – won the prize! I think the best part was when I watched one driver waiting on the ramp for it to move into position got rear-ended and dropped off the end of the ramp by the next driver, who in turn was able to get past the obstacle first.
I would like to develop a unit that is handheld and can read UPC codes so I can keep track of my purchases in the grocery store.
If I had an Arduino I would build a photogate that I could use for macro photography. But my real dream would be to build a quadcopter.
I’d really like to build a microcontroller controlled sensor array to check the environment variables of my office fish tank… The coolest thing I’ve built, I guess, was a panoramic camera mount for point and shoot cameras. It was amazing seeing something I built actually work. :)
Want to build a seed germination cabinet for my father in law so he can retire and grow plants for the entire neighborhood. Have already started making my own moisture sensors, physical cabinet, light grid, and watering system. Just need thermal monitoring and some arduino magic to control it all…
I’ve not built anything yet but I always go hard which is why I’ve started on a reprap and a desktop cnc
I’ve only just gotten started with Arduino. I picked up a handful of projection displays (used in instrumentation before VFDs and LEDs became popular) and had most of it built and working using TTL ICs. Each display has 12 possible digits to project, so it’s almost like a nixie clock circuit. I’m trying to convert the project to Arduino and dip my toes in programming.
Created a light-up Bustier for a community theater show. The actress could use pressure sensitive sensors inside the tips of her glove thumbs to control which sets of LED’s lit up and how bright. Press both down really hard to set off an animated pattern of heart shaped groups of colored LED’s. Built for the song ‘Gotta Have a Gimmick’ for the review ‘And the World Goes Round’. Arduino, flexiforce sensors, Lots of LED’s, and some lingerie.
Ive been building an electronic control unit for my RC truck. The engines in RC cars have fuel adjustment needles. So you need to trim the fuel (which contains the lubricant) depending on the weather, humidity , and performance you desire. Less fuel = more power = less lube and engine life. By logging the temperature of the engine head and connecting the fuel screw to a servo I am going to try to make a PID controller to automate the tuning. So far im building it from what I have laying around. It would speed up development to use the arduino libs. This project , and source code for the datalogger portion nearly done is posted at jeselectronics dot com currently using PIC. Its titled RCecu there are a few posts on it.
For a university project, I built a Jukebox that played polyphonic “songs” through a small 8 ohm speaker (through a SPI interfaced DAC). It was powered by an Atmel ARM7 AT91SAM and responded to inputs from an alphanumeric keypad. It also drove a small display to inform the user of the track number and current play time.
I think it would be cool to use it to dev sensors to track chemical runoff from big agriculture
Hope to MAKE something that will make my Kids want to learn how to Make also. up until then just trying to learn and relearn what I used to know building Ski Lifts
Keso’s ‘Jar of Fireflies’ over on Instructables. http://www.instructables.com/id/Jar-of-Fireflies/
After seeing this, I got interested in micro-controllers. Have yet to actually do anything because of personal budget restraints…
A coworker had to retire from networking due to sensitivity to EMF, so of course I built an EMF detector, mostly from Collin’s design, but I did manage to fit it into a Trader Joe’s chocolate tin, with the bargraph in the clear plastic center window. I even used a circular perfboard. He was blown away at the retirement party that it actually worked. I was blown away how much EMF our Motorola radios emit while transmitting, good thing we don’t use them much…
It’s time to put my greenhouse to work, and not as a storage shed. My goal is to get temperature humidity, illumination and soil moisture sensors hooked up to the Arduino, then communicate this to my PC inside. Then, I’ll look into controls for automatic watering, supplemental lighting and maybe a cooler or fan.
I am using a hydraulic motorcycle scissor lift I picked up on ebay to lift my video projector out of a piece of furniture when I want to watch a movie, the only annoying part is that my Harmony remote will set everything up for “movie time” with the touch of a button, but then I still have to get up and physically step on the lifts foot peddle to lift the projector up and put it away. I want to use the ardunio (along with a shield to isolate the 120V current ) to detect when the projector turns on an off (either using the 5V switch output on the projector, or by use of a SmartStrip power strip) and raise and lower the projector (by the correct amounts) as needed. There will also be senors to stop the lift at the right hieght and when the cabinet is fully closed.
I’m currently sketching out plans to automate our clothes dryer — set time, start and stop via SMS. Plus load finish notifications. Arduino + XBee
I want to build something with my sons. Some kind of robot probably.
I would love to build a hard drive clock. I’ve seen it done before and have been thinking about it for a while now.
Can’t think of anything right now but it would involve my cat, an Android phone and an Arduino. She gets really bored sometimes.
I have a friend who’s done a GPS hack on an old prepaid cell phone so his position is always reported to a web server. I want to make a tracker to report direction and approximate distance to the GPS target.
I’ve been wanting to start working with Arduino. I’d really like to figure out an automatic system for watering and/or feeding my cat on. I’d also like to use it to figure out a way to keep said cat off of my countertops.
I’ve designed a Calorie Tracker Module that counts the number of calories I have burned over the course of a day. It constantly measures my heart rate, body temperature, movements, gait, and other physical variables to estimate the number of calories spent. It can tweet my body state and predict what exercises and activities are best for burning calories.
A garage exhaust system. Two Picaxes: one measures inputs, including indoor and outdoor temperature and presense of Carbon Monoxide. Servos are used to control fan direction. The other Picaxe is a User Interface connected to a 2 line LCD display which shows the temperatures and fan and CO status.
Coolest?! I’ve gotten an example from the Arduino site to work for showing numbers on a serially enabled LCD display to work at least twice. And surprised the person I was showing it to.
Dream project?! On the Pachube site, it describes one connected via Ethernet, and doing “something”. Does the kit contain a basic Ethernet shield? That’s what I need. People have also gotten exciting response from a tethered one, and it needs the parts described. Okay that may not be a winner one, but that’s my dream.
I have made a usb microcontroller interface which has 8 digital inputs and outputs and 1 analogue input and output. Unfortunatly it uses C++ to program it. Ive seen other kits available in America, such as Basic stamp, but alas, in England we dont have an innovation culture and these products are unavailable here.
My original project was an automated vacuum cleaner, which would work if the microcontroller used a language that I understood. I managed to download the software for basic stamp and PCB design software which includes a BS module, i used this to play around and see my project working vertually, but since the actual BS is unavailable here, never got to finish it. I have a prototype built, its just waiting to recieve a microcontroller.
My ultimate project would be to wire EVERY electrical appliance (including clocks) in my home to a microcontroller and with the use of my pda or a computer connected to the internet, be able to control everything in my home, from anywhere in the world. Ive designed a lighting system which uses different coloured LEDs, which would be part of this intergrated system. The purpose of it is to give blue light in the morning and red light at night. i got this idea after reading that when blue light contacts the retina, the brain produces seritonin and red light produces melatonin. The morning light would help me wake up, and the night light wont wake me fully when i go toilet at night. Also, with the system linked with fire/smoke detectors, the lights would come on blue at night, they could also be programmed to show safe routes out of a building.I even dont see much of a challange in making things to help with chores around the house and linking it all in together. Electric water valves could mean even my bath can be controlled. i could have a freshly run bath waiting for me when i wake up in the morning.
With additional software like dragon naturally speaking, i could have this entire system voice controlled.
“computer, I would like a cup of coffee while I watch stargate and this floor could do with a hoover. oh and i wish to have a bath ready for 2100h.”
I dont see why everyone cant have a house of the future, it doesnt have to cost millions.
don’t go the basic stamp – I got one here in australia and had to go through getting a USB-serial adapter (I use mac) and BASIC is a terrible language – and then after uploading the first program, it works, but, alas, no program afterwards has ever uploaded. and believe me, i’ve tried. i guess it’ll have to stay with a !@#$%^& blinking LED for the rest of time…
It may be terrible language but its one I know, unless theres one that uses pascal. I havent really programmed anything since my c64.
I want to build a time machine so that I may travel back to my college years and explain to my future self how much I will be interested in programable circuits because this company from Italy will spur an electromechanical revolution by creating an open source, affordable, feature packed dev kit and a community that backs it.
A while back I created a fortune teller using an old cigar box with an Arduino for the brains.
I also used a LCD screen and some LED’s.
The user gets a fortune after turning it on.
To get a new fortune you push a button on the side. My nieces love it when they come to visit.
I posted how I made it on Instructables.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Fortune-Teller/
I’m currently working on a weather station and would use the new Arduino for it.
Arduino rocks!
Dream Arduino project: Touch screen interface to a DSP to control effects as the signal leaves the guitar. This device could be attached to the guitar behind the bridge and provide a cool visual effect while being useful to the musician.
I want to integrate an RFID reader into my dog’s door to permit my dogs (RFID attached to collar) to automatically gain entry into the house based on their ID and/or time of day. I’ve already built the web service and iPhone app to monitor my backyard. One important feature would to be to set an exception (remotely) for a rainy day and sound an alarm to let them know they’re able to enter the house. The web service and mobile app have already been developed, I just need to get my hands on an Arduino.
Well I always wanted to make an open source network enabled analog to digital conveter to transmit biosignals for polysomnography sensors. (Electroengephalography (EEG) with 34 electrodes, ElectroOcculoGraphy (EOG), ElectroCardioGraphy (ECG), ElectroMyoGraphy (EMG legs and chin), Oximetry, Air Flow (propably using a piezoelectric tranducer), Respiratory Inductive Plethysmograph (RIP) for both abdominal and thoracic muscle groups and the ability to expand the device using modular components and add or even control over devices using it(ex. a Continous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device). Data could be storred localy or via network to a computer using the European Data Format.
I want to make a programmable IR intervalometer with IR codes for multiple cameras.
I think the coolest project I want to build is an improved thermostat for my house. I always thought it was silly that you can set it to cool or heat, but not both. I want a range. If it is less than that, I want it to heat up, if it is more than that, cool it down. Ideally, being able to eventually hook it up to a wireless network so I can open/close vents would be also useful, that way I could get a more even temperature or handle the fact my living room is always a few degrees colder than the bedroom. I’d want to build it so it can be a bit more intelligent about the weather, so if it knows it is going to be cold, it can start heating up a little earlier.
I’m working on a cigar-box GPS unit that will hold way points. An LCD screen will point you in the direction of the current waypoint!
I really want to try out building a hydroponic system controlled by the arduino, or something to automatically open the garage door (or close it) based on proximity or something. Something cool like that. Work some Xbee stuff into it too. Car leaving the driveway, close the door without pressing a button. Maybe turn lights on when I arrive. something like that.
My best project so far has been my carputer that records GPS traces and displays trip information on a display on my dashboard. Read all about it here: http://www.wirelesscouch.net/~cluening/projects/arduino/carputer/
My arduino is my prototyping platform before things get moved onto (usually) smaller AVR chips. In the past, the coolest thing I’ve made is an RFID authorization system (scan a tag, and it’ll enable an output or not, depending on if your tag is in the authorized list). Right now, it’s being used as a logic analyzer to reverse-engineer a motorized tripod’s serial communications. Soon (I hope) this tripod will be controlled by the arduino!
I would love to make a Wootoff controller for my USB woot lights. I know I would need a Ethernet shield, but this kit would get me close enough to buy the Shield. I think it would be cool if they started to spin when there was a Wootoff in progress.
I am also getting things together for a c-n-c router.
As an 15-year old maker I’ve always wanted an arduino to play with, I recently got my first Breadboard from RadioShack along with the 555-timer chip. Breadboards are awesome, and that someone thought of combining the arduino microcontroller with a breadboard and fit it in such a small design as the protoshield is even more awsome. I’ve always wanted to make a homemade alarm system, with maybe 2 sensors, for my room or my candy drawer, i already have the magnetic switches ready here on my project desk, people are always stealing stuff from poor makers like me, hehe. Having an arduino, and even better the starter pack, will finally get me going on building my basic alarm system.
-Bjarni
To make my duct tape boat autonomous. http://www.instructables.com/id/Rc-Duct-Tape-Swamp-Boat/
I’ve been dreaming of making a grandfather clock that looks like a giant nixie tube. A glass tube that large is the real sticking point. I figure an arduino and EL wire would handle the rest nicely.
I’d love to build a tracked robot able to sense fallen ping pong balls, retrieve them, and launch one by one straight up on command when I clap or say a specific command, when the ball is needed. I know it can be done! Need the brains!!
Okay, here’s the project I’ve been dreaming of making. A biofeedback machine. One that incorporates a hacked Mindflex EEG device (re: Mindflex game) and a Binaural Beat Generator. I would also love to tie in pulsating LEDs that adjust in color, in accordance to your registered brainwave state.
And, I just thought of this: a modified, body-length, back massager that pulsates in sequence with the pulsating LEDs and Binaural Beat Generator.
I’m dreaming of an Arduino-controlled “brewbot” to regulate my mash temperature, pump the wort to a boil kettle for the time required, and then run it all through a wort chiller. Consistent homebrew results, every time!
Espresso machine technology keeps moving along, but nobody seems interested in advancing grinder technology. As a long time barista, I’d like to change that and build a revolutionary espresso grinder.
A combination Color-Button Door lock with Net-connectivity. We will be building a net-zero home and I would love to make a door lock that the code is a 4 color sequence. The keypad would have 4 buttons that change each time you press a button. So the COLOR sequence would be the same but the location of the button would changer each time.
Also it could be web enabled to be able to text server or click a button on a url to remotely open the door. This would be instead of giving someone the color combination or a key. “Just call me when you get there. I’ll let you in.” 8p
I dream of building a MIDI keyboard controller with a ribbon controller as wide as the keyboard (in tribute to the CS-80) and four ribbon controllers to the left of the keyboard for controlling various parameters. The ribbon controllers will have rows of LEDs behind them that will light up so the performer can keep track of what value the parameters controlled are at. The keyboard will use piezoelectric sensors for velocity and pressure sensitivity. It will be semi-weighted, since I find fully weighted keyboards to be overweighted.
I have created a 7 segment display clock with arduino- but the great thing is that I know how it works- so I know how to hack it! I want to keep it going- update it with an RTC, and possibly even make it LOL shield compatible.
Or add some numitrons/nixies to the mix for that good ol’ retro look :)
My bachelor’s thesis (back in 1993) was a Motorola 68332 based system for assisted controlled gait in paraplegics (in a lab setting). After many years programming business software I’d love to get back into hardware.
last month i built one of hypnocubes 4*4 rgb led cubes one of the most complex and time consuming projects i have done soldering the components to the board was easy but making the led grid was the most difficult part
All the time we see the medical bills get to be straining on a family, that’s why one of my projects is to build a ECG (EKG) machine, I bet there would be a really good use to this, since medical equipment can get very expensive.
I’m working on a ‘perimeter chime’, basically it’s a wireless tripwire that uses the unique properties of vinyl fencing (meaning, that it’s rather flimsy) to detect when cats or small animals jump on or over it. The vibrations created by normal wind are different, so I’m able to filter those out. The tripwire increments a counter (I’m hoping to timestamp it in the future) so I can see which time of day the vagrant cats are more active in my property probably scoping out my chickens or pooping in my corn patch.
Last year, when I was in grade six, for a geography project we had to design and make a product and find out about what raw materials that we would need. I decided to make a vacuum-bot, with two cds cells and a spring coiled around some bare wire for sensors, an Arduino for a brain, two motors, and a dust buster. I couldn’t find any code for any projects like this one, so I made some from scratch. While the other kids where making products such as night lights and necklaces, I felt really smart making a robot that actually worked. Thanks to Arduino, I got a robot that vacuums, and an A+!
I’m aiming to use several microcontrollers in my new boat…
to interface many sensors (inc accellerometers, electronic compasses and environmental monitoring), to control several solar trackers, to control appliances through an onboard computer and to control some slave panels to allow basic functions to be accessed without needing a full computer…
I hopefully will be starting construction in the next month or so… for the boat I think I will have by the autumn….
I have built a dog tracking device for our my new rescue dog, it uses an RFID reader mounted in the door ways, connected to a x-bee module. It logs when the dog is walking around the house, and eating(one RFID reader mounted near the bowl). We also put a chip inside one of the toys to see when she picks it up. She has an RFID chip on her collar to track her. This allows us to make sure she is eating and exploring her new home.
Have been of getting the arduino for some time but have not gotten around to do it yet. It may not very sophisticated but i wanted to build a robot with stereo vision to detect object and move around them. Eventually add log shield to map the area which the robot has already visited. Just something I have been think about.
A friend of mine and I are building a fully automated Golf Ball Gun. It runs on oxy acetylene and oxygen. We are using the arduino to run the entire thing. What happens is first the arduino triggers a linear actuator to load a golf ball. Next it triggers servos which open valves to let in the oxy acetylene and oxygen into the measuring chamber which, as you guessed, measures the amount of gas. The measuring chamber is also powered by arduino. It then dumps the gas from the measuring chamber to the guns chamber, then activates a servo to press the button on a stun gun to ignite the gas. I know what your thinking, “how are they going to power all this with an arduino?” So we designed a shield to up convert the power from the arduino without any compromise. In a nutshell, with the push of one button, the arduino will measure the gas, dump it into the chamber, load the golf ball, then fire it. I figured all of this out, and I am 14 years old, so as you can imagine moneys tight. I can’t exactly build any of the circuit without the kit, surprisingly it has everything I need. I can build the gun out of scrap parts but I cannot build the circuit with out this kit. As you can tell I am smart enough to handle the arduino but can’t if I don’t have it. I have been wanting it for quite some time but sadly cannot get it because I don’t have the money. I know how to program the arduino but I never actually seen one in person so having this would be absolutely wonderful. My dad just got me my first ever Make Magazine, the arduino revolution and I am learning as much as I can, but again cannot use these skills without it. So please, PLEASE send me this kit. Words cannot express how grateful I would be.
Gabriel Gonzalez
You know you’re gonna put your eye out with that thing…;)
Thats why I am making it remote controlled, don’t worry I’m in advanced math and I ran the numbers and it couldn’t be MORE safe! I figured out how far away to be, how much of a gas mixture is safe and plus theres the low power option! I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t safe! :)
“don’t worry I’m in advanced math…”
famous last words, or Epic Maker Battlecry?
Haha!! No, not a battle cry and although that would be some funny last words, I know they won’t be!
I want to build a system that will allow my washing machine to tweet. I am always forgetting about it, and sometimes my cloths smell because of it. With the kit I could create a way to let my washing machine remind me to put the cloths in the dryer via text.
The Minimalist Oscilloscope 08M Project
http://Blog.MakeZine.com/archive/2008/11/the-5-oscilloscope.html
One day while doing some research on something or another on the Web, I came across a link explaining how to connect a MicroChip PIC to a Nokia Cell Phone LCD Screen. Sounded cool; I had been playing with PIC’s and PicAxe’s anyway and thought it was knowledge that would be useful someday. Then I found a Nokia 5165 Cell Phone at an Electronics Flea Market (http://www.FrostFest.com) for $1.00, and at that price, I couldn’t pass it up! I knew I could hook the LCD up, but wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with it, when one day it struck me… PIC’s have an Analog Input (ADC) – I could make a very simple, little Oscilloscope! A “Minimalist Oscilloscope” – and thus The Minimalist Oscilloscope 08M Project was born.
Doing more research on the particular model of Nokia Phone I had (5165); I found this page (http://www.selbing.com/_jakob/electronics/nokia.htm) with a very similar model showing how to connect it up. I knew that soldering 0.05 inch pads and components (Surface Mount size) is very difficult from previous bad experiences, so I decide to use individual strands from 22 gauge stranded wire running from the circuit board pads to a 0.1 inch socket I had cut in half and epoxyed in place. Soldering was very frustrating; several times, while soldering one pad, I’d mess up the one next to it and have to redo it (one-step forward, one-step back.) Finally got everything soldered in place. That was with out a doubt the hardest part of the entire project!
After the most difficult part was over (soldering surface mount wires), the rest was fairly easy. I built a simple circuit on an experimenter’s breadboard, and made a simple program to test that I was interfacing to the LCD properly (amazingly, it worked first time!)
I built up the code until I had a system that would…
1. Wait for a Trigger at half the peak to peak of the signal on the rising-edge (Yes; it is a TRIGGERED Scope!), with a time out for when there is no signal
2. Take 42 measurements of the signal as fast as it can and store them in an array.
3. Display the measurements on the LCD Screen.
Yes; it really does work!
Check out these impressive specifications rivaling scopes costing twice the price (about $9 MSRP)…
* Vertical fixed at 5V full screen (or 0.5V per division, if it had divisions.)
* Horizontal Sweep fixed at (approximately) 43mS full screen when over-clocked at 8MHz (or 4.3mS per imaginary division.)
* Trigger fixed at 1/2 the peak-to-peak signal (with a time-out when there is no signal.)
* Non-portable (unless you want to carry my entire workbench some place.)
* Very Affordable (about $4.50; $3.50 for the PicAxe, $1.00 for the phone, everything else I had on hand.)
* Visible in Day Light (the LCD Backlight is not connected.)
* All Solid-State (using ultra-reliable E-Z Clip Technology.)
The Minimalist Oscilloscope 08M Project © Ken_S. 2007
Also listed at…
http://www.Electronics-Lab.com/blog/?p=2548
http://www.CircuitLake.com/pic-minimalist-oscilloscope-08m-project.html
http://www.StuartWoodward.com/items/view/768
The coolest micro-controller project I ever built is where I’ve interfaced with my home heating system, decoded the proprietary communication protocol, and now publish feeds on outside temp, inside temp, inside temp setting, indoor humidity, fan speed, etc to pachube. I now can check my feeds from my Android tablet, google homepage, or anywhere an internet connection can be found. I would love to migrate this into a compact Arduino project.
I would also like to learn more about the arduino and make the secret knock gumball machine. My aunt is getting married and she basically xollects gumball machines so for a wedding gift I would love to make it for her, but again, don’t have an arduino or parts. So please give it to me. You would not only make me happy, but you would make my friend and my aunt happy. Thanks again, Gabe Gonzalez
So far the coolest (Arduino) thing I’ve put together has been a data logging (to SD card) charge process monitor for a portable LiPo battery. Inlcudes buffering and measurement of Vin, Vbatt, Icharge (through a protoboarded low-side current monitor amp) and charge controller status bits. Hoping to add variable load-matching (power point tracking) for use with solar panel as the power source…
My plan for the Arduino is to build a fully automated meat smoker… complete with multiple temp sensors (one for the fire, one for the meat), a water level sensor linked to a sump to add when low, and finally a servo powered hopper to add smoking chips. Once the meat hits the right temp, the entire kit-and-caboodle will send me an SMS!!
Currently I have a simple, 2x one-wire temperately monitor that displays on a 20×4 LCD. I want to turn it into a full, semi-automated brewing system.
I’d like to find a way to add push notifications from just about every physical object in my life. From dishwashers and snail mail delivery, to doors opening and ovens being turned on. I’d like to incorporate all notifications into one interface for tablets and smartphones.
The snail mail push notifications really got my gears goin on this subject!
I’m in the process of building a robot using a netbook and ATmega168 where the higher level functions are handled by the netbook and the lower level functions including simple navigation are handled by the ATmega. (Subsumption architecture). The whole robot will be used for telepresence since I work remotely.
I would love to make this stunning Arduino project composed of an LED probe that measures the wireless signal strength:
http://yourban.no/2011/02/22/immaterials-light-painting-wifi/
My dream project is a plush parrot to sit on my son’s shoulder at Halloween. Noisy, interactive and glowing eyes – perfect company for the young pirate.
I’m a home brewer and want to build a temperature control system to keep track of my brews while they are fermenting. The device will monitor the temperature of the fermenting beer and adjust the temperature to a predetermined set value. At the same time I want to give this device the ability to access a network so I can remotely change temperature set points, monitor current temperature and review temperature logs from the past several days.
The coolest project i ever made with a microcontroller was my 3 axis cartesian robot made from a pile of broken old printers, some wood scraps, and an Arduino! Im building it into a Reprap, but also have plans to expand it to do CNC milling!
I’d like to help my son make whatever he wants. Probably a robotic trebuchet or something equally crazy.
I have several micro-controller based projects in mind. But, my favorite is a high altitude balloon. There is just something cool about getting pictures and video from 100000+ feet! The Arduino can assist with tracking, control cameras, and log sensor data. Help me take pictures from an obscene altitude!
I am currently building and automatic cat feeder that pushes the food up from the bottom of the bowl instead of dropping food from the top. This prevents stale food from accumulating. I was going to use a MSP430, but an Arduino would work also.
@Eric Miller
I really hope you get it, of course I want it because it would be my first arduino, I could learn a lot, and I cannot afford it but I hope you win it because I am 14 and I know that if my Dad got me something like this and did a project like this with me, that would be awesome. I don’t you to think that my Dad doesn’t do anything with me, he does a lot actually, I am just saying from a kids point of view, that would be really cool to do that with him. Hey you should try out my project, an automatic tennis ball shooter! Its easy to make and the sketch is easy to! Its fully automatic, tons of fun, you can use a hobby box or a N64 controller like me, and the amount of power you put into it is adjustable as well!
My coolest so far was a GPS speedometer and data collector that collected data in a kml format for use with google earth. My dream project is replacing my motorcycle dashboard with a micro project. Tachometer from the ECU, Error messages from the ECU, Speed from the wheel and GPS, coolant oil and air temps. and configurable multifunction LCDs as the displays.
i have ideas for the arduino like making the yobot for making yogurt with some simple parts and time i would love to have one to try making one
I have a custom Arduino board project I shared including bonus steps at the end on how to program a blank ATmega168 or ATmega328 with your Arduino sketch directly from the Arduino IDE environment using an USBTinyISP programmer.
http://www.toddfun.com/2011/01/01/making-a-custom-arduino-board-to-hack-a-christmas-photo-frame/
I have issues with water in my crawlspace and the sump pump is unreliable. I want to make a wireless sump pump controller with water level sensing, remote turn on/off and tracking number of gallons of water pumped out.
Have been looking at building a cnc router, plus looking into robotic projects with the kids.
Have been looking at building a cnc router, plus looking into robotic projects with the kids.
Considering the end date of the contest…
I could put together a “Grow-duino” to turn grow lights on and off, rotate/massage the plants, water the plants (perhaps based on the weight of the pot, or based on the conductivity of the soil), monitor energy usage, etc.
I’ve just started playing with arduino. My current goal started as a idea for an automatic fish feeder for when we go on vacation. Now my husband and I are talking about a training tool for the goldfish. Something along the lines of ‘turn on an LED, sense when the goldfish comes close to investigate, reward with food.’
My clever plan involves a motor shield, an ethernet shield, and some buttons. The main purpose is to manage my login time at the office. The timeclock for my company is a fairly simple webapp. I would use the Arduino to log into the web server, scrape the data from the web app, then use the motor control shield to raise and lower flags that indicate to coworkers whether I’m clocked in or out. The buttons would be for me to actually clock in and out, using presets. I also would use an LCD to tell me how many hours I’ve worked this for the current day and current week.
I am in the middle of planning an Arduino+Bluetooth project. The Arduino+bluetooth will detect the presence of my cellphone within a few feet of my front door. A touch-capacitance sensor will be connected to the Arduino through the door knob. When I touch the door knob the Arduino will activate a motor to unlock the bolt. Double-tapping the door knob will lock it. Keyless entry!
hmmm… if i’m not mistaken, that means that anybody who steals your phone, or even changes their bluetooth name to the same as yours, they could get in.
How would that be different than someone stealing your house keys to get in? And, I imagine it would be a pairing setup so spoofing gets much harder. Breaking windows would be easier.
I want to automate my kid’s power wheels jeep.
My one and only microcontroller project so far is an automatic watering system for my hydroponic garden. Arduino Uno controls a 24V automatic sprinkler system valve through a relay circuit. Valve opening is based upon time since last watering and water level monitor. System includes controls to open and close valve manually as well. I just screwed it to the basement wall this evening.
I want to add a MIDI interface to a 1950’s Chime-A-Tron.
I am a new Arduino user, and would love to use one to control the lights and sounds for my scratch built aluminum Ghostbusters Proton pack-computer case I am building.
I’d like to make a wall next to the patio that you could play tetris on during warm summer nights.
The coolest thing I’ve built so far was the Dotklok. Next on my list is building my own version of those 70s-type Aurora clocks (with the polarizing filters that makes the hands change colors with only white light).
Why plan in advance when you can wait until the last second and then madly construct whatever exciting last-minute project idea just jumped to the top of the mental stack?
I’d like to use the Arduino platform to teach my son about building, engineering and programming. The first project we’d build would be up to him, and his crazy little imagination. (It’s a safe bet, it’ll have something to do with Legos)
Would love to work with my sons school to build an Arduino High Altitude Balloon project to take some amazing edge of space pictures and measure altitude, temp, etc. Similar to Robert Harrison’s http://www.robertharrison.org/icarus/wordpress/ Icarus project. This would be a great start to that project, but designed for junior and senior high students.
I would like to create a microcontroller based all grain brewing system that would control all steps of the process from starch conversion to pitching the yeast. I would use PID to control temperatures for the mash, sparge, boil and cooling of the wort. I would like to also create a mechanical system that would add hops to the boil at the appropriate times and transfer the beer through all the stages. All of this would be topped off with a web interface that would allow it to be monitored and adjusted remotely. I’ll trade you a future case of beer for this kit, thanks for the opportunity.
Matt Crooks
I would really like to complete a laser light show shield for the Arduino platform. It would be really cool to have a inexpensive simple open source way to control laser light show projectors.
I’ve always wanted to build an underwater rover. I’m an arduino newbie, so I’d probably cycle through lots of useless robots to chase my dog first.
I have built, and am in the process of improving, a time-lapse camera stand, using microcontrollers to both operate a camera motion system, and monitor and maintain soil moisture levels.
The first version of the motor controller used an old microcontroller module that I had in the junkbox, but its functionality is somewhat limited. It worked for a “proof of concept” sort of build, and I’m happy with the first-run time-lapse shots, but it needs to be improved for the next version. The controller monitors the camera’s activity, and advances a motor a set amount, in order to move the camera carriage incrementally between shots. I hope to use an Arduino board for the new version, as it has far more program capacity and I/O capabilities than the micro that the first prototype was based on.
The automatic watering system is based on an Arduino Diecimila unit. After some early difficulties with the soil moisture probe – the copper was completely eroded away due to electro-chemical reactions – I have a new version that seems to be working fine. It reads the soil moisture levels periodically, and when necessary activates a home-made metering pump that I constructed from junkbox parts, fish tank fittings, and an animal nursing syringe, to maintain the soil at just the right moisture level and keep the plants happy.
So far, everything’s been working well, and most importantly, I’m learning a lot and having a blast.
Would love to use one of these to teach an embedded after school class at my sons school. Even use it to experiment with some high altitude balloon experiments. Similar to Robert Harrisons Icarus project (http://www.robertharrison.org/icarus/wordpress/) or Project Space Planes (http://projectspaceplanes.com/page/2). Now that would be fun Maker stuff.
I want to build a 5×5 rgb LED board to use to randomize color placement for Looney Pyramid games.
I’m a senior in college who is graduating in May with a BS in Economics that might be discovering a little too late where he’s SUPPOSED to be. After going through a DIY kick about a year ago when I was in a bit of a rut, I become addicted, so much so that I might have found my calling. While I have no experience with Arduino or even the language that’s used to program it, it seems like the next logical step from my own projects would be to move into Arduino use. What I would eventually like to be able to is buy and put together my own Thing-O-Matic and get to printing out trinkets I’ve drawn up, but it would probably be a good idea to know what I’m doing first. An Arduino Project Pack would be an EPIC kick-start in learning how far I can take doing-it-myself.
I’d like to create a sound and light juggling routine activated via bounce juggling.
I have long been researching everything on Arduino and seen the documentary
Arduino story is surprising, as it started it all, I love the final draft
Free hardward. I am interested in a project with Arduino, on the game and Simon Says
One would like to do with Arduino Maker Shed With their Projects pack for Arduino
can realize my plans.
My name is Jorge Aranda Gonzales de Lima-Peru, facebook.com / JAGPIC
I love to make an Arduino based word clock as my first Arduino proyect. :3
I used a Motorola 68HC11 in university for a design project to prototype an automatic buoyancy compensator for scuba diving.
I perform ecological research focusing on species losses in bees. Our lab needs to track individual bees as they forage on artificial flowers. I think pairing arduino with rfid technology could help make this a reality.
I’d like to design and build a wearable navigation system in a hat to provide a hands-off, heads-up method of finding one’s way without having to handle a GPS unit or look at a compass. Features would include a LED lightbar and possibly voice feedback, and in-the-brim buttons for input. A simple menu system would allow you to find cardinal compass directions via the lightbar, enter/select/go to waypoints, etc. and get distance/direction guidance from marked points.
All of this in an inconspicuous hat.
Arduino controlled, of course.
I would like to build a news ticker fedora. The news would come from pairing with my android smart phone via bluetooth and display a scrolling feed on an array of discrete led’s embedded in the infamous hat.
I’ve never built an Arduino project, but the coolest ones will be the ones I build with my young daughters.
Living here in Valley City North Dakota and dealing with a record flood along with a winter storm, my sump pumps have been running none stop. I have been dreaming of building something to monitor my pumps so I know how frequently they run and more importantly, if they fail. With a kid on the way, the cash is tight so winning this project would be so awesome!
I built an interface to control all my modifications I’ve done to my Commodore 128D. It uses a mega32, 40×2 char LCD, a couple of buttons, and couple of max 4066 switch chips. With the LCD and buttons I can cycle through the options and the built in nvram in the mega stores them. I put the outputs of the mega to the 4066 chips. Those chips are wired to the various mods. I can toggle the address lines on the multi-banked kernel eeproms to swap the kernels for 64 or 128 mode as well as the built in 1571. Like jiffydos, dolphindos, speeddos etc. I also have several custom autostarting function roms for 128 mode that are banked into a eeprom selectable from the LCD interface. There’s a few other odds and ends I added too like being able to toggle a couple of lines on the cartridge port, and the ability to reset the machine via the front panel.
I’m pretty sure there’s enough room left in the mega to add a track/sector/density display to the LCD for the built in 1571 drive as well as being able to control the write protect on the drive electronically instead of on the floppy itself. I’d use the arduino to do some more development on the ModCom128 as well as other projects. I’m planning on moving my 128 into a tower at some point too. My current dev setup is nothing more than a breadboard, a wallwart, and an old serial AVRISP heh
Being tone deaf, I want to build an autotuner for a guitar. Input will come from a disk piezo (that will pick up the vibration from the guitar) and the output will drive a servo motor to tune the guitar to the right pitch.
I want to create an automated dog care system. Use the arduino to time feedings and keep fresh water available. Also control the dog door opened and closed times. All controlled via IP and viewed by a web cam.
I used an Arduino to build a digital frequency interface for an old crystal controlled ham radio. The arduino controlled a DDS-60 digital oscillator, a tone generator for repeater control and a 16×2 display. I used an optical rotary encoder for changing frequencies and for navigating a menu system that allowed for 30 memory slots including an adjustable repeater offset and tones. I ran out of IO pins, so I had to make use of a bit shift IC. I obtained code from another radio operator as a starting point…mainly for controlling the DDS-60.
My current project is to try and keep all my plants properly watered. It seems like I can’t keep plants alive very long. I either end up over watering, or under watering. I want to have a moisture sensor near my plants that will tell me exactly when they need water, and when they don’t. once I get that setup, I will be setting up a pump in my rainwater collection bucket to water the plants when they need it. I’ll be like a all you can drink plant buffet. They’ll just have to ask for the water, and they’ll get it. Hopefully by taking me out of the equation they will have a chance to stay alive longer.
I would like to explore building a quad-copter. It would be my first project :)
I’d like a kit to build a radiation detector and send it to my friends living outside the hot zone in Japan.
@genenoel
I would love to make a hot tub controller that is web controlled
In school, I used an HC11 kit to make a temperature control system for a shower. It controlled the water temperature and flow using stepper motors (all that I could recycle on my student budget.) My son keeps saying he wants to “make things, like robots” but my HC11 doesn’t work anymore.
I have always dreamed of integrating Arduino into my 1975 Honda CB550 four and then possibly using a RFID reader for automatic start, using a iPhone+Arduino for my tachometer and to drive my awesome hand made led turn signals.
my dream – is to build wireless “firefly swarm” of LED-light-cubes and one “master-cube” to switch the swarm on/off and to change the modes of the light-cubes. And the power of the “swarm” must also be wireless, TESLA-like ^_^
Now my best project – Arduino as a signal generator for Chladni plate (I build it for my design studies as a concept of a pattern clock)
Automated pH adjusor for spirulina tank.
I’ve built a Wireless notice board in a week using the beautiful Arduino Environment. Also I’ve coded Digital Code Lock and Digital IC Tester. I dont want this to end here. I want to explore the UNO as well. Because of cost factor, I could not buy UNO. Hope I can get this giveaway….
I’d love to use an Arduino in an automated homebrewing device. There’s a variety of tasks that the device could greatly simplify, such as recording/tracking temperatures, and controlling the opening and closing of valves. Hopefully this would provide more time for the most important part: the drinking of the homebrew.
I’d love to use an Arduino in an automated homebrewing device. There’s a variety of tasks that the device could greatly simplify, such as recording/tracking temperatures, and controlling the opening and closing of valves. Hopefully this would provide more time for the most important part: the drinking of the homebrew.
Arduino controlled observatory.
I have created a arduino controlled device for use in healthcare simulation at a college that I work. The device runs over bluetooth and is controlled from my Android based phone. The phone sends serial data over a bluetooth connection to an enclosure that houses an Arduino/Bluetooth module/and 16×2 character display. The serial data is recieved by the bluetooth module and displayed to the lcd display for the students to see. My 7 year old son has now become interested in this hobby and we have started collecting parts to create an arduino based robot.
Built a Makerbot cupcake 3d Printer using Arduino based microcontroller. in the process of building a Prusa Mendel running Arduino/RAMPS. and would love to create/run and Ethernet/wifi connected atmospheric sensor network for co2/o2 (and other atmospheric conditions). that could be used in a DIY open source space suit (or re-breather) or enclosed habitation.
I want to build a image processor which works for sensing objects and track them.It is something similar to Microsoft Kinect minus the prebuilt algorithm which is hackable.The project which i intended to do is very unique and will be using an algorithm called Predator which is an Open Source and would like to enhance it by putting in a projector and make it a live project by connecting to the internet and would like to make it an augmented reality camera sort of stuff!i think i should deserve to win this Arduino because i never had a chance to do something big despite of having all kind of ideas.I wish i could win this.
Thank you.
I built a little arduino project once that read my email inbox and lit an LED coded to correspond to the appropriate “danger” level of my unread mails. E.g. if they were mainly work-related and from people I disliked, the LED blinked red, while emails from people I love or with good keywords made it shade towards green. It led to epic procrastination whenever the light shone amber through to red, though…
I recently got access to all the material I could ever want for free and now I really want to build a small blimp. I want an arduino and a gps to do my steering on it though.
Back in college I built an NTSC video generator and had 36 hours to do it. We had walked out on the first test in the class when the professor was an hour late, and he was stubborn, so we had to make up for it in a final weekend project. Bonus points for something tricky. Come to find out, analog video is pretty tricky to generate from scratch – figuring out output voltages, working out the timings, pseudocoding (for the first time ever in a project :) building out the board and… 36 hours later when I flashed my Arduino it worked right off the bat and I sat staring at the alphabet being displayed by this little protoboard on the TV for an hour. Felt great. Still got stuck with an A- from that guy… lots of others did egg timers, he did animated NTSC as “his” project (it was pretty slick). 5 years later and I’ve been recommending Arduinos to friends ever since who are all doing really neat projects (they’ll be along to comment shortly).
I dream of building a salt water reef heaven, for many kinds of corals and fish. It will include pumps controlled by a microcontroller to simulate waves. Not only that but it will have an array of leds lighting the tank. The microcontroller will control each individual led to simulate day, night, dawn, and dusk lighting patterns. It will also control a moonlight which will follow the real time moon cycle. I would like to program to controller to simulate cloudy days and clouds passing by, and full blown simulated thunderstorms with intensified wave patterns produced by the power heads. This is only the beginning!! There will be an automated feeding system, along with automated water changes, automated dosing of trace elements. Also temperature, ph, and salinity control through various probes attached to the microcontroller. The list goes on, the possibilities are endless!! Making this dream into a reality would be priceless!! =D
I know just enough about reef tanks that I could murder a lot of very expensive animals.
You have your work cut out for you in a long term project and I wish you well. I hope you make a Web page for this project, I’d love to follow it.
Oh, and check out http://www.garf.org/index.shtml for parasite free, farm grown corals and reef janitors.
The coolest project I have made would have to be my self balancing scooter (ala Segway). Its always a hit an electric vehicle shows and at scout JOTA events. See http://members.optusnet.com.au/a4x4kiwi/scooter/ for construction details. The one I dream of is a self balancing unicycle. I have started gathering the necessary components already.
I want to build a drift controller for my 1:10 4WD Subaru RC car. The steering will be controlled by the arduino depending of the two inputs: RC steering and side way acceleration.
I want to make an RFID dummy switch for my car. Something subtle hidden inside the dashboard. Maybe even tie the RFID into a home made key less entry.
The
The coolest microcontroller project I have ever built is a “Simon Says” game. As far as what I would like to build, my list is infinite.
I’ve long had two ideas in mind: both of them small robotic/remote controlled vehicles with camera (preferably real-time) to explore places hard for me to get to. A boat to explore small streams which criss-cross this area, or a dirigible to do similar exploration.
I’ve never built anything of this sort, though I’ve always dreamed of it. Getting something like this might kick start the process. And perhaps my daughter will be interested in helping when she’s a bit older.
A friend and i want to create a “automated home” regulating the light and using as much sun light for that as posible.
We want to regulate it via the home network. Then we’ll be able to use eg a smartphone or a “smart tv” to make it dark when watching a movie or to turn on the light when one get’s home.
I would like to build a robotic lawn mower that could be adapted into a robotic snow plow for the winter.
It would get LOTS of use here.
I want to hook up the drink shield to the ignition to my car…Safety first!
I dont undertand, why my comment was removed????
I’m a still-wet-behind-the-ears newbie, so I’d mostly be happy to just get the friggen’ LED’s to blink. But I dream of making my own garage door opener security keypad, getting my 10 year old interested in electronics by making his own alarm system for his room (to keep his 7 year old sister out), and fun stuff like that.
i’d like to create a controller that monitors the dumpiness of my plants and waters them when it reaches the right dumpiness.
it should be easy if i get my hands on a humidity censor, but i bet i’ll have to write my own driver for it… any way it sounds cool enough to try and it will be practical too.
hope to win :) later.
I want to build a little scouter that checks in in foursquare when finds a specific location!!!!
I want to use an Arduino nano to make a homing beakon and locator for Easter. The beakon will go inside a plastic egg that I can hide in a super secret place. The kids will use the audio signal from the locator to find it!
I am coding an Ardweeny from Solarbotics.com to act as a Host serial device for my Makerbot Cupcake called Bubbles. I have debugged and written the code that sends commands to set the temperature on the extruder and heated build platform. As well as commands to Stop, Zero the temps, and also to print out numbered filenames from the SD card, all without a computer. The current version is running without any display and working great, an LCD is in the works to display all manner of information.
This is currently done using an 3 pin IR receiver that decodes the specific buttons that I press on an TV remote. I am working towards building several of these for testing purposes. I hang out on the #makerbot IRC as codeXmas, drop me a line if you are interested in trying it out.
PS, just added musical code so that there is audio feedback for almost everything, so you won’t even need to have an LCD.
I’m currently teaching my sons (and, to be honest, myself) a little electronics and I’ve been hoping to get into micro-controllers soon. This would be perfect for us to “get our feet wet”
I´d modify an RC car that it would be able to avoid obstacles.
The coolest microcontroller project I’ve worked used a BasicStamp microcontroller, a 2 axis accelerometer, and a bluetooth module integrated into a football helmet to determine the maximum head impact the player received during each play. A constant stream of accelerometer telemetry was sent via the bluetooth module to a laptop on the sidelines. The laptop, running a LabView program, would receive this data and graph the impact the player sustained, highlighting the maximum impact. This system would inform the coaches of the players status in order to flag the likelihood of serious concussions and injury.
I want to automate the venting the fumes from my cat’s litterbox.
A few years ago I saw a video of a guy that was able to control the flight controller in Google Earth with his bicycle using Sun Microsystem SunSPOT Java-programmable wireless sensors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3QK1eu3q3E. The SunSPOT sensors are expensive! There’s also an app for android now. http://icruzn.com. I thought it would be cool to make an affordable version for the Arduino and in winter I’d be able to exercise inside on my bike with a trainer.
The coolest thing I’ve built with a microcontroller is a digital speedometer for my bike. It was built on a basic stamp 2 homework board that I stuck in an enclosure. The system counted the spokes as they passed in between an IRled and sensor taken from an old multidisc cd player, then did the math to give mph. The speed was displayed on a 2 digit 7 segment display that came from something else I’ve taken apart (an old stove I think). I would love to get into the Arduino world and pass my basic stamp to my kids to let them learn.
well after scrolling threw all above posts it would be usefull to build a “lame rehearsed comment filter ‘toggle” ho hum….
know what you mean. wish I had one for douchey passive aggressive troll commenters.
sounds like you need a resentment filter
I want to make a version of the old Intellivision Triple Action Biplanes game on Arduino. RAWR
I have built a Parallax Propeller based electronic learning system that also moonlights as a karaoke system. More details here http://sayanc.net/portfolio/projects.html#intelelearn
My son and I just started building Arduino projects, after the great tutorials in Make Magazine. We built a Ping Pong Ball Cannon which we demonstrated at his school yesterday. It uses the Make Compressed Air Rocket system to launch a ping pong ball from a tube. The angle of launch is automatically set by an Arduino, which measures the target distance (a plastic bin) with a PING sensor. It then solves the parabolic trajectory equation, sets the launch angle with a servo, and fires the cannon with a reed relay circuit. We had a great time – the 5th grade kids learned about a simple physics equation, and discovered that math is cool and fun. Now my son and I are both competing for our Arduino kit! We want to build more educational projects, and could use another. Thanks Make for introducing us (and a class of 5th graders) to the capabilities of Arduino. You’ve opened up a fun new world.
I really like all the new sound synthesis stuff going on in the digital and analog world, and how the two are used together. I’d like to explore the software and hardware side of synthesizers, and see how well the Arduino can handle different synthesis models. I’d start with and build on some other people’s work, like the Auduino, Piano Squealer Synth, Healer Synth (from MidiVox), etc. I’ll also look at other cool DIY synths on the market like the Meeblip and Shruthi-1.
The most exciting part of it for me would be to create new and different input methods besides just a typical keyboard or MIDI port. I think the project pack would be a fantastic start and primer to learning the basics and moving me further with this idea.
i want to make a segway with two drills controlled with arduino and a gyro.
I’m not sure what we would build, too many options, but my son wants to autonomize (is that a word?) his three wheeled scooter.
I’ve been wanting to put together a modular sensor logger for some time. Hopefully I can get to that soon.
I’m working on a poker clock, where you can see all relevant information on displays, saving round structure in EEPROM and/or micro SD card, along others features.
I would like to use it to build a motorcycle turn signal cancel for a vintage motorcycle. The original unit is discontinued and doesn’t work with LED turn signals. The original worked with a combination of a timer and distance. The arduino would work well for this. I might also use it to control a keezer conversion I am starting to house my homebrew. thanks, jc
I have a cool solar powered desk lamp I got from IKEA. But my desk doesn’t get enough sun. I want to use an arduino to point the solar panel at the sun and track it through the day so I can use my desk lamp.
A project I’ve wanted to do is to combine an infrared thermometer with a mechanical television setup to build an improved thermal imaging camera. The way the mechanical television works is that a motor spins a disk with a pattern of holes in it so that the sensor array is exposed one pixel at a time to the the subject.
The array in a mechanical tv is just a bunch of photo-resistors that measure the intensity of the light and record it for playback. I want to replace the photo-resistor with the sensor from a hand-held infrared thermometer.
For playback i would either have the arduino store the images or stream them directly to the pc where a processing sketch could be used to display the video.
Some challenges for this project would be controlling a large spinning disk to keep it at a constant velocity so the image remains stable. That would require a simple PID algorithm which the arduino could handle easily. Storing the image might require an sd card shield to store more than a few frames at a time. Another option for this would be external eeprom. The slow refresh rates of the IR sensor may require the frame rate to be dropped from a standard mechanical television or to lower the resolution. Mech TV was usually maximum 320×240 but I could lower that by 2 maybe and still get an image that is recognizable.
Recently I saw a cool project on instructables called “Garduino”, where a Arduino controlls the water and light supply to your plants based on sensor data. When I saw this post it suddently came back to my mind. I wanted to build this because I have some plants but I forget sometimes to water them :)
I never had an Arduino, so it would be my first project.
using my experience teaching disney bus drivers, helping them get the dot and experience 2 drive disney orlando,, and years at westinghouse, honeywell, smiths aerospace, etc, i dream of building a prototype similar to an odd refrence in star trek on a blind woman with a beaded sensor dress: with modern proximity sensors, i worked with someone from caltech, who first developed the first prox sensor for weapons during wwII, said he couldnt patent his second use on a car hooked to his brakes, making it impossible to hit anything, his invention would have by now saved more lives than WWII cost. i wish to do this in his memeory for use on bicycles, as belt for blind, on wheelchairs, cars, boats ,, planes,, anything that moves, including as a memorial 2 a fellow disney monorail driver and personal ffriend this would have saved. thank you.
using my experience teaching disney bus drivers, helping them get the dot and experience 2 drive disney orlando,, and years at westinghouse, honeywell, smiths aerospace, etc, i dream of building a prototype similar to an odd refrence in star trek on a blind woman with a beaded sensor dress: with modern proximity sensors, i worked with someone from caltech, who first developed the first prox sensor for weapons during wwII, said he couldnt patent his second use on a car hooked to his brakes, making it impossible to hit anything, his invention would have by now saved more lives than WWII cost. i wish to do this in his memeory for use on bicycles, as belt for blind, on wheelchairs, cars, boats ,, planes,, anything that moves, including as a memorial 2 a fellow disney monorail driver and personal ffriend this would have saved. thank you.
How can anything I suggest compete with an Arduino-controlled light-up bustier? Alas, my project is to expand the instrumentation at my house for creating an open-source/open-hardware energy and comfort monitoring system. I know there are others doing it elsewhere, but some of the instrumentation I’ve already installed is different than what I’ve seen.
I would like to use the arduino as the controller for an entry in the MAKE Volume 27 Robot Contest!
I would like to build a self watering system for my avocado tree. I planted my tree about a year ago when I started college and between work and school I forget to water it some times. I want to build a monitoring system that will check soil moisture level. Whenever the moisture level gets low it will also water the tree with no help from me.
I’v always wanted to build an ROV, but never had the money.
Hopefully this would help get me started
I’v always wanted to build an ROV, but never had the money.
Hopefully this would get me started.
I’m looking for an arduino to use for my University final year project. I’m building a robot that will go through a maze to find a lit candle and blow it out. Thanks
My coolest project was a robot that tapped on my iPod to play a game (Coin Dozer) so I leveled up very fast :) I attached a servo to a little arm that moved up and down.
I’ve been thinking of making a Cylon Eyes display with 33 or more multicolor LEDs that not only follows people in a room but also changes color based upon weather data from a Wifi weather station or weather information from the web.
My favorite microcontroller project was building a “flight” recorder for a tractor back in college.
It monitored RPM, and torque against time.
Scott
kd5njr@gmail.com
I used to live in Iceland. I’d like to use Arduino to control heating and windows in a house so that rooms that are not being used are not heated during the night or when no one is in the home. The windows should only be open for a short while during the day when the temperature is highest.
In hotter climates it could be turned around.
I started walking to work in the morning recently but I have to leave pretty early and it’s still pretty dark outside. Most of the walk is through commercial areas and drivers don’t really seem to be expecting pedestrians so early. I’d like to make something with LEDs that can’t be missed.
I live in the south where our soil is constantly moving under our foundations. I’m currently working on an automated foundation watering system that takes into consideration soil moisture not just time. The goal is to keep the soil’s moisture content as consistent as possible throughout the year. It will log measurements and actions to an SD card for historical data and to help in fine-tuning run time.
My family and I all want to work together to make an in-home planetarium.
My idea is to make a birdfeeder that snaps pictures of birds and other animals when they set off a sensor and forward the pics to my phone. Should also monitor the amount of feed still left and alert me when the feeder needs refilling.
For my Intro to engineering course we each had to build an arduino project that “Did something interesting for 30-60 seconds, with no human involvement once started”. With such an open assignment, there were some really interesting projects.
For mine, I built a pinball machine that played itself. IR beams were used to detect the balls position and time the flipper mechanism to go just when the ball was in range. There was another sensor that detected if the ball went through the gate, which would trigger the plunger to launch the ball again for another round. ‘Twas a really fun project to build:)
My seven year old, autistic, daughter is fascinated/obsessed with butterflies.
for her grade 1 class robot project, we made an arduino butterfly:
http://soaringhorse.blogspot.com/2011/03/arduino-butterfly.html
she was really disappointed because, given the time constraints we had, we could not make the wings work. I’d love a second shot at that with her…
I would make a miniature Dalek from Doctor Who. It would shout “exterminate” and zap you.
I’ve already made a LEGO robotic K9 from Doctor Who, and I want to give him a voice. “Affirmative, master!” “Maximum defense mode!”
I am working on an automated bartender, because let’s be honest how many people actually want to mix their own drinks while at home? Very few. It will be utilizing multiple inline water pumps equipped with Tygon tubing and a system of of tubing similar to a multiplexer that allows for one liquid input (from a total of 32+) to flow at a time, all controlled by the microcontroller. Once the drink ingredients have been poured into the cup, a stirring mechanism will help in mixing the drink and then the drink is ready to be consumed!
I have 4 kids who are pretty bright and would like to teach them about robotics. I would personally like to make an arduino micro-brew so that I could relax after a day of work and trying to help raise previously mentioned brood.
Control a laser diode.
*PEW PEW PEW*
I’d design and implement a “Haunted Streetlamp” at my University. It’d be a proximity-detector Plus Giant-Inductor attachment to any streetlamp. It’d cause the Streetlamp to flicker specific uncanny patterns when ever someone is walking by. If the entire attachment comes out to be cost effective, I’d build several to haunt an entire street. I’d be awesome for a Halloween Hack.
I want to build an automated windowfarm project, and post the schematics and plans. I’ve draw up the wiring diagrams, but I need an Arduino to control it. It will have light, temperature, and moisture sensors to make sure all the environmental factors are adequate for the plants. Then it will use a series of relays to power lights and water pumps. I want to add an ethernet shield to tweet it’s progress, and let you know when you need to add water.
Additionally I would like to add pH monitors and other to control proper nutrient balance.
Had a college course on robotics, we did an obstacle avoidance light sensing robot. It would search for the nearest light source, and then avoid lines until it arrived at the source.
Well we built a simple setup that monitored temperature and light and actuated a (cocktail) umbrella and/or started a fan (sort of a self-preserving micro-controller) for a class I had… I would love to build a system to launch a ball over the back of the couch for my Yorkie, my arm gets tired.
My co-worker put a fantastic arduino-based display in our front window which reproduces any color held to its photosensor in DMX lights. Naturally, I now have to show him up by making a rockin’ set of colored par-cans that sync to our office stereo system using 5 band-pass filters to trigger the lights, to further amuse our passerby.
I’d LOVE to build the wifi jammer that Lady Ada made. IIRC the jammer would block everyones WiFi signal except your’s so u could steal all the bandwidth for urself. <3 that project.
My kids and I have been working on an automated, solar powered, wifi enabled chicken coop door. Most of our tinkering so far has been with motion sensors and basic programming of microcontrollers.
I built a 12″ diameter x 6″ high 2 wheeled Line following robot that IR Sensors, wall detection using Ping ultrasonic sensors. another IR LED to trigger an external target as described in the Senior Project in my College course.
Next planned projects: Automated home lighting system (based in what room someone is in), Car under body RGB dancing lighting system, Custom DIY CNC, 3D RGB LED cube, RC vehicle
ps, sorry if this is a repeat post, as i have not seen the previous one posted
I’d like the kit so I can prototype an invention I have been working on. Basically an Open Source Vehicle diagnostics and datalogging system for older vehicles ( Pre-OBD I ) I have a vintage Land Rover and I am never sure why certain things are going on. This would include tachs in several places, thermistors, etc. etc. this device would later evolve to where it would control certain aspects of the vehicle and make older machines more efficient. The design would also include criteria for retrofitting to other types of vehicles including motorcyles,, boats and aircraft as well as the specification and layout of wires.
JOSH ObjectsUnlimited (at) Gmail (dot) com
I would like to build
– a controller for a 3D laser-scanner. (object rotation and laser sweeping)
– a controller for my electric coffeeroatser, making it possible to choose different roastingprofiles
– a wireless weatherstation where the power for the outdoor unit is coming from suncells
I was doing a food battery experiment with my students and even though we were producing enough voltage (checked with a volt meter), we couldn’t light an LED. I started working on an arduino project that would allow me to measure voltage from a food battery and fire off a lighting sequence when a desired voltage was input. The lesson moved on, and now I have other experiments to do, but when the subject comes up again next year, i will continue my efforts.
My son and I built Scream Activated Lighting ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQCCQMOdto ) for his Egg Baby’s condo, and accomplished it for considerably less than $12M per room. We gave it a few different modes, and included a Bitchen Disco for good measure. It was fun developing a goofy project for a change. Next is to replace the white LEDs with Triacs and wire up his room. He want’s to put it in his truck as well; I doubt the DOT will go for it.
I am an interaction design student. I am now working on my thesis about how technology can bring family members together, and I think that using tangible interaction along with embodied interaction can motivate and engage activities between family member rather than each members just stuck in their own little world of social mediated or self-entertainment. Arduino would be the technology would be one approach that I can use in implementing tangible and embodied interaction. I myself have never implemented anything with Arduino, but really would like to give it a shot. I would like to become interaction designer after I graduate, and Arduino is one of the technology that is widely used in within this field. Being able to have a real touch and work on it would benefit my future career a lot. :)
My Arduino project idea is to build a device that turns on the kitchen faucet when my cat, Thomasina, wants a drink. Now when she wants water, she jumps up on the counter and alternately meows, looks at the faucet,then at me until I turn on the tap. The Arduino will use a sensor (touch, or motion) to actuate a solenoid that will turn on the flow of water. The Arduino will allow me to program in a delay to allow Thomasina to have a long drink before shutting off. The device will save water since I now sometimes forget to turn off the water. I can expand the project by calculating the flow of water and the time that the faucet is on so I can find out how much Thomasina is drinking, which is a good way to monitor her kidneys. The device can also be used to allow me to turn on the water when my hands are dirty. I’ve seen many interesting projects, so I’m sure that to decide who gets the kit will be a tough decision. Thanks for the opportunity.
I dream of building a CNC lathe using an Arduino to control it all. I’m not quite sure how I’ll make it, but winning this will give me some extra motivation to learn how!
I want to say “hello world” for the first time
I actually have not yet built a microcontroller project yet, but haven been wanting to get into the hobby, and have especially wanted to build a project with my son. I’ll be honest – I would probably take a look at the different projects we could build, and let him choose one!
I’d love to use an Arduino to log performance statistics of three different low-cost solar water heater designs. I could compare the results and rate the performance of each design.
I want to make an electronic cuckoo clock.
I happen to be enamored of the powder printing repraps lately. Those are looking really cool!
Dream Arduino Project: Lawn water sprinker that would squirt people whose dogs poop on my lawn. :)
I want to make an automated camera shuttle for making RTI and photogrammetric images for use in archaeological contexts.
I dream of building a quadrotor. A flying project is pretty advanced and there are a lot of awesome things you can do with it. You can put a camera or other sensors on it, have it pick up or shoot things, move in complex ways. Plus, there are a lot of people who have made quadrotors, so it’s not out of reach. And being able to move something through space is a really cool idea.
Currently working on an arduino data logger for an art class :)
i want to make an animatronic dog kicking machine similar to the punch measuring machines you see in bars. i want to use multiple pressure sensors to give a reasonably detailed analysis of your dog-kicking prowess. it would also have audio feedback from light whimpers to gurgling and cracking noises. the readout would also give a humorous observation about your willingness to kick animals. it would cost ~$1 per use. you know you’d play it at least once.
A wearable ECG microcontroller that transmits its data via bluetooth/wifi to your smartphone and is then stored on the web.
I spend a lot of time in bed watching tv, listening to my ipod and using my computer. As a result I am constantly swapping headphones and ear buds – which get tangled and twisted; so i am building a headphone mixer with vu meters and a headphone amp section. Should make live a little easier.
My friend and I are both Android fanatics. We would like to turn his basement into an Arduino/Android controlled man cave. It would include an RFID door lock, an electric bartender, a CNC machine, and a jukebox.
My dream project is to completely automate my farm with remote sensors for pH, soil moisture, rainfall, TDS nitrogen, etc to control several crops. Also be able to manage an energy distribution system using eolic, solar and hydro power sources. Furthermore, an Arduino controlled system for managing cattle and other species in extended pastures through the installation of RFID chips on every animal.
Best regards
Jaime Lozano
jaimelozan@gmail.com
My dream project is to completely automate my farm with remote sensors for pH, soil moisture, rainfall, TDS nitrogen, etc to control several crops. Also be able to manage an energy distribution system using eolic, solar and hydro power sources. Furthermore, an Arduino controlled system for managing cattle and other species in extended pastures through the installation of RFID chips on every animal.
Best regards
Jaime Lozano
jaimelozan@gmail.com
Looking to make a few project. A wireless drip watering timer with building web server. A bicycle computer for my bike. Non of the commercial cycle computer do everything I want. And finally, use the adrunio as a controller for a Mantis CNC mill to make circuit boards :-)
Multi-Stage Coil Gun
I’ve never built anything using a microcontroller, but i am a teacher and I’d love to have one of these to learn more about electronics and give it to my geniuses to experiment with.
This is still a nascent idea, but being a car enthusiast / programmer, and a big fan of all things open source, I’d really like to build an open-source ecu around something resembling an arduino, a cheap, freely available microcontroller that could easily be modified to run on various engine types and to control different engine components. It would just be really excellent to offer something like this to the automotive community. Imagine being able to interface with your ecu in real time without really expensive software! Just grow your own ECU readout/command GUI and get it to interface with the arduino. Snap. GTRs for the rest of us :p
after reading all of these comments I feel like mine is way low on the technical side… but my most recent use of the arduino was to program speed/motor control on a brushless dc plane motor/propeller for an art installation. the tricky part was running 3 phase AC through a rotating connection, I used a stereo 1/4″ audio jack with amazing results. video of the first test here: http://vimeo.com/21542379
I am 17 years old and did some projects with BS2 microcontroller and with PIC 16F877a. Some of the projects involve control of servo motors, BS2 Data logger, and constructing RF link for data communication. arduino seems to be more versatile than using BS2 or PIC chips to construct control systems.
I programmed an arduino to read commands from the serial interface that are translated into RGB intensities on RGB LEDs connected to the PWM outputs. I also wrote a simple python library to send appropriately formatted commands.
I have the controller connected to my fileserver/htpc in the living room and I plan on using the setup as an ambient information display to show information about the weather and the status of my home network.
new maker here… just want to get a head start on things so i can teach my 8 month old the ropes when he gets older.
I have created a project using Arduino called iAndroidRemote. It allows you to control the music playing in an Android phone using an Apple remote. More details at http://sudarmuthu.com/arduino/iandroidremote
If I win the Arduino kit l, I plan to use it as a control platform for submersibles outfitted with sample collecting & environmental sensors, to deploy in the Gulf of Mexico for monitoring the “cleanup” of the latest oil spill.
I would love to build an arduino powered RepRap (reprap.org), theremin, and home light, power and audio/visual centralised control system. then there’s an arduino powered hazard-detection robot that monitors gases like CO, CO2, methane, ozone, etc. with a smoke detector that logs these levels to an SD card while prowling the house and transmitting live video to a password-protected web interface. next an arduino powered ‘hive’ of cube-shaped robots that wrk together to make various shapes. and maybe an arduino project that uses bluetooth to automatically sync my phone with an SD card in case I lose it or break it. then an arduino powered remote for the computer to do functions like go to a website, start a slideshow, write an email… which reminds me, an arduino powered status monitor of something that emails me the results or an arduino powered stock exchange monitor that displays it on a charlieplexed LED display. these are ideas that have been stewing in my head for a while, it’s good to have a chance to let them out. oh, and one last one. an arduino mini-computer that interprets input from a usb keyboard then displays it on an LCD display, allowing you to save files to an SD card.
I haven’t got particular project in my dreams…i just would like to start with Arduino and join the Revolution! :)
My cat has FIV, and hence isn’t allowed outside. For the sake of giving him some exercise and brighten up his day, I’ve always wanted to build a motorised feeding bowl, that I can hide in a corner somewhere, and will then try and run away from the cat once he finds it. The bowl is covered to begin with. Navigation can be ultrasonics – it doesn’t need to know where it’s going, just move quickly. Once the cat catched up with it and gives it a good smack on top with his paw, it’ll stop and open the cover.
I have completed “Radio Arduino”. Ultimately it will house the Edge Hill Oral History Archive to be displayed at Metal, Edge Hill Station, the worlds oldest train station still in use today. Hopefully people will enjoy listening to the archive using traditional radio controls on a portable device!
Pictures and Video at http://mycroftmilverton.me.uk/memoirs/?p=1364
currently working on a arduino controlled cnc router.
A simple wireless computer controlled vehicle.
My girlfriends cats are always scratching at the bedroom door when we are in there sleeping. I plan on making a PIR sensor controlled water gun that will shoot them every time they come near our door.
My project will be to work through the projects in Make: 25!
My upstairs neighbor is driving me crazy vacuuming 4 times a day, I want to set up a series of microphones and speakers to activate and record the noise he makes when he vacuums and play it all back at him.
I would like use an Arduino controller to make an internet-enabled cookie jar. When someone reaches in to take a cookie, it takes a picture and posts who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. When all the cookies are gone, it posts sad lonely messages asking for someone to bake more cookies.
I am envisioning an inverted pendulum bot to chase the cats around the house. It could be equipped with a laser pointer mounted on servos to further increase the amusement factor during play.
I will use Arduino to interface my recycled netbook, constructed dual manipulators and an analog image making device (details withheld intentionally) to create an interactive human/machine Artmakerbot. Human interaction with the electro-mechanical device (touch, proximity) will inform the Artmkerbot what the subject is and it will produce a temporal image that is an interpretation of that particular point in space time. Servo control, usb interface and requisit flashing LED (so you know its a robot) will be incorpated from the brilliant Arduino project pack.
The coolest thing I’ve built with a microcontroller was an art installation called “Shy Camera – Camera Shy,” which involved a web cam that used IR and servomotors to turn AWAY from anyone who approached it. It also used a Processing sketch to abstract the video feed, which was then projected.
I would love to use Arduino to control a board game where felted wool game pieces with embedded electronics would complete circuits and light LEDs, depending on a combination of player choices and random factors…
I’m a teacher, so I’d share what I learned with the middle school girls I teach. And of course I’d also share with everyone else, via Instructables and my blogs.
I would like to create an Arduino controlled laser projector to “write on walls” POV style.
I’m learning to play Roller Derby. You have to pass around fifty tests in order to be able to play (since it’s a dangerous sport, in addition to all the pads – you need to be able to trust that the other skaters are competent and safe – hence the tests!)
One of them is known as ’25 in 5′ – you need to skate 25 laps in 5 minutes. We practice this sometimes, and sometime ’10 in 2′ (I think you can guess!)
I’d love to use the Arduino for measuring my pace around the track, and checking how consistent it is – which points on the track am I slowest? Where am I fastest? Do I take a while to get going? Or do I really slow down near the end?
This would let me (and my teammates) figure out our weaknesses to get better faster! :)
I’d make a “little black box” for sky divers. Would record all their axis changes via 3-axis accellerometer, include a transmitter to aid locating them if they are blown off course, remote audio (voice) record.
Maybe this could save some future lives if it helps skydivers identify malfunctions accurately. Might also give a way for a sky diver to communicate any last thoughts. It has tremendous potential for feature inclusion. Auto chute deployment, intercom between divers, etc…
If nothing else divers would wear it because it would allow them to “replay” their dive in modeling software for posterity and skills improvement.
Looking at all the comments I feel stupid against all this engineering geniuses. I just want to learn how to use and program Arduinos, guess I will go and buy my kit.
I am going to start an environmental school club next semester in the philanthropic and tech-savvy spirit of N. Tesla. The plan is to host workshops that are free to the community. We will have pre-made bags of supplies to build the contraption-of-the-day, mostly for parents to bring their kids and get them interested in electronics at an early age, but open to everyone. The environmental part comes in by teaching the local community about how they can save power and be tech-savvy, such as helping white-wash roof tops, building heaters for during the winter out of recycled window frames, tin cans, and a dryer tubes. We wish to build cheap solar panels and use Arduino’s to regulate them, and give them back to the community. A college is right across the street, so there is no limit to the interested people (or free beer cans we can recycle!), but we could definitely use a free kit to use for demonstrations!
I want to try make a wireless musical instrument!
Because my dream is to make this* wifirobot, that the ever so clever John Bennett [JBprojects.net] created. It’s a dream for a tinkerer like me. :D
*http://www.jbprojects.net/projects/wifirobot/
I want to make a Robotic Arm that responds to Light Emission. Basically i would program the arduino to get data from a video camera. The data in this case frames, would be analyzed by detecting the object change in the frames. The robotic arm would be controlled by the arduino by using the (x,y) coordinates gotten from the light emission. Then the arm would move wherever the light moves.
No clue. I’d give it to my soon to be 12 year old son for his birthday. His grandfather, a retired engineer, is coming out to visit a month later, so they could make something together.
What I really want to do with this kit is to be able to experiment if I can build a self managing robot controller which can decided based on sensor data and other robots in a team (of other robots) on what to do to accomplish a certain task. although this idea requires a lot of hardware/Software, but always big things start with small steps, Right :).
I always wanted to try this kit, but due to some reasons I couldn’t.
My current dream – to set up a tweeting water level sensor for my sump pump, so next time it spills over I don’t get everything in the basement soaked in water again. >_< And maybe it can also detect when the temperature goes to freezing so we know the sump pump might die.
Coolest project so far – I taught my Mintduino to detect light and blink LEDs. Whee!
My friend and me are working on a college final project to end this semester, we are using an Arduino Uno for this. It consists of a product for photographers, with this product the photographer can take high speed of drops. We are gonna use a 4 x 4 keypad and a LCD as interface. What you basically will have to do is, in the keypad, enter the time you want to wait for the drops to fall and take the picture. You will have a second option to let fall a second drop, within the time you want, so you can capture that splash effect of 2 drops splashing each other. We are studying Telematics Engineering in PUCMM, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic., we are on 2 year and we hope you like the project we are working on. :D
I would think that using my arduino and motion sensors I would make a dragon puppet that would move it’s head towards someone who is moving in it’s line of sight.
Currently finishing up a VU meter LED belt. I will be easy to spot at the club! :-)
Drum machine!
Drum machine!
Used a Freescale HCS12 to build a Smart Shower System. It took in user pressure and temperature inputs.
Cool! I would love to use one of these to construct a light beam alarm to let me know when my kid gets out of bed and leaves his room!
I actually put some books and my PSP UMD’s there and all my favorites stuff in that shelf which is covered by glass. So, I want to make a lock which opens with a unique code plus a finger print scanner attached to it. It opens only if both the code and fingerprint matches. If either of them doesn’t match, the camera will take a snap and transfer it alng with the timings to the laptop via Bluetooth and I don’t want to turn on a alarm because somebody in my house may try to open that. I want to try all of this with an arduino.
I’ve been pondering a microcontroller project for a while that would control a 19 x 19 grid of 3 led cells that would display the data in sgf (Go game record) files. In short, I want to build an led Go board that can display the classic games of the masters. If I get that working, I’ll look into adding touch-pads to make a working electronic board, to play my own games.
I’m designing an interactive lightbox/activity thing (not sure what to call it) for my son and other kids w/ Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI). There aren’t a whole lot of items for kids w/ CVI and those there are are expensive. Arduino’s affordability and ease of programming seems like a good basis for it.
I want to build my own 4 (maybe 5) axis CNC using arduino.
I’d like to use this excellent little kit to make a steering mechanism for a drive on electric buggy with big chuncky tyres, which my one year old daughter will sit in and drive around the garden giving me time to do some weeding. The idea, is a rehash of the old robot mouse that follows a line, and in my adaptation, I shall either spray paint a line on the grass, or lay down a coloured lenght of rope around the garden, for the buggy to follow. The buggy will be powered by my 26v cordless drill, so will have forward and reverse and speed control….tho hopefully no ability to engage hammer action….
I have an idea to build an Open Source Neonatal Intensive-Care unit with real time regulation of temperature, humidity and lighting. The project would also provide measurement and display of infant respiration, cardiac function, oxygenation, and perhaps even monitor brain activity.
Currently building a Chilled Soil Control System, which circulates cold liquid in soil to condense atmospheric water and produce a temperature differential between roots and leaves. The delta T promotes growth and allows high altitude, temperate plants to grow at sea level and in semi-tropics (eg. Hawaii, where we live). An arduino monitors relative humidity, air temperature/pressure, soil moisture/temperature, and temperature of coolant. The arduino controls the cooling system – pumps, peltier, fans in current version. Future versions may use alternate chiller, solar power, solar tracker, charging control, leaf moisture sensors, etc. We plan to re repurpose completed electronics/software for green house control (sprouts, etc), and a distributed weather data collection system.
While I have never had the chance to use an Arduino, I have enjoyed reading about the many projects that people have been able to do with them. This, coupled with sharing my life with a person in a wheelchair, has inspired me to want to create an open hardware system for home automation and control that could be shared with the community to help those that could truly use it.
I’m in the process of building a punching bag made of pressure sensors which will act as a drawing tool through it’s connection to processing.
I’ve used an Arduino to build Bubble bot, a bubble-making robot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJC7PkBrR8Y)
I am currently working on an Arduino based earthquake prediction device. It will map and monitor magnetic fields looking for variations around 1 to 4 hz that may predict earthquakes.
I would love to build a bubble wall arduino project. This would essentially be a fish tank with many arduino controlled air nozzles on the bottom. The tank will also contain LED’s for lighting. This would allow precise control over the bubbles to create some really cool looking display pieces.
i have a lot of projects to do in mind!. for example:
– a smart grid for weather monitoring
– build a swarm ( already build 5 robots) of robots for
cooperative applications
– an web server for controling my house lights (across
the web).
– im curently work as teacher of microcontrollers and his
use
and other projects in mind waiting for resources and
tools.
Best regards.
i dream to build an early warning system for fall related injury among elderly using arduino.
I want to build a Gir robot from Invader Zim for my girlfriend.
I’d like to combine a microcontroller with my Eee PC to build a telepresence robot. I’d like to be able to use it at BarCamp and DevHouse events to help connection people who cannot physically attend. I’m involved with the School Factory, and through them, people at Sector67, Pumping Station: One, and Jigsaw Renaissance, and it would be awesome to eventually create a platform that would work in all of these spaces.
I’ve been planning an Arduino home security system. Reed switches to tell if windows/doors are open/closed, high decibel alarm, remote control, ethernet shield to check the status online, LCD display, etc. Already started some diagrams for the wiring and notes for code.
I would like to build a web based doorbell project.
The MAKE Volume 27 Robot Contest!
I’d like to make a greenhouse that can open the vent and start a fan when it gets too hot, deploy shade cloth when necessary, detect high wind and adapt the use of the vent to minimize potential for damage monitor soil moisture and water as necessary, monitor the water level in the tanks used to collect rain water shed from the greenhouse and be tied into a weather radio to close up everything in the event of a potential tornado
Before my daughter was born I had sketched up some plans for building her a Play TARDIS console. With some help from a friend we had built the shelves that were to hold all of the interactive pieces. I had bought an Arduino Demi and had started playing with XBee but shortly after she was born I lost my job and I scrapped the project. We still have the parts and plan on getting back to it but haven’t had the time. My Daughter loves watching Doctor Who on Sunday Mornings with my while Mommy is sleeping though. (She is about 18 months old.)
My wife and I are wanting to build a 15ft tall animatronic dragon.
I would like to use a microcontroller to control an electromagnet, so that a yard stick (with metal end) could be dropped at a random interval. This we would use to test response time in our Science class at our school.
I’m building now a wooden platform for an outside milonga, a tango event where people dance together to argentine tango. This will happen in my backyard. it will be an outside summery thing. I’ve been envisioning ways of the dancers interacting with both music and atmosphere lights.
I would like to have some sort of people detector ranging from something simple (it is a single couple nearby or it is very crowded?) to a full blown kinect sensor for that purpose. This device would then do simple music analysis as for example, is it rhythmic or mostly slower and melodic? it would then adapt lights and music volume (maybe some EQ/FX in the future?) according to music type and the nearby audience! This could start from something really simple to more complex stuff as analyzing dancers’ movement and adapting light dynamics to sharp movements of the dancers or the music or weighting both inputs to act upon lights and music. The options are endless! :-)
This would be my hobby arduino dream project for now. For my work, I could certainly envision it being important in data acquisition for my biological samples but I can’t talk about it here (yet!).
Great giveaway!
Servo-mounted coil gun with motion sensor tracking. I imagine it’s been done already, but I can’t get past a “Tower Defense” version of home security.
The project that I’d like to build is a Meat Smoker monitor. I would put a hot plate in the bottom of my square upright smoker and control it though a relay with two thermisters (one for ambient air temp and one for meat temp).
I also envision setting up a “smoke monitor” using a photo resister and a LED in some kind of smoke gathering chamber at the top of the smoker. When the pie plate of hardwood chips/sawdust stops producing smoke an alarm would sound.
I’m also toying with using WiFi so the alarms and alerts could be directed to my cell.
I’d like to build one that uses time of day, inside and outside temperatures, and voltage off a photovoltaic to determine when to cause the primary and slave units to open and close 4 sets of blinds in my place using dc motors. I figure it should pay for itself just in reduced air conditioning pretty quickly!
I’d love to build a robot that I can control via WiFi/Cellphone. The robot would live in a server room and manually pull computer power cables and plug them back in again. It could also double as a telepresense bot.
a networked solar powered weather station with tweet capability.
Hey! I’ve been working on something very similar for a while. Have you started?
My sons and I are working on the ‘motion activated attack creeper’. They’re huge minecraft fans and I started working on Arduinos to learn about electronics and teach them how to do the same. I put together the audio amp this weekend, will be working on a wave shield in the near future.
I made a remote start for my car from scratch using a Basic Stamp.
I’ve been wanting to get into and learn about the Arduino and programing for it. This project pack would definitely help me get started!
I want to make a data logger for tidal levels, then perhaps add other weather instruments.
The coolest thing I’ve made (so far) with an Arduino was to stack a RGB LED on top of a Lilypad on top of a Lilypad-sized prototype board then stack that on a AAA-battery-power supply, then add four resistor “legs”, making a little “sheep” sculpture (with the battery for the body and the Lilypad for the head). In addition to the RGB LED, there was an IR emitter and an IR detector by the “mouth”. I taught a workshop where the students each built one “sheep”, then we loaded a basic sketch onto it that pulsed IR out and “listened” for IR in – if the sheep didn’t see enough pulses, they got “lonely” and their LED turned Blue. Too many pulses, and they got “angry” and their LED turned Red. Just enough pulses and the LED turned Green.
I used the microcontroller in the Vex Robotics kit to create a “Wheel of Fortune”-style Halloween costume to give out candy. I rigged up light sensors that I could use to “cheat” the wheel and have it stop on “Win” or “Lose”, based on how much I liked the person doing the spinning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKDoC9c9jTo
http://www.kevincooney.com/archives/000154.php
I hope to make one that will be able to control my aftermarket radio head unit using my stock steering wheel controls via the IR ports.
I would love to build an electronic (arduino-run) scoring system for BB gun matches …. to read where the bb hits the target/backstop via sensors, rather than have to score paper targets by hand. I’ve seen it done with microphones, but I think there could be a better way.
I have an autistic son who also has cystic fibrosis and is obsessed with Doctor Who. I would love to build him a working K-9 that he can roll around his room and make talk.
I made a toy monster, controlled by an Arduino Duemilanove, and using an accelerometer to cue an animated LED face when it was pushed by kids. It was for the coolest college class ever, Toy Product Design. I’m definitely going to continue making interactive toys when the class ends.
Currently I am building a 6ft tall animatronic pink flamingo. It uses 4 servos for eyes, beak, head, and wings. It uses PWM and multicolor LEDs for the hypnotic eyes.
I haven’t done any microcontroller projects yet, and who knows when I’ll get to them. What I’d do with this kit if I won it is give it to my dad, who is REALLY interested in robotics and electronics, for his upcoming birthday. We kids are all planning to give him Arduino stuff already, so something like this would be just icing on the cake!
I’d build a device that monitors the garage door position and temperature. so it can send me an alert when i leave the garage door open all day in the winter…
For some golf carts we rented for the CMU Spring Carnival Committee I made the ignition controlled via RFID tags instead of hard keys. The arduino, relay, and rfid reader sat in a little project box on the dashboard.
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~merichar/rfid_golf_cart.jpg
It’d be awesome to add some more features like on-the-fly modifications of the accepted list of tag ids or two factor auth using a button press sequence for each tag.
Being a 3D modeler, I dream of one day building a RepRap or similar means of getting my 3D models into meatspace proper!
I’ve always kicked around the idea of getting an Arduino to help expand my circuit bending capabilities, but, as someone who is used to creating from parts salvaged from thrift stores and curbs, the price tag has always been a bit daunting.
I need to build an automated door for my chicken coop. Coyotes and raccoons are a problem here, and sometimes my daughter forgets to close the door at night.
Needs a light sensor to know when to open and close, and a couple big transistors or H-bridge to run the motor up and down. Also a couple limit switches to know when the door is fully open or closed. Hmm. Also needs a couple push buttons for manual control of the door.
I’m working on a toy for my 1-month-old nephew. It’s my first time being an uncle, and I want to inspire his curiosity early.
I’m making a foam-rubber & cloth Octagonal-Prism-Shaped body, with each side doing something different. It will, eventually, react to sound, touch, light, movement, and whatever else I can make that would be safe for him to play with.
I’ve been exploring Thermochromic & Photochromic pigments, to try and make this thing as close to a deep-sea creature as I can.
Fiber optic cable will carry light from the Microcontroller and LEDs, which will be sealed safely within the foam rubber enclosure, and it will be solar-rechargeable & washable.
An Arduino & accessories would be great for a prototype, or, perhaps, for the final product.
I don’t have a lot of money, so I’m collecting samples, scoping out discounts, and bargain shopping. Winning this would sure help me get this done sooner (I have 2 more months to finish it, before it’s no longer ideal for his stage in development… I’ve been reading a lot about baby toys).
Interactive art – hangs on the wall, like a normal picture, a portrait with eyes that move. sonic sensor subsystem allows eyes to sense proximaty of art patrons and track with eyes. Voice synthesizer has messages for viewers, depending on how close they come. Far away it invites but as you come closer it becomes ambivalent, and finally rejecting. When no one is withing range, it will do and say strange things…
I am dreaming of making a arduino project where all my house is being watched with Ir motion sensors. When one is triggered it starts a alarm and also starts some security cameras in the room it was triggered.
I want to try to make a unit that will send rs232 commands to video deck
I am working on building a expandable home automation kit. My goal is to have everything modular so that if you move it can come with you, mostly geared for college students, who want to save a bit of money on their bills.
Made a temperature monitoring system for my homebrew beer project. Temperatures were posted to twitter when they deviated from a certain range.
I am working in a low-cost WSN project and I am thinking to give Arduino a try.
I would really like to build a robot that is controlled by my brain. Using Some EEG device (like that starwars force trainer)
I also had an idea for a great april fools day prank… it would be an Arduino mounted in my top-opening mailbox with a motion detector. it would have audio with it and a servo. So when the mail man came up on the porch the mail box would pop open and closed like a puppet mouth and talk to him.
I’ve done a single project on college with Arduino. It was a Plant Care system (similar to Garduino) which was controlled by a DECT phone (that part was done by my friend).
It got me very interested so I would like to do some more projects or even give at away as a present since I don’t have much time right now (for next few months).
Alright…maybe it isn’t the coolest ever. But I have a pretty important application for the kit I plan on building.
I just moved into an apartment building. Their policy is “we don’t have a key to your deadbolt. So if you need maintenance you need to unlock it the whole day while you’re at work, or you need to be present to let us in.”
Obviously I don’t like the idea of leaving my door unlocked all day long. So I REALLY want to make a remote controlled door unlocker for my deadbolt. I need a mechanism for turning/opening the lock, another for wireless communications between the Arduino and a PC, and an Android phone to communicate with the Arduino via the server to control the mechanism. This way, when maintenance shows up, they can call my phone, and I can unlock the door when they arrive. I can ask them to press a button on the Arduino on the way out, so that it locks itself automatically after 30 seconds, OR, so that it notifies my cell phone and I can re-lock it from a distance.
Security holes PATCHED
We’re currently developing a completely Arduino controlled hydroponics hot house regulator. It will mix the fertilizer into the water, drip accordingly, measure humidity and temp, etc. We hope to also have this completely controlled remotely via a ethernet sheild.
I have recently thought about building a cluster of sensors that responds to its surroundings and records/creates patterns. Those patterns then would in turn be used to create rhythms . The wearer could then play back sections of or whole of the musical score created. The device itself would take the form of jewelry or some wearable accessory. The resultant music or melody would be stored to an s.d device.
I want to set up a self-watering system for my hops, using the Ardiuno to control a drip irrigation line fed by roof run-off from my pottery studio. And I want to make it capable of emailing me when the water barrel level gets low. And did I mention making it solar powered? That’s the plan.
I’m in the middle of making a mind controlled arcade game. Where does the arduino come into play? I’m using it to get the data from the headset into my laptop so I can get the data into flash. I’m also using the arduino to control an LED RGB strip so that it changes colour based on your concentration.
Video to prove im not making this up. http://vimeo.com/22463842
I’m in the process of building a light controller for our school’s play. It will have 6 individually controlled 120v outlets, and it is entirely housed inside of a 30 cal ammo can. An arduino will serve as the brains, and will run patterns and sequences on the lights.
I would like to create a project like powdernine’s. However in my case it is my children that constantly
leave the garage door open, and this would be a life saver.
I would love to build the mailbox notification system that you guys posted before.
The coolest project I have built is my astromech droid, gotastromech.blogspot.com. Current setup is 2 Arduinos controlling everything from BlinkMs to LED matrixs. I have a .NET controller in there as well. I mostly do charity events with R2. The dream is to start a project helping the local Boy Scouts get their new Robotics Merit badges.
I’d like to utilize a GPS sensor and build a hot or cold game played over twitter (you know the ones where you say if the person is hot or cold depending on how close they get to what they are looking for). Players would tweet their location and a hidden Arduino would listen and tweet back if the player was hot or cold in relation to finding the Arduino. The finder would win some sort of prize and then the unit would be hidden again.
I’m not sure what I’m going to make, but I just ordered the Make Bonus Arduino PDF Pack, so these parts would come in handy.
I’d love to add a bit of tech to my garden by building a device to monitor the moisture content of the soil and add water via a drip watering system when necessary. Combining information the system collects on my soil with weather data should yield some interesting things as well.
I made a power hour sketch [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Power_hour], that beeps once a minute, with increasing pitch, until the end of 1 hour, it then beeps twice to let you know that you can put your beer^H^H^H^H SODA down, and resume normal activities. Code is posted at: http://pastebin.com/PhpXUA54
I have started working some with servos now, and would love to make a robot that can strum guitar at varying rhythms. I have started working on the project, but I think I need some different servos. The main project I want to build, is an autonomous vacuuming robot, with a cat seat built in. My cat used to jump on a skateboard that we would roll across the floor, so I think a roving vacuum would be right up her alley.
Would luve to win the kit and help my son use it to control irrigation and lighting on a greenhouse project he is spearheading at his school
The best thing I’ve built is a side lit email notification sign as a gift for a friend.
When they receive 1 message the front plate lights white and says;
You’ve Got
Mail
Then when they have 2 to 8 messages the second plate lights green and says
Some
then when they have 8 to 20 messages the second plate turns off and the third plate lights yellow;
A LOT OF
then when they have 20 + messages the third plate turns off and the fourth plate lights red:
A TON OF
My ideal build would be to hook every kind of sensor I could think of up to it and make a data logging tri-corder kind of thing. Ambient sound, Radio, speed, GPS tracking, wi-fi networks, geiger counter, UV meter, acceleration, light, everything. Then work that through a processing UI of some kind to provide an infographic of my day.
i have never made an arduino project, but i just got the deal of the day in the maker shed to read up on it all so i can get started. I am hoping to make some cool servo controllers or maybe a little robotics.
i never had the means to do it financially but i want to make led matrix taillights… led rims…a secrete knock detector glovebox… sound pulse led array… amongst other various car mods with arduino.. i think this would be a good way to start some of those projects
Well, there are numerous amazing ideas already, so all I can say is, here’s why I’d love to have this kit. I have a dozen or so projects I’d like to do, but never have the money to buy an arduino kit to get started. Here are some of the projects I hope some day to be able to do:
– RFID door unlock for keyless entry into my home
– voice activated lighting, sound systems, etc.
– moisture/temperature controlled watering system
– Alarm Clock that turns up the volume on the chirping birds soundtrack slowly while also opening the blinds slowly, so that I go from pitch black to gently being woken up by the sun at whatever time I need to get up (assuming the sun is up).
– A wide receipt printer connected to an arduino that triggers a print job with my daily to-do list each morning and a print job each afternoon with our evening meal plan recipe so the device can just sit in the kitchen, automatically prints, and I can grab my to do list each day, check it of physically as I go, and my wife can grab the dinner recipe, use it, and toss it when done (so she doesn’t have to have a computer open in the kitchen while she cooks). I’m sure I’d come up with many more uses for this device (maybe even start selling kits with the software to install on a local computer in the home network).
I don’t have enough time to detail the others (still working, and need to get back to it), but this is just the tip of the iceburg of ideas I want to eventually do with an arduino kit. Don’t even get me started on the stuff I’d love to do with Lego :-)
I built a fake dashboard for a design project in first year engineering at UWO, run by an Arduino, using a modified Thrustmaster gas and brake pedal, a servo, some seven segment displays, an LCD and an RGB LED to demonstrate regenerative braking in an interactive display! We won first place :) All thanks to the Arduino! Would love some more components!
I want to make an alarm clock I can trust to go off and set for holidays
I’d like to build a device to measure the forces on roller coasters.
I want to install a facial recognition system that reports to me who’s at the door and opens it if appropriate, and the arduino would make for an awesome controller for the mechanical side of things.
OH… and a Midi Controller Drum Pad… thing
Hello World & Make! I won’t tell you much about my project- Artist Code- But, I just recently graduated from a master’s degree at SVA NYC and I’m still paying my tuition! So, I need an Arduino Board to complete a project made with water. The project is an interactive sound installation that will process real-time weather data from satellite and data from the user’s temperature. Through the auditory and somatosensory senses a deeper connection between the user and the piece will be established. Data from the user and from the satellite will merge into a sound composition. That data will also shape the form and the movement of the physical part of the installation.
I would build a Reverse Geocache. I keep reading about several implementations and have a few ideas to improve upon.
I would like to build a “robot” that could take as input a piece of paper 11″x14″ that has been folded in half (now11″x7″) and feed the paper in long ways and make 2 more folds ending up with a tri-fold ready to fit inside a standard sized business envelope. I’ve put some thought into it such as type of controller, etc. I am considering taking an old laser or inkjet printer and using it as a base and adding on from there.
I modified a cheap toy RC car’s transmitter by replacing its switches with transistors attached to an Arduino. The Arduino receives commands from a Java web server that I wrote that also serves a webpage. The webpage uses JavaScript to send commands to the web server, so the car is controllable from anyone over the internet. I have a camera mounted on top that is wireless as well that is served to whoever is controlling the car via Skype. I had been using my iPhone with Skype mounted on top of the car which actually worked far better, but my friend in Canada who controls the car for me usually likes to fly off the stairs, so I found a mini analog camera with transmitter for about $20 instead.
Here’s video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2O0pCcnRtQ
Once upon a time, I was chief software architect for DARPA’s Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System. We wrote some *really* cool software to fly these huge UAVs, but politics kept them from ever getting into the air. After scratching the autonomous air vehicle itch with a Blimpduino, I’d love to be able to take all the cool stuff we wrote and use it to fly a bunch of swarming, autonomous winged aircraft. Arduino would be an awesome platform for this project, since all of the hardware for air-to-air comms has already been baked into some nice shields. Just need a development platform to get it all started!
I hooked up a microcontroller to an rs232 bluetooth radio, and wired every switch that is in my Mini Cooper to the microcontroller and then I added up a start button and took the key out of my car. Then on the other end of the bluetooth I interfaced to my phone so my phone became my car key. I could then remotely control everything about my car except for the driving. I did this 5 years ago and the microcontoler is very outdated, so I would like to use the arduino and update my car.
When I was in middle school, I made a lego mindstorms card reader that could unlock the door when I slid a rudimentary barcode under the light sensor. It actually had a feed mechanism to accept the barcode and a touch sensor to eject it once it was read.
Using the arduino, I want to make a door bell for my cubicle that alerts me on my computer or android phone via text or interface when someone comes there so I do not jump when someone comes when I have my headphones on.
I want to automatize the whole house…
I’ve got an AR.drone and have a fantasy about mounting an Arduino and a WickedLasers G3 Elite 300mW laser on it to pop balloons…
i would love to make an automatic cake mixer that can choose from several different recipes that does it all for you up until the moment you put it in the oven. it would have to measure quantities of wet & dry ingredients, and mix them, and (shudder)….. crack eggs …… . Its practical use would be…. limited, but it would be fun to watch(it fail).
I’m entering this contest for my son who is 6 years old. He’s been playing with Lego Mindstorms for 2 years. Just this morning he told me he wanted to learn how to solder so he could make “real” robots…so I’m not sure what project he would make but I know it would be great!
Currently I’m in the process of creating a full size steampunked R2-D2. My engineering students have obtained a fiberglass radar dome shell from a destroyer class ship for the body and they have created the legs. We are still looking to employ a controller and this would be a great way to go!
I had an idea to create a steam-punk calculator, with Nixie tubes, an old rotary phone dial, and a giant lever from an old adding machine to work as the equals function.
The coolest I’ve built has been a Conway Game of Life simulation on an HD44780 LCD using the custom glyphs.
I wanna make an alarm that wakes up my 16 year old out of bed on time.
http://gardenbot.org/about/
http://www.instructables.com/id/turn-signal-biking-jacket/
http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/rfid-access-control-system
http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/vehicle-telemetry-platform
These are just some of those things i would want to make with Arduino. I really like Arduino cause you dont have to be a “master programmer” to get started with your own cool projects. :)
Unfortunately i still havent got my own Arduino’s. :/
I’ve made a pen plotter that works by recieving the serial code from Reprap and uses a ada fruit motor shield to control some salvaged steppers. Also, I made a blinking LED.
I homebrew beer, so I’d like to automatically monitor my fermentation by monitoring the bubble rate in the air lock and/or beer gravity (direct measurement or refractive index). Temperature of the fermenting beer would be tracked for information purposes. When certain conditions are met I will be notified to sanitize and prep a secondary fermenter or keg. Confirming a prompt would actuate a valve on my CO2 outlet and pressure transfer the beer to the next vessel.
I’ve been involved with several interactive displays aimed at kids and an arduino may just add that extra bit that we are looking for
I’ve been planning a giant game of pong played on a large wall by a large crowd divided into two teams. Crowd response of each team moves the pong paddles up or down.
I have a squirrel problem and would like to make a squirrel-tracking automated water canon powered by the water hose, a web cam and the arduino and associated components to help me “encourage” my non-paying renters to move on.
I dream of making props for airsoft games. I’m gathering parts to build a suitcase bomb (not a real bomb) that will have an arming and disarming sequence, count down and can be defused by cutting wires in a certain order.
I’d like to have a kit like this for my 5 year old soldering son http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/04/18/greatest-hack-yet/ who is interested in making robots and other gadgets with his dad ;-)
I would want to try to connect this to a Kinect Controller and to awesome motor and other component commands.
I would love to automate some thing in my home.
I’d like to make a few star trek like projects. Lighting and electronics that respond to vocal commands. Perhaps a motion sensing automatic door. Beyond that I’d like to construct a small interactive play area for my son. Perhaps a “space ship”. Or I could converge the two ideas and do something like a shuttle craft and have one of the front seats and control panels be for his entertainment and the other be a work space for me.
I made a full color audio spectrograph to visualize ambient sound or music. I built and connected a RGB LED matrix to an Arduino programmed to compute the FFT of continuous samples taken from an amplified microphone source. Each result of the FFT was plotted as the rightmost column of the display with color representing the average magnitude in a range of frequencies corresponding to that particular row. Each iteration also shifts the previous image on the display left by one column meaning that the final output was a continuous scrolling spectrogram. I want to scale this up to be an installation piece like 50×200 LED’s – big enough to put on a wall at some kind of party or show.
For an Aerospace Engineering class on weather balloons, we were assigned to devise our own “mission” and payload for the balloon to accomplish said mission. Everyone else in the past has done boring stuff, like measuring weather data, or taking photos of a plush school mascot in near space. My friends and I decided to take it to the next level. We are dropping from a yet to be determined altitude (ITS OVER 9000), an arduino/ardupilot, automated glider which will find its way back home. We’ve got the ardupilot and glider pretty well done, but havent flight tested it yet. We need, very badly, a second arduino to operate the balloon’s gps tracking, radio transmitter, release mechanism for the glider, and automate the recording process for the video camera that’s going to tape our glider being dropped.
I’m trying to build a quadrocopter (this is an X shaped gadget with 4 motors and propellers, one at the end of each arm of the X). With luck, I’m trying to make one small and light enough to fly in the office. If that works out, I’m going to try to build one big enough to fly a pocket camera around outside.
The thing uses accelerometers & gyros to keep it stable and control the 4 motors so it can be hovered and flown more easily.
I would like to make a compartment in a wall and put a picture In front of it and then attach a servomotor that would slide the picture on rails and the servomotor would be activated by voice control like it would be activated by something like “reveal your secrets” and after the picture moves out of the way there would be a door and it would have your secret knock detector that would slide a dead bolt unlocking the door and if they got it wrong three times it would take a photo of the perpurtrator and send it through Bluetooth to a pc and also it would slide the picture back in place and lock for 2 minutes
I would like to try and desin a romote controlled airplane that would have a camera in the cockpit to give me a “life like” view of the country. I would also try and waterproof the whole rig and put floats on the bottom so I could land in water. I would also like to put different probes on the aircraft to measure air pressure and temperature and moisture content of the air. Maybe I would even try to create an auto pilot mode with a level of some sort so the plane could fly itself around in circles.
As someone who consistently checks his email, I’d like the ability to passively monitor my email status in a more non-obtrusive way than glancing at my computer screen. Instead, I’d like to integrate an email checking system (python can check gmail relatively easily), and forward the counted unread emails to an arduino in charge of powering an led display.
The led display will mostly look like several columns of leds indicating time since last email recieved, current unread count, and perhaps something whimsical. The idea is that the led display will look very neat, and will provide a decorative piece as well as a functional informational tool. The row of leds could be in any form, such as a circle or a straight up column. And the arduino will be necessary mostly for powering that whimsical display of leds… (since I believe a lower computationally-powered device would be able to handle the first two described functions)
I have been dreaming of making a 4 color miniaturized printing press with on the fly motorized registration (calibration from one color to the next) inside of the impression cylinders. The Aruino with the project pack would be the perfect platform to accomplish this!!!
I want to create a series of lego-building bricks lit up with LEDs, each of which corresponds to a service component for an internal network. Then I want to build up those brick similar to an architecture diagram and stack them like the diagram from front end to back end, and mount it in the little cubicle window attached to my cube so anyone walking by can see the status of the entire environment at a glance.
I’m designing a weather sensor using Arduino to tell me the exact weather at any given time at my beach house 400 miles away!
Using Picaxe I made a games timer for a school project, it powered a bunch of relays, LCD panel and sound along with a homemade card reader as an input
It was a parental control that acted like a junction box between the games console and tv, through the likes of SCART, RCA etc, included wired internet cables. It had a countdown timer which it read from various times on each card and saved them to EEPROM so the kid couldnt reset it by cutting the power. The parent reset the device by typing a code in using the standard tv remote.
With arduino I would like to build a 24×16 RGB LED matrix that would act as mood light, but also react to sound
I’ve been studying up on the arduino for a while now but don’t have the funds to buy one, So until I either get the cash to buy one or get lucky and win the giveaway, I’ll just keep researching the possibilities and filling my brain with ideas on how to utilize it when I get one.
The coolest microcontroller project I have built to date was a control system for a remote control truck. We used the camera from a wiimote and turned it into a “laser guided” truck. You shine a laser pointer in front of the truck and it follows the laser.
I want to make a motion activated sound box to go with my daughters rocking dinosaur. I also want to make a web enables programmable thermostat to control my heat and AC.
I will make my own “YPS”, or Yard Positioning System, using ultrasonic emitters, to guide my arduino powered automatic electric lawnmower. For real.
I always wanted to build and code/animate my own 8x8x8 LED Cube. Best night-light ever!
To tell you guys the truth I an a total NOOB when it comes to Arduino. I saw some of the Make projects and I was hooked. I finally got one and I havn’t been able to stop. What I dream to build is an intire Arduino controlled mini-golf course. I’m talking windmills, obsticles, and even something to help you keep track of your score.
definitely a control box for my smoker … or at least an internet-enabled remote thermometer.
I am a weaver and new to building microcontroller projects. Am curious to see if I can apply it to weaving. Also, Wednesday is my birthday!
I already made a scrolling LED display and would like to try to expand this idea and make it bigger. Either that or build a central control system for various functions for my car like the Jeep Control panel based on the arduino.
admittedly, I am a total newbie to the arduino. but after reading the maker post “the art of productive procrastination”, i decided that I would give myself a practical goal and project in order to dive in and learn some arduino.
I would like to craft a tool that helps my paralyzed friend navigate his apartment better. my friend Alex is confined to a motorized chair, and while the chair aids him in getting around, closed doors sometimes hamper him until a more able-bodied person can assist him in opening the doors. I’d like to create a way to set up sensors near the doors, which then open the door and keep them open long enough for him to pass through, then close again. this would enable alex the mobility within his apartment that he hasn’t been afforded since his confinement to the chair.