There are a wide variety of ways to create electronic music. For a capable machine that fits in the palm of your hand and is loud enough to use outdoors, however, it’s hard to imagine a battery-powered device cooler than Bitty from Curious Sound Objects. 

The pocket-sized drum machine and synthesizer, currently on Kickstarter, was prototyped using an Arduino Nano and will be fully Arduino-compatible when released. This means that in addition to changing the sound and interface around with readily-available sound packs—which include Theremin Bitty, Techno Bitty, Basement Bitty, Trap Bitty, Lofi Bitty, and Beach Bitty—it can be programmed with the Arduino IDE. The device can even run sound software written for other Arduino boards.

Bitty features four sample trigger buttons, a pair of knobs, and a speaker. Designed for entry-level EDM enthusiasts and studio musicians alike, you can play the drums and melodies manually, as well as trigger patterns to produce dance music or hip hop beats. These can be chosen via the left knob, while the right knob handles pitch, note selection, and arpeggiation.

Check it out in action below!

[Dave Akerman]’s interest in high-altitude projects means he is no stranger to long-range wireless communications, for which LoRa is amazingly useful. LoRa is a method of transmitting at relatively low data rates with low power over long distances.

Despite LoRa’s long range, sometimes the transmissions of a device (like a balloon’s landed payload) cannot be received directly because it is too far away, or hidden behind buildings and geography. In these cases a useful solution is [Dave]’s self-contained LoRa repeater. The repeater hardware is simple, and [Dave] says that if one has the parts on hand, it can be built in about an hour.

The device simply re-transmits any telemetry packets it receives, and all that takes is an Arduino Mini Pro and a small LoRa module. A tiny DC-DC converter, battery, and battery charger rounds out the bill of materials to create a small and self-contained unit that can be raised up on a mast, flown on a kite, or carried by a drone.

The repeater’s frequency and other settings can even be reprogrammed (using a small windows program) for maximum flexibility, making the little device invaluable when going hunting for landed payloads like the one [Dave] used to re-create a famous NASA image using a plastic model and a high-altitude balloon. Check out the details on the GitHub repository for the project and start mashing “add to cart” for parts at your favorite reseller.

Consider that a digital camera uses an array of sensors to capture light from an object. Maker Marcio T, however, decided to turn this idea on its head and instead use an array of lights that are detected by a single sensor.

The way it works is that as each LED in a 32×32 matrix illuminates, a phototransistor picks up light if the path is clear or sees no change if the path is blocked. So when you put an object on the matrix, the sensor is able to get an accurate picture of it, enabling its Arduino Uno controller to then generate its silhouette. 

It’s a simple yet very clever hack, and if you pay close attention in the video below, you can see the lights scanning from the bottom to top before the image is produced.

Ordinary digital cameras work by using a large array of light sensors to capture light as it is reflected from an object. In this experiment, I wanted to see whether I could build a backwards camera: instead of having an array of light sensors, I have just a single sensor; but I control each of 1,024 individual light sources in a 32 x 32 LED matrix.

The way it works is that the Arduino illuminates one LED at a time, while using the analog input to monitor changes in the light sensor. This allows the Arduino to test whether the sensor can “see” a particular LED. This process is repeated for each of the 1,024 individual LEDs rapidly to generate a map of visible pixels.

If an object is placed between the LED matrix and the sensor, the Arduino is able to capture the silhouette of that object, which is lit up as a “shadow” once the capture is complete.

Arduino boards have been employed in all sorts of robotics and IoT applications, although working with air as a power source is less than straightforward. In order to make this experience easier, the Programmable-Air pneumatics kit puts everything you need for simple air power experimentation into one package.

It features pressure and vacuum pumps, as well as pneumatic valves and a pressure sensor. An Arduino Nano is implemented as the controller, and a custom library is available here, so programming should be a snap. 

Programmable-Air has a built-in high-pressure pump, vacuum pump, pneumatic valves, pressure sensor, and an Arduino Nano. The output from Programmable-Air is a single tube that goes into your soft robot or pneumatic actuator. By controlling the motors and valves, you can push air in or out of the actuator, or let it exchange air with the atmosphere. All the while you get feedback about the state of the actuator through the pressure sensor.

The kit is coming soon to Crowd Supply, so be sure to sign up there to be notified when it goes live!

If you’re like most of us, you have about twenty browser tabs open right now. What if there were a way to move through those tabs with a physical interface? That’s what [Zoe] did, and it’s happening with the best laptop ever made.

The hardware for this build is simply an Arduino and a rotary encoder, no problem there. The firmware on the Arduino simply reads the encoder and sends a bit or two of data over the serial port. This build gets interesting when you connect it to a Firefox extension that allows you to get data from a USB or serial port, and there’s a nice API to access tabs. Put all of this together, and you have a knob that will scroll through all your open tabs.

This build gets really good when you consider there’s also a 3D printed mount, meant to attach to a Thinkpad X220, the greatest laptop ever made. At the flick of a knob, you can scroll through all your tabs. It’s handy if you’re reading three or four or five documents simultaneously, or if you’re just editing video and trying to go through your notes at the same time. A great invention, and we’re waiting for this to become a standard device on keyboards and mice. Check out the video below.

When you need to take a measurement for a project, there are a wide variety of off-the-shelf devices available. Or you can make one exactly to your specs, like Patrick Panikulam did with his “Digital Multi-Function Measuring Tool.”

This Arduino-controlled gadget employs an MPU-6050 accelerometer / gyroscope that lets it act as a 2D level, as well as a digital protractor after zeroing it at a starting point. The unit also features straight-line measurement capabilities via an IR distance sensor, and even has an encoder/wheel that can measure rolled distance when that isn’t convenient.

Power is provided by a rechargeable battery, and the entire thing is packaged in a nice wood and carbon fiber facade. Check out the demo video below, or you can find more details on how to build your own here.

Off-the-shelf remote-controlled cars can be a lot of fun, but Clem decided to take things up several levels with his heavily modified rig. 

In the hack shown below, he outfitted an RC vehicle from the ’80s with an FPV camera, along with a MKR WiFi 1010. The WiFi-enabled MKR board was linked with a second ‘1010, controlled by a (formerly) broken PS1 racing wheel.

While old technology, this racing wheel is perfect for Arduino use, with steering, brake, and gas handled by potentiometers that are fed into analog inputs. The 2.4 GHz WiFi link between the MKR boards appears to work quite well when driving with an FPV headset, though “somehow” a wheel on the original car did manage to fall off during testing!

Clem scored a broken steering wheel for the PlayStation 1 (yes the first one) at a flea market. Thankfully it is broken so he decided to turn it into an RC transmitter for his old Remote controlled Car! Learn how to use the Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 to make your own transmitter and receiver from scratch! It even supports FPV head tracking! What features would you like to add into the system? 

Nikodem Bartnik enjoys running, as well as making things, and he’s been able to combine both pursuits in the form of an ultrasonic race timer. 

The device is placed at the finish line and mounted to a tripod. Once a runner gets into position, the start of the sprint is signaled with the beep of a small speaker.

Everything is controlled by an Arduino Nano, while user feedback is provided via a small ePaper display. A pair of buttons also enable the runner to adjust the distance from 50m to 1km.  

Although Bartnik is still no Usain Bolt, he’s planning to practice and hopefully improve his 100m dash time. Code is available on GitHub if you’d like to build something similar, along with 3D print files for the enclosure on Thingiverse.

Pictures can be a great way to record an object or project, but typically only does so in one perspective. In order to capture things in three dimensions, you’ll need to be able to snap multiple photos and stitch them together with software.

To take all the photos required for this process, “thomas_openscan” has come up with an automated device that rotates the object as needed, allowing him to capture images using a DSLR camera or even smartphone.

An early prototype is shown here, which actually moves a phone around the scanned object. The later, more refined version manipulates the object itself using an Arduino Nano and a pair of drivers to control a pair of bipolar stepper motors. 

More information is available here and over on Thingiverse, and can be purchased or built depending on your needs.

When filming your projects—or day-to-day life—static shots can be fun, but having a moving perspective often looks even better. The challenge is keeping the camera pointed at your subject, which maker Saral Tayal addresses with his automated slider.

This Arduino Uno-controlled slider is powered by a pair of brushed DC motors with encoders attached for feedback. One pulls the camera along a pair of rails on a set of linear bearings, while the other adjusts the camera’s horizontal angle using trigonometry to keep a particular object in-frame. 

Code and print files are available in Tayal’s write-up, and some beautiful resulting shots with an explanation of the project can be seen in the video below.