Ping pong balls have long been known as excellent LED diffusers, but few have taken this technique as far as Thomas Jensma. His colorful clock features 128 LEDs, arranged in an alternating pattern, and housed in a stretched-out hexagonal wood frame.
For control, the device uses an Arduino Nano, along with a RTC module for accurate timekeeping. Demos of the clock can be seen below, cycling through numbers and testing out the FastLED library.
Code for the build is available in Jensma’s write-up. This also includes tips on using table tennis balls as diffusers, as well as how to create an orderly array out of these spheres—useful in a wide range of projects.
This year’s Arduino Day, held on March 16th, consisted of 659 celebrations across 106 countries with talks, project exhibitions, open activities, workshops, live demos, hackathons, and Ask the Expert sessions.
The Official Arduino Day event took place in Milan, in collaboration with Manifattura (see photos), where Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante unveiled some important figures on Arduino, including the number of IDE downloads over the last year (28M), active users (863K), and Forum contributors (762K). They also presented the latest additions to the MKR family — the MKR GPS Shield, the MKR RGB Shield, the MKR ENV Shield and the MKR THERM Shield — as well as announced the development of the Vidor Visual Composer.
Were you unable to join us in Italy or tune in to the Arduino Day live stream? Well, we’ve got some good news. You can watch the event in its entirety below, including the AMA with Massimo Banzi!
We are immensely proud of the amazing success of Arduino Day 2019, and we want to THANK all of the communities that helped make this special occasion possible. Already looking ahead to next year? Mark your calendars, because Arduino Day 2020 will be taking place on March 21st. In the meantime, don’t forget to share any images or videos of your Arduino Day fun with the hashtag #ArduinoD19!
Michael Sobolak was inspired by the hardware dedicated to Ableton digital audio software, along with the DIY MIDI Fighter pads that others have constructed, to make his own light-up version.
His device is cut out of ¼-inch MDF, housing a 4×4 array of main buttons, 18 smaller buttons on the bottom and eight potentiometers, four of which are surrounded by NeoPixel rings.
To handle this massive array of inputs, he turned to the use of multiplexers, creating a spaghetti-like—though functional—wiring arrangement hidden underneath. The pad uses an Arduino Uno to control the NeoPixels, while a separate board is tasked with the MIDI interface.
You can see Sobolak’s project crank out music in the video below, with LEDs that react to potentiometer input settings.
Arduino boards are used in a wide—massive even—variety of projects. Sometimes, however, all you need is something to give your project the ability to blink an LED, sound an alarm, or accomplish some other simple task.
For this purpose, maker Jeremy S. Cook has developed a sort of standard method for using these devices, with a 4-position DIP switch soldered to inputs D9-D12, and a double-CR2032 battery pack attached with shrink wrap.
This standardization makes for a very compact setup that can be implemented in a project very quickly. The configuration also highlights the use of “INPUT_PULLUP” in Arduino code, with switches wired to ground. Cook’s technique avoids floating inputs without the need for external resistors.
Arduino Day is quickly approaching and we are blown away by the amazing support of the Arduino community, with over 620 events in more than 100 countries scheduled for March 16th.
As recently announced, the Official Arduino Day (register here)—directly organized by the Arduino team—will be held in Milan at the Milano Luiss Hub for Maker and Students, in collaboration with Manifattura Milano Camp.
The agenda of the official event includes an exhibition of Arduino projects, free kids activities, several keynotes by Arduino team members, and last but not least, an ‘Ask Me Anything’ with Massimo Banzi. The talks and the AMA will be live streamed via Arduino homepage, YouTube, and Facebook.
Here’s a look at the Official Arduino Day’s program:
11 AM (CET): Doors open and exhibition of Arduino projects, in collaboration with WeMake
2:30 – 5:30 PM: EDU activities for children ages 5 to 15
1:45 – 3:15 PM: Talks by local makers, in collaboration with WeMake (in Italian)
3:30 – 5:30 PM: Keynotes by the Arduino team. These sessions will be streamed on Arduino’s homepage, YouTube, and Facebook.
3:30 – 3:35: Welcome by Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante
3:35 – 3:50: The State of Arduino with Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante
The AMA will also be streamed on the Arduino homepage, YouTube and Facebook. Have a question? Please register on the Arduino Forum and submit it by 6:45 PM (CET) at this link.
We look forward to celebrating Arduino Day with everyone! In the meantime, don’t forget to share your events on social media using the hashtag #ArduinoD19.
Mancano poche ore ad Arduino Day, e siamo grati ed emozionati per l’incredibile supporto della nostra Community, che organizzerà nella giornata del 16 Marzo 2019 oltre 620 eventi in oltre 100 nazioni.
Come annunciato di recente, Official Arduino Day, ovvero l’evento direttamente organizzato dal team Arduino (registrazione qui) si terrà a Milano presso Milano Luiss Hub for Maker and Students (Via Massimo D’Azeglio, 3 – zona Porta Garibaldi), in collaborazione con Manifattura Milano Camp.
L’agenda dell’evento ufficiale include una mostra di progetti Arduino, delle attività edu per bambini/e teenager dai 5 ai 15 anni, un programma di talk con il team Arduino e, infine, una sessione di Ask Me Anything con Massimo Banzi. Le talk e l’AMA saranno trasmessi in streaming sull’homepage di Arduino e sui canali Youtube e Facebook .
Ecco il programma di Official Arduino Day a Milano:
11.00 AM: Open Day e mostra di progetti Arduino, in collaborazione con WeMake
1.45 – 3.15 PM: Community Talk a cura di maker locali, in collaborazione con WeMake
2.30 – 5.30 PM: Attività educative per bambine/i e teenager. Le attività sono gratuire e continuative, non serve prenotazione.
5-8 anni: Laboratorio di pasta modellabile conduttiva Anche i più piccoli possono giocare con l’elettricità! Con la pasta modellabile si può dare spazio alla manualità e alla creatività, con (in più) la magia dei led!
8-12 anni: Laboratorio di tinkering “Voglio Fare l’Inventore” Oggi tutti possono fare gli inventori! Flussi di energia, luci, suoni e movimenti non sono mai stati così facili da realizzare. Programmando con i sensori e attuatori, si possono costruire un’elica, un semaforo e addirittura un braccio robotico.
12-15 anni: Laboratorio di robotica “mBot and basic robotics” I robot sono tutti intorno a noi, non solo umanoidi ma anche automobili ed elettrodomestici! Con un’ app, cacciaviti e un pizzico d’ingegno, è possibile imparare le prime mosse per dargli vita e controllarli!
3.30 – 5.30 PM: Talk con Massimo Banzi e Arduino team. Le talk saranno disponibili via streaming sui canali social Arduino.
3.30 – 3.35: Welcome con Massimo Banzi e Fabio Violante
3.35 – 3.50: The State of Arduino con Massimo Banzi e Fabio Violante
Anche l’AMA (Ask me anything) sarà trasmesso in streaming sulla homepage di Arduino e sui canali Youtube e Facebook. Vuoi fare una domanda? Per favore, registrati sull’Arduino Forum e invia la tua domanda entro le 6.45 cliccando qui.
Non vediamo l’ora di festeggiare Arduino Day, nel frattempo non dimenticarti di condividere il tuo evento sui social con l’hashtag #ArduinoD19.
Rubik’s Cubes seem to have been most popular in the 1980s, but never really went away. As such, if you have one lying around your house unsolved, why not ‘simply’ construct a machine to do this for you?
One possibility is the Q-Bot, outlined here. While it won’t break any world records, it’s a solid-looking assembly that appears to be relatively easy to build.
The Q-Bot features six NEMA 17 stepper motors, four of which turn one face at a time. When needed, the other two use timing belts to alternatively pull opposed stepper motor pairs back, allowing the other two to rotate the entire assembly. An Arduino Mega is utilized to control the steppers via a custom shield, with a computer running the Kociemba’s Algorithm.
If you’ve ever considered constructing your own wireless RC transmitter, be sure to check out this build by Electronoobs.
The device uses an nRF24L01+ module to transmit inputs from a pair of joysticks and toggle switches, along with an Arduino Nano for interface and control.
What sets this project apart from his previous versions, however, is the very nice 3D-printed enclosure for the electronics and a pair of high-quality joysticks that allow for precise input.
Additionally, Electronoobs’ latest design features tuning buttons to properly center the sticks, and an OLED display to show the actual input value that it’s sending to the receiver (a simple Nano/nRF24L01+ setup for demo purposes).
Yes, I’ve made another radio controller. Why? well, I wanted to have a more commercial look. So, I’ve designed a 3D case, then I’ve used some high quality joysticks in order to have better analog read, It has an OLED screen so we could see the data we send and we could also digitally adjust the data. It also has 2 modes, linear and exponential
When your car door isn’t shut quite correctly, you’ll normally look down at the dash to see what the problem is. What if, instead of a small 2D picture of your doors, you had a tiny actuated version of your vehicle on your dash?
Mathis Ochsenmeier’s Analogous Door Display is exactly that. It mirrors his VW van’s front and rear doors using an Arduino Nano to take in sensor information and actuate three servo motors to mimic door positions.
Now when the van’s front doors or rear hatch open or close, the little van on the dash’s doors follow suit—both a useful diagnostic tool, and an entertaining model.
While you may or may not want a gigantic backlit skull cutout haunting the wall of your workshop, this was perfect for Jay and Jamie of the “Wicked Makers” YouTube channel.
Their device is cut of two 30” squares of plywood with a CNC router. This forms a base layer that holds everything off the wall, while an outer layer provides a nice circuit/skull texture.
They affixed WS2812B LED strips to the base layer, controlled by an Arduino Micro. These strips shine off the wall for a glow through the edges, along with circuit board style cutouts inside the skull, diffused using wax paper.
Arduino code and the circuit diagram are found in the project’s write-up if you’d like to construct your own!
While you might see a CRT by the side of the street and think noting of it, Ryan Mason has come up with a novel use for five of them in a row called the Cathode MK1.
This set uses the Unity game engine along with an Arduino board to spread games across five tube TVs arranged side-by-side.
In order to keep project costs down, Mason’s gaming rig is restricted to displaying a game signal on one TV at a time. This makes gameplay even more interesting, especially considering that the way that each TV handles a loss of signal contributing to the experience.
Several games are available for this unique system, including Long Pong AKA Pooooong, where a ball bounces from screen to screen as shown in the clip below.
