What would you get if you crossed a gigantic Christmas tree ornament with an LED strip and Arduino/IMU control? Perhaps you’d come up with something akin to this colorful “RGB LED Ball” by James Bruton.

The device features eight curved supports along with a central hub assembly, forming a structure for APA102 RGB LED strips. Each of these is linked together via wiring that winds through the central hub making them appear to the Arduino Mega controller as one continuous chain of lights. 

Several animations can be selected with a pair of control buttons, and the ball even responds to movement using an MPU6050 IMU onboard. Files for the build are available on GitHub.

Stroboscopes produce carefully timed pulses of light in order to make a rotating object appear still. While this may seem like something of an exotic concept, YouTuber Mr. Innovative decided to build his own using an Arduino Nano.

His project uses a PN2222A transistor to drive a 10W LED, which acts as the device’s light source. The spinning RPM is set via a potentiometer, and a small OLED provides user feedback.

As shown in the video below, the stroboscope is able to cause a sign spinning around on a fan to appear nearly stationary. If you’d like to create you own, Arduino code is available here.

Underneath the sea are a wide variety of strange and amazing animals. Perhaps none more so than the anglerfish, with its characteristic light-up lure in front of its face. Club Asimov decided to recreate this fish in a steampunk style, using a linkage system to actuate the tail, and another to open and shut its menacing mouth.

Three stepper motors provide power for the fish’s movements, and two Arduino boards are used for control. Additionally, the fish’s lure illuminate to attract human observers, along with a heart that rhythmically lights up.

You can see this mechanical marvel in action in the first video below, while the second provides background on how it was made.

Instructables user “r570sv” needed a marker to find his way back to camp at Burning Man 2018, and decided to make a trio of LED dancing robots that could be raised high up on a pole. The idea is that he could see this from anywhere in the desert, making it great for this particular event—and perhaps for later expeditions, such as beach camping.

The robots were bent out of 1/8” steel wire, with single-color red LED strips affixed to it using zip ties. Three robotic panels are sequentially lit up using an Arduino and a bank of relays to form animations, similar to a neon sign. The flagpole used to raise the animated sculpture was affixed to his truck, creating a sturdy base as well as convenient source of 12V power.

I wanted to make something so I could find our camp at night at Burning Man 2018. 2018 was a robot theme and I’m a fan of neon but no way was gonna head that route so I came up with an idea about a dancing cocktail glass kinda robot.

We beach camp and have sand rails so I know how useful flying some kind of flag can be during the day and some kind of LED light pole is at night. So I figured, use it an burning man and keep using when we go to the beach.

So using metal and welding is in my wheel house and I’m good with Arduinos so that’s the medium that I chose to implement this project in.

As reported here, digital artist Matthias Dörfelt has created an art vending machine in an attempt to increase awareness around blockchain possibilities, as well as how we handle our personal information.

Face Trade, now on display at Art Center Nabi in Seoul, takes the form of a large vaguely face shaped box. When it detects a human in front of it, the installation invites the participant to swap his or her face for art, confirmed using a large yellow button that connects to the system’s computer via an Arduino.

Once confirmed, Face Trade snaps the person’s picture and uploads it to a blockchain in exchange for a computer generated facial image. The resulting art’s conflicted expression is meant to signify the good and bad possibilities that can come out of using this technology. For their trouble, participants also get a receipt showing their captured headshot that now appears along with each transaction on itradedmyface.com.

Face Trade consists of a camera flash, webcam, receipt printer, inkjet printer, computer, speakers, LCD screen, button and an Arduino (to control the button, LCD screen and camera flash).

The main application that ties everything together is written in Python. It uses OpenCV to do basic face tracking and take the images. All the Ethereum related things were done using web3.py which is the official python version of web3 to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. The receipt printer, inkjet and Arduino are controlled via Python, too. The process is comprised of taking a picture, uploading it to the blockchain, passing the resulting transaction hash to the face drawing generator that uses it to seed the random numbers (so that each face drawing is uniquely tied to the transaction that it belongs to), printing the resulting drawing and finally printing the receipt.

In a new take on haptic navigation, makers Vojtech Pavlovsky and Tomas Kosicek have come up with a novel feedback system called the “Ariadne Headband.”

This device—envisioned for use by people with visual impairments, as well as those that simply want to get around without looking down at a phone while walking or biking—uses four vibrating motors arranged in a circle around the wearer’s head to indicate travel direction.

An Arduino Nano provides computing power for the setup, along with a compass module and a Bluetooth link to communicate with a companion smartphone app. The Ariadne Headband is currently a prototype, but this type of interface could one day be miniaturized to the point that it could be placed in a hat, helmet, or other everyday headgear.

Project Ariadne Headband is made out of two parts: headband and control app. The common usage flow is following. First, you open Ariadne Headband Android app. Using this app you connect via Bluetooth to your Headband. Next, the app will ask for you current GPS location. Then you open Google Maps integrated into our app and select your destination (place where you want to go).

Our Android app will compute the geographical azimuth from your current location and chosen destination. When you are ready you start navigating by pressing a button that sends computed azimuth to the Headband you put on your head.

Headband consists of Arduino Nano board, GY-271 compass module, HC-06 Bluetooth module (we selected this module only for local availability and will switch to BLE soon) and 4 vibration motors. Compass module allows us to know current azimuth, that is where is the user looking. All components are placed into a small box on back of your head. Our aim in the future will be to make this as small as possible so you will not even feel it. It is also possible to place everything into a hat or helmet for example instead of rubber headband. We are using rubber headband because it is very easy to manipulate.

Vibration motors around your head are placed in set directions so they can signalize where you should head. Your heading is computed by taking your current azimuth and the azimuth sent from android app (that is where you are currently going and where you should go, respectively).

We’ve seen different versions of robotic bartenders over the last few years, but this one by DIY Machines looks quite clean, and because of its battery-powered operation can be taken anywhere.

The device works like a simple CNC machine, using a stepper and pulley setup to transport a glass between one of six upside down bottles. When it’s in the correct position, two more stepper motors push a lifting assembly into the selected bottle’s dispenser valve, emptying the correct amount of liquid into the glass. An Arduino Uno is used for control, with user interface provided via a Bluetooth module and smartphone app. 

More videos and build instructions can be found in the project’s write-up, while Arduino code is available here.

Most people accept that a wheelchair is, in fact, a chair with wheels. This, however, didn’t stop recent Galileo Galilei Technical Institute graduate Davide Segalerba from turning this concept on its head and producing a “wheelchair” scale model driven instead by a pair of treads. 

This concept was inspired by Segalerba’s experience using a wheelchair himself while recovering from multiple surgeries, observing that our environment isn’t always conducive to wheeled transportation.

An Arduino board controls the device, and user input is via a joystick, or from a smartphone app over Bluetooth. You can read more about the projector on Wired Italia or translated to English here.

When you need a high-quality image, it’s hard to beat the resolution and lens options of a DSLR. But what if you want to take a photo over and over at set intervals to produce a time-lapse sequence? You could purchase an intervalometer, or make one using an Arduino Nano.

The device shown in the video below uses a 2.5mm audio plug for the input to a Canon T2i camera. An opto-isolator is activated by the Nano, connecting the ground (base) and tip (shutter) pins. Intervals are set via a 4-position DIP switch, allowing photo intervals of 5, 10, 30, and 60 seconds—or any combination thereof.

While the functionality shown is quite basic, the setup could be adapted for other timing patterns, or even for use with a sensor. Build instructions are available here, and you can find code and the 3D-printed base on GitHub.

If you don’t want to carry keycard or memorize a passcode, this build from Electronoobs might be just the thing. 

The system uses a fingerprint reader to check to see if you have access, and if approved, the device’s Arduino Mega unlocks the theoretical door using a micro servo motor. Three push buttons and a 16×2 LCD screen complete the user interface, and allow more authorized fingers to be added with the main person/finger’s permission.

While you might question the security gained by a hobby servo, the video notes that this could trigger any sort of security device, perhaps via a relay or electromagnetic coil lock. Besides security, the build gives a good introduction to Arduino fingerprint scanning, as well as the use of an SD card for data logging functions.