If you have an unused Teddy Ruxpin lying around, you’re in luck. This hack from “Jayden17” turns the iconic ’80s toy from a fancy tape player into your own talking bear assistant!

The build started out with obtaining one of these vintage bears and fixing up the internals, as well as equipping it with a new speaker. An old smartphone was then added, running Google Assistant to take and answer queries. An Arduino Uno is tasked with translating the amplitude of incoming sound into mouth movements with the help of a motor shield.

If you can get your hands on one of these animatronics toys, it’s a relatively simple hack and something that could work with any sort of voice assistant or audio input. Check it out in the video below! 

After being inspired by an Old Spice commercial where actor Terry Crews plays music with his muscles and EMG sensors, hacker Julio David Barriga decided to do the same thing using an Arduino. 

While Crews’ setup involves an entire one-man band, Barriga’s system is greatly simplified, detecting the amplitude of the electrical signals emanating from his bicep. An Arduino Uno is then used to translate this signal into output notes on a small speaker, either as varying frequencies in the first video below, or as actual notes on the C major scale in the second.

The project write-up outlines a simple to implementation with a pre-built MyoWare sensor assembly, as well as a way to build own if you’d like to learn more about this technology.

While building a walking robot especially with less than six legs can be quite a challenge, maker “Skill Mill NYC” decided to construct a quadruped robot named DoggoBot using cardboard for its body.

Four micro high torque servos power the legs, which are able to move the robot around with the help of unpowered knee joints.

DoggoBot is controlled by an Arduino, and it takes movement commands via a computer USB-serial connection or from a Bluetooth module. 

Ever since I started programming Arduinos, I wanted to build a robot using one. I also want a dog. However, living in NYC makes it tough to take care of a dog. So after hours of watching videos of robots and dogs, I decided to put my phone down and build myself a pet!

Although what’s seen in the demonstration below is an impressive feat of “cardboard engineering,” its creator has a few more ideas for it, such as adding sensors and getting Doggo’ to turn.

In the video below, Brazilian maker Eduardo Zola shows us that you don’t necessarily need radio waves to pass messages between Arduino boards; instead, he’s using ultrasonics. 

Zola’s setup features TX and RX transducers desoldered from an HC-SR04 module along with a pair of Unos to transmit text short distances. An LM386 amplifier and LM393 comparator are also used for the receiver.

While the transmission can easily be interrupted by putting a hand between the TX and RX, this configuration would certainly have some useful applications. So, how does it work exactly? As Hackaday explains:

Looking through the source code for the transmitter and receiver, we can see it’s about as basic as it gets. The transmitter Arduino breaks down a given string into individual characters, and then further converts the ASCII to eight binary bits. These bits are sent out as tones, and are picked up on the receiving end. Once the receiver has collected a decent chunk of tones, it works through them and turns the binary values back into ASCII characters which get dumped over serial. It’s slow, but it’s simple.

If you’d like to try it yourself, code and a full parts list can be found on the Zola’s website.

If you’d like to check out your pool or a lake without getting wet, this underwater ROV looks like a great solution. 

The DIY device features a sturdy PVC frame with six thrusters that allow it to move through water like a drone through the air (complete with depth and heading hold), and uses the same kind of controller configuration as its airborne cousin.

Onboard control is handled by an Arduino Mega along with an FPV camera, which transmit signals back to a base station via an Ethernet cable stuffed inside of a length of polypropylene rope. The driver can then see what the ROV sees on a small display, supplemented with data from the base station’s Arduino Uno and an onscreen display (OSD) shield.

Riding a bike can be great exercise, but unless you have access to a velodrome, when the weather turns bad, training is interrupted. There are of course training wheel setups that you can use to simulate riding indoors, but without the stimulus of actually moving, things can get boring rather quickly.

The Infinity Bike by Alexandre Doucet and Maxime Boudreau, however, aims to change this as a system of 3D-printable parts and sensors that can be applied to an existing bike/trainer.  A Hall effect sensor is used to measure rotations per minute, while a potentiometer mounted to the handlebars detects the steering direction. This information is transmitted to a computer and the Unity 3D environment using an Arduino Nano, allowing participants to ride in a pristine virtual environment rain or shine.

During the winter seasons, cold days and bad weather, cyclist enthusiasts only have a few options to exercise doing their favorite sport. We were looking for a way to make indoor training with a bike/trainer setup a bit more entertaining but most product available are either costly or just plain boring to use. This is why we started to develop Infinity Bike as an Open Source training video game. Infinity bike reads the speed and direction from your bicycle and offer a level of interactivity that cannot be easily found with bike trainers.

We take advantage of the simplicity available from Arduino microcontroller and a few 3D printed parts to secure inexpensive sensors to a bicycle mounted on a trainer. The information is relayed to a video game made with the popular game making engine, Unity.

An overview of the Infinity Bike can be found here, and a preview of the project can be seen in the video below! 

Tired of wondering what time it is at night, only to have to roll over to look at your alarm clock? If you’d like to avoid this nighttime inconvenience, then Kurt Andros has a great solution with his Arduino Mega-based Overhead Alarm Clock. 

The device consists of a nice wooden housing that gets mounted to a wall above where you sleep, and has separate displays for the alarm time and current time.

Instead of a menu system that you must navigate through to tune settings, the clock features buttons to change both current time and alarm time, as well as potentiometer knobs to modify brightness and alarm volume. The result is a simple interface that requires little thought to set up, and no snooze button since you can simply reprogram the wake-up time with a single button.

The overhead alarm clock offers the following features: 

• Time and alarm time can be read effortlessly and glare-free even in the dark; without glasses, without pressing buttons, without having to leave the right or left side position.

• The alarm clock can also be operated in the dark and with only one hand.

• The alarm clock can be used by a first-time user by looking at the control panel. Reading any operating instructions is not necessary.

• It wakes you up with a pleasant, volume adjustable sound (MP3 song).

• It also functions reliably in the event of a power failure.

• It is very accurate and independent of the reception of a radio signal, the power line frequency and the ambient temperature.

• It does not occupy space on the nightstand.

Sound like something you’d like in your bedroom? You can find Andros’ full project write-up here.

Ukuleles can be a lot of fun to play, and since cheap yet very playable versions can be had for under $50, they make a great target for hacking. And what better way to decorate an instrument by adding LEDs?

Elaine Chow did just that to her uke, adding six LEDs in the fingerboard along with another five embedded in the headstock. Each of these LEDs are controlled with an Arduino Uno, which light up to indicate the four most important chords: C, G, Am, and F. 

This can be set up to sequence through noted in a pre-defined path, and she’s working on a system that will detect when the correct finger positions are pressed, then moving on to the next note.

This device by Dejan Nedelkovski of How To Mechatronics implements both an ultrasonic sensor for range measurement and an accelerometer for measuring angles. While you’ve likely seen these implemented separately in other projects, combining them saves space, and allows the Arduino Nano onboard to use the two readings together to calculate a square area automatically.

User interface consists of a power switch, along with a single button for program interaction and to choose between the different measurement routines. Results are displayed on an LCD screen, and the electronics are encased in clear acrylic for visibility. 

Code and PCB files are available on the project’s write-up, and the video below gives a nice overview of its functionality and build process.

If you have young kids, you’ve probably realized that they don’t exactly like to sleep in. While their energy levels are enviable, if their clock-reading skills haven’t yet caught up, this device by maker “JonathonT” looks like a great and simple solution.

With help from an Arduino and an RTC module, Jonathon uses a trio of LEDs to show red for “stay in bed,” yellow for “almost time,” and green to indicate “you can get up.” While the current 7:00am starting time might still seem early to some, when compared to his son’s previous 5:30-or-so awakening, this is a huge improvement. Cleverly, the LEDs are diffused with a normal white plastic stadium cup with wax paper inside, making it a very accessible project!

GREEN MEANS GO!!! RED, STAY IN BED!!! This simple, inexpensive Arduino real-time clock can be set to light up LEDs at whatever time necessary. For us that means at 6:00am it turns RED, STAY IN BED. Then 10 minutes before 7:00am it turns YELLOW giving the indication it is almost time to come out and to play in your room. Then at 7:00am… “The light is GREEN!!!”, he says, as he bursts into our room each morning no earlier than 7:00am. What a lifesaver!!!

Sound like something you can use in your home? You can find build instructions here.