We’ve been waiting to see what ::vtol:: (a.k.a. Dmitry Morozov) would come up with the next! The Moscow-based hacker artist has now created an electro-mechanical drawing machine.

The Electropollock, which pays homage to influential American painter Jackson Pollock, is driven by the sound of music. A special algorithm analyzes the tunes and then controls the electric valves, servo motors with brushes, and the special fan intended for spray painting. The intensity of ink supply, the rate of the moving paper, and the activity of the brushes all depend on the frequency and amplitude of the peaks in the music.

The machine features an old printer mechanism, an Arduino Uno, and is programmed using Pure Data. You can see how it works in the video below!

Interactive designer Alexia Léchot has built a delta robot with a ‘personality’ that interacts with humans through iPads. Deltu uses three moving arms, a couple Unity3d applications, and Arduino to play simple mimicking games.

According to Creative Applications:

The system uses two Unity3d applications where the application of the human sends HTTP request to the computer. There is also a Python server that sends the string through the serial to the Arduino which controls the robot.

The other player must precisely copy Deltu’s movements because it “is very demanding.” If not, it might change its mind and will shake its arms in a side-to-side motion that appears to simulate frustration. From there, Deltu leaves the game and opens the camera app instead, snapping selfies and posting them to Instagram.

As you can see in the video below, the robot even takes a few moments to browse the social network’s explore section and follow a new account, as well as choose some tunes on SoundCloud.

Depending on its mood, it plays with the user who is faced with an artificial intelligence simulation, who appreciates the small pleasures of life, sometimes too much. The relationship we have with robots/AI that have been created to enhance our performance, but have become a source of learning, is unique and exciting. The android’s place in ociety has not yet been defined and remains to be determined; for me it is the best source of inspiration.

Intrigued? You can see Deltu in action below, and read more about the project on the Daily Mail.

Planning on attending Maker Faire Rome this month? We’re currently looking for volunteers to join our team during the event—staffing tables and displays, helping lead one-on-one workshops and demos, and providing technical assistance when necessary.

Arduino, the world’s leading open-source ecosystem for Educators, Makers and IoT developers of all ages, today announced that Arduino LLC (aka Arduino.cc) and Arduino srl (aka Arduino.org) have settled their differences and signed a Settlement agreement.

Massimo Banzi and Federico Musto took the stage today at the New York Maker Faire to announce the good news.

At the end of 2016, the newly created “Arduino Holding” will become the single point of contact for the wholesale distribution of all current and future products, and will continue to bring tremendous innovations to the market.

In addition, Arduino will form a not-for-profit “Arduino Foundation” responsible for maintaining the open source Arduino desktop IDE, and continuing to foster the open source movement by providing support for a variety of scholarships, community and developer initiatives.

Massimo Banzi, Co-Founder of Arduino LLC, commented, “Today is one of the best days in Arduino history. This allows us to start a new course for Arduino made of constructive dialogue and disruptive innovation in the Education, Makers and IoT fields. The Arduino Foundation will allow us to champion the core values of the Arduino Community within the open source ecosystem and to make our commitment to open source stronger than ever. This is really a new beginning for Arduino!”

“Of course, we are thrilled to resolve the issues that have taken place over the past couple of years, and the team is working together to continue to offer the best open hardware and software,” said Federico Musto, CEO & President of Arduino Srl. “We know how passionate our partners and developers are about Arduino, and the growth and loyalty has been astonishing. Arduino developers will continue to see amazing technical developments including NFC, BLE, voice controls, and more, to fuel the IoT growth and other innovations.”

With an accelerometer and capacitive sensing, even a beginner can produce some great tunes with this DIY device.

If you like making beautiful music, but would rather not actually practice this skill, perhaps this thumb piano and controller by producer/DJ Rob Blazey would be a good instrument to pick up. His project, called “Kalimbo,” employs an Arduino to translate manipulations of metal rods, along with movement of the piano itself, into Open Sound Control (OSC) messages. These are then be used to produce music.

You first hear its awesomeness around the 1:00 mark in the video seen below. Even just moving it around sounds good, but it becomes incredible when he really starts playing just before 2:00!

Inside the instrument there is an Arduino with an accelerometer and a capacitive sensing wire, which is connected to the insulated bridge at the back, so touching the edge of that bridge acts as a trigger or switch or can control things more precisely depending on how hard you press it.

Intrigued? You can find more background on this project in mrblazey’s video description.

With Alain Mauer’s Arduino glasses and a Bluetooth multimeter, electrical data is always in view!

If you’re in a job where you have to take readings inside a live electrical panel, one thing that’s inconvenient, and even dangerous at times, is having to look away from your hands to read your multimeter. With hopes of “making an engineer’s life easier and safer,” Mauer solved this problem using an Arduino Pro Micro and a BLE module to show data from a Bluetooth-enabled multimeter. Now he can see data on a display that looks similar to a Google Glass device. Perhaps this method could be expanded to other devices in the future!

If you’d like to build your own glasses, a description and 3D printing files can be found on Hackaday.io.

This robotic fish is made from bent PVC pipe and moves its tail for locomotion.

If you’re going to build an underwater vehicle, propeller control is the conventional solution. Eric Dirgahayu, however, created his underwater creature in the form of a fish, complete with a tail that powers it through the water, and pectoral fins that could, in theory, steer it in the correct direction. There is also a ballast tank to adjust its buoyancy. Interestingly, control of this “fish” is accomplished via a TV remote, so the surrounding water would need to be relatively clear.

Now we already have a complete fish robot body, we need to provide it with life! We will use the Arduino Pro Mini because the shape is small and can fit into safety box. In addition, you also need Pro Mini Arduino Motor Driver for control of ballast tanks, UBEX for power protection and two cell LiPo battery 1000mAh for power.

Here’s Dirgahayu’s general project description. If you’re interested in making a fish like this yourself, the physical build is seen here, and the electronics are found on this page.

For years, the open-source philosophy of Arduino has been the inspiration to robots, drones, medical and space research, interactive art, musical instruments, 3D printers, and so much more. Now, Arduino is on a mission to radically simplify the way you build smart devices. Introducing ESLOV, a revolutionary plug-and-play IoT invention kit.

ESLOV consists of intelligent modules that join together to create projects in minutes with no prior hardware or programming knowledge necessary. Just connect the modules using cables or mounting them on the back of our WiFi and motion hub. When done, plug the hub into your PC.

ESLOV’s visual code editor automatically recognizes each module, displaying them on your screen. Draw the connections between the modules on the editor, and watch your project come to life. From there, publish your device to the Arduino Cloud and interact with it remotely from anywhere (including your phone). The Arduino Cloud’s user-friendly interface simplifies complex interactions with sliders, buttons, value fields, and more.

The ESLOV modules and hub can also be programmed with the wildly popular Arduino Editor — you can use either the online editor or the desktop-based IDE. With the provided libraries, you can customize the behavior of the existing modules, enhance the hub’s functionalities, as well as modify the protocols of both the hub and the modules.

With a total of 25 modules — buttons, LEDs, air quality sensors, microphones, servos, and several others — the possibilities are endless. Sample applications include everything from a monitor that lets you know if your baby is safe, to a washing machine notifier that tells you when your laundry is finished, to a thermostat that you can adjust while out of the house.

In line with the core values of the Arduino community, ESLOV’s hardware and software are open-source, enabling you to produce your own modules. Additionally, Arduino will welcome third-party modules from partners and other certified programs.

To accelerate its development in the open-source spirit, ESLOV — which began as part of a three-year EU-funded PELARS project — is now live on Kickstarter and needs your support.

The toolkit is offered in a variety of sizes, depending on the number of modules. Prices range from ~$55 USD to ~$499 USD, with multipacks and other opportunities available as well. Delivery is expected to get underway in June 2017.

In terms of hardware, the main hub is currently equipped with a Microchip SAM D21 ARM Cortex-M0+ MCU at 48MHz and built-in WiFi (just like the MKR1000). Each of the modules are small (2.5 x 2.5cm), low-power (3.3V), single-purpose boards featuring the same processor found at the heart of the Arduino/Genuino UNO: Microchip’s ATmega328P.

The modules can be reprogrammed via I2C bus or with an external programmer. ESLOV’s hardware includes firmware from our factory, dedicated to the specific function of each module.

The ESLOV connector has five pins (one more than standard I2C) for automatically configuring the module and handling the sleeping states to boost battery life. Tests can be performed on your computer via USB. The modules’ firmware and the hub’s software can be updated both using the USB cable and over-the-air (OTA).

Those heading to World Maker Faire in New York on October 1st-2nd can learn more about the kit inside the Microchip booth in Zone 3, as well as during Massimo Banzi’s “State of Arduino” presentation on Saturday at 1:30pm in the New York Hall of Science Auditorium.

Want to learn more or back ESLOV for yourself? Check out its Kickstarter page!

With parts from a bathroom organizer and arcade buttons, Alex “GlacialGeyser” made his own MIDI machine.

MIDI controllers can be great instruments to supplement your musical skills. As seen in the video below, Alex’s project is no exception, and he’s able to produce some really beautiful music using it and a keyboard. Physically, he created this out of plastic parts from a bathroom organizer and a cutting board that he cut using mostly handheld power tools. An Arduino Mega serves as the brains of the operation along with two 75mm 10k faders, two 10k knobs, pitch bend and modulation wheels, and a couple of LEDs.

The build is finished off with a splattered paint effect and nearly a whole can of clear coat. Programming the device was a challenge, but it seems Alex gained some useful knowledge for next time!

You can find more about GlacialGeyser’s MIDI controller on his Imgur writeup.

Digital and craft maker lab Tazas recently worked with a group of master students on an interactive book/prototype to reflect on how gestures like swiping have become as natural as shaking hands. Digital Gestures is a metaphor of the human body’s physiological senses, which identifies 10 actions inherent to our daily interactions with technology: drag and drop, spread and squeeze, swipe, double tap, scroll, zoom, rotate, draw, press, press and hold.

The project was brought to life using four basic electronic components and some digital fabrication: a web server (VPS), an AtHeart Blend Micro Bluetooth module linking objects to the elements contained on the server, an iPod Touch connected viewing medium and conductive ink. All the elements are arranged on a laser cut wooden base, while an iPod digitally decrypts the printed* pages filed on its left.

To play, the viewer places an illustrated page on the support and touches a specific key point beforehand determined as conductive. When touching, the viewer has the ability to interact on the screen in order to understand the illustrated use. This experimental reflection raises many questions about the conditioning that man receives from the machine by accepting these precepts without altering their function. What will become of our so-called ‘daily’ gestures? Will our close to real behavioral experiment be upset? Answers that require that ‘use must be done.’

You can see how it magically works below!