Ok this is not a project 100% core Arduino, because it uses custom hardware and only the bootloader of Arduino. But Arduino follows the Open-Hardware philosophy, so we are honoured to share this project that use a bit of Arduino. [chris] , from silverball software, sent us his way to build a game controller , programmed with Arduino software.

Well after a few months of tinkering and several designs I finally have one.
The design is based around the Atmega 328 running the Arduino bootloader. There is a RN42-HID bluetooth module that allows serial communication between it and the microprocessor.

I wanted the device to be fully hackable so I designed it with headers for both the bluetooth module and the Atmega 328 chip. I can reprogram the bluetooth module to run HID keyboard or mouse (or combined), it can iterate as a gamepad, or it can reconfigured to run serial protocol and iterate as a virtual com port.

On the [website] there is full description with lots of pictures, have a look.

What about an OS to run on your Arduino? Ok not in the way big os, remember Arduino has limited performance, but some of the basics, like spinlocks/multitask can be integrated with the AVR Os. As you know Arduino uses an AVR Compilant Processor, so its easy to port the code. The user [chris] sent us the way to do it, with also a simple sketch to print the classic “Hello World”.

avr-os is a library that provides a very basic rutime that enables your program to multitask.
The library uses pre-emptive multitasking to switch tasks and each task has its own stack that is restored when a task is resumed. An AVR timer is used to provide ticks and this interrupt is used to switch tasks.

All the instructions and the code to do it is stored at the [website]

[nickatredbox] keeps up to date with the improvements of his project [yellow plane]. As you can find on this blog, the project is evolving week by week. Let’s see what’s today submission

1200 mm Wing space
280 mm cord
14% Clark Y
Target AUW 1300 Grams

Missing battery and camera box have a design which should weigh 140 grams empty.
The assembly shown below weighs 684 Grams no motor or electronics.
Electronics shown weigh 110 grams ESC Arduino board, Xbee, antenna and Gyro board
Motor & prop another 120 Gram

Here you have a [video]  and there you can follow the project on the [website]

Can you imagine to build a robotic arm that can draw? Actually [acorv] realized a good prototype.

I wanted to build a drawing arm that could write. My first version wasn’t good enough, so I built this one. I used timing belts and pulleys to improve the resolution. Stepper motors are driven by a Motor Shield on top of an Arduino UNO. On the tip, a servo motor allows the pen to go up and down. For input, I used a touch pad.

A more detailed description can be found on the [website].

Have a look at this wonderfully handcrafted 20-min webumentary about Arduino, made by Opificio Ciclope and produced by Wired Italia.

Nice format and nice look: good job.

The core of our story is the life of Massimo Banzi, and the region in which he was born: the Canavese area. In particular, the city of Ivrea, a veritable Mecca of Italian informatics, where Olivetti had its headquarters. The more we discovered their world, the more it became clear that this story was not only about silicon and circuits: it was about their shared excitement and their curiosity, like kids playing with their favorite toy.

(BTW, Massimo is not from Ivrea, but I guess Ivrea’s Mayor is going to give him and the Arduino Team the honorary citizenship)

via [Wired Italia]

[nickatredbox] has a passion in building planes. Here the details of another work:

Yellow Jet 758 Grams with remaining Coroplast 2 X 7.4 V 1300 mAh batteries Arduino Nano RX Xbee with antenna, servos and misc hardware. Chamfered the top on the leading edges. All control surfaces cut and hinged. ESC mounted

Elevator mechanism for EDF jet carbon rod and ballpoint pen ink reservoir seems quite stiff with low backlash

See the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z9wEU6c1F0&hd=1

This plane flew pretty poorly unfortunately, but the controller worked well the EDF lacked thrust

You can find more on the [website]

[IgorAraujo] has pubblihed another interesting project about robot and Arduino. This time it involves a camera and a bluetooth module.

Appointed to be able to develop a robot communication activity and locomotion guided control with several purposes: conference distance, safety inspection and access to local human presence will unaviable. The intention is to promote environmental inspection, receiving and sending information (image and voice) as well as allow for the visualization of environment and the sensor signals to control the movement of the robot using the Arduino.

As usually, you can find more on his [website] , full post with videos and pictures, thanks for submit again!

We remember [nickatredbox] for the [Yellow Plane],  an Arduino project. Today we have an update to the code. Click on [more] for the full code update.

Revised Yellow FPV Plane with gyro stability system added, Worked best with analogue inputs from Murata piezo gyro sensors of a dead KK board filtered taking a 10 point average. Yaw compensation is currently not used as there is no rudder presently.

Here is a video of the functionality

Here is the Arduino code that calculates the trim values

//Use the pot as the gain for all channels for now
float GainPot = (float)(TxVal[2]) * 0.001f;

//Get the target values from the TX
int PitchTarg = (TxVal[3] / 10);
int RollTarg = (TxVal[4] / 10);
int YawTarg = (TxVal[6] / 10);

//Prime the Target WOZ values
if(PitchTargWOZ == 9999)
PitchTargWOZ = PitchTarg;

if(RollTargWOZ == 9999)
RollTargWOZ = RollTarg;

if(YawTargWOZ == 9999)
YawTargWOZ = YawTarg;

//Get the Centered target values
float PitchTargCentred = (float)(PitchTarg – PitchTargWOZ);
float RollTargCentred = (float)(RollTarg – RollTargWOZ);
float YawTargCentred = (float)(YawTarg – YawTargWOZ);

//Calculate gains
float PitchGain = GainPot * 1.0f;
float RollGain = GainPot * 1.0f;
float YawGain = GainPot * 1.0f;

//Get Gyro values
float PitchGyro = (float)(AnIn[2] – AnInWOZ[2]);
float RollGyro = (float)(AnIn[1] – AnInWOZ[1]);
float YawGyro = (float)(AnIn[0] – AnInWOZ[0]);

//Calc P error
float PitchError = (float)PitchTargCentred + PitchGyro;
float RollError = (float)RollTargCentred + RollGyro;
float YawError = (float)YawTargCentred + YawGyro;

//Apply gains
int PitchTrim = (int)(PitchError * PitchGain);
int RollTrim = (int)(RollError * RollGain);
int YawTrim = (int)(YawError * YawGain);

//Constaring trim authority
PitchTrim = constrain(PitchTrim, -30, 30);
RollTrim = constrain(RollTrim, -30, 30);
YawTrim = constrain(YawTrim, -30, 30);

//Dump the trim value
if((TxVal[9] & 0×4) == 0)
{
PitchTrim = 0;
RollTrim = 0;
YawTrim = 0;
}

Here is all the RX the code

#define MAX_CHAN 12
#define MAX_IN_STR 200
#define MAX_SETTINGS 20
#define MAX_NAV_VALS 50
#define MAX_SAMPLE 10

#include

char buf[255] = {0, };
String str = “”;
char *p;

Servo servo[7]; // create servo object to control a servo
int val = 0; // variable to read the value from the analog pin
int AnInWOZ[MAX_CHAN] = {0, };
int AnIn[MAX_CHAN] = {0, };
int AnInBuf[MAX_CHAN] = {0, };

//Get the target values from the TX at rest
int PitchTargWOZ = 9999;
int RollTargWOZ = 9999;
int YawTargWOZ = 9999;

String inputString = “”; // a string to hold incoming data

int Sample = 0;
int TxTemp[MAX_CHAN + 1] = {0, };
int TxVal[MAX_CHAN + 1] = {0, };

int NavVal[MAX_NAV_VALS] = {0, };
int SettingVal[MAX_SETTINGS] = {0, };

int rssiDur = 0;
int DigBits = 0;
int ComState = 0;
long PacketCount = 0;
long NoPacketCount = 0;

//Digital inputs TX code helper
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(5) << 0);//joy 2 push
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(6) << 1);//pb
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(7) << 2);//slide
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(8) << 3);//toggle

void setup() {

// initialize serial:
Serial.begin(38400);

// reserve 200 bytes for the inputString:
inputString.reserve(MAX_IN_STR);

pinMode(2,INPUT);//rssi
digitalWrite(2, HIGH);

servo[0].attach(3); // attaches the servo on pin 3 to the servo object
servo[1].attach(5); // attaches the servo on pin 5 to the servo object
servo[2].attach(6); // attaches the servo on pin 6 to the servo object
servo[3].attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
servo[4].attach(10); // attaches the servo on pin 10 to the servo object
servo[5].attach(11); // attaches the servo on pin 11 to the servo object

NullServos();

//Get all the analogue signals
//Do a wind off zero

for(int i = 0;i < 8;i++)
AnInWOZ[i] = 0;

for(int i = 0;i < MAX_SAMPLE;i++){

AnIn[0] += analogRead(A0);
AnIn[1] += analogRead(A1);
AnIn[2] += analogRead(A2);
AnIn[3] += analogRead(A3);
AnIn[4] += analogRead(A4);
AnIn[5] += analogRead(A5);
AnIn[6] += analogRead(A6);
AnIn[7] += analogRead(A7);

delayMicroseconds(10);
}

for(int i = 0;i < 8;i++)
AnInWOZ[i] = (AnIn[i] / MAX_SAMPLE);

//Prime the WOZ values
PitchTargWOZ = 9999;
RollTargWOZ = 9999;
YawTargWOZ = 9999;

}

void loop(){

//*Get all the analogue signals
for(int i = 0;i < 8;i++)
AnInBuf[i] = 0;

for(int i = 0;i < MAX_SAMPLE;i++){

AnInBuf[0] += analogRead(A0);
AnInBuf[1] += analogRead(A1);
AnInBuf[2] += analogRead(A2);
AnInBuf[3] += analogRead(A3);
AnInBuf[4] += analogRead(A4);
AnInBuf[5] += analogRead(A5);
AnInBuf[6] += analogRead(A6);
AnInBuf[7] += analogRead(A7);

delayMicroseconds(10);
}

for(int i = 0;i < 8;i++)
AnIn[i]= (AnInBuf[i] / MAX_SAMPLE);

//Capture the Xbee comms
int CharCount = 0;

while ((Serial.available()) && ((++CharCount) 0)
inputString += inChar;

if(inputString.length() >= MAX_IN_STR)
break;

//Detect end of packet
if ( (inChar == ‘\n’) && (ComState > 0) )
{
//Serial.println(inputString);

//Count packets
PacketCount++;

int NumChan = ExtractPacket();

//Tramsmitter
if( ComState == 1)
{
for(int i = 0 ;i < NumChan;i++)
TxVal[i] = TxTemp[i];

DoTelemetery();

UpdateServos();

}//Navigator
else if( ComState == 2)
{
for(int i = 0 ;i < NumChan;i++)
NavVal[i] = TxTemp[i];

}//Settings
else if( ComState == 3)
{
for(int i = 0 ;i 50)
{
NullServos();
SoftReset();
}

//delayMicroseconds(1000);
}

int ExtractPacket()
{

int Lchk = 0;
int channel = 0; //initialise the channel count

p = &inputString[0];

while ((str = strtok_r(p, “,”, &p)) != NULL) // delimiter is the comma
{

TxTemp[channel] = str.toInt(); //use the channel as an index to add each value to the array

Lchk += TxTemp[channel];

channel++; //increment the channel

if(channel > MAX_CHAN)
break;
}

p = NULL;
inputString = “”;

//Process in comming data
if(channel > 2)
{
//Remove the remote chk from the total
Lchk -= TxTemp[channel-2];

//Checksum
if((Lchk – TxTemp[channel-2]) == 0)
return channel;

}

return -1;
}

void DoTelemetery()
{

//Send back a telemetery packet
if((PacketCount % 5) == 0)
{
rssiDur = pulseIn(5, LOW, 200);

int PacketType = 12;

//sprintf(buf, “T%02X,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,\n”, PacketType, rssiDur, PacketCount, NoPacketCount, TxVal[1], TxVal[2], TxVal[3], TxVal[4], TxVal[5], TxVal[6], AnIn[0], AnIn[1], AnIn[2], AnIn[3], AnIn[4], AnIn[5], AnIn[6], AnIn[7], DigBits);
//sprintf(buf, “T %d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,\n”, PacketType, rssiDur, PacketCount, NoPacketCount, AnIn[0], AnIn[1], AnIn[2], AnIn[3], AnIn[4], AnIn[5], AnIn[6], AnIn[7], DigBits, TxVal[9]);
sprintf(buf, “T%02X%02X%04X%02X%03X%03X%03X%03X%03X%03X%03X%03X%03X%02X%02X\n”, PacketType, rssiDur, PacketCount, NoPacketCount, AnIn[0], AnIn[1], AnIn[2], AnIn[3], AnIn[4], AnIn[5], AnIn[6], AnIn[7], DigBits, TxVal[9]);

Serial.write(buf);

if(digitalRead(13) == false)
digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // set the LED on
else
digitalWrite(13, LOW); // set the LED off

}
}

void UpdateServos()
{

//Digital inputs TX code helper
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(5) << 0);//joy 2 push
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(6) << 1);//pb
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(7) << 2);//slide
//TxVal[8] |= (digitalRead(8) << 3);//toggle

//Throttle TxVal[1]
//Rotary pot TxVal[2]
//Joy 1 X TxVal[3]
//Joy 1 Y TxVal[4]
//Joy 2 X TxVal[5]
//Joy 2 Y TxVal[6]
//rssi TxVal[7]
//digital TxVal[8]
//micros() TxVal[9]

//Use the pot as the gain for all channels for now
float GainPot = (float)(TxVal[2]) * 0.001f;

//Get the target values from the TX
int PitchTarg = (TxVal[3] / 10);
int RollTarg = (TxVal[4] / 10);
int YawTarg = (TxVal[6] / 10);

//Prime the Target WOZ values
if(PitchTargWOZ == 9999)
PitchTargWOZ = PitchTarg;

if(RollTargWOZ == 9999)
RollTargWOZ = RollTarg;

if(YawTargWOZ == 9999)
YawTargWOZ = YawTarg;

//Get the Centered target values
float PitchTargCentred = (float)(PitchTarg – PitchTargWOZ);
float RollTargCentred = (float)(RollTarg – RollTargWOZ);
float YawTargCentred = (float)(YawTarg – YawTargWOZ);

//Calculate gains
float PitchGain = GainPot * 1.0f;
float RollGain = GainPot * 1.0f;
float YawGain = GainPot * 1.0f;

//Get Gyro values
float PitchGyro = (float)(AnIn[2] – AnInWOZ[2]);
float RollGyro = (float)(AnIn[1] – AnInWOZ[1]);
float YawGyro = (float)(AnIn[0] – AnInWOZ[0]);

//Calc P error
float PitchError = (float)PitchTargCentred + PitchGyro;
float RollError = (float)RollTargCentred + RollGyro;
float YawError = (float)YawTargCentred + YawGyro;

//Apply gains
int PitchTrim = (int)(PitchError * PitchGain);
int RollTrim = (int)(RollError * RollGain);
int YawTrim = (int)(YawError * YawGain);

//Constaring trim authority
PitchTrim = constrain(PitchTrim, -30, 30);
RollTrim = constrain(RollTrim, -30, 30);
YawTrim = constrain(YawTrim, -30, 30);

//Dump the trim value
if((TxVal[9] & 0×4) == 0)
{
PitchTrim = 0;
RollTrim = 0;
YawTrim = 0;
}

//Calc flap anglke
int Flaps = 0;

//Apply flaps
if((TxVal[9] & 0×8) != 0)
Flaps = 25;

//Throttle
val = TxVal[1] / 10;
val = map(val, 1, 179, 30, 179);
val = constrain(val, 1, 165); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[0].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Elevator Joy 1 Y TxVal[4]
val = PitchTarg + PitchTrim;
val = constrain(val, 15, 165);
val = map(val, 0, 179, 135, 45); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[1].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Left Flaperon
val = RollTarg + Flaps + RollTrim;
val = constrain(val, 15, 165);
val = map(val, 0, 179, 165, 15); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[2].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Right Flaperon
val = RollTarg – Flaps + RollTrim;
val = constrain(val, 15, 165);
val = map(val, 0, 179, 165, 15); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[3].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Joy 2 x nose Wheel / rudder
val = (TxVal[6] / 10);
val = map(val, 0, 179, 55, 125);
servo[4].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Joy 2 Y
val = TxVal[5] / 10;
val = constrain(val, 15, 165); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[5].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

}

void NullServos()
{

//Throttle TxVal[1]
//Rotary pot TxVal[2]
//Joy 1 X TxVal[3]
//Joy 1 Y TxVal[4]
//Joy 2 X TxVal[5]
//Joy 2 Y TxVal[6]
//rssi TxVal[7]
//digital TxVal[8]
//micros() TxVal[9]

//Throttle
val = 0;
val = map(val, 1, 179, 30, 179);
val = constrain(val, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[0].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Elevator Joy 1 Y TxVal[4]
val = 90;
val = constrain(val, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[1].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Left Flaperon
val = 90;
val = map(val, 0, 179, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[2].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Right Flaperon
val = 90;
val = constrain(val, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[3].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Joy 2 X
val = 90;
val = constrain(val, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[4].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

//Joy 2 Y
val = 90;
val = constrain(val, 1, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
servo[5].write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value

}

void SoftReset() // Restarts program from beginning but does not reset the peripherals and registers
{

//Prime the WOZ values
PitchTargWOZ = 9999;
RollTargWOZ = 9999;
YawTargWOZ = 9999;

NoPacketCount = 0;

asm volatile (” jmp 0″);
}

Here we have this submission from [IgorAraujo] about how to use an Arduino as PID.

A proportional integral derivative controller (PID controller) is a common method of controlling robots. PID theory will help you design a better control equation for your robot.

On his [website] there are more pictures, videos and a detailed description, but all in Portuguese.

[Timothy], a 15 years old Arduino enthusiast has sent us his first Arduino Project, an arcade interface based on Arduino Leonardo.

The cabinet is made of 4mm HDF and were laser cut at “Fabriken” in Malmö. The red arcade sign in the top is produced in 5mm translucent acrylic. All design and construction drawings were made in Illustrator. I used an Arduino Leonardo to connect the joystick, buttons and the LED light.  The game installed, Superstar Chefs, is an old game developed by my dad’s cousins. My prototype board was made with Fritzing.

It includes:

- 6 green 3mm LED’s,

- 11 resistors (6 330 ohm, 4 10K ohm and one 100 ohm),

-1 dip8 socket with an ATtiny45,

- 1 potentiometer,

- 4 pushbutton and header sockets.

I created this prototype board to easily get started with Arduino.

Timonthy, welcome on board!