If you’ve ever thought that your musical performance needed more LEDs, then James Bruton’s DJ helmet may be just the thing for you.
The YouTuber’s wearable device is built on the base of a protective face shield, substituting in a 3D-printed support for an 8×32 LED matrix, as well as four smaller 8×8 LED matrices arranged above and below the main section.
The 512 LEDs are powered using a portable LiPo battery and a 10A power regulator. Control is via an Arduino Mega, which is connected to an RJ45 jack that enables it to work with DMX lighting data.
The result is a spectacular display, shown off nicely in an electronic concert (with his barcode guitar) starting at around 8:20 in the video below!
You likely use touchscreens every day when interacting with your phone — perhaps even to read this article — but prototyping your own capacitive matrix is unfortunately out of reach for most makers and electronics novices. As seen here, researchers have devised a new technique that will allow for easier prototyping of this type of interface, which can function on both flat and curved surfaces, over a variety of materials.
To accomplish this, the team developed an Arduino library, as well as one for Processing, and used OpenCV to track multiple finger positions. Interactions have been tested with an Uno, Mega and LilyPad, and would presumably work with almost any other Arduino board as needed!
We introduce Multi-Touch Kit, a low-cost do it-yourself technique to enable interaction designers, makers, and electronics novices alike to rapidly create and experiment with high-resolution multi-touch sensors of custom sizes, geometries, and materials.
In contrast to existing solutions, the Multi-Touch Kit is the first technique that works with a commodity microcontroller (our implementation uses a standard Arduino) and does not require any specialized hardware. As a technical enabler, we contribute a modified multi-touch sensing scheme that lever ages the human body as a transmission channel of MHz range signals through a capacitive near-field coupling mechanism. This leads to a clean signal that can be readily processed with the Arduino’s built-in analog-to-digital converter, resulting in a sensing accuracy comparable to industrial multi-touch con trollers. Only a standard multiplexer and resistors are required alongside the Arduino to drive and read out a touch sensor matrix.
The technique is versatile and compatible with many types of multi-touch sensor matrices, including flexible sensor films on paper or PET, sensors on textiles, and sensors on 3D printed objects. Furthermore, the technique is compatible with sensors of various scale, curvature, and electrode materials (silver, copper, conductive yarn) fabricated using conductive printing, hand-drawing with a conductive pen, cutting, or stitching.
To experience an escape room, you normally need a rather large dedicated space. This project, however, by creator Jason R, takes this physical clue-solving concept and shrinks it down to fit within a small suitcase!
To play, participants have to work their way through a series of problems, supplied in the ‘TOP SECRET’ documentation attached to and inside the device, connecting jumpers, flipping switches, and turning knobs as needed.
A computerized voice guides you along the way, with LEDs and an LCD panel providing visual output as you save the day. The game is controlled via an Arduino Mega, while power supplied by a rechargeable USB power bank.
I created an “escape room-esque” game that is contained within a small suitcase. In total, there are about 15-20 puzzles and sub-puzzles that need to be solved in order to disarm the “explosives”. Players are given 60 minutes to arrange puzzles, decipher clues hidden in QR codes, connect cities in maps to form numbers, decode morse signals, and other similar things.
If you’ve ever used a VR system and thought what was really missing is the feeling of being hit in the face, then a team researchers at the National Taiwan University may hold just the solution.
ElastImpact takes the form of a head-mounted display with two impact drivers situated roughly parallel to one’s eyes for normal — straight-on — impacts, and another that rotates about the front of your face for side blows.
Each impact driver first stretches an elastic band using a gearmotor, then releases it with a micro servo when an impact is required. The system is controlled by an Arduino Mega, along with a pair of TB6612FNG motor drivers.
Impact is a common effect in both daily life and virtual reality (VR) experiences, e.g., being punched, hit or bumped. Impact force is instantly produced, which is distinct from other force feedback, e.g., push and pull. We propose ElastImpact to provide 2.5D instant impact on a head-mounted display (HMD) for realistic and versatile VR experiences. ElastImpact consists of three impact devices, also called impactors. Each impactor blocks an elastic band with a mechanical brake using a servo motor and extending it using a DC motor to store the impact power. When releasing the brake, it provides impact instantly. Two impactors are affixed on both sides of the head and connected with the HMD to provide the normal direction impact toward the face (i.e., 0.5D in z-axis). The other impactor is connected with a proxy collider in a barrel in front of the HMD and rotated by a DC motor in the tangential plane of the face to provide 2D impact (i.e., xy-plane). By performing a just-noticeable difference (JND) study, we realize users’ impact force perception distinguishability on the heads in the normal direction and tangential plane, separately. Based on the results, we combine normal and tangential impact as 2.5D impact, and performed a VR experience study to verify that the proposed 2.5D impact significantly enhances realism.
For the Warman Design and Build Competition in Sydney last month, Redditor ‘Travman_16 and team created an excellent Arduino-powered entry. The contest involved picking up 20 payloads (AKA balls) from a trough, and delivering them to a target trough several feet away in under 60 seconds.
Their autonomous project uses Mecanum wheels to move in any direction, plus a four-servo arm to collect balls in a box-like scoop made out of aluminum sheet.
An Arduino Mega controls four DC gear motors via four IBT-4 drivers, while a Nano handles the servos. As seen in the video, it pops out of the starting area, sweeps up the balls and places them in the correct area at an impressive ~15 seconds.
It manages to secure all but one ball on this run, and although that small omission was frustrating, the robot was still able to take fifth out of 19 teams.
SCARA robots are often used in industrial settings to move components in the proper location. In order to demonstrate the concept to students, Nicholas Schwankl has come up with a simple unit that employs three servos and 3D-printed parts to dispense 4.5mm bearings.
The device runs on an Arduino Mega (though an Uno or other model would work) and as seen in the video below, it twists its ‘shoulder’ and ‘elbow’ joint to position its dispenser tube. Once in place, a micro servo releases a bearing, allowing the tiny steel ball to drop into an empty slot.
A stretchable light-emitting device becomes an epidermal stopwatch. Image: Adapted from ACS Materials Letters 2019
Imagine if your watch wasn’t mounted on your wrist, but was instead integrated into a sort of temporary tattoo on the back of your hand? Such an idea is now one step closer to reality, thanks to new research into alternating-current electroluminescent (ACEL) display technology.
While normally such displays require well over 100VAC to produce sufficient brightness, scientists have worked to get this number down into the 10-35V range, allowing them to be used in much closer proximity to human skin.
To demonstrate this technology, the team constructed a 4-digit 7-segment display that can be applied to one’s hand, using an Arduino Mega and driver circuitry to turn it into a digital timepiece.
While some of us live directly beside the beach, others—the vast majority, in fact—reside inland where we can’t see the waves on a day-to-day basis. As a solution to this issue, surfer-maker Luke Clifford came up with his own “Surf Window,”an interactive diorama that shows real-time surf conditions at a glance.
The Arduino Mega-controlled device pulls beach info from the Magicseaweed API, then adjusts the laser-cut wooden stage to match. Indicators include starfish that light up depending on how good the surf conditions are overall, a physical wave model that moves up and down to represent height, a rotating seagull to reveal wind direction, and more.
Whether you’re a landlocked surfer, or just someone who wants to know more about the environment, this looks like a really interesting gadget. The build is currently wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign if you’d like to have your own!
October 31st is almost here and we’re all super excited, because this is the perfect time for some DIY fun! Nothing to wear? Not a problem! Need a spook-tacular decoration? We’ve got just the thing.
To help get you into the spirit, we’ve selected a handful of Halloween-themed projects from the Arduino Project Hub that will surely catch the attention of trick-or-treaters (or send them screaming into the night.)
This Arduino Mega-based robot can be operated remotely from your smartphone or move about autonomously, complete with creepy lights and a terrifying soundtrack.
Here’s a quick, last-minute scare prank for your porch. Drop a fake spider on anyone that tries to ring your doorbell via an Arduino Uno, an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, and a servo.
While OLED displays and the like are extremely versatile, there’s still something really charming about vintage VFD tubes. Christine Thompson (AKA ChristineNZ) in fact built her latest clock specifically to use eight ILC1-1/8L VFD tubes, which each stand nearly four inches tall.
The device is equipped with an Arduino Mega board, a MAX6921 VFD driver, a DS3231 RTC module, and a BME280 sensor that allows it to also show pressure, humidity and temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.
The retro-themed timepiece packs a speaker and an MP3 module to play chimes every 15 minutes, and in addition to the digits on the front has a secondary display and control panel on the back for setup. The unit is housed in a mahogany frame with shaped copper supports, nicely complementing its glowing green numbers.
