A stick has been the traditional constant companion for the old people. Hence, it makes sense to hack some intelligence into it to make their life better. How about a stick that tells you when you have reached the destination? Or which tells you when to avoid an obstacle? Or better, about the various new attractions that are near the place that they are taking a walk through?

A team from Syracuse University senior, lead by Hingham resident Laura Hogan, won first place in the Senior Design Project in Electrical & Computer Engineering for designing a computerized walking stick.

Hogan and her teams’ computerized walking stick was designed to use Radio Frequency Identification tags to alert users when they have reached their destination, and also to inform them of what attractions are nearby. With the use of sensors, GU|tra will also be able to inform the user when there is an obstacle near them. The turn by turn directions along with the alerts for impending collisions will be delivered to the user using a headphone set, which will be connected to a mobile phone. The mobile phone will receive information from the sensors and RFID’s, with the help of an Arduino Microcontroller, and then announce the appropriate commands based on the information it receives. This will be done using a signal transmitted through the USB connection on the Android phone.

Via:[Hingham]

The next time while organizing a barcamp you can display this cool hack for two great reasons: The obvious being to look cool, the other reason being well, there is Arduino and beer involved! Where both are cool.

Aptly named KegDroid, this beautiful beer dispenser was built by a google employee, Pall Carff, uses NFC reader to identify users and dispense beer.

It’s not just the beer dispensing that sounds awesome to us, oh no. KegDroid is packed to the brim with all sorts of clever tech, mostly from Google’s labs. The giant robot has a Motorola XOOM tablet running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich jammed into its belly, which runs a custom app designed by Paul.

An NFC reader sits between the two drip-catchers and interfaces with specially made NFC tokens, sending a message to an Arduino computer board that’s inside the case, which then controls the beer pouring from the taps situated in the arms of the Android robot.

So the next step can be a humanoid beer robot fetching us beer to our table when tweeted with an @RestaurantName with #tablenumber ?

Via:[GadgetHelpline]

We’ve come across many an Arduino-compatible in the Maker Shed. It seems that everyday someone tells us about a smaller, newer, or differently designed version of the original.  We’re always a bit leery of selling new clones but when the Menta came around we knew it was different and had to have it (we even added it to our Mintronics line-up!) To find out why, we asked Limor Fried, the founder and engineer at Adafruit, to talk about the Menta and how it differs from other Arduino-compatabiles. Here’s what she said:

Introducing the Menta, a portable minty Arduino-compatible project that fits into a common mint tin. I’ve always like electronics in mint tins and wanted an Arduino-compatible that not only fit inside the tin but also had a built-in prototyping area like the ProtoShield I designed. We took our super popular Boarduino series, wrapped it with a prototyping area, and mounted it to a rounded PCB that slots directly into an Altoids-sized metal tin. We included everything you expect to jump-start your project; a DC power adapter with polarity protection, beefy 1 Amp 5V regulator and 250mA 3.3V regulator for 3.3V devices, green power LED, red blinky LED, standard ISP-6 reprogramming header, FTDI interface plug to connect an FTDI Friend or cable, and female headers so you can use standard Arduino-compatible shields. We also added four mounting holes so you want to attach it permanently to a box or plate, and added a massive prototyping area so you can have your finished project fit completely into a protective box.

Here are her favorite things about the Menta:

• Fits perfectly into a common mint tin – an easy-to-find and durable enclosure.
• It’s shield-compatible! You can plug in any shield with standard Arduino pinouts.
• It has a built in prototyping area for a fully enclosed project.
• The high quality, USA-made PCB is the best PCB we could get and will survive beginners, soldering and de-soldering.
• We gave it 4 massive mounting holes with no parts in the way, making it the perfect Arduino solid attachment.

The Mintronics: Menta is available exclusively in the Maker Shed until May 2nd. After that it will also be available on Adafruit.com.  Thanks Limor (and Phil!)

More:

• HOW TO – Build the Menta
• Maker Shed Exclusive: Mintronics: Menta
• Soapbox: My Top 10 Arduino-Compatible Clones and Derivatives.

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Drawing on the popularity of the Tiny Tank, I decided that some folks might want wheels instead. I give you, Little Wheels.

The Little Wheels Robot is a great little bot for beginners and experienced robot builders alike. Simple, well designed and cute as a button, it is just a gosh darn good little bot.

Features:

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Here's an instance of NFC technology that's more exciting than yet another tap-to-pay scenario. Google employee Paul Carff combined a Motorola Xoom running ICS with an Arduino microcontroller to create KegDroid, a friendly green beer dispenser. The Xoom acts as a gatekeeper to that brewed goodness, only letting the bot dispense drinks after users swipe an authorized badge. The badge is read by an NFC scanner on the bottom of the case and is then authenticated (or rejected) by the Arduino board. Once the system grants access, users can choose from two selections on tap via a custom Android application displayed on the Xoom's screen. As Android Community points out -- and as you'll see in the video below -- the KegDroid hasn't mastered a bartender-level pour (read: there's way too much foam). Still, this is oodles cooler than your average keg, wouldn't you agree?

Continue reading KegDroid dispenses beer with the help of a Xoom tablet and an Arduino board

KegDroid dispenses beer with the help of a Xoom tablet and an Arduino board originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lifehacker, usually known for its nice varied content which is relevant to everyday life, recently featured an article on “Top 10 Highly-Desired Skills You Can Teach Yourself“. A set of useful skills to keep you happy, creative and employed in today’s world.

We love technology, and we love it more when we can make it do pretty much whatever we want. There is almost no end to what you can hack, but getting started does require teaching yourself a few skills. Learning to build a computer is a good place to start. Soldering is especially helpful, and understanding the basics of arduino can help you build some really neat stuff. One of the best ways to get started is to pick a project and learn by doing. If you’re not sure where to start, our DIY tag page can offer a few ideas.

Via:[Lifehacker]

I am currently working on a project where I need to teach my robot to "see" using an ultrasound sensor. In particular it must find and collect drink cans on a playfield and return them to a specific location.

To make the programming easier I wanted to take the sensor output from the robot and display it on the computer as a chart. As I am a terrible programmer I did a quick google search and came up with Gobetwenio.

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Hey guys I am trying to read raw data from a gps module using TTL communication on RX pin 0 on the arduino mega. i dont know how to program it since i am total noob at arduino programming. 

can someone help me out please.

Alasdair Allan, author of Learning iPhone Programming, Programming iPhone Sensors, and iOS Sensor Apps with Arduino (available along with the Redpark Breakout Pack for Arduino and iOS) sat down with MAKE’s Dale Dougherty to talk about getting iOS devices and Arduino talking to each other. (video link)

Dale and Alasdair are just two of your 300 peers you’ll run into at the upcoming Hardware Innovation Workshop, May 15-16, 2012—where MAKE magazine hosts an inspired conversation and curated tour of the unique culture, enabling technologies, and innovations of the maker movement.

The Chaot is my contestant for the LMRv4 Donor Appreciation Robot Challenge. 

The machine creates a random number using physical chaos and combines the random numbers to an four digit index.
This index can be used to select a winner.

Content

• Draw Winner Using a Magnetic Pendulum
• Idea Finding
• The Making-Of
• Used Parts
• Current Issues
• Thanks To
• Further Reading

Draw Winner using a Magnetic Pendulum

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