First unveiled over the weekend at World Maker Faire New York, Arduino has introduced a pair of new IoT boards with embedded LoRa and GSM capabilities.

The Arduino MKR WAN 1300 and MKR GSM 1400 are designed to offer a practical and cost-effective solution for developers, makers and enterprises, enabling them to quickly add connectivity to their projects and ease the development of battery-powered IoT edge applications.

Both of the highly compact boards measure just 67.64 x 25mm, together with low power consumption, making them an ideal choice for emerging battery-powered IoT edge devices in the MKR form factor for applications such as environmental monitoring, tracking, agriculture, energy monitoring and home automation.

Offering 32-bit computational power similar to the Arduino MKR ZERO board, the MKR WAN 1300 is based around the Murata LoRa low-power connectivity module and the Microchip SAM D21 microcontroller, which integrates an ARM Cortex-M0+ processor, 256KB Flash memory and 32KB SRAM. The board’s design includes the ability to be powered by either two 1.5V AA or AAA batteries or an external 5V input via the USB interface – with automatic switching between the two power sources.

In addition, the MKR WAN 1300 offers the usual rich set of I/O interfaces expected with an Arduino board, and ease of use via the Arduino IDE software environment for code development and programming. Other features  include an operating voltage of 3.3V; eight digital I/Os; 12 PWM outputs; and UART, SPI and I2C interfaces.

Like the MKR WAN 1300, the Arduino MKR GSM 1400 is based on the SAM D21, but integrates a u-blox module for global 3G communications. The board features automatic power switching, however, it uses either a 3.7V LiPo battery or an external Vin power source delivering 5V to 12V. While the USB port can also be used to supply 5V to the board, the MKR GSM 1400 is able to run with or without the battery connected.

The MKR GSM 1400 provides a rich set of I/O interfaces including: eight digital I/Os; 12 PWM outputs; UART, SPI and I2C interfaces; analog I/O including seven inputs and one output; and eight external interrupt pins.

Both boards are now available for pre-order on the Arduino Store.

Nikodem Bartnik had a small problem. When soldering, he had to move his light around in order to properly see what he was working on. In order to avoid this constant interruption, he built a 3D-printed lamp capable of manuevering like a small robot arm under voice command.

An Arduino Uno controls the light’s movement directly via three servos, and a relay flips the switch on and off. Instead of adding voice recognition hardware to his robotic light, he cleverly linked it with an Android app over Bluetooth, using his phone to translate spoken words into serial commands.

Although great for soldering, this device can certainly come in handy when reading books or even finding your way to bed at night. Want to create your own? You can find more details on Bartnik’s Instructables page here.

While Arduino boards are useful for simple robotics and control applications, as outlined on William Osman’s blog, they can also be employed for data tracking to help engineers verify and modify a race car’s suspension design.

In this case, Osman decided to use a Pro Mini, a three-axis accelerometer, and an nRF24L01 module to implement a vehicular telemetry system for under $20. A second Arduino and 2.4GHz transceiver make up the base station, which is connected to his computer via USB.

While getting the raw data is interesting, he’s able to take the project to the next level using a free software package called COSMOS from Bell Aerospace. Although not initially user-friendly, it does allow those willing to conquer its learning curve to visualize data in real-time without spending thousands on software.

Be sure to check out his blog post or the video below for more information on the inexpensive telemetry system!

When you travel, you likely collect photographs and knick-knacks that can be displayed nicely for yourself and others. David Levin, however, took this one step further and used an MP3 recorder to capture the sounds of the places he and his wife have visited. But how does one show off sounds? Levin has a clever answer for that in the form of his Arduino-based Audio Memory Chest.

The project uses a recycled card catalog to hold items from each place traveled, and when one drawer is pulled out, a magnet and Hall effect sensor tells an Arduino Pro Mini which drawer has been opened. A serial MP3 player module then produces a random audio file recorded at that location, treating the user to both the sights and sounds of the region! 

My wife and I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world together during the past few years. Wherever we go, I collect little knick knacks, souvenirs, and ephemera. I also use a little MP3 recorder to capture sounds (marketplaces, street sound, music, etc). It’s always amazing to listen to these later—they immediately bring you back to a place, far better than a photograph alone could.

After discussing how their grandfather used to monitor well levels outside of a summer cottage in order to avoid emptying it, Instructables user “karlli” and his brother decided to take on this task themselves. Instead of checking it manually, they used a pair of Arduinos to do this for them.

One board sits above the well and senses water level with an ultrasonic sensor, while the other receives this data, calculates the volume of water remaining, and displays it nicely for those in the house to see.

Because the well is located about 25m from the house and we wanted the display indoors, we opted for using two Arduinos with a data link in between. You can easily modify the project to use just one Arduino if this is not the case for you. Why not use wireless data transfer? Partly due to simplicity and robustness (the wire is less likely to be damaged by moisture) and partly because we wanted to avoid using batteries on the sensor side. With a wire, we could route both data transfer and power through the same cable.

According to the write-up, volume can be calculated to an accuracy of ± one liter. In practice, the setup responds to a flushed toilet or running the tap for a few minutes, and shows the well refilling overnight!

While most of us take being able to remotely control a television or other appliance for granted, for the millions of people with some form of disability, this can present a challenge. In order to help those with limited mobility, Cassio Batista along with Erick Campos have come up with a system that translates head movements into infrared (IR) control signals.

In the project’s video seen below, Batista shows off how he can move his head to turn a TV on and off, as well as control channel selection and volume. A webcam captures these gestures, which are passed on to a Linux-based C.H.I.P. board that translates the movements using OpenCV. Finally, an Arduino Uno receives these commands over Bluetooth and signals the TV as needed via IR.

In addition to television, this system could easily be applied to other IR-based appliances, making lives easier, or perhaps simply eliminating a physical remote altogether.

When you’re the best man at a wedding, you could get the groom a nice knife, shaving kit, or some other sentimental and/or useful item. If, however, you’re Imgurian “msx80,” you make a video poker machine with an Arduino!

The game itself is controlled using five switches to hold or change cards, along with a deal and bet button. The play field is shown on a small LCD screen via I2C, which uses custom characters to reveal the different card suits.

Everything is housed in a nicely decorated wooden box, giving it a retro, almost steampunk feel. As you can see from the Imgur photos, it’s certainly a unique display piece and looks like something that would be fun to play. And yes, the groom was happy with the gift as well!

Want to read more, remember to take your vitamins, or even take out the trash? With the “Dory” Arduino-based tracking device from YouTuber YellowRobot.XYZ, now you can!

Dory–which comes in both a circular and smaller square version–uses an NFC reader to sense tags attached near the object that needs work. When you complete a positive action, you simply tap the nearby tag and the small gadget will light up its corresponding LEDs via an Arduino Pro Mini.

If you’d like to know where you are on your habit count, this is displayed with a button in the middle, and can be reset by holding it down. Beside from tracking habits, Dory is a great reminder of what can be done with NFC tags!

Planning on attending Maker Faire New York this month? We’re looking for volunteers to join the Arduino team for the weekend—staffing tables and displays, assisting with one-on-one demos, and providing technical assistance when necessary.

Those who help us out will receive a day pass so you can explore and enjoy everything happening around the faire grounds. Water, snacks, and a t-shirt will be provided, and we’ve even prepared a small gift to show our appreciation at the end of the your shift.

If interested, please fill out this questionnaire and we’ll get back to you soon! We also have a paid position available for a NYC-based photographer, who will be responsible for taking pictures of our booth, Arduino projects, and talks. Sound like you or someone you know? Send us a note at events@arduino.cc! 

You may think that visually sensing colors is a complicated operation, requiring a camera or other advanced sensors. This isn’t always the case, as engineer “Tech Martian” illustrates in the video below, using a photoresistor and RGB LED along with an Arduino 101 board.

His setup uses the LED to shine on a piece of paper in three colors, measuring the reflected light intensity. These reflections are first calibrated by reflecting light off of white and black paper, which can then be combined to show the colors presented in front of the emitter/sensor pair.

Be sure to check out the project write-up for more information, including the Arduino code!