Hasta La Gadget!

Some folks we met in Charlotte had a mission: they wanted to win a contest (sponsored by Red Bull) for the coolest Arduino project in the land. I think they may have nailed it. The project, built by engineers and designers for Edison Nation, turns an ordinary desk into a booze-infused party zone when the clock hits five (or when you slap the Swingline stapler.)

The project has been submitted to the Red Bull website and the guys could use your help getting to the top so they can head out to the 2012 Maker Faire in NYC.

Sadly the Red Bull website is an absolute mess and there is no visible means of voting, but if you figure it out, give these guys a nod. It’s not every day that you see a system that can turn an office into a red-hot, robotic bar.

At certain point in every geek’s life, their mother gives up and stops yelling at them to sit up straight. If the lack of constant reminders to maintain good posture has you slouching and hunching, there are countless technological substitutes. Even a few nice DIY ones. But we’ve got to give Ellen Sundh props for the simplicity of her solution. While similar projects rely on accelerometers, which can be difficult for the budding hobbyist to work with, to monitor the angle of your body, Bad Posture sticks with a simple bend sensor to keep tabs on your spinal cord. The flexible plastic is arranged vertically in a fabric belt that also houses an Arduino, a Wave Shield from Adafruit and a push button for calibration. Sit at your optimal angle, press the button and you’re ready to go. Bend too much and the Wave Shield plays a warning — “bad posture!” Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino

Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Artist Blair Neal, as many other great creators have before him, turned to children’s toys as the source of inspiration for his latest project. Crayolascope is a rudimentary 3D display hacked together from several Glow Books, a light-up play on a flip-book from the titular company. The installation, currently housed at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing, layers 12 of its component clear plastic sheets to create a roughly one-foot deep display that plays a simple pre-drawn animation. The whole thing is controlled by an Arduino Mega, that can either play back the neon scribbles at varying speeds (controlled by a knob built into the console) or scrub through frame by frame. Neal isn’t quite done tweaking the Crayolascope either. As it stands he’s limited to between 14 and 18 frames, before it becomes too difficult to see through the sheets. And it requires near total darkness for optimal operation. To see it in action check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Crayolascope hacks toys into foot-thick 3D display

Crayolascope hacks toys into foot-thick 3D display originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the only thing standing between you and a full abandonment of physical media is the tedious task of ripping all of your CDs and DVDs, boy have we got the Lego-based gadget for you. Paul Rea whipped up this little beauty — it’s an Arduino-powered Lego arm that swings to pick up a disc, deposit it in the drive and then drop it (perhaps a bit too literally) into a finished pile. It’s not quite perfect — the arm is a bit loud as it moves, and anyone who’s ever owned CDs or DVDs may likely grimace as the thing tosses finished discs into a pile, but it’s an entertaining break from what can ultimately prove an arduous task.

Continue reading Lego CD / DVD ripper lets you drop your physical media — literally (video)

Lego CD / DVD ripper lets you drop your physical media — literally (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of tales have cropped up through the years focusing on the roots of Arduino — a tiny circuit board that holds a special place in the heart of every modern-day DIYer — but a recent expose from the folks at Ieee Spectrum has a behind-the-scenes look that’ll impress even historians. Massimo Banzi is the name, and Bar di Re Arduino is the place. The former is hailed as an Italian cofounder of the project he dubbed Arduino in honor of the latter, and in time, four more folks would join him to create what would become a complete gamechanger in the universe of homegrown electronics. We’ve covered initiatives built on Arduino for years here at Engadget. Everything from sigh collectors to early warning systems for pastry chefs has been built around the platform, and the story of how we got to the place we are now is a fascinating one. We won’t introduce any spoilers here — tap that source link below to enjoy at your own pace.

How Arduino got its start: a behind the scenes revelation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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