We're using a hazer to make the laser beams visible, which works surprisingly well in this semi-open space. To increase the spectacle we installed a few extra lasers that are not being sensed for tripwires, but just look cool. The heisters won't know which these are, however, so it adds to the challenge without increasing complexity.

In this side view you can see what happens when you break too many beams: lots of lights come on, including a blinding, red LED array. For this Tod used an Arduino-controlled AC optical relay. I'm hoping Tod will write up the whole project for a MAKE article, because he has all kinds of neat tricks like this throughout.

The event is shaping up to be truly wonderful, and affords the attendee a rare chance to hang out in Mister Jalopy's secret underground lair. I'm totally shameless, so if you ask I'll eat some laser for you. There are still a few tickets available, hope to see you there!

Related:
Laser tripwires for Machine Project art heist
Machine Project Benefit 2009

Ever wished that when you play air guitar, it would make real sounds instead of just the ones from your best death metal face? David Fournier, Jean-Louis Giordano, Monireh Sanaei, Maziar Shelbaf and Gustav Sohtell are here to help. They build the AIRduino guitar, a wearable virtual instrument. Open source with full documentation, naturally. [via Fashioning Technology]

Care to hand control of your playlist over you to an Arduino?

Awhile back I was working on a project that that I wanted to be able to start music the on my mac through the IR receiver. After a while of looking around I found this library  which allows you to use your arduino as an Apple Remote. I integrated it in to my project and it worked great! So the other day I decided to make an Apple Remote shield for my arduino.

David King built this stoplight costume for his oldest daughter. It's his first Arduino project. Besides flashing the expected red, green, and yellow lights, it incorporates an Adafruit WaveShield to play music. [Thanks, David!]

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino WaveShield Kit

My wife and I are making a robot Halloween costume and I just finished the electronics design prototype. I wanted to wait until the costume was finished before revealing it but I'm too excited that I finished my circuit and coding. That's a video of it, and I want to describe it a little. It uses an Adafruit Wave Shield for the sounds, and an antique analog gauge I found at Gateway Electronics here in St. Louis. There's an infrared beam pair from Sparkfun, which will be watching the "candy input slot" on the robot's chest. The gauge displays the count, until too much candy is inserted and it goes crazy. Then after 20 seconds of no more candy, the candy count gets reset, to be ready to do it all over again at the next house. In the sketch, I used these AlphaBeta libraries: LED, button, TimedAction, and Scheduler. These made coding this sketch very easy. He even updated Scheduler with a clear() for me. Thanks again for that! The hardest part was getting it all to work together. I had been trying to use pin 9 for the gauge, and it crashed the sketch. I did more reading and found out you can't do PWM on 9 with the Wave libraries because of the timer. Pin 6 works fine though. The beep sound loop I found on my mac, I think it came from iMovie. The speech is recorded synthesis also from my mac, made like this from a terminal: say -o outputfile.aiff "thing to say" This makes an aiff file. Then I used iTunes to convert all the sound files to WAV with the right settings for the Wave Shield. The chaser LEDs are going to surround the Arduino in a shadow box sort of thing, so people can see the controller, and to punch it up so it isn't so boring. ;D

Detail shots of the electronic components in the robot costume my wife and I built. She did all the painting and papercraft, and I did the electronics. Systems include an Arduino with Adafruit Wave Shield for sound effects, and a proto shield that you see with all the wires and resistors. They are wired to the antique analog gauge on the front panel, which reacts to the IR pair from SparkFun in the Input slot. The speech is recorded synthesis from my Mac. Sayings are: "Candy, my favorite fuel," "Yum yum yum...," "You will be spared from the robot uprising, thank you human," and "Warning! Candy overload!" And on the front panel just for eye candy is a Game of Life kit from the Maker Shed/Adafruit.

Eric Lowry built this sweet WoW magic-user costume for his son. It has LED health and mana bars, LED magic power in the gloves, and an LED, er, "touch-sensitive fairy companion." There's one Arduino for the gloves and status bars, and another for the companion.

By Kris Magri, engineering intern

How I designed Makey, Part II: Creating the "stretchy" robot body in Inventor

When designing Makey the Robot for MAKE, Volume 19, I ran into a problem that plagues all kinds of designers -- how to continually redesign a body to accommodate changes in whatever's crammed inside it?

Once I'd sketched out Makey's configuration and modeled the major parts in Autodesk Inventor 3D modeling software, I really got into some of Inventor's awesome features. Inventor has three basic design types you work with: sketches, parts, and assemblies. Up to this point I had designed each individual component, including Makey's robot body, as a part, as shown in Figure A.

Fig. A: Makey's sheet metal body, near-final version, shown as a single part in Autodesk Inventor. Because I designed it as a component of an assembly, all the mounting holes and dropouts are perfectly aligned to internal robot components; if I move the components, Inventor automatically moves the holes.

Once I had these parts modeled, I placed them together into an assembly, as in Figure B. Then, I attempted to stretch the robot body as needed by making that part "Adaptive" inside the assembly. (That's what Inventor calls "stretchy" parts, and it's a powerful feature.)

Fig. B: Makey's body shown as part of an assembly in Inventor, constrained to the edges of the motors (at bottom, in blue). If I move the motors, the body automatically stretches to accommodate the new motor positions. Similarly, I constrained the battery boxes (at top, in tan) to the body, so wherever the body stretches, the battery boxes follow automatically. Nice!

Also, I cut holes into the body where I needed them for mounting the motors. This was the wrong approach! It seemed to work, but when I looked at the robot body as a part, outside of the assembly, the holes I had made weren't shown. They had simply vanished.

The reason for this is that Inventor can't know ahead of time how you're going to use a part. You could design one part that could be used in multiple assemblies, so if you alter the base part in any way inside one particular assembly, the alteration exists only in the assembly, but the base part is unchanged. Thus, my changes didn't "take hold."

The key was to create the robot body from inside the assembly. You can actually be inside an assembly and make a brand-new part. To do this, in the Assembly Panel area, instead of selecting Place Component, choose Create Component.

I ended up first creating what I called a "base plate," which existed solely to help me anchor all the parts, including the robot body. It would not be a part I would actually fabricate. I then placed the base plate, the motors, the Arduino, and the batteries into an assembly, using Place Component, and assembled it all by anchoring everything to the base plate (using constraints). This was pretty much what I had been doing before.

Now, still inside the assembly, I created a new part, via Create Component, which would become the robot body. I selected the material type Sheet Metal.ipt, since it's a sheet metal part, and created each bend and flange step by step, inside the assembly. This robot body now "belonged" to the assembly, and was adaptive inside the assembly. Any editing of it, from that point on, was always initiated from within the assembly.

Instead of making the body a specific width, I just made everything extra large with no dimensions. Once the body was formed, I finished editing, and now I was back inside the assembly with my new robot body. I then constrained the side of the body to an existing "edge" from another part, for instance, the sides of the motors (Figure B). When the constraint went into effect, the sides of the body "snapped" into place next to the motors. To make holes, I projected the motor mount holes onto the robot body, again edited the robot body part (from within the assembly), cut holes there, and then the holes "stayed put," so to speak.

Success at last -- I had modeled a fully adaptive robot body that I could easily modify to accommodate all the robot components I would be cramming inside it.

Next up: The battle to fit the brains inside.

More: How I designed Makey the robot, Part I: The first design

The Arduino-based synth project formerly known as binder synth is now known as Adasynth - and it sounds like development is coming along right nicely. Davitr0n provides some background on his project -

The goal of this project was to make a patchable synthesizer as versatile as we can while keeping the cost down.  Since I know how to program C++ and have a basic understanding of electronics we chose to use an arduino. So far we’ve stayed pretty true to that goal.  With just the arduino, a resistor chip, some recycled wood, and a lot of help in the form of interface components (plugs and jacks) from my old electronics teacher we have a working synthesizer.. and to be honest the results so far are much better than we expected.

Arduino Pocket Piano Synth Kit

Designed for use with the Pocket Piano shield for Arduino, Marc Nostromo's Squealer synthesis engine-

The engine implements a small monosynth with a few waveforms, a HP/BP/LP continuous resonant filter, decay and a few little own tricks that  generate a LOT of aliases, making a great dirty digital synth. Since the Pocket Piano has only 3 potentiometers available for control (the 4th one being hardwired to the volume), I use a "page" system to implement series of 3 parameters to fiddle with. To switch "page", use the rightmost note of the A.P (NOT the one under the led, the one left to to it). To help you know which page you are at, you can use the led: it will flash a number of time equivalent to the current page you are at.
Here's the parameter list:

• Page 1: wave selection / octave / release
• Page 2: filter type (continuous lp-bp-hp) / filter cut-off / filter resonance
• Page 3: wave loop position / wave loop length (makes the oscillators go wako)

Bar End Brake Light: BEBL

Augustson designed etched and assembled a specialized Arduino board for a new robotics project -

What is ADM 1.0? Basically we built an Arduino, added a Dual Motor Controller to it and a small prototyping area. Hence the name ADM (Arduino Dual Motor).  The board works and is programmed just like a normal Arduino. For the science fair, part of the rules stated we could not use an actual Arduino board, but were able to build or modify our own.

It should be able to work without being connected to an outlet. It should have lights and it shouldn't be to heavy to move around. Ateast not by a small wagon. And it should be loud. Not Mötorhead loud but loud enough. It should also be cheap enough so that I would not cry if it got trashed or stolen after a few gigs/parties.

In the Maker Shed:


In the Maker Shed: Arduino Duemilanove

Really sweet Mario costume with built-in classic sound-effects from Adafruit forum member djmacatack. It uses an Arduino with an Adafruit WaveShield. [Thanks, Becky!]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

There's still time left to enter the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Deadline is 11:59 PM PDT, November 3rd. Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Guilherme Martins built this "talkie walkie" in response to a challenge to build a robot using only one servo. It responds to sound in real time, automatically controlling the movements of a lip-syncing paper mouth. [via Hack a Day]

Judy Castro and Michael Shiloh run a series of classes called "Teach Me to Make" on a variety of subject such as electronics and arduino, mechanical sculpture, and electromechanics. Classes are run out of The Crucible and The Shipyard. Michael writes:

More recently (2-3 months) I've been teaching classes at my workshop which is now back in The Shipyard. I hold two classes every Tuesday: In the afternoon is a Project Lab, where students work on their own projects with my guidance, assistance, and tools. In the evening is the Arduino and Electronics class, where lately we have been focusing on controlling stepper motors. Both of these classes are stand-alone, in that students attend whenever they are able, and each meeting is guided by the knowledge and interest of those present.

Samuel Seide brings us this animatronic talking skull Instructable. It's motion-activated and uses a Waveshield kit for sound. [Thanks, Sam!]

More from Sam Seide:

• Interactive Punch-Out arcade dummy
• Tiny arcade machine is tiny

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino WaveShield Kit

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

My friend Joe Bowers writes:

Rock Band has been released on the iPhone, and even though its a lot of fun, I would rather have something play it for me. Preferably a robot! The light sensor sends data to an Arduino, which is waiting for a spike in the data. The Arduino runs the sensor data through some averaging filters, and sets a threshold for on and off. The iPhone touch screen isn't like most PDAs. It uses a capacitive touch screen. I had some conductive foam laying around, its usually used for shipping sensitive electronics. If I used something non conductive, like a plastic pen, the foam would do nothing to the screen. My solution to this was to put thin copper wires into the foam (I also used these wires to attach the foam to the servos)... Add all of the above together into a modified Pelican case, with a lot of hot glue (non glittery) and you have a robot that will gladly beat all your difficult songs, sit back and sip some fine tea.

OhBowz blog

From Instructables user Eric Kingston comes this Arduino-controlled Silly String shooting pumpkin. It's motion-activated, makes a Goblin-esque cackling noise, and Tweets a report each time it squirts another victim. Eric also wins a thousand internet video style points for making his whole point in five seconds with no talking!

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Josh writes in to spread the word about the Muralizer verticle surface printer/plotter project - which is hopefully a kit in the making -

t's a drawbot that takes SVGs as input, letting you print vector graphics really big. The project was started at noisebridge, San Francisco's hackerspace, earlier this year, and we got a prototype going (a bit of video is up on the page).
I'd love to bring this piece of open hardware to the community as a kit, but need some help to do so. Inspired by the success of MakerBeam, I set up a kickstarter page. It would be great if people could pledge even a little bit to help make this tool available to artists (and those of us who want to be artists but are better at soldering than painting).

Related:

Hektor - The spray painting robot

]]> <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/muralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html" />Read more</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/muralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html" /> Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/muralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html#comments" />Comments</a> | <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/arduino/" />Read more articles in Arduino</a> | <a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=blog.makezine.com%2Farchive%2F2009%2F10%2Fmuralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html&title=Muralizer%20prints%20art%20on%20the%20wall&bodytext=%20Josh%20writes%20in%20to%20spread%20the%20word%20about%20the%20Muralizer%20verticle%20surface%20printer%2Fplotter%20project%20-%20which%20is%20hopefully%20a%20kit%20in%20the%20making%20-t%26apos%3Bs%20a%20drawbot%20that%20takes%20SVGs%20as%20input%2C%20letting%20you%20print%20vector%20graphics%20really%20big.%20The...&topic=tech_news" />Digg this!</a> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/muralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/muralizer_prints_art_on_the_wall.html Arduino Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:30:11 -0800 Here's a creepy, simple, and effective Halloween effect -- a pair of glowing eyeballs that look back and forth at your victims. It's made with two ping pong balls, two BlinkM programmable LEDs, three servomotors, and an Arduino microcontroller. Todbot is at it again. Here's a creepy, simple, and effective Halloween effect -- a pair of glowing eyeballs that look back and forth at your victims. It's made with two ping pong balls, two BlinkM programmable LEDs, three servomotors, and an Arduino microcontroller. Stick ti in a pumpkin, or better yet, incorporate it into your costume, and you've got maximum spookiness.

Head to the todbot blog for more info, and to download the Arduino sketch.

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino Duemilanove

BlinkM - Smart LED

From instructables user depotdevoid comes this awesome Ghostbusters costume tutorial. Besides the proton pack, he made a trap, a pair of "ecto goggles," and the obligatory jumpsuit. "Aim for the flattop!"

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Charles is using an Arduino ethernet shield to send the rhythm of his heartbeat over a network in the form of OSC messages. Each beat is detected via a simple sensor comprised of an IR LED and phototransistor -

The idea is that when your heart beats you have a quick rush of blood into tiny blood vessels close to your skin which makes it less transparent. This effect is easiest to observe on your finger tips or earlobe. So the IR emitter and phototransistor are placed next to each other (not much light goes through the side of the emitter!) and I put my finger on top. Light from the IR emitter illuminates my skin and is reflected into the phototransistor.

The phototransistor is connected to the Arduino in a similar way to a potentiometer. One lead is connected to +5V and the other to ground. The +5V lead is also connected to an analogue input on the Arduino. When the phototransistor receives more IR light it becomes more resistive and a lower voltage is detected by the analogue input.

His sensor was built using Meng Li's instructions & schematic. Looks like a great input option for those interested in experimenting with biofeedback.

Related:

Heartbeat midi controller

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino Ethernet Shield

MAKE Flickr pool member atduskgreg has been working on a drawing machine using parts scrounged from old cd drives.

It's actually a drawing machine. It's built from two stepper motors I salvaged from come old CD-ROM drives. In its current incarnation, it has two pots each of which controls the movement of one of the two motors: for moving the pen up and down or left and right.

It's great seeing students' progress as they reach milestones on their projects. If you are a student or teacher and want to show off your classroom breakthroughs, pass them along in the comments or Make Flickr pool.

Greg has parked some of the code used for the project online and has written about it on his blog. You can check out a bunch of photos of the build and products in his Flickr set for the project.

With Tom Igoe's help, I figured out how the connections to the steppers worked. They are both bipolar steppers so they have four connections each. I measured the continuity to find which pairs of leads were connected to each magnet. Once I had this right, I plugged each of them into an h-bridge and then connected the h-bridge's four inputs to the arduino and told the Stepper library about them.

In the Maker Shed:

Make: Arduino

Phil Clandillon and Steve Milbourne have another maker-friendly music project.

Football Hero is basically an experiment to create a Guitar Hero type game played by footballers. The game was constructed in a warehouse in West London, and a talented young team of freestyle footballers were drafted in to participate. We created the game to promote the Kasabian single Underdog.

The game was powered by the open source GH clone Frets On Fire, and we used two enormous projectors to create a three story high image on the side of the warehouse wall. The coloured buttons on the typical guitar controller were replaced by five huge pressure sensitive pads which were carefully positioned on the wall in order to line up with the game's descending notes. The idea being that the footballers would try to hit the pads in time with the music in order to play the Kasabian track Underdog. Each of the pads contained a piezoelectric vibration sensor, and these were wired back to an Arduino, which in turn was connected to the MacBook Pro we used to run the software.

Phil's projects have a habit of bringing together some very talented people, and these footballers are no exception.

Paul Wood (Woody - the guy in red) was one of five guys that in 2006/7 travelled to New York with the aim of making it all the way to Buenos Aires to meet their hero, Diego Maradona. The five lads bought their flights to NY by busking around the UK. They arrived penniless in the states and raised all the money they needed by performing street football & freestyle all over the USA, Central and South America. Their trip was filmed and released as the documentary In The Hands Of Gods. Paul has since set up a freestyle academy and a junior soccer school here in the UK.

If you have a lot of button inputs for a project, keeping track of them (whether they’re pressed, just pressed or just released) and debouncing can get a bit hairy. here is some sample code that will keep track of as many buttons as you’d like. The example shows 6. To change the pins or number of buttons, just put them in the array called “buttons” and the rest of the code will automatically adjust. (The code is in Arduino-ese but its pretty much just straight up C) Enjoy!

The boys from MaceTech cooked up an impressive yard display with eight RGB LED modules in eight different pumpkins around the yard. Garrett explains:

We made a control board for eight pumpkins, using eight ShiftBars, 50mm cables, a Seeeduino, a ShiftBrite Shield, and a 12V power supply. The ShiftBar potentiometers were adjusted to deliver about 100mA to each of the 24 LED channels. We wired the LED array boards to the control board using cheap 4-wire telephone station cable from Home Depot.

Read more about it here.

I love these physical expressions of digital data. Here, a computer trashcan filling up is reflected in an inflating balloon. Empty the trash, and the balloon deflates. Lots of other nice physical computing examples on this page.

Tangible Prototypes Lab