As the preeminent tool for makers, Arduino is a versatile platform that covers almost every type of creative making. With its simple-to-use coding language and fun programming concepts, Arduino enables users to create modern electronics with ease. From beginner level projects like flashing LED lights to more advanced builds such as interactive robots, there are an endless number of possibilities when it comes to building projects with Arduino. Whether you are new or an experienced builder in search of fresh ideas, these posts will provide interesting Arduino tutorials and unique ideas that may spark your creativity and motivate you take on any type of maker project!
MAKE reader Ken Miller wrote in to tell us about the magical staff prop he built this Halloween to complement a very lucky lad’s wizard costume:”We built this Dragon Head Wizard Staff for my girlfriend’s 9 year old son, mostly out of parts we had lying around. It uses an accelerometer to ‘cast spells’ based on the direction you shake the staff…”
It’s been a while but the most popular version of the Ultimate Microcontroller Pack is back in stock in the Maker Shed! The Ultimate Microcontroller Pack with Arduino Uno includes everything you need to dive right into the world of microcontollers. The 100+ components include everything from servos to an LCD screen to allow you to complete nearly any online tutorial without having to source individual parts.
John Graham-Cumming created this sleek 7×7 LED display by hacking up a string of addressable Christmas lights from GE. Starting from Robert Quattlebaum’s excellent tutorial, he mounted an Arduino Pro and GE Color Effects G-35 Christmas lights inside a frame and diffused the light with a cutting board. I especially like how he used servo arms to secure the backing to the frame. He coded the Arduino so that custom messages and patterns can be displayed and in the video above he shows it displaying “Thanks GE” for making these hackable Christmas lights.
Kimmo Karvinen and Tero Karvinen are the authors of Arduino Bots and Gadgets, a primer on how to integrate many types of electronic hardware into the Arduino physical computing platform. At Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, Tero talked to us about the advantages of prototyping with the Arduino for electronics projects. He also told us […]
Our own Matt Richardson is up to some fantastic things at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU- check out his project, digidrench:
digidrench is an interactive video installation in which the user controls video playback by filling and draining three tanks. As the water level rises, the video plays forward; as it lowers, the video reverses.
ITP students Matt Tennie and Lily Szjanberg designed and built a device depicting Michael Jackson with an exaggeratedly large, sparkly hand hanging from the ceiling at their school. Whenever someone gives MJ a high five, a switch is triggered, sending serial data to a Processing sketch. The sketch then tells a webcam to snap a picture, which is uploaded directly to a flickr account.
Akiba of Freaklabs and Tokyo Hackerspace wrote in with a three-part tutorial on using an Arduino to control complex lighting displays. Now that we’re moving into the holiday season, we’re about to start seeing the hard core Christmas people setting up the elaborate light displays. The equipment to switch all the lighting channels and sequence […]
