Cooking Hacks Blog

The new shield designed for Arduino and Raspberry Pi integrates the SIM908 module which counts with both GPRS and GPS technologies what allows to easily perform realtime tracking applications. The idea is simple: read the GPS coordinates (longitude and latitude) and send them by using a HTTP request to a web server. Then use a browser to load the PHP webpage which uses Google Maps to show the location in realtime.

All the code including the PHP scripts and the Arduino program can be downloaded and it has been released with an open source license.

You can find a detailed Tutorial to know how to use the new GPRS+GPS Quadband Module for Arduino/Raspberry Pi (SIM908) to track your vehicle with both platforms and show it in Google Maps with our examples.

Note: If you are interested in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), M2M and the Internet of Things (IoT) projects check our new open source sensor platform: Waspmote which counts with more than 60 sensors available to use and a low consumption mode of just 0.07uA to ensure years of battery life. Know more at:

• Waspmote Main Page (Libelium)
• Waspmote Brief Description (Cooking Hacks)

 

Mr. Oyvind from Oslo sent us a cool hack of a 75-years-old radio into an iPhone dock using an Arduino.
 
On his website you can read the complete tutorial or download the code and below you can have more details on the way he used the board:
the Arduino is used to read the state of the dual potentiometer that controls the volume and then translate this value into a certain number of LEDs being lit on the volume indicator.
 
I am using a Duemilanove. The code for the project is very simple and can be found here: http://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/radio_ino.zip

Via: Arduino Blog, Source: Build Electronic Circuits

 

 

Thanks to Lance who created a project on Instructables, you’ll be able to create remote-controlled eyes using:

- Arduino Uno,
- 2x servos,
- some plexiglass
- a couple of doll’s eyes.

If you like animatronics, watch the video: the result is pretty scary!

Via: Arduino Blog, Source: Instructables

 

 

Kris Temmerman, a freelance creative developer based in Belgium, just published a nice report on how he built a painting machine running on an Arduino Due and an Android tablet.

I was always interested to remove the perfection from computer graphics. So thought it would be fun to try to make the most obvious thing first. A machine that uses a paint brush to print a drawing.

As you can see from the video, Kris was able to translate the pen pressure on the tablet into specific brush strokes on the paper.

Via: Arduino Blog, Source: GitHub

 

[Versión en Español aquí]

(Click for enlarge)

From 4th to 7th July, there will be a big event in Zaragoza (Spain), the Internet of Things and 3D Printing Summer Camp. It will include Open Hardware keynotes, biometrics sensors, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Waspmote workshops, a 3D Printer course and a Hackathon for Makers!!

http://zaragozasummercamp.com

The sessions are free and they are organized by Cooking Hacks (Libelium's Open Hardware Division), with the collaboration of Zaragoza City Council and the most important development groups of the city: Púlsar, D-Labs, Arduteka, CADesigns, etc.

In addition, the best projects made during the Hackathon will be awarded with a 3D Printer and a grant in Cooking Hacks.

To join in, you must subscribe in the links showed in the event site. Hurry up! Very limited seats!!

 

Next to our Arduino booth at Makerfaire Bay Area we had a cool project created by Antipodes, a girls robotics team headquartered in Pacifica, California, USA. It’s a Do It Yourself (DIY) remote controlled (RC) model maglev with electromagnetic propulsion, or shortly called maglev.

A maglev is just like a conventional train but instead of wheels it has magnets and it levitates!

The team did a great job not only for the results achieved but especially in sharing the project’s documentation, detailed with all the steps for the construction through videos and pictures so that others can more easily follow in their footsteps.

The maglev, which won the Maker Faire Editor’s Choice blue ribbon, contains Arduino UNO, Arduino Wireless Protoshield, plus many other components you can explore in their videos below and in the project page.

Via: Arduino Blog, Source: The one Robot

 

 

In 2012, when I completed my undergraduate degree at Cornell University, I had a last minute idea to put an LED array on my graduation mortar board. The night before graduation I wired up a bunch of LEDs to a protoboard and an Arduino. The resulting product worked well, and garnered all kinds of excited remarks from friends and onlookers. But, it wasn’t bright enough in the outdoor sunlight, and it left me yearning to do something a bit more … intense.

Lucky for me, I stayed at Cornell for a fifth year to get my Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, and I therefore got to graduate again. This time, I was determined to do something over-the-top. Utilizing the super-high-intensity LED circuit board that I had designed for my masters thesis on Hybrid Fiber Optic LED Lighting, I built a web-connected LED graduation cap that would be truly ridiculous. Graduations can be a bit boring, so I wanted to develop an interactive platform (on my head) that others could fiddle with during the ceremonies. And thus, the “Control my Cap” project was born.

Via and Source: Jeremy Blum

 

 

If you are using live plants in your aquarium you must remember to fertilize them at regular intervals. Being a bit forgetful, [Deven] automated the process by building this auto-doser.

There are three different chemicals which are dispensed by the system. They are stored in the drink bottles seen above. Each has a plastic tube which runs up to the dosing motors mounted on the black box.

Inside the black box is the Arduino that handles timing and switches the motors. The control circuitry is protected using one MOSFET for each. To keep the fish safe the outflow is directed right into the aquarium pump so that the concentrated chemicals are quickly dispersed through the entire tank.

Now that he’s made it this far he might as well add the ability to feed the fish and control the lighting.

Via: Hack a Day, Source: Fish Tank Projects

 

 

Simple tools used well can produce fantastic results. The hardware which [Gilad] uses in this project is the definition of common. We’d bet you have most if not all of them on hand right now. But the end product is a light box which seems to dance and twirl with every sound in the room. You should go watch the demo video before reading the bill of materials so that the simplicity doesn’t spoil it for you.

A wooden craft box serves as the enclosure. Inside you’ll find an Arduino board, microphone, and an 8×8 RGB module. The front cover of the project box diffuses the light using a sheet of tracing paper on a frame of foam board. It’s the code that brings everything together. He wrote his own particle system library to generate interesting animations.

If you don’t have a project box on hand this might work with an extra-deep picture frame.

Via: Hack a Day, Source: Instructables

 

Scratch Day event was the last 25th May in Zaragoza. Many people attended the event with their children along the day. There were 2 dedicated rooms in the building for Scratch: one related to beginners, where children learnt to use Scratch to create animations, and the second for advanced. In this one, the kids played with Scratch and Arduino to interactuate with hardware and software.

Banana piano with Makey Makey, 3D Printers, Printer Bots, Little Bits... too many educational games for children.