Hack N Mod - Amazingly Cool Hacks, Mods, and DIY Projects » Arduino

Make a DIY Arduino Word Clock

dean — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:21:37 +0000

Find out how to build your own ‘Word Clock’ using the power of Arduino. It’s definitely unique and eye-catching clock which literally tells you the time unlike your standard digital clock.

The instructions are really easy to understand and well written. As far as materials go, a laser printer and a few electrical components like the LEDs and connectors are about all you’ll need. As you can see from the picture, it comprises mainly of an homemade stencil (which you can build using a CNC plotter we covered or simply trace it out). The author can provide the circuit board for the project – or you can do it yourself at home.

The project instructions also include all of the source code you’ll need to get the clock working correctly, a detailed PDF schematic, and a template for the stencil. Check out more arduino and clock posts below:

Arduino and Clock Projects:

Geo-Location Game “Urban Defender” using Arduino

Joe L — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:41:54 +0000

By using an Arduino, GPS, and an accelerometer, this group put together the “Urban Defender” – A hyper-local geolocation based game which allows users to “claim” various districts of a city by throwing the ball against a wall to claim the territory. The ball tells you whether you’re in friendly or enemy territory through it’s built in speakers and LEDs. The concept video below does a great job of demonstrating the project.

The map above is how the users can track which geo-locations are owned by different groups. It’s just a concept for now, but it would make for a great iPhone app to use to monitor which territories are owned by each team.

The Concept:

The superb concept video above demonstrates the goal of the game, mapping out your “territory” by claiming and taking over blocks of a city. Awesome stuff!

The Execution:

The Plan: The entire project is incredibly well documented, full of flow charts, diagrams, concept photos and videos so you can learn how to recreate the build.

The Code: Full details including flow charts, initial sketches, and source code can be obtained under their coding section.

The Build: Pictured above is their first prototype with all the electronics stuffed inside the ball, comfortably protected by foam. You can view a walk through of the entire project build if you’d like to learn more.

Final Results:

The final result reminds us a lot of Foursquare, a popular location based game. Full project details can be found at the links above at the project build site. Be sure to subscribe to HacknMod for free to stay in the loop on future projects.

Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock

Joe L — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:52:13 +0000

Here’s a fantastic project using an arduino, a motor, and a piezo sensor which allows you to both record and detect knocking patterns to unlock a door. The video below does a fantastic job of demonstrating how it works: It’s completely mobile and can be suction cupped to any dead bolt. Press a button to record a new sequence. Upon detecting the correct sequence of knocks, the motor turns the lock open. Brilliant!

Don’t miss: Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web

For more details on the project including detailed photos and code, check out the project build. We have hundreds of the best Arduino projects for your inspiration:

GhostBusters DIY Halloween Costume (Arduino Powered)

Joe L — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:17:53 +0000

For your DIY Halloween costume this year, Learn how to make your own Ghostbusters Proton Pack equipt with red and green lasers (above). There is a full tutorial on how to build your own along with a detailed photogallery of the proton pack. An Arduino is used for basic controls of the various flashing and fading lights on the suit.

The video above walks you through some features of the DIY Halloween costume. Included are some ecto goggles (seen below) and various other non-fuctional, but super cool-looking widgets.

The full tutorial walks you through the costume build and here’s a second tutorial to help you construct your own. More of our favorite DIY costumes are featured below.

DIY Halloween Costumes & Projects:

DIY Football Hero Using the Arduino

Joe L — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:56:54 +0000

We’ve seen plenty of guitar hero projects and even a laser harp hero, but now we have a football hero (Soccer for us Americans). Made for the music industry, the director pulled together a team of DIYers and football players to make the game a reality. Using some piezo sensors to detect impact vibrations using the Arduino, he projected the game on a warehouse wall to play.

More details on the project’s background can be found in this video. Not too much detail of the project such as source code is available, but setting up piezo’s with an Arduino is pretty straightforward. Check out some of our other Arduino projects below:

Arduino and Ikea = Superb RGB LED Table Hack

Joe L — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:20:42 +0000

Taking a stock Ikea table, this hacker added a set of 81 individually controlled RGB LEDs to the frame, creating a glowing livingroom centerpiece. Using the Arduino, he can individually address each LED to control the color change. Now if only it was a VU meter which bumped to the beat of your music…Perhaps that’s another project

Above is a photo of the LED array beneath the table. Definitely a superb job of cable management to say the least. More info on the project can be found on the author’s flickr page. Finally, below is a video of the table in action.

Do not miss out:

Top 5 Custom LED Beer Pong Tables

Joe L — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:06:50 +0000

Beer Pong…The sport of choice of college students. While we would never, ever support over consumption of alcohol, we must admire the engineering and creativity of these outstanding illuminated tables. If you’re new to LEDs, check out our getting started guide, buy LEDs and view LED project inspiration.

Plexiglass, Sound Meters, and LEDs

Here’s a table fully illuminated table featuring neon, a sound meter, and LED lights. You’d probably end up nauseated playing on this thing for too long, especially after a few drinks. The creators posted two video demonstrations you can see here and here.

West Virginia LED Table

One of the original LED tables on the web, this custom design by engineering students in West Virginia includes a sound meter, ball washing, and LED logo in the middle.

LEDs with Sensors

Although it’s simple looking, this table packs some serious hardware including force sensors and wireless communication. Check out a quick video demo.

Neon Glow

Although his one is illuminated by neon and not LEDs, the cool glow and exceptional design still deserves the number two spot on our list.

Sleek and Sexy

Finally! The perfect combination of design and lighting. Just enough light to give it that cool LED feel, while not overwhelming the player with too many distractions.

Honorable mentions:

So! Enough staring at the glory of other people’s fantastic creastions. Get out there, buy some LEDs and create your own incredible LED projects and get them featured on HacknMod.

Incredible $100 Arduino-Based CNC Machine

Joe L — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:52:58 +0000

CNC machines allow you to mill just about any shape or design you’d like using X, Y and Z axis. Typcailly they cost serveral thousand dollars, but this man built his own CNC machine and wrote up a tutorial on how you can build it yourself. Typically CNC’s use lead screws which create linear motion using a motor and a threaded rod. Another neat feature is that the entire system is build using Arduino and controlled via a Python script. A similar build is pictured below:

More DIY CNC:

The Webcycle for the Internet Junkie

Saikat — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:27:25 +0000

Is your desire/addiction the web strong enough to pull you away from the information superhighway onto an exercise bike in order to keep you plugged in? The webcycle is a bicycle which controls your internet speed based upon how quickly you’re pedaling. It’s catchphrase is: the faster you pedal, the faster your internet goes.

The concept might remind you off the way couch potatoes use the exercise bike. Right in front of a television set. But the webcycle does one better (or worse) by making your browsing hinge around your pedaling. Here’s how the webcycle has been put together:

Wires on each pedal are connected to foil sensors on the bike which interfaces with an Arduino. The Arduino reads the RPM of the bike and transmits it to an old laptop running Ubuntu. The OS is installed with shell scripts and Wondershaper which is an easy to use traffic shaping script. It allows for browsing at reasonable speeds and streamlines uploads and downloads.

At HacknMod, we love Arduino projects and that’s why we have a whole lot of them in our Arduino section. And if you are a pedal pusher check these out too:

Remote Controlled Camera Trigger Arduino Project

Saikat — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:45:18 +0000

Controlling the shutter of a camera remotely has several uses. The most important – catching a photo at exactly the right time. Many top of the line digital cameras come with remotes. But what if you wanted to build one for your average digital camera? This Arduino powered remote camera trigger hack is the one to follow. In the project, he uses an Arduino, a cheap laser pointer, a photoresistor and a Canon Powershot.

Use this setup to capture outstanding water droplet shots – How to: High Speed Photography using the Arduino

Tying all these together is the CHDK (Canon Hacker’s Development Kit). It’s an open source firmware enhancing program that juices up a plain old point and shoot into a power camera.

The laser bounces off a mirror to a photoresistor mounted on the Arduino which also is the switch power source. The laser –> mirror -> photoreceptor combine acts as the sensor. When the beam is broken, the Arduino picks up the analog signal from the photoresistor and triggers the camera shutter. The wiki has a detailed page on triggering your setup remotely using a USB cable too. Look into more project details project and some of our own select camera projects: