Category Archives: sensors

Sensor + microcontroller = smart sensor

Sensors are commonly used in conjunction with microcontrollers which read the sensor’s output and make decisions based on it. Now a new class of smart sensors is being introduced which will integrate the sensor and microcontroller in one unit. One example is the Freescale MMA9550L, the industry’s first intelligent high precision motion sensing platform that […]

Atmega644 rock paper scissors game

Students Ling-Wei Lee and Kevin Tang at Cornell University developed a version of the rock paper scissors game using an Atmega644, CMOS camera module and a 2×16 LCD. Their project requires the human player to wear a glove that has black tape on each finger. Upon a signal from the LCD, the player plays their […]

Measure liquid flow rate with Arduino

The Makers Workbench shares this project which measures the rate of liquid flow using a Seeedstudio Water Flow Sensor and Seeeduino. This is part of their Arduino Controlled PC Liquid Cooling project. The flow sensor uses a simple rotating wheel that pulses a hall effect sensor. By reading these pulses the Arduino mathematically calculates the […]

OpenMT: Open source Multi Touch

Open source Multi Touch, known as OpenMT, is an open source hardware project for developing multitouch applications. Unlike camera-based multitouch, OpenMT lets you make a thin, flexible multitouch surface. It is Arduino friendly and has been developed by Sensible UI in Seoul, Korea. Users can experiment with hardware development themselves with projects such as ArduMT, […]

AVR-based watering system

Deddies Lab needed a way to water their resident Ficus Lyrata on a schedule of one-half liter per week. In order to automate the process, they designed an Atmega8 based control system which activates a water pump at appropriate intervals in order to keep the plant watered. A simple AC plug-in wall timer activates the […]

picoBAT: ultrasonic bat detector

Think you have bats in the belfry? If you have a PIC 12F683, ultrasonic piezo receiver and piezo speaker, micro-examples has a project that purports to detect the presence of bats and sound a piezo alarm. The schematic and C source are available for download. We can envision a modification which would transmit an alert […]

Reverse geocaching puzzle box

Here’s a twist on the old practice of geocaching: a Reverse Geocaching Puzzle Box! Alternet presents a puzzle box containing a geocache prize which only opens when it is in the correct geolocation. This fairly complex, novel project uses a PIC 18F*39 microcontroller (exact part not specified on schematic) interfaced with a 2×16 LCD to […]

Arduino EMF detector

High electromotive force/electromagnetic field (EMF) readings can cause interference with precision electronic equipment, and have even been associated with paranormal/spirit activity! DTN’s blog recently featured a project aimed at detecting high EMF levels using an Arduino Mega, showcasing its versatility beyond traditional applications. This innovative use of simple technology reminded me of the rising interest […]

Parallax Optical Finger Navigation module

Parallax has introduced their Optical Finger Navigation (OFN) sensor module. This HID is designed to sense the presence of a finger and track its movement much like a mouse. Interfacing is via I2C, supply voltage between 3.3 and 5.5 volts, and convenient 0.1″ pin spacing for breadboarding. A detailed review will be forthcoming. The datasheet […]