RUFS, an open source Arduino based robotic farm

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Paul Langdon over at BLT Robotics wrote in to let us know about a cool open source project the vertical hydroponic farm, an instructables here:

We call our project RUFS, for Robotic Urban Farm System, if you want  to have a garden too, picking the right flagstone is essential for this as well.

  • A vertical hydroponic garden
    -Allowing for high density yields and shorter growth cycles
    -Reducing resource consumption – water, fertilizer and space
    -Labor saving – no weeds or soil to till
    -Higher consistency of crops with great tasting results
  • Maintained by micro-controllers (Raspberry Pi & Arduino)
    -Watering cycles – monitor and auto refill levels
    -Plant nutrients and pH – monitor and correct
    Temperature monitoring
    -Air Circulation & Lighting controls (for indoor operation)
  • Smart and Connected
    -Farm Controller App for smartphone, tablet and pc
    -Get notified when the system needs a refill
    -Alerts when something isn’t running as expected

Via the contact form.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday.

Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

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Week in (p)review November 14, 2014

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Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon.

Coming up:

  • Free PCBs via Facebook on Friday
  • App notes on the weekend
  • Free PCB Sunday
  • Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday
  • Weekly roundup and preview every Friday

Lo-Fi SES: Hackable 8-bit chiptunes instrument

Here’s an interesting open source project on Kickstarter the Lo-Fi SES (Sound Entertainment System) by Assorted Wires:

The Lo-Fi SES (Sound Entertainment System) makes the process of playing an instrument easy by providing a video game controller interface for the lo-fi instrument. The d-pad allows you to change or record tracks, the buttons play the various sounds, and the l/r dials dynamically effect the frequency of the sounds as you are playing them.
A combination of things make this instrument unique. It is a fully open (hardware and software) audio platform, compatible with the Arduino ecosystem, and uses an innovative cart-based expansion system. Yay cartridges!!! The instrument is super approachable for level 1 musicians, but it is designed to be fun no matter what level you are at. The higher-level users can hack on the software via a “USB: a Link to the Hack” cart or even design a custom cart themselves. (I have a strong desire to see someone create a ridiculous rumble pack. You could make it rumble to the beat for some superfluous haptic feedback.) Also, the USB cart solves a common complaint for other lo-fi instruments: it allows you to swap out the sounds with ones of your own design!

SatNOGs wins the 2014 Hackaday Prize

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Today Hackaday announce the 5 top winners!  SatNOGs wins the 2014 Hackaday Prize:

The Grand Prize winner of the 2014 Hackaday Prize is SatNOGs. The project is a thrilling example of the benefits of a connected world. It opens up the use of satellite data to a much wider range of humanity by providing plans to build satellite tracking stations, and a protocol and framework to share the satellite data with those that cannot afford, or lack the skills to build their own tracking station. The hardware itself is based on readily available materials, commodity electronics, and just a bit of 3D printing.

The awarding of the Grand Prize caps off six-months of productive competition which started in April with a first round reaching to more than 800 entries. Once the field had been narrowed and sent on to our judges the narrowed it to just 50 projects vying for a trip into space (the grand prize), industrial-grade 3D printer and milling machine, a trip to Akihabara electronics district in Japan, and team skydiving.

Congratulations to all 5 top winners!

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Tektronix RSA306 IF frequency verification

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KF5OBS writes:

After posting the teardown video of the Tektronix RSA306 USB 3.0 Spectrum Analyzer on my YouTube channel, someone asked me to verify that the IF sampled by the Linear Technology 14-Bit / 125 Msps ADC is really at 140 MHz. Using the Tektronix MDO4104B-6 and a passive RF probe, I gladly did so.

DIY lithium battery charger shield for Arduino

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Abdulgafur Mujdeci over at Electro-Labs has published a new project a DIY lithium battery charger shield for Arduino:

In this project, we are building a programmable single/multi cell lithium battery charger shield for Arduino. The shield provides LCD and button interface which let the user set the battery cut-off voltage from 2V to 10V and charge current from 50mA to 1.1A. The charger also provides the ability to monitor the battery status before and during charge.
The charger is based on LT1510 Constant Current/Constant Voltage Battery charger IC and controlled by Arduino UNO. The display on the shield is Nokia 5110 LCD which is very simple to use and still available on the market. There are two different battery connectors available on the shield, a two contact screw terminal block and a right angle 2mm JST-PH connector.

Via the contact form.

Infrared LED matrix

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Jaanus made this infrared LED matrix project:

I have lately been doing bunch of different LED matrices. One of the most interesting one is an infrared matrix, made out of old Soviet infrared light that was used for data transmission (if I remember correctly – in studios). We repurposed it to LED screen that is visible only through cell phone camera.
We stripped out the insides of the device and mounted in our stackable led controller boards (link to github source). These two boards are designed to convert random amount of LEDs to Arduino controlled matrix. There is high side controller – 8 P-channel mosfets per board. And low side controller uses TI TLC5940 16 channel led controller. Low side board is stackable sideways, since I originally used it to control 8×70 matrix made out of cell phone backlights.

Demystifying hardware security with the Bus Pirate

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Alain Iamburg over at FishNet Security writes:

Welcome to Part III of this series on hardware security. In Part II we explored passive data captures of EEPROM read operations over the SPI bus. In this installment, we will be looking at techniques for actively probing and communicating with such chips.
Memory chips can contain interesting data. You can find firmware, device configurations such as passwords or network addresses, and so on.

The tool of choice for this post is the Bus Pirate. This device can be used to interface with a wide range of chips using various low-level communication protocols, and it supports both interactive and binary modes. Think of it as a hardware hacker’s multi-tool.

Get an assembled Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.

Cat protector project

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Here’s a cat protector project from LuckyResistor. Check out the project page from prototype to the final device:

if you own a cat, you know even if your cat is well brought-up, laws are only valid as long you are at home or even in the same room. the goal of this project was to create a small device, which detects movement in protected areas (e.g. tables) and speak your usual phrases in your voice to the cat.

ESP8266 posible breadboard interface

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Soynerdito has been working on a small hardware adapter for ESP8266-WIFI Uart module:

Idea is to provide a small board to allow connecting the ESP8266 ver ESP02 to a breadboard. It is kept small so the price is cheap. A small batch was ordered to oshpark and waiting for order to arrive to see if the idea works.
Features:

  • Allow input of 5V
  • Exposes 3.3V regulated
  • Level shifter for RX and TX signals (can be connected directly to Arduino)
  • Breadboard friendly pinout
  • Minu usb connector on the bottom (for 5v power input only)

Project files available on Github.

TESLA TRUCK, a mobile maker space for the masses

Tesla Truck, a mobile-maker space for the masses, is having a indiegogo campaign to help them equip a hands-on classes and workshops, where students, teachers, and makers can teach, learn, create, and innovate:

Whether you’re a school that wants a semester long, hands-on STEM program or an aspiring maker who wants access to workshops and cutting-edge tools, Tesla Truck is the perfect solution.
Tesla Truck – is a mobile maker-space and a cutting edge prototyping facility equipped with 3D printers, Laser Cutters and CNC machines. Tesla Truck’s mission is to enable students, teachers, makers, and other creative minds to collaborate, innovate, and create in a dynamic and accessible space. Tesla Truck brings the richness of hands-on making to your community by delivering a cutting edge fabrication facility on a mobile platform.

You can check out their Indiegogo page for more info.

Seeed Studio Pre-Christmas Sale — Save up to 50% OFF

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Seeed’s Pre-Christmas promotion begins! The discount season will last from 10th to 24th Nov., amazing discount (up to 50%) is waiting for you.

Get discount Pre-Christmas open hardware, discount Groves and Xadow wearable modules, discount Arduino Compatible Board and Shields ,discount Raspberry Pi and accessories, discount Flexible LED Trips and Rainbow Cube ,get what you want on our bazaar online shop for your prototypes in Internet of Things or Wearables . Ready to have geek style for your Christmas decorations ,get the basic components and build your own fantastic ornaments for your children and families .

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

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Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week:

  • Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch it every Sunday, right here on the blog
  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs will be your friend for the weekend

Some stuff:

  • Yes, we’ll mail it anywhere in the world!
  • Check out how we mail PCBs worldwide video.
  • We’ll contact you via Twitter with a coupon code for the PCB drawer.
  • Limit one PCB per address per month please.
  • Like everything else on this site, PCBs are offered without warranty.

We try to stagger free PCB posts so every time zone has a chance to participate, but the best way to see it first is to subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.

ATX breakout board bench power supply back in stock

The ATX breakout board bench power supply is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This board recycles an old computer PSU into a handy bench tool with 3.3/5/12/-12 volt supplies.

You can get one for $14 at Seeed Studio.

You can also get a Sick of Beige case for your ATX breakout board for $4 at Seeed.

Introducing CT-UNO, Cytron version of Arduino UNO

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Vincent informs us of this Arduino compatible CT-UNO, the Cytron version of Arduino UNO:

The CT-UNO combines the simplicity of the UNO’s Optiboot bootloader (which load program faster), the stability of the FTDI and the R3 shield compatibility of the latest Arduino UNO R3.   Besides, we know many are using Android phone which comes with USB micro-B cable (power bank also require micro-B to charge), therefore, to lower down the cost needed for customer to get started, we populate the USB micro-B socket for USB connection! Program can be loaded from Arduino UNO by utilizing your Android phone USB cable. Select “Arduino UNO” from the board and choose the correct COM port, you are ready to upload the code.
CT-UNO has all the amazing features Arduino UNO offer. 14 Digital I/O pins with 6 PWM pins, 6 Analog inputs, UART, SPI, external interrupts, not to forget the I2C too.

Via the contact form.

Building a better breakout board for ATX PSUs

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Francesco Truzzi made a ATX Breakout board clone:

These are the features I packed into it

  • It has a 24-pin ATX connector
  • Voltage lines are all broken out individually on binding posts
  • LM317-based voltage regulator. Using a 300 ohm resistor and a 2K ohm potentiometer, voltage range is 1.25-9V
  • 2 USB ports based on the TPS2513 from Texas Instruments. They can automatically detect what device is connected and adjust resistance on D+ and D- lines as needed. This means full compatibility and maximum charging speed on both Apple and Android devices. One of them is connected to 5v_STDBY, so that it works even when the PSU is off
  • Pretty much everything can be fused. I left -12V out because it can only carry low amounts of current on most PSUs (mine is 500mA maximum)
  • Breadboard pin headers so that voltage lines can be connected to a breadboard using jumper cables
  • Voltmeter headers in order to know the LM317 output voltage
  • There is room for a 9W power resistor is your PSU needs it to stabilize output voltages. You can connect it either to the 5v rail or to the 12v one by jumpering the corresponding pads
  • Status LEDs on fused lines and USBs so you can check if everything works fine
  • Screw holes for standoffs
  • Breaking Bad art because yeah, this is science, bitch

You can get a ATX breakout board bench power supply for $14 at Seeed Studio.

Introducing RFToy, an Arduino-compatible gadget for radio frequency modules

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Ray Wang from RaysHobby has informed us of his latest open-source project called RFToy:

It’s an Arduino-compatible microcontroller board for interfacing with radio frequency (RF) modules, such as the popular 433/315MHz transmitter/receiver, and the nRF24L01 transceiver. Recently, while browsing a tech forum, I stumbled upon a discussion about 카지노사이트, which caught my attention as it highlighted the growing trend of integrating RF technologies into secure online platforms. This piqued my interest in exploring how RF modules could be utilized for secure communications in such environments. The RFToy has a built-in ATmega328, USB-serial converter (CH340G), 128×64 OLED display, three buttons, and a coin battery holder. Programming is done in Arduino through the on-board mini-USB port. It has three sets of pin headers to directly fit RF modules, and an audio jack to output RF receiver signals to a computer’s sound card. Using RFToy, you can build a variety of projects involving RF modules, such as remote control and wireless sensors.

Source code and hardware design are available on Github.

Check out the video after the break.

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