arduinomicro
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Google AI builds a better cucumber farm
Artificial intelligence technology doesn't just have to solve grand challenges. Sometimes, it can tackle decidedly everyday problems -- like, say, improving a cucumber farm. Makoto Koike has built a cucumber sorter that uses Google's TensorFlow machine learning technology to save his farmer parents a lot of work. The system uses a camera-equipped Raspberry Pi 3 to snap photos of the veggies and send the shots to a small TensorFlow neural network, where they're identified as cucumbers. After that, it sends images to a larger network on a Linux server to classify the cucumbers by attributes like color, shape and size. An Arduino Micro uses that info to control the actual sorting, while a Windows PC trains the neural network with images.
Here's how you make your own 3D-printed virtual reality goggles
So you couldn't get your hands on a nice virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift, but you'd still like something a little fancier than a cardboard display. Are you out of luck? Not if Noe Ruiz has anything to say about it. He has posted instructions at Adafruit for do-it-yourself 3D-printed goggles that can be used for either VR or as a simple wearable screen. The design mates an Arduino Micro mini computer with a display, a motion sensor and lenses; the 3D printing both adds a level of polish and lets you tailor the fit to your cranium. This definitely isn't the cheapest project (about $231 in parts) or the easiest, but it will give you head-tracking VR without having to wait for Oculus, Samsung or Sony to put out finished devices of their own. If you're up to the challenge, you'll find everything you need at the source link. [Image credit: Noe Ruiz]
Arduino Micro shrinks your favorite DIY platform down to ridiculous proportions
With the Arduino Leonardo, everyone's favorite hackable microcontroller turned a new page. Now it's time to bring that simplified design and slightly expanded feature set to the rest of the family, including the itty-bitty Arduino Micro. The tiny, embed-friendly board was designed with help from Adafruit Industries, one of the biggest players in the DIY market. At the heart of the Micro is the same 16MHz ATmega32u4 chip that powers the Leonardo, which means all the necessary USB controls are baked into the processor. Obviously, the layout here is different, so you wont be mounting the Micro to any shields, but with 20 digital I/O pins, 12 analog input channels and seven PWM channels, there's plenty of room for wiring up your own expansions. Amazingly it crams all that capability in a package just 48mm long and 18mm wide. The Arduino Micro will be available exclusively through Radio Shack and Adafruit first before becoming more widely available next month. The board is available with headers for €21 (roughly $27) and without headers for €18 (about $23). For more, check out the PR after the break.
