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Listen to a 'CD' made from fool's gold, powered by a Raspberry Pi
What's music to some is noise to others. And that's perhaps most apparent with Ra the latest piece from the creator of an 8-bit camera gun, ::vtol::. As the artist writes in the demo's Vimeo description, the project uses a laser to scan the irregularities on the surface of a pyrite disc. The artist, real-name Dimitry Morozov, says that this disc was a gift from a mineral seller and that all of the tech present was centered around the idea of making a laser sound reader that'd "be able to produce sound from various uneven surfaces." Oh, and Morozov wanted to use the bare minimum tools to make it. What do those include? A Raspberry Pi, Arduino Nano, a homemade laser pickup, stepper motor, servo motor and a three watt mono sound system. If you want to see it in action, you're going to have to hit the Sound Museum in St. Petersburg.
Build your own robotic bartender with Arduino and a 3D printer
You can certainly buy a ready-made drink mixing robot if you're flush with cash, but wouldn't you rather spend that money on the drinks themselves? Yu Jiang Tham thinks so -- he recently designed Bar Mixvah, a robotic bartender you can build yourself with $180 in parts. The key ingredient is an Arduino Nano microcontroller that takes your requests through a web-based interface. After that, it's mostly a matter of 3D printing the frame and wiring up the pumps that will make your beverage a reality.
Arduino hack turns Space Invaders alarm into Gmail Notifier (video)
Glaswegian engineer Grant Gibson spied a Space Invaders alarm clock being flogged off cheap ($5) and decided it deserved hacking. When activated, the battery-powered unit scuttled left to right, old-school style as it roused sleepy gamers but Mr. Gibson added a little Arduino magic to turn it into a moving Gmail notifier. Stripping out the battery compartment, he installed a USB-powered Arduino Nano, programmed to poll his email and activate the motion whenever he received a new message. The system is ripe for customization, it can be set up to alert when a front door bell is pushed or a notification received on Twitter -- which you'll be allowed to try as he's included all the details on his blog. The project (including the Nano and Alarm Clock) came to $20 and three hours of his time, which we're understandably impressed by. Head on past the break to see the thing in action and then fling yourself (highland-style) down to the source link to learn how to build your own.
The Arduino gets downsized, becomes the Nano
If you're a DIY'er, you're probably familiar with the versatile Arduino platform. Well now you can shrink your creations even smaller, thanks to a rejiggered form factor called the Arduino Nano. Capitalizing on the popularity of the previous Mini version, the Nano gets further downsized, reducing the components into a layout about the length and width of a stick of gum -- without sacrificing any of the functionality. Be honest, you're brainstorming some gum-pack-sized project right now, aren't you? Luckily you won't have to wait long -- the Nano will be available from Gravitech in June for an economical $49.99.[Via Make]
