Stefan Adrian is leading a team of Open Hardware developers on a Shield called the Arduino School Board for the purpose of teaching would be makers the joy of Arduino. The unit has a lot of hacking potential. The board hosts:
Good luck Stefan!
Rob Gray from RobGray.com has been developing a substaintial RS485 networking hardware for Arduino.
http://busnet.robgray.com/hardware/arduino-dongle/index.php
From the site:
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BUSnet is a low‐speed control network designed to monitor and control devices incommercial or light‐industrial environment but equally suitable for otherapplications. It is a multi‐master point‐to‐point protocol using a ring topologywhere all nodes can transmit frames when they please.
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Frank from the Circle of Current site has been working on a circuit to control a solder re-flow oven. From the application:
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I think I rememeber seeing his Music Playing Alarm Clock from the Make Blog.
Wolum Innovation Grant application keeps coming.
This one is from Bogdan Alexandru, a 4th year student at Technical University of Cluj Napoca, Romania.
This project is meant to create a product that will enable every developer (beginner or skilled ) to have quick access to a User Interface platform that will enable Total interaction with his/her application (being developed).
For this purpose Bogdan’s team is trying to pinpoint a cost effective solution (targeted between 45-75USD ERP ) that is capable of communicating via UART protocol to the host application (embedded or PC based). The main features are:
– LCD with incorporated graphics processor (QVGA to VGA resolution)
– Rotary encoder with push button (effective INTER screen scroll and menu navigation)
– Touch Screen as an complement to the rotary encoder (focused at ON screen menu navigation)
– SD Card to log data
– Easy and simple commands set between host and TUI (via UART in order to enable all UART hosts – Atmel/PIC/8051/ARM/ x86 etc.)
– USB Interface for easy connection to a PC and ability to be used as a peripheral device
– Easily upgradable graphics features (fonts, graphic buttons, bars, turn knobs, switches etc)
The components is planned to be assembled in such a way that the end product should be available at a very affordable price, and ready to be built by a mid skills level electronics enthusiast.
– LCD with incorporated graphics processor (QVGA to VGA resolution)
– Rotary encoder with pushbutton (effective INTER screen scroll and menu navigation)
– Touch Screen as an complement to the rotary encoder (focused at ON screen menu navigation)
– SD Card to log data
– easy and simple commands set between host and TUI (via UART in order to enable all UART hosts – Atmel/PIC/8051/ARM/ x86 etc.)
– USB Interface for easy connection to a PC and ability to be used as a peripherial device
– Easily upgradable graphics features (fonts, graphic buttons, bars, turn knobs, switches etc)
We recieved a few more applications for the WyoLum 2011 Innovation Grant process. I don’t know if we will be able have a post for each one, but we will do what we can.
The paparazzi is a completely open source end-to-end solution to unmanned aerial vehicle piloting. Unlike other hardware projects I have come accross, this one integrates measurement, filtering, and control into single package.
http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Main_Page
From their website:
The Paparazzi Project |
| Paparazzi is a free and open-source hardware and software project intended to create an exceptionally powerful and versatile autopilot system for fixedwing aircrafts as well as multicopters by allowing and encouraging input from the community. The project includes not only the airborne hardware and software, from voltage regulators and GPS receivers to Kalman filtering code, but also a powerful and ever-expanding array of ground hardware and software including modems, antennas, and a highly evolved user-friendly ground control software interface. |
| All hardware and software is open-source and freely available to anyone under the GNU licencing agreement. Several vendors are currently producing and selling Paparazzi autopilots and popular accessories, making the system easy and affordable to all. |
| The key feature of the paparazzi autopilot is its unique combination of infrared thermopiles and inertial measurement for attitude sensing, providing a robust and accurate attitude estimate that requires no ground calibration and can recover from any launch attitude. |