There are many Quadrotor Projects out there. But, they require a hobbyist to deal with the Frame Designing (Mechanical), a bit of Microcontroller knowledge as well as dealing with the Motor Control (Power Electronics). You may purchase a commercial Radio and a readymade Kit for flying. But, to Do-It-Yourself, is an achievement in itself.

Here is a picture of a Quadrotor designed by Shane Colton using Arduino Pro mini as its flying brain. Shane is a Ph.D Student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On being asked about the Project, he replied:

I heard about Arduino some time in 2007/2008 and have used it for a few projects since then. I built the quadrotor for fun / hobby (not related to research). I wanted to build my own (quadrotor) from scratch because I could integrate all the parts onto a single circuit board, and because I like designing the control system myself.

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Many solutions exist for publishing data coming from Arduino boards on the web. Bangon Kali, in his detailed tutorial, proposes his novel approach, which makes use of several widespread and open-source technologies, such as Node.JS, jQuery and Apache:

Using the USB, the Arduino Board is connected to the PC serially to a certain COM port which the OS allocates. Node.JS, the asynchronous server side JavaScript engine then listens for the port using a Node.JS module called SerialPort2. When a signal is received, using the Node.JS Socket.IO module, data is then served also asynchronously to the web providing a real time feed of the Arduino signal.

The tutorial (which can be applied on Linux, Mac OS and Windows) can be found here.

[Via: DangerousPrototypes and The Code Project]

Nice tutorial about how to make pencil drawings reactive to touch using just pencil, some resistors, paperclips, wire, Arduino and tape.

In this instructable, Dustin Andrews shows how to make a custom Arduino board, equipped with a lcd, a buzzer and a solid enclosure. Dustin’s goal has been to design a rugged Arduino version, that can be employed “as is” in many practical project, in place of a less solid breadboard-based solution.

The project is released under Creative Commons CC-BY license.

[Via: Instructables]

Ever wanted to see how much electricity your next project is consuming? Look no further; this Instructable will guide you about how you can, too, make a device to monitor the same.

This project was developed by Steve Spence of Arduinotronics with input from forum members at the Yahoo Group - Arduino Home and The Arduino Forum.

Steve writes:

“There’s a couple of commercial products that can do this, but not with the flexibility I wanted. I designed an Arduino micro-controller based solution that is very extensible. Right now it monitors the above values of attached gear, and I’m thinking about adding web monitoring and an SD Card for data collection.”

Going to buy a new Wireless Controller for your next Robotics project. Why buy a new one when you can Do-It-Yourself? All you need is an Arduino, an old Joystick with a Gameport (15-pin connector) and a pair of Series 1 xBee Modules.

The explanation of the xBee Configuration and the xBee Packet Description is very well done at the blog.

Transmitter: Joystick + xBee [No additional hardware needed]
Receiver: xBee + Arduino + [your amazing Robot, Car or a Plane!]

Makers need to familiarize themselves with the core concepts and the theory involved in creating applications such as Motion Sensing and Face Tracking. As the technology is churning out new hardware day and night, DIYers need to work hard to keep up and always be in touch with the latest technology around them.

For example, anyone working with Accelerometers/ Gyroscopes or Inertial Measurement Units needs to understand the theory of Vectors, Force, Gravity and be able to work out complex mathematical problems. They may easily get an Arduino Board and an Accelerometer Breakout or an IMU Board and use a library instead of writing their own code but to truly understand the theory behind it; how the device actually works, is not for the faint of heart.

One such problem is the Face Tracking Application. Unless you know the real theory behind how the Algorithm actually works, you can only wonder about that robot which follows its master. Greg Borenstein had an idea of creating a website dedicated to this issue. Makematics – Math for Makers.

In an introductory post, Greg writes:

” I hope to show that a normal programmer with no special academic training can grapple with these areas of research and find a way in to understanding them. And as I go I aim to create material that will help others do the same. If I can do it, there’s no reason you can’t.”

More and more people should step forward and create or compile a good amount of research data to help fellow makers and DIYers in solving complex mathematical problems.

Lucid dream is a state in which you can control what you dream. Be it winning a million bucks worth lottery, or dating your favorite cine star, it is possible to control your dreams using these DIY goggles!

Simple to build and a nice weekend hack for the bored, these goggles are pretty cost effective and impressive. Put together a pair of glasses, LED, Arduino, a battery and some other minor paraphernalia and you are ready to live your favorite dream in your resting time!

Via:[Hackaday, Madscientist]

A simple and a fun Simon says game re-created is using an Arduino in the following instructable.

Materials Needed:

- Arduino
- Bread Board
- Jumper Wires
- 4 different colored LEDs
- 4 100 Ohm Resistors
- 4 Push Buttons
- Small Speaker

It is a good exercise to practice interfacing multiple buttons and LEDs. Can be tried even by an arduino beginner.

[Via: Instructables]

[Enrico Bassi] from FablabTorino brought to the extent the use of the Roland iModela, using the little (and inexpensive) desktop milling machine for pcb milling.  (in the picture we milled the overexposed Fritzing Parking Assistant).

He wrote some Scuola Lessons (here’s the first) to explain how he realized the pcb, starting from Fritzing.

Roland iModela is now on sell on the Arduino Store.

source [FablabTorino]