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Scan items from the real world into your Arduboy games with the Ardumiibo

Arduino Team — July 27th, 2021

Inspired by a recent project involving Disney’s MagicBand technology, William Wimberly and Anthony Pallitta created an Arduboy-compatible RFID scanner they call the Ardumiibo, along with a DIY rumble pack. The Ardumiibo got its name from Nintendo’s Amiibo platform, which allows players to tap NFC-equipped figurines and see them within a game. In a similar manner, the Ardumiibo enables users to scan their NFC tags on a device built from an Arduino Leonardo board and PN532 RFID module. 

The scanning system is contained within a small 3D-printed enclosure that also has a NeoPixel ring around the top for some added flair. It connects to a Tiger Electronics handheld-style host Arduboy device via a serial cable, which allows for programs on the gaming system to simply implement the protocol for communicating with the Ardumiibo. As for the rumble pack that is integrated into the scanner, it is attached to the Arduboy over pin 2 that lets the game send pulses with the Tone commands for haptic feedback or playing small songs. 

The Ardumiibo is a great little gadget that lets Arduboy game designers easily add both rumble and NFC capabilities to their consoles. You can read more about the duo’s work in their Hackster write-up here and find their design files and code here on GitHub.

Boards:Leonardo
Categories:Arduino