The Lilypad Arduino

Some initial parts arrived!

 The first Arduino board that I'm learning on is the Lilypad Protosnap Development Board. It conveniently comes with a variety of components and sensors all pre-connected on a single board to aid in development and learning. Later on, each component can be cut out of the circuit board and used separately in projects. Components on the Protosnap include temperature and light sensors, a buzzer, a small vibrating motor (think old school pager), a RGB and 5 white LEDs, and both a push-button (or momentary) and slider switches.

The Lilypad series is intended more for textile projects, using conductive thread instead of normal wiring to connect components. Each component has large holes to make it easier to sew into a project. These make for excellent wearable electronic projects.

The Interactive Town Play Mat project I have in mind does not require wearable electronics, plus I just don't have the patience for sewing, so I'm planning on getting some other Arduino boards to play with, such as the widely used Arduino Uno. The great thing is that the Lilypad Arduino uses the same microcontroller (the ATmega328V as the most popular Arduino board (the Uno) so much of the things that I learn on the Lilypad will directly translate to the Uno.

Codebender - Like Google Docs for Arduino Sketches

I came across an interesting website called Codebender.cc. Think of it as Google Docs for Arduino sketches (Arduino programs are called "sketches"). It can serve as cloud storage for your Arduino projects, so that you have access to all your project code sketches  from any web browser. The website has its own online compiler that will check your code for errors, and it displays rather less cryptic error messages than the normal Arduino IDE if it encounters any problems (YMMV). This can be very convenient if you want to work on your sketch while you are on a computer that does not have the Arduino IDE software installed. And if the computer that you are using has the FTDI drivers installed, you can even upload the sketch directly from the browser to your Arduino board without having to open the Arduino IDE software at all.

I’ve been using it regularly this past week to store examples of code that I’d like to modify from whatever computer I happen to be on at the moment, whether at work or home. I’m no longer using the Arduino IDE program at all any more because I find the code editor on codebender.cc is easier to use and looks better too. This plus the convenience of easy access to my project from any computer.

If anyone would like to give it a try, it would be great if you signed up via the referral link below. I'm trying to earn enough points for a free T-shirt. :) Also feel free to grab any of the sketches that I've uploaded in my account!

http://codebender.cc/?referrer=kendalf

Interactive Town Play Mat Project

We have this IKEA town play mat that my kids like to drive toy vehicles and other things on. My son also has a Thomas the Train track set and sometimes he incorporates a track layout around the town. Like a true bricoleur, he uses whatever he can find to create crossing guards and such to mark the railroad crossings.

My idea is to use Arduinos and other components to add some interactivity and lights to this play mat. I have three primary features that I would like to accomplish:

1. Set up one or two working intersection signal lights that will alternately cycle through green, yellow, and red lights in a timed sequence.
2. Build a working railroad crossing signal that will detect when a toy train is approaching and flash red warning lights and maybe sound a warning bell.
3. Add a series of "street lights" that will automatically turn on when the ambient light level gets low

Subsequent posts will detail the process of building this project, from finding the components to programming the Arduino Sketch to the final layout of the play mat.

Arduinos and the next microprocessor revolution

One of the exciting new "bricks" that I've been playing with recently is the Arduino microcontroller board. The Arduino is described as "an open source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments."

Arduino boards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but what they all hold in common is a relatively low cost of entry and accessibility to a wide range of users, including those who may not have previously considered programming and microprocessors a particular area of interest. A friend of mine called Arduino "the hardware version of MySpace," a very apt description. MySpace dramatically lowered the barrier to creating your own web page and gave everyone the opportunity to be a webmaster. In similar fashion, Arduino has significantly lowered the barrier to electronics and basic computing, giving everyone the chance to be a programmer and electrical engineer.

While researching about Arduino and the culture that has formed around these devices I see many parallels to the microprocessor revolution of the '70s and '80s. The early history of microprocessors was marked by scores of hobbyists simply tinkering with early microprocessors like the Intel 4004 and 8080 and making them do new and wonderful things. The accessibility of Arduino has similarly led to an extensive array of students, educators, and tinkerers in general playing around with the devices and documenting the neat projects that they have created. The open source nature of Arduino supports a culture of sharing among the participants, with Arduino code "sketches" being passed around and modified and incorporated into any number of projects. We may very well be participating in the next great microprocessor revolution.

"Brickolage" - or what we make of things

The title of this blog is a play on the word 'bricoleur', which refers to someone who engages in bricolage, or the creation of things using whatever is at hand. The humble "brick" is often the most basic component of any construction, and as a fundamental building block it can be made from any variety of materials. It seems fitting then for "Brickoleur" to be the title of a blog about building, creating, tinkering, and assembling, using a wide assortment of materials.

This plus the fact that "bricolage," "bricoleur," and "brickolage" were all already taken as Blogger domain names....