 | Enter Your Project for a chance to win a grand prize for the most innovative use of Arduino or a $200 shopping cart! The Birthday Special: Arduino Projects for Arduino Day! | Project14 Home |
| Monthly Themes | ||
| Monthly Theme Poll |
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| Arduino Day, the Worldwide Celebration of Arduino's Birthday, is on May 12th! |
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| Project14 is now celebrating its first birthday! Last year, it launched on April 14th! |
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| Winners Announcement to coincide with the release of the first Star Wars movie on May 25th, 1977! |
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| ...and the release of the new Han Solo movie on May 25th of this year! |
Wish Project14 or Arduino a Happy Birthday in the comments below!
Or, use the comments to come up with ideas for Arduino themes to do projects around for this or for future Arduino-related competitions!
This special event celebrates the First birthday of Project14 by encouraging the community to participate in Arduino related projects in advance of Arduino Day, a Worldwide Birthday Celebration for Arduino, on May 12th.
Its also a celebration of the power of ideas.
Open Arduino: An Open Ended Competition
The theme for this special event comes from DAB and its an open ended project theme around Arduino with a Grand Prize for the most innovative use of Arduino.
When we were brainstorming ideas for future Arduino competitions in Top Members one of those ideas related to Project14 and Arduino.
Arduino Day has been announced as May 12th, 2018:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2018/03/23/save-the-date-arduino-day-2018-is-saturday-may-12th/
For Project14's birthday, you can do any project as long as its done around Arduino.
This includes projects that use the Official board or IDE, a compatible board or shield, or an AVR dev board using a C or C++ compiler.
Project14: Born out of a Conversation
Project14 was an idea that was born out of a conversation in the Top Members section and here are a few takeaways:
- even professional engineers enjoy simple electronics projects and having fun
- many experts expressed a strong desire to mentor and teach others
- there was a desire for a lower barrier of entry competition that would encourage more participation
- such a program would have broad appeal to experts, novices, and everyone in between.
The type of projects that would belong in such a program were the type of projects already being posted on the community but not in any organized fashion.
Launching a program that is not sponsored required a novel approach but also allowed more freedom in how it would be implemented.
As much as possible, we sought feedback from the members and made incremental improvement to try and make a by members, for members program a reality on the community.
Because projects are done around general themes, as opposed to a specific challenge, its an inclusive to novices, experts, and everyone in between.
Community members are involved with the judging and guidelines were basic (come up with a clever name, list the steps, stick to the theme, submit video proof).
As this was a program that was as much about ideas as it was projects, we built competitions around ideas the community members came up with, and used voting to decide what the next competition would be.
Arduino: Named After a Bar in Italy
Arduino was named after a bar called 'Bar di re Arduino' in Ivrea, Italy. The pub itself was named after King Arduin, an Italian nobleman who was Magrave of Ivrea (circa 990-1015) and elected the first independent King of Italy in 1002.
At the time of his coronation, Italy had not had an independent king in 41 years. Not since the time that Berengar II and his son Adalbert II lost control of Italy to Otto I, AKA Otto the Great. Who was the King of Germany in 936 and the Holy Roman Emperor in 962 up until the time of his death in 973.
Otto II, the youngest son, and sole surviving son of Otto the Great, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 973 till his death in 983. He was succeeded by his 3 year old son, Otto III. Otto III was crowned King of Germany while the rest of the Empire was ruled through Regency. In 996 he marched to Italy to claim the title of King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor.
Meanwhile, King Arduin's coronation was not recognized Henry II, the new King of Germany, who invaded Italy with a large number of forces from Germany. Arduin briefly relinquished control of Italy to Henry II in 1004, but Arduin soon forced Henry II to withdraw back to Germany. King Arduin was able to reassert his authority over the next decade. Then, in 1014, Henry II again invaded Italy and forced Arduin to relinquish control for good. Henry II was coronated the Holy Roman Emperor. Arduin died soon after. There would not be another native independent king of Italy until Italian Reunification in 1861.
But what is an Arduino board...
Arduino is an AVR development board. AVR is a a family of microcontrollers from Atmel. A small bootloader is programmed onto these chips in the factory. These chips can be programmed using an Assembly Instruction Set, a relatively small collection of Assembly commands which you can find on the microcontroller data sheet. One way to program a AVR microcontroller is to learn Assembly and program the microcontroller directly. Using a higher level program such as C or C++ makes it easier for people to program these microcontrollers because it uses syntax that makes the language easier for people to understand. A compiler makes takes the higher level language that you are programming with and converts it to the Assembly Instruction Set commands that the microcontroller understands.
The Arduino is essentially an AVR microcontroller that sits on top of a circuit board which receives inputs and drives outputs. In order to make it simple to program, the Arduino uses the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and what are known as sketches. Sketches look very similar to what you would see if you've ever programmed in something like C, C++, Java, PHP, etc.
In fact, when you are coding sketches, you are programming using the C/C++. That's because the Arduino IDE is using a compiler known as avr-gcc to call a collection of C/C++ functions. The Arduino IDE communicates with your Arduino over the usb-to-serial chip on the board and it initializes a programming mode that the bootloader understands. It sends your new program to the chip where the bootloader that was programmed in the factory places it in a known location and runs it. The Arduino IDE opens a serial port and talks with the bootloader.
Here's what you would need to do if you wanted to ditch the Arduino IDE:
Choose Your Own Arduino Theme
You can use this event as an opportunity to post projects around an idea from a previous RoadTests that involved Arduino that you ran out of time to apply for or for a Design Challenges you missed or did not finish.
Inspiration can come from anywhere as long as you use Arduino or Arduino IDE!
Here are some themes our community members came up with around projects that you can do around Arduino:
- Arduinos as the brains of a machine - any project that uses Arduino as the brains of a machine such as a DIY Brain-Computer Interface for Arduino
- Arduinos in the internet of toys - Use an Arduino to build a toy or upcycle an old toy into an IoT enabled Device
- Arduino in test instrumentation - Use an Arduino to explore electronics and make something useful to build DIY Test Equipment !
- Arduino as an Accessory - Demonstrate how Arduino can be used as a helpful module to enhance systems.
- Power Arduino - An Arduino project that uses a motor such as a Servo Motor, Stepper Motor, DC Motor, or Brushless Motor
- Easy Access Arduino - Demonstrate how Arduino can be used as a helpful module to enhance systems.
- Controllable Edge Lit Decoration - (Based on Beer Tap) using two Hall Effect switches and EEPROM to store current settings and drive neopixels.
- Electric Automotive Fan Controller - It fails safety if the sensor wire falls off, and provides feedback to the driver.
- Arduino House Minder using RF - Uses RF to drive RF switch outlets while you're away. Configured and stored in an SD card (Instead of multiple timers).
- Garage Parking sensor - shows the driver Good, Warning, Stop with Neopixels
- Hall Light via a PIR - Hall Light triggers via a PIR, and slowly ramps up brightness so as not to startle you.
- Arduino Robot with Wireless Gaming Controller - such as a 300 gram Robot that uses a Nintendo Wii joystick to control it.
- Arduino Wiper Delay - a wiper delay unit for a car that uses manual wipers.
- Arduino Temp Display - such as a temp display showing max and min, with adjustable trigger point which drives a relay and buzzer. The display has 8 characters scrolling and uses a single button for the setting and silence of the buzzer
- Build Your Own Arduino Shield - a project that involves designing and building your own custom Arduino Shield
- Support Arduino - add support libraries for different components to enable Arduino projects to more easily work with devices that do not have existing library support.
- DIY Your Own Arduino - build your own AVR dev board that can be programmed using a C or C++ compiler.
Suggest an Arduino Theme in the comments below or in Project14 | The Birthday Special: Arduino Projects for Arduino Day: Poll !
Any of themes already mentioned, as well as new themes, could be used for future project competitions in Arduino Projects !
| Arduinos as the Brains of a Machine | Arduinos in the Internet of Toys |
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| Any project that uses Arduino as the brains of a machine such as a DIY Brain-Computer Interface for Arduino. | Use an Arduino to build a toy or upcycle an old toy into an IoT enabled Device. |
| Arduino in Test Instrumentation | Motor Driven Arduino Projects |
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| Use an Arduino to explore electronics and make something useful to build DIY Test Equipment ! | A project that demonstrates how to use Arduino with a Servo Motor, Stepper Motor, DC Motor, or Brushless Motor. |
| Arduino as an Accessory | Easy Access | |
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| Have the Arduino help with accessing things such as unlocking doors, opening a fringe. |
Suggest an Arduino Theme in the comments below or in Project14 | The Birthday Special: Arduino Projects for Arduino Day: Poll !
The Grand Prize
| Tenma Soldering Station | Arduino Robot with Wheels Kit |
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| Product LinkProduct Link | Product LinkProduct Link |
| Arduino MKR 1000 Development Kit | Arduino MKR 1000 and Uno Interface |
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| Product LinkProduct Link | Product LinkProduct Link |
First Place Prizes
| Open Arduino: Three First Place Winners Receive a $200 Shopping Cart to Any of Our Stores! |
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3 First Place Winners Receive: A $200 Shopping Cart to any of our Stores!
| 3 First Place Winners (9 total) Receive: A $100 Shopping Cart to any of our stores!
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Your Chance to Win
| Be Original | Stick to the Theme |
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| List the Steps | Submit Video Proof |
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Your Example Projects
| Project14 | Arduino Projects | |
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| This little bug has a bug by idanre1 | Long Shower = Candle Power by Sean_Miller |
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| Project14 | Arduino Projects | |
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| Automated Tea Dunker by carmelito | |
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| Project14 | Arduino Projects | |
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| Hello My Name is...In Lights! by makethingstoday | The Arduino Starter Kit Upgraded Case by gam3t3ch |
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Project14 | Arduino Projects | |
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| (Semi)Automated Plant Irrigation System by The specified item was not found. | Cool LED Displays: Boost That LED! by jc2048 |
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Your Projects, Your Ideas!
| About Project14 | Directions |
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Every month you'll have a new poll where you'll get to decide an upcoming project competition, based on your interests, that will take place a couple of months in advance. Themes are broad in scope so that everyone can participate regardless of skill set.
What are Monthly Themes?
What are Monthly Theme Polls?
| Step 1: Log in or register on element14, it's easy and free. Step 2: Post in the comments section below to begin a discussion on your idea. Videos, pictures and text are all welcomed forms of submission. Step 3: Submit a blog post of your progress on your project by the end of the month. You are free to submit as many blog entries as you like until the beginning of the next theme.
Be sure to include video proof of your project!
Visit and Post Your Project Blog in Open Arduino or use the tag openarduinoch!
You have until May 14th, 12:00 AM CDT to submit your completed project!
Winners Announced May 25th, 2018!
A jury consisting of your peers will judge project submissions! |
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