Halloween is creeping up on us like some kind of impatient ghoul, which means that half the maker community is currently scrambling to throw together some spooky projects. Those projects become a lot more approachable when you start with something the already exists—anything, really. For example, Appalachian Forge Works began this Halloween vending machine project […]| Arduino Blog
Robert Murray-Smith wants to experiment with a novel 3D printer kinematic system that drives a round bed through a friction interface — essentially a polar 3D printer, but without the backlash associated with gears. However, friction drives have a tendency to slip and so he will need closed-loop control of the system and that will […]| Arduino Blog
Nitrogen is critical for farming at scale and without some form of nitrogen to enrich the soil, we couldn’t grow staple crops efficiently enough to feed our large global population. Serious science goes into the production of fertilizers and the Birkeland-Eyde process was one early example. It uses electrical arcs to turn nitrogen in the […]| Arduino Blog
Lab equipment is — traditionally at least — tremendously expensive. While there are understandable reasons for those costs, they are prohibitive to anyone operating outside of a university or corporate lab. But as the “citizen science” movement has grown, we’ve seen more and more open-source and affordable designs for lab equipment hitting the internet. The […]| Arduino Blog
The Arduino UNO is legendary among makers, and with the release of the UNO R4 in 2023, the family gained a powerful new member. But with two incredible options, which UNO should you pick for your project? Here’s a breakdown of what makes each board shine, depending on your needs, skills, and goals. Why the […]| Arduino Blog
Common research methods to study the visual system in the laboratory include recording and monitoring neural activity in the presence of sensory stimuli, to help scientists study how neurons encode and respond, for example, to specific visual inputs. One of the biggest technical problems in the neural recording setups used in such experiments, is achieving […]| Arduino Blog
Biomimicry, which is a method for developing new technology inspired by nature, has been one of humanity’s greatest assets. But systems reliant on soft tissue, such as an octopus’s tentacles, have been notoriously difficult to reproduce in the robotics world. To give STEAM students an advantage in the soft robotics arena, a team of Chinese […]| Arduino Blog
Good documentation is extremely useful when conceiving, building, or sharing electronic circuit designs, but traditional schematics and technical drawings are difficult for non-professionals to interpret and create. Makers can benefit from intuitive illustrations that look good enough to share. Circuit Canvas, developed by Oyvind Nydal Dahl, makes it easy to quickly create beautiful and useful […]| Arduino Blog
Ask your friends about their favorite games at the arcade and the most common answer will likely be Skee-Ball. But while many other popular arcade games have viable at-home alternatives, Skee-Ball doesn’t — at least not unless you’re willing to spend a serious amount of money. Luckily, you can get your Skee-Ball fix with a […]| Arduino Blog
We’re finally starting to see robotic lawn mowers gain a little bit of traction as prices come down and consumer trust goes up. They work a bit like Roomba vacuums and pathfinding sophistication varies from one model to the next. But even the most basic models are still a lot more expensive than their secondhand […]| Arduino Blog
