Posted on Leave a comment

Using an Arduino as a Programmer

One of the relatively unknown capabilities of Arduino-compatible boards is that they can be used as an external programmer. This means that you can use your Freetronics Eleven, EtherTen or other Arduino-compatible board to upload a sketch, or reflash the boot loader on another Arduino board. Freetronics has put together a comprehensive tutorial describing how this can be done, check it out at the following link.

Arduino as a programmer

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

3D Printed Arduino Powered Robot

YouTuber Jaidyn Edwards has created a 3D printed two legged robot. If this wasn’t cool enough, the brain of this robot is the Freetronics LeoStick. Jaidyn’s robot is based of “BOB” an easy to make robot designed by Thingsverse user k120189.

BOB: The easy to build 3D printed robot

You can find full instructions on how to make the robot at the following link, and a video of Jaidyn’s robot in action below!

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Twitter Mood Light

This cool project displays the collective “feeling” of the entire twitter world in a multicoloured mood light.  The mood light constantly monitors twitter and aggregates the tweets based on emotional content to determine a world wide mood. Once the mood has been determined it is displayed in the mood light with different colours indicating different moods. This is a great way to quickly find out if a significant event has happened. To get started with this unique project checkout the following link.

Green indicates that the world is happy!

If you are looking for an RGB LED to use in this project why not checkout the Freetronics FreePixel, a colour LED with a brain! The FreePizel includes a bright WS2812B addressable RGB LED and can be daisy-chained, so you can connect a number of these together in a string and drive each of the module colours individually from your microcontroller. Best of all these diverse modules are great value at only $3! To order or find out more checkout the following link.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start building your own mood lamp? Working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Real Time Planet Tracking System

Whether you are looking for a guide of where to point your telescope or just have a fascination for our solar system, this project is definitely for you.  Shubham Paul has put together a great real time planet tracking system. Although the hardware on this project is fairly simple consisting of an Arduino, GPS module and servo, the algorithms that calculate the approximation of a planet’s position using Kepler’s laws are particularly impressive.  To find out more about how you can build your own real time planet tracker checkout the following link.

Planet Tracking

 

 

 

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start building a planetary tracking system? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Power Over Ethernet for Arduino

One of the challenges of working with an Ethernet connected Arduino device can be having to get both an Ethernet cable and a power cord to the device. Power over Ethernet or PoE solves this problem by running power through the Ethernet cable! To find out more about this useful solution checkout the tutorial we have written to explain the ins and outs of PoE in more detail.

PoE

If you are planning on using PoE in one of your own projects you may need the Freetronics 28V Power Regulator for PoE. This versatile device can be used as a general purpose regulator outputting 5V or 7V from an input voltage of up to 28V, however, the regulator is designed to mount onto the EtherTen or EtherMega Arduino compatible boards and pre-regulate the voltage inputted to your device from PoE down to the 7V the Arduino can handle. To find out more and to purchase checkout the following link.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start working with PoE? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Vertical Pole Climbing Robot

With this project from Pramod you can build your own climbing robot which is designed to scale street lights or flag poles. The robot can be used either as a cleaning robot or as a surveillance tool once a camera has been attached. This project is a great way to learn about using motors with Arduino. To get started checkout the following link.

Vertical Robot

When you use motors in your Arduino project you will almost certainly need a H-Bridge motor driver. A H-Bridge allows you to easily control the direction of your motors from within your code. The freetronics Dual Channel H-Bridge Motor Driver Shield is a perfect solution to this problem, allowing you to drive two DC motors or a stepper motor. To find out more check out the Dual Channel H-Bridge Motor Driver Shield page.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Teach Your Arduino to Switch Itself Off!

 Have you ever been frustrated that the only way you could turn off your Arduino was to physically unplug the device? With this instructable from PeterH310 you can learn how to “self power off” your Arduino. Although some projects require an Arduino to be always on, for projects that don’t require the Arduino to be consistently on, this trick can be a great for added convenience and power saving. To find out more check out the following link.

Auto Off Arduino

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Robotic Cat Laser

Does your pet cat love chasing around a laser light? For the cost of a couple of servo motors, an Arduino and a laser light you can provide your cat with endless entertainment.  The automated cat laser uses servo motors to constantly move the laser and entertain the cat, with no effort on your behalf! To find out how you can build your own cat laser robot checkout the instructable from joe at the following link.
Cat Bot

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted on Leave a comment

PCB Surface Finishes

When it comes to having your own PCBs (printed circuit boards) produced, there are a huge number of manufacturing options to consider. One of the most important options is which surface finish is best for your board. Fortunately, freetronics have put together a guide explaining the pros and cons of various surface finishes to help you make an informed decision next time you manufacture PCBs. You can find the full guide at the following link.

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg

Posted on Leave a comment

Arduino Eye Tracking

With this awesome project from thesystemis you can draw using only the movement of your eyes! Surprisingly this project can be made quite cheaply using the brainpower of an Arduino Uno which talks to the open source eye tracking software – “EyeWriter” running on a computer.  If you want to find out more check out the following link.

Eye Tracker

Want to keep in the loop about the latest in home automation? Subscribing to SuperHouse Automation on YouTube is the best place to start!

Inspired to start work on this project? Are you working on a project you would like us to feature in this blog? The team at SuperHouse Automation would love to know! Tell us about it in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.

cropped-SuperHouse-LogoOnly-512x512.jpg