WSJ Article on the Arduino

The Wall Street Journal posted an article on our friend, the Arduino. Pretty cool!

Some Random Tutorials

I just found that a class at Carnegie Mellon this fall that is devoted to this topic and they have posted lots of tutorials and hints on their blog that might be helpful. (Note: they are using WordPress to make their blog! Copycats :-)).

As you are using and finding tutorials, make a note of what is NOT out there. For our tutorial I would like your team to provide something that will help the next group trying to make a digital body part.

Safe Arduino 120 volt Switch Control

A lot of teams are wanting to control 120 volt power with an Arduino. One way to do this is with a Relay, or more specifically a Solid-State-Relay (SSR), but since it requires wiring and high voltage it should only be attempted by experienced electrically inclined people.

I have found a mechanical and safe Arduino tutorial that uses a servo to turn on and off a light switch. I think this could easily be adapted to turning on and off a Power Strip as well, which would allow you to plug anything into the strip and have it turn on and off.

This is the technique I would recommend to use for anything that requires 120 volts. A SSR would be safe to try for a 12volt battery and there are many tutorials around for that, you do have to find the specs for which SSR to buy for which battery.

Conductive Thread

Here is a video that shows how to sew LED lights into an Arduino using Conductive Thread. They also sell the thread on that site, and probably many others.

The Arduino that is being demonstrated is called a Lily Pad, it's a bit smaller than ours but the software is the same and all of the in/out ports work identically, just a different design.

Floating Lab Collective

THought you all might be interested in Scream at the Economy, which was put on by a group I am loosely connected to.