Intro to Arduino

In other news, I've been bitten by a curiosity for electronics, robotics, and "physical computing." A while ago I discovered a microcontroller platform called Arduino, and finally decided to try it out! I ordered a kit from the Maker Shed, their Advanced Arduino Starter Kit, and have been trying a few simple things. The kit contains a book, Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe, which contains a lot of projects that demonstrate how systems of electronics communicate. I've built a rudimentary version of the first project, called Monski Pong, using the parts from the kit. The microcontroller acts as a joystick that controls a game of Pong on the computer.

From Arduino Projects

The book actually calls for two flex resistors that get sewn into a plush monkey, but the kit didn't come with those parts. Actually, the kit didn't come with parts to complete any of the projects in the book. It's a little strange, but this kit wasn't really designed as a step-by-step introduction, but more like a sandbox "go have fun" experience, with the book thrown in as ideas for next steps. It seems a little bizarre, and the only problem I have with the kit.

Going forward, have a couple of projects I'd like to try and build. First, I'm inspired by John McKerrell and Ed Parsons to build a Weasley Clock. If you're familiar with the Harry Potter series, you might remember that the Weasley family has a clock-type object that doesn't tell time; it tells where each of the family members are located, using places like Home, School, Work, Garden, Lost, and Mortal Peril. I don't have magic to drive my own version, but I do have Google Latitude, a service that runs on my phone. Latitude publishes my location to friends that I approve to see it, and can tell me when I'm unexpectedly nearby one of them. Using that information, I could hack together a system that checks with Latitude, then updates the position of hands on a reworked clock. Sounds pretty neat, huh? I've got some other ideas, but I think I'll stick with one at a time for now!