My weekly web-crawler popped up with this interesting link not long ago. Nicely put together, nice photos, nice group of 'bots! Simon Fraser's Robots
Jeremie, our engineer and the brains behind the SB-FireFly, can't seem to put the thing down even though it's all done and released. He's been hard at work figuring out what it's capable of, and figures that the hardware and framework could be used for a Micro-TV-B-Gone broadcaster, IR code repeater, and even a tiny robot controller. This week, Jeremie turned the SB-FireFly into a countdown timer and even a 'Twinkle Grenade'. Check out the hack descriptions below for more information.
SB-FireFly Countdown Timer
The inspiration for this hack comes from a certain Solarbotics Head-Geek burning up too many Freeduinos in the re-flow oven... I mean, we had trouble cooking hardboiled eggs... yeah… that's it. A permanent 3 minute timer was needed to save the innocent PCBs... er... eggs.
Additional Hardware required: Needs a Piezo Buzzer soldered to the expansion port from S (PB3) to G (GND).
Code: Download here
What it does:
Turns an LED on then beeps at the 1 minute mark
Turns 2 LEDs on and beeps at the 2 minute mark
Turns 3 LEDs on then continuously beeps & flashes all LEDs at the 3 minute mark until the button is pressed.
Meanwhile, during the countdown mode if the button is pressed it will restart the countdown from the beginning. During the continuously flashing/beeping behaviour the button will put the SB-FireFly to sleep, and if pressed again it’ll restart the countdown.
Application: It can be modified to be a timer of any sort, reminding you at certain intervals to take action such as pulling PCBs out of the oven eggs out of the pot.
SB-FireFly Twinkle Grenade
The inspiration for this hack comes from either the desire for mischief or the need for chip tunes. One of the two. Okay, maybe both.
Additional Hardware required: Needs a Piezo Buzzer soldered to the expansion port from S (PB3) to G (GND)
Code: Download here
What it does: Continuously plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and flashes all the LEDs in time with the notes until the button gets pressed. Upon button press, the SB-FireFly goes to sleep (because, unfortunately, no amount of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star makes electronics fall asleep). Push the button again and the tune will start back up where it left off.
Application: Annoying your friends, family, and co-workers. Throw it in a colleague’s office and run away as they frantically search the floor trying to turn it off (we swear we haven't done this at all…). Or you could be sneaky and hide it in a vent or inside a drop ceiling. Magnets stick quite well to the back of the SB-FireFly, so it can then be temporarily attached to a metal surface quite easily.
With the sheer plethora of possibilities for the SB-FireFly (or 'hacklications', as Jeremie likes to call them), there'll probably be another one or two similar posts on the horizon for how to tweak this mini blinky platform extraordinaire, so stay tuned!
My weekly web-crawler popped up with this interesting link not long ago. Nicely put together, nice photos, nice group of 'bots! Simon Fraser's Robots
With the holidays fast approaching we would like to announce our holiday schedule which is outlined below: At Solarbotics: Monday, December 24th to Wednesday, December 26th - Offices Closed December 27th, 28th, 31st - Open, regular hours Tuesday, January 1 - Offices Closed Wednesday, January 2 - Open, back to regular hours At ActiveTech Calgary:
It comes to our attention from J Wolfgang Goerlich that he won the ECRG Walker competition with the "Servocore Walker" he built from a project in our "Bicore Experimenter's PCB" bundle! See more details about his walker here.
Hi there forks! We hope everyone out there is enjoying their first week of summer. School is wrapping up, the sun is out, and WATCH OUT, A FREAK SNOW STORM! I kid, I kid. But this is Calgary, so you never know. Over the course of the next summer months we're aiming to roll out […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.