Editorial

Esta é a Newsletter Nº 295 que se apresenta com o mesmo formato que as anteriores. Se gostar da Newsletter partilhe-a!

Todas as Newsletters encontram-se indexadas no link.

Esta Newsletter tem os seguintes tópicos:

• Novidades da Semana
• Ciência e Tecnologia
• Documentação
• Projetos Maker

Faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1818, o físico inglês James Prescott Joule. Ele estabeleceu que as várias formas de energia - mecânica, eléctrica e térmica - são basicamente as mesmas e podem ser transformadas umas nas outras. Assim, ele formou a base da lei da conservação da energia, a primeira lei da termodinâmica. Ele descobriu em 1840 a relação entre corrente eléctrica, resistência e a quantidade de calor produzida. Em 1849, ele desenvolveu a teoria cinética dos gases e, um ano depois, anunciou o equivalente mecânico do calor. Mais tarde, com William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), ele descobriu o efeito Joule-Thomson. A unidade SI de energia ou trabalho, o joule (símbolo J), tem o seu nome. É definido como o trabalho realizado quando uma força de 1 newton move-se a uma distância de 1 metro na direcção da força.

Faz também hoje anos que nascia, em 1822, o matemático francês Charles Hermite. Ele desenvolveu trabalho na teoria das funções incluindo a aplicação de funções elípticas para fornecer a primeira solução para a equação geral do quinto grau, a equação quíntica. Em 1873, ele publicou a primeira prova de que 'e' é um número transcendental. Hermite também é conhecido por uma série de entidades matemáticas que levam seu nome, polinómios de Hermite, equação diferencial de Hermite, fórmula de interpolação de Hermite e matrizes de Hermite. Poincaré é o mais conhecido dos alunos de Hermite.

Faz igualmente hoje anos que nascia, em 1854, o físico alemão Julius Elster. Ele e Hans Geitel construíram a primeira célula fotoeléctrica e o fotómetro fotoeléctrico como parte do seu estudo do efeito fotoeléctrico e da emissão de electrões térmicos. Eles recusaram-se a patentear estas invenções, preferindo partilhar os benefícios. A partir de 1884, eles pesquisaram fenómenos eléctricos em gases, electricidade atmosférica, mediram o campo eléctrico da Terra e, em 1899, foram os primeiros a determinar a carga das gotas de chuva que caem de nuvens de tempestade. Quando investigaram a radioactividade, consideraram que se devia a uma libertação espontânea de energia pelos átomos. Eles mostraram que o chumbo não é em si radioactivo e que a condutividade da atmosfera se deve à ionização de substâncias radioactivas.

Por fim, faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1956, o empreendedor norte-americano Steve Kirsch. Ele inventou e possui a patente de uma versão inicial do rato óptico, fundou o Infoseek, um dos primeiros mecanismos de busca da Internet, e ajudou a criar o FrameMaker, uma ferramenta de publicação popular usada por escritores técnicos.

Faz hoje 16 anos que a Cassini libertou a sonda Huygens. A sonda Huygens iniciou uma descida de 22 dias em direcção à maior lua de Saturno, Titã. Ela tinha sido lançada como parte da nave Cassini em 1997 e, juntas, elas entraram na órbita de Saturno em Junho de 2004. À medida que os caminhos da nave e de Titã convergiam, a Cassini ejectou a sonda Huygens, enviando-a em direcção à lua coberta de nuvens. Ela pousou a 14 de Janeiro de 2005 e enviou fotogramas da superfície da lua. A Cassini permaneceria em órbita a volta de Saturno pelo menos até Julho de 2008. A missão Cassini-Huygens para estudar Saturno e suas 33 luas conhecidas resultou de um esforço cooperativo sem precedentes entre a NASA dos Estados Unidos, a Agência Espacial Europeia e o programa espacial da Itália.

Na Newsletter desta semana apresentamos diversas noticias, artigos científicos assim como projetos de maker. É apresentada revista HackSpaceMag nº 38 de Janeiro de 2021. Aproveito para desejar a todos votos de Boas Festas.

João Alves ([email protected])

O conteúdo da Newsletter encontra-se sob a licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

10nm, Creative Improvements Expand Intel Manufacturing Capacity

"In response to incredible customer demand, Intel has doubled its combined 14nm and 10nm manufacturing capacity over the past few years. To do this, the company found innovative ways to deliver more output within existing capacity through yield improvement projects and significant investments in capacity expansion. This video recounts that journey, which even included repurposing existing lab and office space for manufacturing. “Over the last three years, we have doubled our wafer volume capacity, and that was a significant investment. Moving forward, we’re not stopping… We are continuing to invest into factory capacity to ensure we can keep up with the growing needs of our customers,” says Keyvan Esfarjani, senior vice president and general manager of Manufacturing and Operations at Intel. The company also ramped its new 10nm process this year." [...]

Toshiba’s New Magnetic Material Greatly Improves Motor Energy Conversion Efficiency

"Toshiba Corporation has developed a new magnetic material with characteristics that deliver major improvements in motor efficiency at minimum cost, and with the potential to win significant reductions in power consumption, necessary toward achieving a low-carbon future. Motors account for approximately half of the world's electric power consumption. Any advance that can improve their efficiency promises major benefits to society as a whole, and will help to promote the shift to a carbon-free economy. Toshiba’s new material greatly boosts motor energy conversion efficiency when it is used as the wedges in the motor, particularly in the medium to large induction motor(Note 1). The material can be installed at minimal cost with no need for design changes. Through testing in an induction motor in the railway rolling stock drive systems, Toshiba confirmed an efficiency increase of 0.9 pt(Note 2), with an improvement approaching the efficiency of permanent magnet synchronous motors(Note 3)." [...]

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, through medieval and Renaissance eyes

"The rendezvous of the double planets was often grafted onto apocalyptic prophecies, says University of Rochester historian Laura Ackerman Smoller. Astronomers and amateur star gazers alike are training their telescopes on the evening sky for a heavenly spectacle when the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is more visible from earth than it’s been in nearly 800 years. The celestial event will play out on Monday—this year’s winter solstice—when our solar system’s two largest planets appear side by side above the horizon soon after sunset. It’s been nearly eight centuries since the pair of planets appeared in conjunction this close to Earth. In 1623, a similar conjunction of the planets occurred, but on the same side of the sky as the sun, which meant it wasn’t visible from the Blue Planet. Monday’s conjunction will be the first visible occurrence since before the time of Marco Polo." [...]

The lightest light – the future of digital displays and brain science

"A team of scientists from the University of St Andrews has developed a new way of making the most durable, lightweight and thinnest light source available so far, which could revolutionise the future of mobile technologies and pave the way for new advances in brain science. Writing in two separate papers and published in Nature Communications today (Monday 7 December), the new research into the development of organic LEDs, led by the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews, has implications not only for the future designs of mobile phones and tablets but could also play a key role in neuroscience research and clinical technologies used to help patients who suffer from neurological diseases. Using a combination of organic electroluminescent molecules, metal oxide and biocompatible polymer protection layers, the scientists created organic LEDs that are as thin and flexible as the everyday cling film we use at home. The new light sources developed will have future implications for digital displays and can be used to make lighter and thinner displays for phones and tablets; displays that are big when we look at them, but that can be folded or rolled up when not in use. In the longer term, these new LEDs could also see use in treatments for neurological diseases in which light-gated proteins are deployed to modulate brain activity in patients. Earlier attempts to develop ultra-thin organic LEDs found they struggled with poor stability in air and moist environments." [...]

Optoelectronic devices that emit warm and cool white light

"A single semiconducting material can produce white light by emitting light across the visible spectrum. The advantages of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), such as their tiny size, low cost and excellent power efficiency, mean they are found everywhere in modern life. A KAUST team has recently developed a way of producing a white-light LED that overcomes some critical challenges. Blinking away on almost every modern electronic device, LEDs transmit messages in their own distinct shade of red, green or blue. The coloration of an LED comes from a semiconductor inside that emits over a narrow spectrum of optical wavelengths. The inability of LEDs to emit across a wider spectrum restricts their use in lighting applications — emitting a wider spectrum is necessary to generate white light — or for displays that require a wide palette of different colors." [...]

‘Soft’ nanoparticles give plasmons new potential

"Rice scientists show how coated nanoantennas retain energy to potentially catalyze chemical reactions Bigger is not always better, but here’s something that starts small and gets better as it gets bigger. Just light it up and see. A team led by Rice University chemists Christy Landes and Stephan Link, both associated with the Smalley-Curl Institute, have made hybrid particles that combine the unbeatable light-harvesting properties of plasmonic nanoparticles with the flexibility of catalytic polymer coatings. Their work could help power long-pursued plasmonic applications in electronics, imaging, sensing and medicine. Plasmons are the detectable ripples of energy created on the surface of some metals when excited by light or other input. Nanoantennas are microscopic bits of these metals, like gold, silver and aluminum." [...]

ITMO Researchers Teach Robots to Run Chemical Experiments

"ITMO University experts are creating technological assistants for chemical laboratories that will be able to take over all routine work with no human involvement needed. Right now, the first prototypes are already performing the simplest manipulations. In the future, robotic chemists will be able to run their own research for accumulating large amounts of data and performing primary analysis. It takes a long time to conduct chemical experiments and analyze their results. Any researcher can mix reagents, but for some experiments these tasks have to be performed hundreds of times with all proportions kept exactly the same. Moreover, mixing chemicals and noting the results requires a great effort." [...]

Researchers Have Achieved Sustained Long-Distance Quantum Teleportation

"The breakthrough, made by researchers at Caltech, Fermilab and NASA, among others, is a step towards a practical quantum internet. In a major breakthrough for the quest toward quantum internet, a technology that would revolutionize computing in myriad ways, a consortium of well-regarded institutions have announced the first demonstration of sustained, high-fidelity quantum teleportation over long distances. Led by Caltech, a collaboration between Fermilab, AT&T, Harvard University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the University of Calgary reports the successful teleportation of qubits, basic units of quantum information, across 22 kilometers of fiber in two testbeds: the Caltech Quantum Network and the Fermilab Quantum Network. “The team has been working persistently and keeping our heads down in the past few years,” said Maria Spiropulu, a particle physicist at Caltech who directs the INQNET research program and co-authored the new paper, in an email. Though the collaboration knew it had “achieved significant results” by the spring of 2020, Spiropulu added, they refrained from sharing the news, even informally on social media, until the publication of the full study this week. “We wanted to push the envelope for this type of research and take important steps on a path to realize both real-life applications for quantum communications and networks and test fundamental physics ideas,” said Panagiotis Spentzouris, head of the Quantum Science Program at Fermilab, in an email." [...]

Wi-Fi technology with fibre optic-like performance for Industry 4.0

"Despite significant advances in wireless technology, the manufacturing industry continues to turn to wired forms of communication such as Ethernet or fibre optics for its most critical tasks. A new study by the associate professor Cristina Cano and the full professor Xavier Vilajosana, researchers from the Wireless Networks (WiNe) group at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and from the UOC's Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications, opens the door to the use of wireless technologies with power and reliability that are comparable to fibre optics and that could replace cabled connections. The research project, published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, has created the first parameterization of a millimetre-band signal propagation model, a wireless technology capable of transmitting a huge amount of data per second, in an industrial environment. According to the researchers, this new model is the first step towards understanding how this type of signal behaves in an industrial plant and could have a significant impact on the development of Industry 4.0. Cristina Cano said: "This study is aimed at making communication less expensive and more flexible by incorporating mobile devices into the manufacturing process, something that could be very useful in moving towards Industry 4.0, since it allows, for example, connecting freely movable robotic arms to the production process or establishing communications for data reporting, and controlling or stopping the different components of the process in an emergency. But it could also allow the worker to be a part of the process."" [...]

Quantum wave in helium dimer filmed for the first time

"For the first time, an international team of scientists from Goethe University and the University of Oklahoma has succeeded in filming quantum physical effects on a helium dimer as it breaks apart. The film shows the superposition of matter waves from two simultaneous events that occur with different probability: The survival and the disintegration of the helium dimer. This method might in future make it possible to track experimentally the formation and decay of quantum Efimov systems. Anyone entering the world of quantum physics must prepare themself for quite a few things unknown in the everyday world: Noble gases form compounds, atoms behave like particles and waves at the same time and events that in the macroscopic world exclude each other occur simultaneously. In the world of quantum physics, Reinhard Dörner and his team are working with molecules which – in the sense of most textbooks – ought not to exist: Helium compounds with two atoms, known as helium dimers. Helium is called a noble gase precisely because it does not form any compounds." [...]

Scientists Studied the Possibilities of Controlling the Magnetic Properties of Complex Oxide Systems

"The study of complex oxides of iron and using them to create new functional materials is one of the most intensely developing fields of investigation for SUSU scientists. In this new study, the specialists chose to investigate spinel-structured ferrites, changing their magnetic properties through modification of the chemical composition—by substituting the iron ions. The results of their research were published in the highly-rated journal Nanomaterials (Q1). Chemical compounds are being studied at the "Non-conventional Materials and Resource-Saving Technologies" Research Institute of South Ural State University for applications in electronics and biomedicine. Scientists are conducting comprehensive research on ferrite spinels. The physical properties of these complex oxide systems can be varied by changing the chemical composition." [...]

Theory describes quantum phenomenon in nanomaterials

"Osaka City University scientists have developed mathematical formulas to describe the current and fluctuations of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots. Their theoretical predictions could soon be tested experimentally. Theoretical physicists Yoshimichi Teratani and Akira Oguri of Osaka City University, and Rui Sakano of the University of Tokyo have developed mathematical formulas that describe a physical phenomenon happening within quantum dots and other nanosized materials. The formulas, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, could be applied to further theoretical research about the physics of quantum dots, ultra-cold atomic gasses, and quarks. At issue is ‘the Kondo effect’. This effect was first described in 1964 by Japanese theoretical physicist Jun Kondo in some magnetic materials, but now appears to happen in many other systems, including quantum dots and other nanoscale materials." [...]

Scientists Developed an Efficient Way to Produce Low-Cost Heatsinks

"NUST MISIS scientists found a way to reduce the cost of industrial and electronics heatsinks production up to 10 times. Consequently, the product itself would also cost less. The proposed methods presume the use of rubbers and silicon carbide as components, i.e. these components are mixed, pressed and sintered. The article on the research is published in Polymers. Heat sinking in operating devices is a constant necessity as overheating inevitably shortens the service life of expensive equipment." [...]

Developing Smarter, Faster Machine Intelligence with Light

"Researchers invent an optical convolutional neural network accelerator for machine learning SUMMARY Researchers at the George Washington University, together with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the deep-tech venture startup Optelligence LLC, have developed an optical convolutional neural network accelerator capable of processing large amounts of information, on the order of petabytes, per second. This innovation, which harnesses the massive parallelism of light, heralds a new era of optical signal processing for machine learning with numerous applications, including in self-driving cars, 5G networks, data-centers, biomedical diagnostics, data-security and more. THE SITUATION Global demand for machine learning hardware is dramatically outpacing current computing power supplies. State-of-the-art electronic hardware, such as graphics processing units and tensor processing unit accelerators, help mitigate this, but are intrinsically challenged by serial data processing that requires iterative data processing and encounters delays from wiring and circuit constraints. Optical alternatives to electronic hardware could help speed up machine learning processes by simplifying the way information is processed in a non-iterative way. However, photonic-based machine learning is typically limited by the number of components that can be placed on photonic integrated circuits, limiting the interconnectivity, while free-space spatial-light-modulators are restricted to slow programming speeds." [...]

CMS sets new bounds on the mass of leptoquarks

"The bounds are some of the tightest yet on the existence of third-generation leptoquarks At the most fundamental level, matter is made up of two types of particles: leptons, such as the electron, and quarks, which combine to form protons, neutrons and other composite particles. Under the Standard Model of particle physics, both leptons and quarks fall into three generations of increasing mass. Otherwise, the two kinds of particles are distinct. But some theories that extend the Standard Model predict the existence of new particles called leptoquarks that would unify quarks and leptons by interacting with both. In a new paper, the CMS collaboration reports the results of its latest search for leptoquarks that would interact with third-generation quarks and leptons (the top and bottom quarks, the tau lepton and the tau neutrino). Such third-generation leptoquarks are a possible explanation for an array of tensions with the Standard Model (or “anomalies”), which have been seen in certain transformations of particles called B mesons but have yet to be confirmed." [...]

Ultrafast gas-flows through tiniest holes in 2D membranes

"Researchers from National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester and University of Pennsylvania have identified ultrafast gas-flows through the tiniest holes in one-atom-thin membranes, in a study published in Science Advances. The work - alongside another study from University of Pennsylvania on the creation of such nano-porous membranes - holds promise for numerous application areas, from water and gas purification to monitoring of air quality and energy harvesting. In the early 20th century, renowned Danish physicist Martin Knudsen formulated theories to describe gas-flows. Emerging new systems of narrower pores challenged the Knudsen descriptions of gas-flows, but they remained valid and it was unknown at which point of diminishing scale they might fail. The Manchester team - led by Professor Radha Boya (pictured), in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania team, led by Professor Marija Drndić - has shown for the first time that Knudsen’s description seems to hold true at the ultimate atomic limit. The science of two dimensional (2D)-materials is progressing rapidly and it is now routine for researchers to make one-atom-thin membranes." [...]

Tiny Shape-Shifting Polymers Developed for Potential Medical Applications

"Engineers at Caltech have developed a process for generating three-dimensional architected polymers with heat-dependent "shape memory" properties: that is, when heated, the material folds and unfolds itself into a new preordained shape. In this video, Caltech graduate student Luizetta Elliott explains how these shape memory polymers could one day be used to perform complex tasks inside the human body, such as unclogging a blocked artery or pulling out a blood clot. Elliott worked on micro-architected shape polymers in the lab of Julia R. Greer, the Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics and Medical Engineering, who is a pioneer of "nano-architected materials." Their paper, co-authored with alumna Erika Salzman (BS '20) is titled "Stimuli Responsive Shape Memory Microarchitectures" and was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials on December 8. This research was supported by the Chen Neuroscience Institute and the U.S. Department of Defense. " [...]

TPU Chemists Convert Plastic Bottle Waste into Insecticide Sorbent

"Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University proposed a method to create a sorbent for imidacloprid insecticide removal from water. The sorbent belongs to metal-organic frameworks, a class of non-conventional materials. The TPU chemists grew such a framework right on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used to produce regular plastic bottles. The method is quite simple and allows converting used materials into a useful product. The research findings are published in Applied Materials Today academic journal (IF: 8,352; Q1). Metal-organic frameworks are substances with a three-dimensional structure, where clusters or metal ions are bridged by organic ligands." [...]

Researchers invent method to 'sketch' quantum devices with focused electrons

"Technique is 10,000 faster than previous methods, and can create active nanostructured gates directly below two-dimensional materials such as graphene It has long been a dream to invent new materials from the "top down" choosing which atoms go where to engineer properties of interest. A technique created by researchers out of the Department of Physics and Astronomy enables them to "sketch" patterns of electrons into a programmable quantum material--lanthanum aluminate/strontium titanate or "LAO/STO". Using this approach, they can create quantum devices and with feature sizes comparable to the spacing between electrons, and even "sketch" artificial lattices for electrons to traverse, with extremely high precision. To develop this capability, the researchers repurposed an electron beam lithography instrument, which is ordinarily used to create nanostructures by exposing a resist that hardens into a mask, enabling layers of material to be subsequently added or removed. Instead of operating the instrument at its usual value of 20,000 Volts, the researchers dialed it down to only a few hundred volts, where the electrons could not penetrate the surface of their oxide material, and instead--without any resist--catalyze a surface reaction that renders the LAO surface positively charged, and the LAO/STO interface locally conductive. The electron beam is 10,000 times faster at writing compared with atomic-force microscope-based lithography, without losing spatial resolution or ability to be reprogrammed." [...]

Goldilocks and the three quantum dots: This one’s just right for peak solar panel performance

"Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science have developed a process for calculating the perfect size and density of quantum dots needed to achieve record efficiency in solar panels. Quantum dots, man-made nanocrystals 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper, can be used as light sensitisers, absorbing infrared and visible light and transferring it to other molecules. This could enable new types of solar panels to capture more of the light spectrum and generate more electrical current, through a process of ‘light fusion’ known as photochemical upconversion. The researchers, based at Monash University, used lead sulfide quantum dots in their example. The algorithm is free to access and their results have been published in the journal Nanoscale. Significantly, existing upconversion results achieved by test devices used organic sensitisers that do not work with silicon solar cells - currently the most commonly available type of photovoltaics technology - due to their inability to absorb much of the infrared part of the light spectrum." [...]

UChicago scientists pioneer new method of measuring electricity in cells

"New technology peers inside cells, may inspire new fields of research Electricity is a key ingredient in living bodies. We know that voltage differences are important in biological systems; they drive the beating of the heart and allow neurons to communicate with one another. But for decades, it wasn’t possible to measure voltage differences between organelles—the membrane-wrapped structures inside the cell—and the rest of the cell. A pioneering technology created by UChicago scientists, however, allows researchers to peer into cells to see how many different organelles use voltages to carry out functions. “Scientists had noticed for a long time that charged dyes used for staining cells would get stuck in the mitochondria,” explained graduate student Anand Saminathan, the first author for the paper, which was published in Nature Nanotechnology. “But little work has been done to investigate the membrane potential of other organelles in live cells.” The Krishnan lab at UChicago specializes in building tiny sensors to travel inside cells and report back on what’s happening, so that researchers can understand how cells work—and how they break down in disease or disorders." [...]

High-five or thumbs-up? New device detects which hand gesture you want to make

"Imagine typing on a computer without a keyboard, playing a video game without a controller or driving a car without a wheel. That’s one of the goals of a new device developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, that can recognize hand gestures based on electrical signals detected in the forearm. The system, which couples wearable biosensors with artificial intelligence (AI), could one day be used to control prosthetics or to interact with almost any type of electronic device. “Prosthetics are one important application of this technology, but besides that, it also offers a very intuitive way of communicating with computers.” said Ali Moin, who helped design the device as a doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. “Reading hand gestures is one way of improving human-computer interaction. And, while there are other ways of doing that, by, for instance, using cameras and computer vision, this is a good solution that also maintains an individual’s privacy.” To create the hand gesture recognition system, the team collaborated with Ana Arias, a professor of electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, to design a flexible armband that can read the electrical signals at 64 different points on the forearm." [...]

HackSpace magazine #38

"Create an Internet-connected doorbell (that doesn't break when the internet goes down!) Discover what it takes to build a sea-going 3D printed boat Turn anything at all into a musical instrument" [...]

The AVR-IoT WG: Out for Blood Pressure Monitoring in Google

"Your doctor might tell you "don't take that with a pinch of salt; you have Hypertension". Sounds funny, but also serious like heart attack. Introduction The Silent Killer is how people in the medical field refer to High Blood Pressure or Hypertension. They also give the same title to diabetes, prostate cancer, and even Carbon Monoxide. Today we will only focus on Hypertension because according to American Heart Association, if left undetected (or uncontrolled), high blood pressure can lead to many things including heart disease. That in turn, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the Leading Cause of Death in the United States of America." [...]

Servo Deadband Correction

"Analog servos require the pulse-width to change by up to 10 microseconds before they start to move. This represents an error of almost 2 degrees. [1] This instructable explains how to significantly reduce the deadband errors in the servo plotter described in https://www.instructables.com/Servo-Plotter/ Images Photo 1 shows the orginal servo plotter The lower trace in photo2 shows two overlaid squares. One square is plotted clockwise (CW) ... the other is plotted counter-clockwise (CCW). Deadband is distorting the squares and causing the diagonals to separate. The upper trace in photo2 shows the improvement when deadband compensation is applied." [...]

Game & MINTIA

"This instructables show how to use a tiny sweet box to make a NES console. Supplies: TTGO T7 v1.3 1.54" ST7789 IPS LCD Lipo 303040 MAX98357 I2S DAC audio breakout board 10*18 mm speaker Thin Prototype PCB Four 6.2*6.2*5 mm Tactile Switches Two 12*12*4.3 mm Tactile Switches Four 6*3.5*5 mm Tactile Switches MINTIA is a multi favor tablet produced by Asahi Group Food, Ltd. in Japan since 1996. The sweet box design make it very easy to take one and only one tablet out when put off the cover, you can see the demo video how it works. MINTIA is very popular in Japan, it even have many 3rd parties tailor-made leather case for MINTIA. The sweet box is very thin and the tablet outlet is very fit for the micro USB plug. MINTIA is over 20 years old, micro USB plug not yet born at that time!" [...]

Jump Yo' Rex

"Play T-Rex game on Google Chrome using Seeeduino XIAO (CircuitPython) and LIS3DH accelerometer. Want to be a desperate T-Rex who's ready to explore the wondrous 2-D, 8-bit, binary colored world of Google Chrome with joy and excitement ? So make sure you exercise your knees daily to keep up with the high scores. This project won the Best Hardware Hack presented by Digi-Key category prize in the Who Wants to be Hackionaire hackathon organized by MLH I've used CircuitPython to program the Seeeduino Xiao but it's also compatible with Arduino. You can choose any ATSAMD21 microcontroller board that supports CircuitPython to follow along this project. I chose Xiao because of it's miniscule size, suitable for wearable projects." [...]

DIY Automatic Musical Christmas Lights (MSGEQ7 + Arduino)

"So every year I say am going to do this and never get around to doing it because I procrastinate a lot. 2020 is a year of change so I say this is the year to do it. So hope you like and make your own musical Christmas lights. This is going to be a simple guide but next year I plan to do a lot more with this project. Supplies: Bluetooth Receiver Arduino Nano or PRO Mini MSGEQ7 IC MSGEQ7 Module MSGEQ7 Shield Resistors Capacitors Relays - Mechanical Solid State Solid State 4 channel 8x8 LED display Solder-able Breadboard Hook Up Wire Kit JST Adapters 3.5mm Stereo Jack Socket Power Supply Module 9V 1A Power Supply AC Plug, AC sockets and electrical box from any local hardware Tools used (not bought for this video just general stuff I have): Solder Iron Repair Mat Lead-Free Solder Wire Magnetic Helping Hands Multimeter Circuit Board Holder" [...]

Snowflake Ornament

"Cute snowflake-shaped ornament with programmable LED sequence. Black solder mask and HASL finish complement this relatively small snowflake-shaped PCB. Powered by CR1220 3V battery in combination with ATtiny13 for easy LED sequencing. ISP pads are available to re-program the 6 on board LEDs using Arduino and AVR programmer. We used Inkscape and the svg2Mod python script to create solder mask, outline and silkscreen layers to be imported as symbol in KICAD. " [...]

Bluetooth-Enabled Snowman Weather and Air Quality Gift Card

"Via the gift card's Android application, adjust its RGB eye color and display weather and air quality information on the ST7789. Story Although it is struggling for me to create a brand-new design while paying homage to the classic Christmas theme, I decided to design this gift card in the hope of making it remain functional and stylish even to the following Christmas Eve while emanating the joyous reminiscences of Christmas. To make this gift card behave more than a redolent Christmas ornament, I designed it as a fully functional remote home automation interface for detecting weather and air quality information. It has six different modes (screens) controlled by its collaborating Android application as follows: Temperature Humidity Pressure and Altitude Air Quality Animation Home Screen (Happy New Year) First of all, I developed an Android application named Gift Card to control the gift card's modes and features via Bluetooth. And, therefore, I added an HC-06 Bluetooth Module to the gift card. To be able to obtain weather information accurately, I used a BMP180 Barometric Pressure/Temperature/Altitude Sensor and a DHT11 Temperature/Humidity Sensor." [...]

DIY Arduino Christmas Clock

"Merry Christmas! I was recently approached by Elegoo to create a Christmas themed project with their Arduino R3 Most Complete Starter Kit. With the included components in their kit I was able to create this Christmas themed clock that displays the time and date and every fifteen minutes the tree on the top rotates and glows green to fill a room with Christmas Spirit. Follow along with my Instructable to see how I made this clock and how you can make one too. If you have any questions be sure to let me know in the comment section and I will try my best to help you out! I started off this project by designing the clock components in Fusion 360." [...]

2x 48V 5A Bench Top Power Supply

"This is a tutorial for assembling a bench top power supply. Don't expect any electronics development or lots of soldering, I just ordered some parts from AliExpress and put them in a box. Please beware that I made some small adjustments on the published design so pictures might deviate slightly from what you'll be building. Supplies: 1x 10.5A 48V SMPS 2x DC DPS5005 step-down converter 1x IEC320 fused female power socket (AC-17) 2x chassis mounted terminal blocks 4x female banana plug 1x 12V 50x50mm quiet fan 1x 50x50mm finger guard 1x 45C thermostat switch 4x rubber feet Some M4 fasteners, some wagos, some wire and some faston terminals" [...]

BIG Alpha-numeric DISPLAY

"There are few choices if you need a display that can be seen from across the room, a big display. You can make one like my 'time squared' or 'leds on glass' but this takes about 40 hours of tedious work. So here is an EASY to make large display. The build has 4 basic wires, 5 volts, ground, SDA, SCL. Each character display cost about two to three dollars. So a 8x2 display is about $30." [...]

Wakeup Light

"As I write this instructable it is mid winter on the Northern hemisphere and that means short days and long nights. I am used to getting up at 06:00 and in the Summer the sun will be shining by then. In the Winter though, it gets light at 09:00 if we are lucky to have a day that it isn’t cloudy (which is...not often). Some time ago I read about a “wakeup light” made by Philips that was used in Norway to simulate a sunny morning. I never bought one, but I kept thinking about making one because making one yourself is more fun than just buying it. Supplies: Picture frame "Ribba" 50 x 40 cm from IKEA perforated hardboard from hardware store STM8S103 development board via Ebay or others DS1307 Real Time Clock (Mouser, Farnell, Conrad, etc) 32768 Hz watch crystal (Mouser, Farnell, Conrad, etc) 3V lithium coincell + coincell holder BUZ11 or IRLZ34N N-channel MOSFETs (3x) BC549 (or any other NPN transistor) as many white, red, blue, green, etc leds as you want some resistors and capacitors (see schematic) Powerbrick, 12V to 20V, 3A or more (e.g." [...]

the Memory Recorder - Christmas Gift

"Hello everyone! As Christmas comes, it's time for gifts, so I'm sure many of you will feel the need to give something special. In this difficult period, many opportunities have certainly been lacking to share concrete emotions and gestures. In a world where you had everything, the most obvious things were missing, simple human relationships, a personal gesture, the words of a loved one . So I ask you: what meaning do you give to words? Have you ever thought about their importance?" [...]

How to Make a IR Proximity Sensor at Home

"In this Instructable I show you how to make a simple infrared sensor for hobby projects and to learn how an infrared sensor works. I used an infrared sensor with one of my previous Instructables (the automatic hand sanitizer dispenser) but I didn't know exactly how this sensor worked so I dived into it a little further. An IR sensor is basically a device which consists of a pair of an IR LED and a photodiode which are collectively called a photo-coupler or an opto-coupler. The IR LED emits IR radiation. The IR radiation is emitted in a beam from the IR LED. When this beam is disturbed, it widens and "hits" the photodiode." [...]

Keybon - Adaptive Macro Keyboard

"Keybon is a macro keyboard with configurable layouts and functions. Integrated into each of its nine tactile buttons is a 0.66” OLED screen. Depending on which app is active on the connected computer, Keybon switches to the suitable key layout thanks to its companion software. " [...]

Reverse-engineering the clock chip in the first MOS calculator

"In 1969, Sharp introduced the first calculator built from high-density MOS chips, the QT-8D, followed by the handheld Sharp EL-8, the world's smallest calculator at the time.1 These calculators were high-end products, selling for $345 (about $1800 today). Integrated circuits at the time couldn't fit the entire calculator on one chip, so these calculators contained five ICs: an arithmetic chip, a decimal point chip, a keypad/display chip, a control chip, and a clock chip. This blog post discusses the clock chip and how it generated the unusual four-phase clock signals required by the calculator. The die photo below, provided by calculator researcher Francois Gueissaz, shows the silicon die of the clock chip. the silicon substrate has a purple tint while the doped, conductive silicon is green. The metal layer on top is white." [...]

Five LEDs Puzzle

"This project is a logic puzzle for the festive season in which the aim is to get all five LEDs to stay lit up. On the Technoblogy website, there is a project called the "Five LEDs Puzzle". Basically the challenge is to work out what sequence of switches need to be pressed to light up five LEDs. Although I think I figured out the sequence by following the code, I really needed to build it to see if it was correct. I decided to use a cheaper ATtiny13A microprocessor since the ATtiny85 seemed a bit of an overkill for this project. I prefer to make my own circuit boards rather than use protoboard or breadboards." [...]

Microtronic - The Next Generation

"A Practical 4-Bit Educational Computer A re-implementation & extension of a classic 4-bit education system from 1981 - the Busch 2090 Microtronic Computer System. This Next Generation Microtronic offers SDcard-based file storage, extended programming and debugging facilities utilizing its large LCD, a battery backed-up real time clock, built-in sound capabilities, and far greater (but adjustable) computing speed. It also acts as a 2095 cassette interface emulator for the classic 1981 Microtronic computer by plugging into its expansion port. The Microtronic has a very comfortable, versatile and intuitive instruction set. The (German) instruction manuals are exceptionally well written. This unique combination makes the system stand out from its 4-bit competition as an education system, even nowadays." [...]

Combination Lock using CCL

"This project is a digital combination lock that only lets you activate a circuit if you know the 8-bit key. It demonstrates an application of Configurable Custom Logic, a feature included in the latest AVR DA-series chips from Microchip As a comparison, I implement the same application using a conventional program, and discuss the pros and cons of each approach. Introduction The latest AVR processors released by Microchip all include a new feature called Configurable Custom Logic, or CCL, and since their release I've been trying to think of compelling applications of this feature. It allows you to construct an arbitrary logic circuit that works independently of the processor. This project demonstrates one practical application, using the logic functions to construct an arbitrary logic expression. CCL is included in three ranges of AVR devices: the new ATtiny 0-series and 1-series, the new ATmega 0-series, and the AVR DA series which Microchip announced in May of this year." [...]

24 LEDs Bargraph Display using 74HC595 Shift Register

"This project is built for fun loving users to create a 24 LED bar-graph for light effects that can be driven using Arduino or another microcontroller. The project consists of 74HC595 x 3 chips, and 24 LEDs of Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow colors. The project helps the user to experiment with serial-in and parallel-output shift registers. Each 75HC595 chip provides 8 outputs which is connected to the individual LED along with current limiting series resistors. This board can be used in applications such as Light effects generator, Bargraph voltmeter, Current meter, Audio VU meter and display sensor value on bar-graph. " [...]

Sonar using arduino and display on processing IDE

"I was inspired by obstacle avoidance car's servo's motion, I thought that it's motion could be used as sonar's acutator ! Hello everyone, I was suggested to make a obstacle avoidance car but I thought it to be too common and impractical to make one..., so I thought to make a sonar using the concept of obstacle avoidance car's servo and HC-SR04 sensor. I didn't had a tft lcd screen due to which I didn't know how to display the sonar's output.Then I thought to use processing IDE as it enabled to display the sonar's output on my pc that too with nice resolution ! but as I was new to processing IDE I didn't know to use it so for practice I used p5 web editor (just for practice) than I used processing Ide and some libraries to read output of sonar and display on pc ! I have attached ultrasonic sensor on servo motor using hot glue gun so that the ultrasonic sensor rotates with servo and covers a range of 180 degrees and then the output whether a object is detected or not is shown on processing IDE and I wrote some more code which accurately displays the distance and angle ! " [...]

Photoresistor Arduino Midi Theremin

"I call it the C041D-2020 I made this during the second COVID lockdown in UK, from ideas borrowed from about 5 other projects I found here on Instructables and also on Youtube. As you can see from the video it makes acidy noises by covering the photo resistors, or adding lighter to the photo resistors. The Arduino code is also borrowed from other projects here in Instructables. The noises are produced by the software (Ableton Live/ Lite), using a Plugin called TAL-NoiseMaker, the potentiometers are MIDI-mapped to effects. Supplies: PARTS 1) Just about any Arduino board, I used an 'Uno' 2) Some Photoresistors, I used 4, it also worked with just one 3) Some potentiometers, I used 5 potentiometers and a slider, - IMPORTANT - they need to be 10k (linear), they are called 'B10K' 4) A resistor, I used 300ohm, I have seen instructions to use a 10k 5) Make some kind of box or enclosure with a top panel or 3D print one 6) Some knobs for the potentiometers SOFTWARE 1) Hairless MIDI to Serial Bridge 2) Ableton Live or Lite 3) TAL-NoiseMaker (free VST Plugin) 4) Arduino IDE" [...]

PCB Etching Agitator

"Speed up the etching of printed circuit boards with an easy to build agitator. I make a lot of my own printed circuit boards and etching was always a bit of a chore since you really need to keep the acid moving over the copper. My left arm muscle is now testament to the number of boards I have made over the years by manually agitating the acid bath. I was watching a agitator built by TechBuilder on YouTube and decided I needed one. Hardware The unit is built around a Jiffy Box (157x95x53mm). The motor is a 100RPM geared 12V brushless motor from eBay." [...]

$20 Synth Project

"This guide is for complete beginners in electronics & synth making. We'll be building the 'Helios One', a total bastard of a synth a MIDI controlled synth made from a low cost Arduino micro-controller and the Mozzi audio library. Even if you can't read a schematic you should still be able to build the synth by following along with the pictures. We'll go through all the stages of building it together: getting the parts / coding / electronics / case making. " [...]

3d Maze Game Using Arduino

"Hello friends , so today we are going to make a maze game using ARDUINO UNO. As Arduino Uno is the mostly used board it is very cool to make games with it. In this Instructable lets make the maze game which is controlled using joysticks. Supplies: 1.Cardboard(MDF Board) 2.Joystick Module*2 3.SG90 Servo Motor*4 4.Arduino Uno 5.Breadboard 6.Nuts 7.Nail pins 8.Jumper wires 9.Connecting wires 10.Some cardboard pieces" [...]

Simple 20 LED Vu Meter Using LM3915

"The idea of making a VU meter has been on my project list for a long time. And finally I can make it now. The VU meter is a circuit for an indicator of the audio signal strength. The VU meter circuit is usually applied to an amplifier circuit so that the level of audio power can be determined by certain parameter settings which will be displayed in the form of light from the LED. The number of LEDs used for indicators varies depending on the manufacturer. For the VU meter that I made, I used 20 LEDs." [...]

ESP-01 MQTT LED Strip patterns

"Using an ESP-01 running micropython attached to a WS2812B LED strip controller, create lighting effects and control them from MQTT! SP-01 is such a fun little board. Taking an Espressif ESP-8266 and adding some EEPROM (1M) and bringing out the serial port and 2 IO ports, it's simple but still powerful. And there are a bunch of cool controllers will take the ESP-01 as their "brain". Such as the relay boards (that I used in the Clock Controller project), a DHT-11 (temperature/humidity) sensor board, and a WS2812B LED Strip interface board, which I'll be using here. Serendipitously, I was starting to look into the controller board when my wife started putting out a light-based Christmas tree outside, so I thought I could supplement those lights with an animated LED strip (or two or more!)" [...]

Stopwatch and Lap Timer with Arduino

"Arduino stopwatch and lap timer with excelent accuracy and responsiveness! Stopwatches are very useful in several applications and made by yourself using an Arduino, it is really more interesting! This project is really simple, easy to be assembled using few components and has an excellent accuracy and responsiveness including the following features: The stopwatch shows the time in minutes, seconds and tenth of seconds. The lap timer shows the time in seconds and hundreths of seconds. Internally the time count is in miliseconds by the clock of microcontroler. " [...]

Turn your Raspberrypi to a weather station

"I converterd my raspberrypi to a web server to monitor temperature and humidity. I started a small project to make my raspberrypi zero to monitor temperature and humidity. This was relative easy by controlling some pins and sending commands to the pi. I decided to extend this project and create a web server where I could access it remotely and monitor weather conditons. This article assumes you have some understanding how to connect sensors to the raspberrypi, write code using python3 and some basic knowledge of web development. What is a web server A web server according to wikipedia is a server software, or hardware dedicated to running this software, that can satisfy client requests on the World Wide Web and in general, contain one or more websites." [...]

WioTerminal IoTs Temp&Humi display

"The Temperature and humidity data can upload to could via the Wio terminal. The Temperature and humidity data can upload to could via the Wio terminal as the gateway and the data can display on the Wio terminal and SinricPro APP. Features The device state can change by the remote control It using the IoTs technology to monitor the device state" [...]

LCD Poetry Clock

"A 20x4 RGB LCD clock that can display over 500 poems using Arduino and an SD card reader. For Christmas this year I wanted to make my sister a Christmas present using Arduino. She enjoys poetry and so I decided to connect up a 20 * 4 RGB LCD with an SD card reader. The LCD functions as a clock, displaying the time and the date. Every fifteen minutes it displays the daily poem, which is chosen randomly each day from the SD card. You can also press a red button to display a random poem from the SD card." [...]

DIY Blood Oximeter

"Monitor your blood oxygen level with this ESP32 based Oximeter. This Oximeter costs less than 10$. In 2020, the world faced an invisible monster named Corona Virus. This Virus made people very sick & weak. Many people lost their good ones. There was a big problem initially, the problem was the unavailability of proper medical equipment like the monitors to check the blood oxygen levels, ventilators & disinfectants." [...]

NEOPIXEL Light Show - M5Stack Christmas

"I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, I design and sell really big custom HVAC units, but for a hobby, I really enjoy playing around with microcontrollers. I am not a trained or schooled programmer, my style is a bit rough due to being self taught and picking up bad habits. I tend to take the long way when it comes to programming, so to many, my code may seem blocky and not as nice or efficient as others. I stumbled across the M5stack product and thought the product and presentation was very nice. I ended up purchasing a M5Stack fire and the obsession with the product has just grown. In this project, I make extensive use of their programming environment UIflow that is available both online and as a downloadable standalone program." [...]

Make a Digital Photo Album by ESP32

"This is a photo album that can play pictures in jpg format. Last week I made an electronic photo album that I could place on my work desk to show some photos. I can take a look at relaxing when I'm tired at work. Previously I have implemented the display of pictures in which the format is BMP on LCD. Nowadays most of the pictures we get using mobile phones, or cameras are in JPG format that not work on LCD. In this tutorial, I want to share how to build a digital album that can display pictures in JPG format." [...]

Chess clock using 3208 Led Matrix

"Created a chess clock using arduino uno and Sure Electronics Led Dot Matrix. " [...]

Arduino Weather Station

"This Is An Project To Help View Us The Current Temperature And Humidity In Time. This is a Arduino Weather Station Project. I Decided To Make It Because This Project Can Helps Us All to View The current Temperature And Humidity In Time. In This Project, The Arduino Board Is Programmed In Such a Way That It Sends Commands To The DHT11 Sensor, Then The Sensor Sends The Temperature And Humidity Data To The Microcontroller. Finally The Arduino board Sends Another Set Of Commands To The LCD Display And Then The Display Prints The Current Temperature and humidity On Its Screen. " [...]