Arduino

Arduino are single-board microcontrollers that are easily programmable through a USB connection. They are used with electronics to design embedded system prototypes, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), and electronic gadgets.  Much like other microcontrollers, Arduino provides software-backed computing and embedded control to basic electronics applications. That means getting started with Arduino is no different than with other…

The previous tutorial included a discussion about the tools and components necessary to get started with Arduino. However, before starting with Arduino UNO (or any other Arduino board) — and experimenting with hardware projects on various sensors, actuators, and modules — it’s important to get through the basics of Arduino sketches and the embedded C…

In the previous tutorial, we discussed the basics about Arduino sketches, with a a quick Arduino language reference. Now, it’s time to get our hands dirty. Interfacing LED and driving digital output from a source is the “Hello World” of embedded systems.  As discussed in the previous tutorial, a microcontroller interfaces and interacts with other…

Biometric devices are the backbone of modern security and access systems. The most commonly used biometric device is a fingerprint scanner. Fingerprints are unique identifiers that cannot be easily faked. Optical fingerprint sensors are widely used in security systems as these are low-cost compared to capacitive and ultrasonic scanners. Optical fingerprint sensors digitize fingerprints by…

An oximeter is a device that measures the amount of oxygen carried by a person’s red blood cells. Oxygen provides energy for our bodies, supports the immune system, helps replace cells that degrade, and more. Low blood oxygen levels can indicate certain health issues. These levels can also decrease as we age, so it can…

Have you ever struggled to fix nails on a wall perfectly parallel to the floor or ceiling? In this project, we have modeled an electronic-level device useful in placing anything perfectly parallel. This device is prototyped on the popular microcontroller board – the Arduino. It uses very few components to build, only an accelerometer sensor…

TFT LCDs are the most popular color displays – the displays in smartphones, tablets, and laptops are actually the TFT LCDs only. There are TFT LCD shields available for Arduino in a variety of sizes like 1.44″, 1.8″, 2.0″, 2.4″, and 2.8″. Arduino is quite a humble machine whenever it comes to process or control…

The measurement of pulse rate or heartbeat is a very common medical procedure. Quite often, the patient kept under observation is essentially monitored via their pulse/heartbeat rate. Pulse rate varies from person to person. The pulse is lower when we are resting because at that time, the body does not need much oxygen, and the…

A very common feature in Android and iOS fitness apps is calculating the number of steps the user walks and the distance he covers. These apps calculate the number of steps walked by the user either using GPS location and manipulating the geospatial data or by monitoring the acceleration vector of the device using an…

A majority of middle-aged people suffer from health issues like asthma and breathing problems, particularly in cities. Air pollution is the major cause of it. In this project, we have designed a portable device that detects different air pollution metrics and displays them on a small OLED screen. People with respiratory issues can use the…

SSD1306 is a popular OLED display driver. Portable and wearable devices are the new trends. Small OLED displays are just perfect for such compact and portable devices. SSD1306 is a single-chip CMOS OLED/PLED driver. It can manage a 128×64 dot-matrix graphic display.  It is designed to control common-cathode OLED panels. The chip has several built-in…

Electromyography (EMG) is a medical procedure that evaluates the health conditions of muscles and nerve cells. These cells transmit electrical signals that cause muscles to contract or relax. EMG is used to read these signals and plot them as numbers or graphs. Typically, EMG is performed by doctors as one part of a diagnostic tool…

The Arduino L293D motor driver shield guide is a robobtics project that involves driving various types of motors. The most common types used for robotic applications include DC, servo, and stepper motors. However, these motors typically cannot be driven directly by Arduino or another microcontroller. This is because of their higher current and power ratings,…

Much like the name suggests, DC motor controllers control the speed and direction of a DC motor. To change the direction of the motor, however, the supply it receives must be reversed. And, to vary the DC motor speed, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal or wave must be applied to it.  As the pulse width…

In the previous article of this series, we learned how to change colors in RGB LED strip using any IR remote means generating different colors in RGB LED strip with your fingertips from a remote place using any IR remote. So indeed, it was a very nice application. This time again, we are moving one…

In this tutorial, I am going to measure DC current using Acs712 Hall Effect-Based Linear Current Sensor and arduino uno. Acs712 can measure current precisely and accurately if properly managed. I have gone through various blogs on internet about interfacing acs712 current sensor with arduino and other microcontrollers. I found that all of them are…

In this tutorial, we will learn how to hack a TV (television) remote using Arduino. TV remote communicates with TV using infrared rays. Encoded commands and transmitted by remote, TV internal circuitry decodes them and performs an action on received commands. On the front of the remote, we have an IR led which emits IR…

This is a very nice and interesting robotic project. As the name suggests, “object follower robot” – the robot is meant for following an object. You might have heard of… A smart luggage trolley at railway station/bus station/Airport that automatically moves on battery and motor and it follows the owner A smart cart at any…

The idea of noninvasive current measurement is not new. Commercial devices are available which can measure current without any physical contact. However, the topic was not popular among the DIY community because of the complexity and nonexistence of the compact non-invasive sensors, which could be studied at low power. Luckily, we have small and reliable…

You must have noticed token display boards at many places like food stores, hospitals, banks, various takeaways, etc. Token display systems are used to display token numbers. As these display boards show numeric information, these are easily designed using 7-segment LEDs. The commercial models use large 7-segment LEDs to display token numbers. It is even…