Multi proyectos 0088

The evolution of sensing and networking technologies allowed a paradigmatic change in the conception of our environment: sensible physical objects, physically interconnected, turn spaces into something smarter and active by interpreting our needs and influencing our behavior. Making spaces talk is a workshop focused on the design of prototypes of interactive environments based on hardware/software systems that perceive, interpret, and react to the real world by providing the user with information or metaphorical, visual, and tangible experiences.

Direct to a Solar Panel – We plugged our 2.0 Watt, 6Volt panel into the Arduino’s 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC Jack via our Generator Circuit Box. On a hazy day and through a screen, it lowered the basic blink application. Of course, this will only work when there is sunlight and your application can work with extended downtime. The circuit box set has two outs so you can send power to another part of your application if needed. The panel is also available from Adafruit.

A 5Volt Battery with a USB Port – There are a number of battery packs out there with an integrated USB port. Our 3,000mAh Battery Pack V11 connects to the Arduino via a USB A/B Cable. The major downside is that there is a one hour shut-off in our battery if the load is drawing less than 50mA. This is great for preserving battery life in the pack but not great if you need to run the Arduino for over an hour. You can restart the battery by pressing the Power Button.

Solar & Battery Hybrid – We were pointed towards these Tenergy Lithium-Ion Cells (3.7V 2600mAh) and this smart battery case (puts two Li-Ion 3.7V cells in series) by office neighbors Breakfast NY. We connected three of our 10Volt panels in Parallel with our Generator circuit box (As an alternative, you could wire two of our 2.0 Watt, 6Volt panels in series to charge this configuration), connected the circuit box to the Arduino’s DC Jack, then connected the second out from the circuit box to the 2 Li-Ion cells. The circuit box has a blocking diode which prevents power from draining from the batteries into the panel. When the sun goes down or is obscured by clouds, the batteries will kick in and provide power to the Arduino. When the sun is up, excess power goes into the batteries for later. Both the batteries and the battery case have built-in protections against overcharge and short circuit which simplifies the amount of supporting circuitry you need to do.

 

The Italian government is making a selection of national innovations to bring to Shanghai’s Expo this year. There have been many entries, among them ours, and now Wired Italy is conducting an online poll to decide which will be the chosen ones to be present at the Expo. Representing Arduino, Massimo submitted an entry in the name of Smartprojects, the company manufacturing Arduino USB and Arduino Mega, as well as a bunch of the official shields. The whole campaign is in Italian, and therefore it is pretty hard for the non-Italian speakers to even get to know this is happening.

I will post the software in subsequent entries, but for now I will just explain that I decided to go with using a mail “pre-processor” application written in PHP. Originally I wanted to do everything on the Arduino so it would be a complete, stand-alone solution, but, alas, it just proved to be too hard for the Arduino’s limited text processing abilities and my small brain. Basically, even with the Duemilanova based on the ATMEGA328, you really can’t load a string array with more than a couple of hundred characters before the Arduino locks up. Unfortunately, you need to look through at least the first 1,500 – 2,000 characters to get the “from” and “subject” info I wanted. I looking into usingPROGMEM, but I just couldn’t get my head around it (looks like all that fancy “pointer” stuff I can never figure out!). Then there’s the Arduiniana Flash library, but it seems limited to strings you load at the beginning, rather than dynamic strings.

Finally, I just decided to go with a pre-processor written in PHP. I already know enough PHP to be functional and it is excellent for text processing. When I went to figure out how to do sockets programming with PHP, the first tutorial I found was on writing a script to access a POP3 email server (check it out)! Using a pre-processor isn’t cheating too much. Tom Igoe uses one in Making Things Talk for his “Networked Air Quality Meter” project. Of course, on a much vaster scale, that is essentially how the RIM Blackberry email system works – emails are routed through their preprocessor software which compresses and reroutes them them down to the smartphone.

I call it Intervaluino, and it does exactly what I want him to do: Tell my Canon EOS 400D to take pictures at regular intervals. Wanna build one yourself? Please follow me.

1 Arduino (I used the Diecimila model) -

3x 100 ohm resistors

1x 10k ohm resistor

2 x 5V reed relays (NO = normally open)

1 x push button of your choosing

1 x 2.5mm male stereo jack

1 x 80 x 50 mm strip board
(alternatively: bread board or Arduino protoshield)

Assorted wires

Arduino USB cable

Arduino AC adapter OR Arduino 9V battery pack

Basic electronic tools to cut and de-isolate wires and to solder components (if you use a strip board), maybe a multimeter to test connections

A nice box

20 cm of thin steel cable (used as a loop to attach the Intervaluino to the tripod)