Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: QT Py RP2040, Vivien’s Seismometer, Lemon Mechanical Keypad and More!

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP


We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.


BLOG

Testing out QT Py RP2040 with Xiao Extension Board

This Expansion board is designed for the Seeed Xiao, and since the QT Py is pin compatible we thought we’d try it out with the RP2040 QT Py we just released to see how it works with CircuitPython. The RP2040 has toooons more flash and RAM than the SAMD21 so it’s a great little add-on! There’s a 128×64 OLED, button, piezo beeper, battery charger and booster, SD card and RTC.

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:


LEARN

Lemon Mechanical Keypad

Make a custom USB-HID keypad in the shape of a citrus fruit. This keypad features six mechanical switches for controlling media players like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc. Powered by the Adafruit QT Py RP2040 and CircuitPython.

Inside the case is a NeoPixel Jewel that slowly fades in and out making the keypad illuminate. The QT Py and NeoPixel are housed in a 3D printed case with parts that snap fit together.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

Adafruit’s Top Ten Tweets of 2020 #AdafruitTopTen

Preview lightbox adafruit top 10 2020 blog

Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting Adafruit’s Top 10 lists covering social media posts and much more! Be sure to check back every weekday! Check out Adafruit’s top 10 tweets of 2020 below!


#10


#9


#8


#7


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#5


#4


#3


#2


#1

Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up October 18 – 24: #ElectronicHalloween, Metro ESP32-S2, E-Ink + WiFi Display & More!

10/25/20 at 15

NewImage 43 1 1 1


ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP


We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.


BLOG

Opinion 5 Ways Your Ballot Might Be Rejected The New York Times

How Could Your Ballot be Rejected?

This interactive article includes tips to pay attention to when you vote so your ballot doesn’t get tossed out

Check out the full post here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:


Learn

Matrix Portal Scoreboard

Are your backyard games of cornhole or horseshoes getting pretty serious? It may be time to build a professional-looking scoreboard!

Use the Matrix Portal and LED matrix display along with Adafruit IO to score a friendly competition between two players or teams! You can use your smart phone’s web browser to adjust the scores in real-time. All coded in CircuitPython.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

Make a Smart Ping Pong LED Lamp

Great followup build from bitluni on YouTube:

This LED lamp is a quick project that can be done within a day. Only a few cheap components are needed to create a nice looking ambient lamp. No programming is needed, only the WLED firmware is uploaded to a micro controller via a simple tool.

See more

Solar Powered Weather Station with Adafruit IO #IoT #Weather #Solar @adafruit @adafruitio

Mark Komus built a solar-powered weather station that reports its recorded data to Adafruit IO, our easy-to-use IoT platform for everyone. A BME280 sensor monitors temperature, pressure and humidity. Sparkfun’s weather gauges are mounted at the top of the metal pole.

Live weather data is displayed on an Adafruit IO dashboard (public and view-able at this link). This project was also shown-off and discussed in more detail on our weekly Show and Tell this past Wednesday.

Read more >>>

Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: February 2nd – 8th, #BlackHistoryMonth & Get a CLUE at PyCon US

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP


We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.


BLOG

Adafruit BHM2020 blog

#BlackHistoryMonth 2020

Every weekday in February you can check out the blog for stories and figures that honor Black History Month. We are excited to share some of our favorite African American makers, scientists, artists, hackers and more!

Check out our posts here!

More BLOG:

Keeping with tradition, we covered quite a bit this past week. Here’s a kinda short nearing medium length list of highlights:


Learn

PyPortal Pet Planter with Adafruit IO

Treat your plant like a pet! Build a smart planter with Adafruit PyPortal and CircuitPython. Monitor your plants vitals with Adafruit STEMMA Soil Sensor and plot moisture and temperature data. Use Adafruit IO to create a visual dashboard with gauges of your plants water levels.

See the full guide here!

More LEARN:

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

Kinetic Courier – IOT Notifier #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi

Bonnet with gpio pins annotate v2 nOPUF5o3he

Thanks to Bob for sending in this tip! Bob writes:

Something happened? Ring a bell, wave a flag, light somelights! A physical notification platform for IOT events.

Read more on Hackster.io:


3055 06Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!

3D Printed Sensors Could Be The Key to a Seamless Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been heralded as one of the next big steps in our technological development. The vision is somewhat utopian: the system collects information, relaying it swiftly throughout a hyperconnected network and uses that data to discover insights and take action in order to improve our daily lives. It could save energy by making devices more efficient, optimize areas like infrastructure and traffic, help with waste management and personal health, and do so much more.

The capabilities of the IoT are a result of many factors, but one fundamental aspect to consider is the sensing tech that will be used to collect data throughout IoT systems. Not only must we consider the strength and power of these sensors, but we must also consider how we are going to create such a massive amount of the devices in order to adequately track the large waves of data created out in the world.

This is where 3D printing technology and the use of nanomaterials come into play. When utilized together, they can help create the seamless and powerful IoT that we envision.

The strengths of 3D printing

3D printing is a rapidly evolving technology that has the potential to provide a great deal of value within scientific, industrial, and even everyday settings. One could viably see the technology utilized to create and mass-produce the bulk of IoT sensors. At the very least, the additive manufacturing process can help in designing optimal enclosures for the electronic components of sensors. Because of this process, it’s easy to modify or add new features to the enclosure without having to start from scratch. This flexibility would certainly benefit in the creation of sensors as they develop and change form or function.

But exciting developments in 3D printing electronic components are what will truly unlock the mass-production of strong and capable IoT sensors. The use of conductive ink — an ink for 3D printing infused with conductive materials such as copper, silver, and gold — can enable us not only to conveniently print electronics, but to also remove the constraints of the traditional 2D circuit board. By creating three-dimensional circuit boards that can take on a number of different shapes or sizes, we will be able to build a more versatile array of devices. And importantly, this can consolidate and speed up the creation of IoT sensors.

Bringing nanomaterials into play

Aside from developments in 3D printing sensors like conductive ink, we can also turn to nanomaterials, which are often cited for their high-functioning capabilities. In particular, graphene is considered an ideal material for sensors: it’s durable, flexible, highly conductive, and can detect changes in the environment through factors such as temperature, light, pressure, and can even sense chemical changes. A massive amount of research has gone into unlocking the capabilities of graphene, and its use in sensors can help provide the IoT with accurate information and greater resilience.

This means that it can address both the external and internal needs of IoT sensors (i.e. the creation of a strong and resilient enclosure and of highly capable electronic parts). And seeing as how 3D printing could be instrumental for enabling the creation of sensors on a far greater scale, it stands to reason that pairing this process with graphene would be an immense boost to the capabilities of an IoT system.

IoT sensors, in order to provide accurate measurements on the environment around them, must be strong enough to withstand harsh conditions such as rain and snow, or some industrial cases, be strong enough to withstand extreme heat or even salt erosion from marine-based applications. For more traditional metals and materials, the elements could quickly wear at the tech, which could result in inaccurate data that would disrupt the IoT system. It would also be highly inefficient to constantly replace sensors, making durable nanomaterials as the ideal base for creating sensors.

Fighting headwinds and promising developments

But the other hurdle to overcome revolves around the sheer number of sensors that we’ll need to run IoT systems. Market researchers estimate that there are already more than 20 billion connected devices in today’s world, and that number will only continue to grow as we become more technologically advanced and seek to bring about a true IoT. The sheer number of devices translates to an equally massive amount of sensors, and making advanced, nanomaterial-based sensing tech for widespread use is a monumentally challenging endeavor, especially as mass-producing nanomaterials like graphene have proven difficult in the past. In addition, the cost of implementing so many sensors may give many pause over pursuing such a cause, even if the nanomaterial-based sensors are so capable.

The “wonder material” graphene, which has historically been troublesome to produce, has recently seen potential breakthroughs that will allow scientists to create higher quantities, which in the case of 3D printing IoT sensors means that printers could very well have plenty of material to work with.

SEM images of Graphene Oxide ink

Scientists have also recently experimented with 3D printing objects with graphene, which could prove to be the final key in unlocking nanomaterial-based sensors for the IoT. Researchers in China have discovered a way to utilize the virtually 2D material to create 3D objects by using a graphene oxide ink, and have successful used the nanomaterial to create tiny supercapacitors.

Graphene-based cilia inspired sensors.

It’s not far-fetched to say that if graphene ink can be used to 3D print batteries, sensor tech can’t be too far behind. For instance, graphene has been used to 3D print biologically-inspired cilia sensors that imitate how creatures in nature sense their surroundings. Paired with other developments in printing sensor tech, such as integration with wearables, the scientific world has taken a massive step toward making the process of mass-producing nanomaterial-based sensors faster and more affordable.

The development of sensing tech and the need to overcome the various obstacles in their creation and implementation are issues that seem to fly under the radar when discussing the amazing possibilities presented by the Internet of Things. But in spite of these challenges, the IoT is purported to hit the mainstream by 2020. And when looking at the trajectory of 3D printing and nanotechnology for sensor use, it’s clear that we are well on our way to achieving a seamless sensor-based IoT.

Don Basile is a Venture Capitalist and writer and you can find him here.

The post 3D Printed Sensors Could Be The Key to a Seamless Internet of Things appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Make your own Jurassic Park goggles using a Raspberry Pi #MakeSomething #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi #3DPrinting #IoT

Charming video showing every step of the build. She does a great job showing all the fails and less glamorous maker moments.

From Raspberry Pi:

When we invited Estefannie Explains It All to present at Coolest Projects International, she decided to make something cool with a Raspberry Pi to bring along. But being Estefannie, she didn’t just make something a little bit cool. She went ahead and made Raspberry Pi Zero-powered Jurassic Park goggles, or, as she calls them, the world’s first globally triggered, mass broadcasting, photon-emitting and -collecting head unit.

Read more! Video from Estefannie Explains it All on YouTube:


3055 06Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!

Single & Multimode Silica Optical Fibers Drawn from 3D Printed Preforms

In the recently published, ‘Silica optical fiber drawn from 3D printed preforms,’ the authors created single and multimode fibers that can be used to create designs and parts for a range of networks, likely related to telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Silica optical fibers are ‘the holy grail of 3D printing optical fiber,’ according to the authors, due to a ubiquitous nature and levels of low loss; in fact, the researchers state that there is not another alternative able to compete. For this study, the researchers investigate the process of creating a silica preform through both 3D printing and thermal processing—no small feat, considering it requires temperatures over T = 1900 ℃. To avoid this issue, the researchers tried using a lower melting polymer—a hybrid polymer-glass mix—via DLP printing. Steps involved in this process include:

  • Photocurable resin preparation
  • 3D printing of preforms
  • Core fabrication
  • Thermal debinding
  • Final fiber drawing

Fabrication of the step-index silica optical fiber using 3D printing.

The researchers polymerized the mixed resin with the DLP printer and went on to fabricate arbitrary structures. They designed the preform with Inventor CAD, and then it was 3D printed, cured with UV light. After debinding, the researchers placed the preform into a quartz tube for support, with a lower drawing temperature to eliminate water, air, and residual polymers.

“As the temperature gradually increased, the polymer is ablated leaving behind the silica nanoparticles, which come closer together leading to preform shrinkage,” state the researchers. “Sintering at higher temperatures fuses them together.”

Refractive index difference profile

The quality of the fiber was examined with an optical microscope, demonstrating the cross-section of both 3D printed single and multi-mode.

a) experimental configuration of loss measurement b) loss spectrum of the 3D printed multimode.

Fibers, with both minimum and maximum eclipse diameters, showed more elevated uniform tension. With ‘increased loss’ the potential for interfacial scattering is suggested, with ‘significant contribution’ from water—meaning that the bubbles may be holding trapped water. The researchers theorize that this could be resolved with the use of:

  • Higher purity, drier starting chemicals
  • Sintering and debinding
  • Removal of the outer silica tube

“In conclusion, whilst there remains considerable scope to improve the transmission properties of this fiber, the first single mode and multimode silica optical fibers have been drawn from a 3D printed preform. The relative ease in which this was achieved suggests additive manufacturing will disrupt optical fiber fabrication,” concluded the researchers.

“Unlike conventional labor-intensive, lathe-based methods, the design and fabrication are not limited by a centrally spun or finely stacked preform, enabling configurations such as improved multicore and complex optical fibers, such as optimized Fresnel fibers, to be made. More broadly, painstakingly difficult complex patterns, multicore and multi-size and shaped fibers can be made that are not otherwise possible. This work, building off the original polymer versions, marks a new and exciting time for fiber fabrication and application.

3D printing is a technology very centered around materials usage, from silicate bone scaffolds to printing with silicone and epoxies, composites, and more. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: ‘Silica optical fibre drawn from 3D printed preforms’]

 

The post Single & Multimode Silica Optical Fibers Drawn from 3D Printed Preforms appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.