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The “do not be alarmed” clock #ESP8266 @Stavros

Stavros Korokithakis has long thought that a bedside alarm clock would be perfect, but he couldn’t find one that fulfilled all his requirements:

  • I needed something that had a screen that would always be always lit, so I could check the time with one eye and half a brain awake, in the complete darkness of the bedroom.
  • A screen that wasn’t too bright and wouldn’t disturb sleep, but that would also be legible in direct sunlight, so I could see the time during the day. This meant adaptive brightness.
  • Octagonal shape so I can lay it down on its side (or at 45°) instead of having to crane my neck up to check the time when lying down (I really did think of everything).
  • Weather forecast for the next hour or two, so I can reliably fail to wake up for tennis when not necessary.
  • Annoying beeper for alarms.
  • Less annoying built-in LEDs that would increase in brightness for a few minutes before an alarm went off, so I can wake up less annoyed.

Conceptually, making an alarm clock to fulfill these requirements isn’t hard. You take a small OLED screen, an ESP8266, connect them together, add some LEDs and a buzzer, and you’re done!

The result is a nice bedside clock with OLED display and 3D printed case.

See the blog post here

See this GitHub repo for the code.

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New Guide: Build a NeoPixel Crystal Chandelier with Speed & Brightness Control

DIY crystal chandelier

Take a look at the latest guide from Erin St. Blaine: build a three tiered chandelier with hanging DIY paper-craft crystals that light up with pixels inside. Easily add your own custom animations using CircuitPython and the LED Animations Library. This guide takes animated lights a step further, adding a rotary encoder knob that controls the brightness or the animation speed of the pixels, and also acts as an on/off switch. From the guide:

Floating crystals and glowing lights are a match made in heaven. This project combines a wide variety of skills and tools into one lovely project. Make a gorgeous hanging lamp with sparkly beads, glowing crystals, live edge wood and of course, lots of NeoPixels.

My chandelier is unique, and designed to show my personal style. Since you, dear reader, have your very own unique style, this tutorial will focus on giving you the tools to design and create your own one-of-a-kind bespoke hanging lamp. This tutorial will provide source files and ideas, and give guidance on how the electronics fit together.

This tutorial will also get you started with customizing your own software animations. The sample code uses CircuitPython and the delightfully easy to use LED Animations Library by Kattni Rembor. This code gives you a framework that allows speed and brightness control using a rotary encoder knob, so you can adjust the lighting to suit any environment or mood.

See the full build tutorial here: https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixel-crystal-chandelier-with-circuitpython-animations-and-speed-control/overview

crystal chandelier

We can’t wait to see the creative lamp you build with NeoPixels and Circuit Python!

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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

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

#1

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Moana and Iron Man Props #CircuitPython #Props #3dPrinting @emwdx

Evan Weinberg posts about building two props this year: the Heart of Te Fiti from the Disney movie Moana and  a Tony Stark Arc Reactor.

The Moana prop uses an Adafruit Trinket M0 board programmed in CircuitPython with one green LED and the RGB DotStar LED on the board. And for the Arc Reactor:

Finishing the heart necklace got me thinking about doing something similar for my own costume, but I was running out of time. I decided to go for an Infinity War version and 3D printed this model.

Since I had a Circuit Playground Bluefruit, the (built-in) ring of Neopixels was perfect to use for powering the glowing effect. The Cyan color of red: 0, green: 255, blue: 255 was about right for the blue glow shown in the movie.

The color can be changed with a cell phone over Bluetooth.

GitHub and STL files are in GitHub links in the blog post here.

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COVID-19 Simple Friendly social distance Robot Watchzi #Safety #PPE #PersonalSpace

JbFcwH5rMu blob

I’ve noticed that, in practice, it is very difficult to accurately gauge 6 feet consistently. Somehow 6 feet between friends looks much shorter than with strangers. Great idea and project from draakje156 on Hackster.io:

In this time with COVID-19 you see many people standing far too close to a desk, cash register or otherwise. People are not fully aware of the distance of 1, 5 meters (6 feet), for example.

I came up with the idea to make a friendly battery powered robot that can easily stand on a table desk or otherwise.

This robot measures the distance between it and the approaching person and gives a notification. The robot indicates a programmabletone and its hat lights up red. If you come at a safe distance again, the hat will turn green again.

Learn more!

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Touchless Door Opener #3DPrinting #Safety

Jaume on Hackster.io created this door handle that doesn’t require you to use your hands! They hope to expand the idea and add sensors and automation

Coronavirus spreads through surfaces that are frequently touched like door handles – we need a solution especially for hospitals and public buildings, an automatic door opener can help to decrease the risk to be infected and is also useful for people with special needs an disabilities.

At the moment we have only a mechanical version but we are developing a handle with integrated motor and a proximity sensor to open the door automatically.

Check out the project!

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@SimoneGertz Builds a Robot Proud Parent

Simone builds another charming project on YouTube. Missing a little fatherly affirmation right now (or anytime)? This one is for you. Watch the video and laugh along.

I built myself a proud parent because we could all use some more pats on the shoulder. And in case nobody has told you that they’re proud of you in a while: I’m proud of you. Yeah, you! Here’s a pat on the shoulder. Keep the 25¢, this one’s on me.

See more!

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New Guide: Frozen-Inspired Temperature-Sensing Pendant

Elsa with her Gizmo

The latest tutorial from Erin St. Blaine will teach you how to make a Frozen II inspired pendant for your young maker friend (or for you and your own sweet style) featuring elemental images that change based on the temperature of the air. The TFT Gizmo inside the pendant will display a snowflake when it’s cold, a spinning leaf image when it’s warm, and a lovely purple flame when it’s hot. From the guide:

Discover your inner Snow Queen with this temperature sensing pendant. Invoke the elements of snow, air, and fire using your breath or body heat (or your Ice Queen Superpowers). The pendant will display a snowflake, a spinning leaf, or a lovely purple flame animation depending on the warmth of the air.

Inspired by the elemental spirits in Disney’s Frozen II movie, this pendant will be sure to inspire and excite any Queen Elsa fans, and add an element of magic to your cosplay or halloween costume.

This project uses Adafruit’s TFT Gizmo, a Circuit Playground Bluefruit, and a 3d printed case. There’s no soldering or coding involved — just a few screws to tighten, and a couple files to upload — so it’s a wonderful beginner project if you’re just starting out in the world of electronic cosplay, or if you have a young helper who’s getting interested in making stuff.

Check out the full tutorial on the Adafruit Learning System here: Frozen-Inspired Animated Temperature Sensing Pendant Guide

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Bin Day Indicator Alerts You to Take Out the Rubbish

Bindaycator800

Via Hackaday:

The project consists of a 3D-printed model of a typical council wheelie-bin. Printed in white filament, the bin is translucent enough to glow when lit by powerful WS2812B LEDs. Having four LEDs both helps fill the entire model with an even light, as well as allows the bin to display multiple colors in different segments. This means that if it’s green bin day, the bin glows green. If it’s the day for the red and blue bins, the indicator will light up segments in red and blue.

Learn more!