These little modules can be programmed to play mp3 sound bytes stored in their internal memory (8mb max).
Digi Spark / CJMCU Microcontroller
How to program a CJMCU with the Arduino IDE.
Thermal Camera for Arduino Boards
We have a couple of Thermal Cameras that can add heat imaging capabilities to Arduino projects. They have a low resolution 32×24 pixels, however the heat data image is still very useful if you need to track an object and measure its temp.
ESP32-CAM QR Code Scanner
This project combines two separate projects to get a system that acts as a WiFi Access point and web server to display QR codes scanned with an attached camera module.
Indesign Helpful Hints
Here are some useful hints we have used with our own projects:
Overview of 3D printing processes
A collection of 3D printing process explanation videos
Air-Switch Laser Cutting project
I had to make a box to hold a switch we were installing on to the laser cutter that would turn the compressed air on and off. So it seemed a good idea to document the process which was really quick and easy.
Hand drawing to laser cutting with Inkscape
A quick overview of the workflow to get a hand-drawn part laser cut using Inkscape.
Spatial computing lab – Conference use
In the 2020 Christmas break, the design lab was set up into its film studio configuration to help the universities events team to host the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference online.
Creating custom monochrome graphics for micro-controller screens
Arduino code Converting images into byte arrays for mono-colour screens with microcontrollers. Best suited for static splash screens or basic animation on small screen sizes when using the Adafruit_GFX library with Arduino.
Illustrator scripts
A repo for custom Illustrator scripts
3d Models to prototypes with the Pepakura App
The old art of paper folding comes to the computerised rapid prototyping paradigm with Pepakura Designer. Also if you are creating geometric structure that wont fit in the 3dprinter build space or a complex box that is not the simple ones available at boxes.py then consider exporting your 3d design to Pepakura so it can make you a laser cutting file. Pepakura Designer supports the export in several file formats, including BMP, PNG, GIF, JPG, EPS, DXF, and PDF.
Smaller wearable masks for safer bike travel
Electric tooth brush holder
This project was to create a nice way of holding toothbrush heads for my electric toothbrush.
Kinetic Light Art
I got to extend my skills by building some flyByWire artworks for an Art Festival in Queenstown.
first test flight in basement studio
To create my first Kinetic Art work I had to get used to using the Fablab’s CnC Machine and our Water Jet Cutter. Motor selection and power constraints featured highly as each art work would be at least 8meters up in the trees.
Rear computer Light Display Project
This project was started to address the unattractive back of the PC in the tech office that is one of the first sights to greet guests to the Design Facility.
As well as making the space look better we could display students processing projects that are suitable for low resolution displays. Read More
E-Bike Lighting system WIP
Work in progress!
This is a long term project of mine for my E-Bike a lighting system with headlight, taillight, indicators, alert system/horn/bell, and a control switch pad.
Read More
Miro test embed
Electronics Basics
This brief tutorial gives some tips for working with electronic circuits and covers some common issues beginners can have.
Solar powered WiFi weather station with Google sheets upload
This project uses spare solar panels and an ESP-01 DHT11 module to gather weather data and upload it to a google spreadsheet.
Creating professional pinout diagrams
This is a great tutorial from Adafruit showing how to create professional pinout/wiring diagrams with free vector software Inkscape. It could also be transferred over to Illustrator.
Brilliant Smart WiFi plug
These smart plugs are a readily available, low-cost, and non-invasive home automation solution. Some models also have power monitoring.
D1 R32 – ESP32
An Esp32 micro-controller in an Arduino Uno footprint.
Estimating battery life of electronic designs
How to estimate the life of a battery-powered circuit design.
IoT in the Design Space
The Design spaces have a special WiFi network set up just for IoT (Internet of things) devices.
2.4″ TFT Touchscreen UNO module
AI & Machine learning
Links and reading for Ai development
Raspberry Pi & Touchscreens
Testing Raspberry Pi with touchscreens.
DIY Arduino Robot Arm with Smartphone Control
Hey peeps, Steve here 😀
Here’s a side project I’m working on in the Design FabLab to learn how to use mechanical electronics, Arduino microcontrollers and coding.
A pretty big endeavour for me as I don’t have much background in this stuff but thankfully I’ve found a great tutorial that I will be following along with to start with, then deviating and customising parts and coding later when I fully understand the workings of the default example.
Here’s a link to the website and tutorial – https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/diy-arduino-robot-arm-with-smartphone-control/
Below is a photo of the assembled 3D printed parts with the servo motors installed.
At this point the arm doesn’t do anything and won’t support it’s own weight but I will be working on the electronics soon enough and powering it up!
If you want to see more or get involved, maybe build one too, come and have a chat 🙂
ESP32 Links
Awesome and handy project links available on the web.
Circuit Mockups: TinkerCAD, Fritzing and Circuito
Overview
Designers need to communicate their designs to others. They need to be able to document their work so they can refer to it later or to allow others to build their designs. Regarding the design of circuits there is two great places to start to showcase your circuit design. If one solution does not completely fulfill al lot your circuit design it can be useful to use several to answer connection questions.
Building a tilt control bluetooth car with processing and arduino
Remote Control Car
Overview:
This project makes use of an Arduino, a car chassis, a bluetooth module, and an android phone to make a Remote Control Car that is controlled by tilting the phone like a steering wheel. This post is a high level overview of the project and requires a solid understanding of coding.
Router base insert replacement
This part was a replacement and particularly tricky as it had some tight tolerances. It was made with CAD design, Laser cutting and CNC milling.
Handy Arduino boards & libraries
Engraving onto metals with a CO2 laser
STM32 (“Blue Pill”) Arduino programming
This will show you the way to program an STM32F1xx series microcontroller with the Arduino IDE (integrated development environment).
RFID and Arduino
This is a basic access control project to read and use the unique IDs of RFID cards including the University of Auckland ID cards.
It uses an RFIDRC522 module that can read 13.56MHz cards and the code is based on the RC522 Arduino library found HERE. It can also write data to the sectors of blank types of these cards for offline data storage or counting, but for this project, we will just be reading the ID numbers of the cards.
Complex 3D objects to 2D profiles
After a lot of researching here is a free way to create a 2D cut profile from a 3d surface.
Tinkercad: Embedding circuits on your blogs
Fusion 360: Rendering a turntable gif
Fusion 360 embedded test
How to embed Fusion 360 files into blog posts.
Interfacing Arduino and sensors with Unity
Overview
For this project, we attempted to interface hardware sensors with Unity to manipulate virtual objects and give feedback to hardware.
Goals for this project; To use a sensor to control the camera position in a basic Unity 3D scene, and to turn on and off a LED, based on keyboard inputs.
This is based off a YouTube tutorial by inScope Studios.
Files used are available at the end of this post.
Arduino Radar scanner
This uses Arduino and hardware to feed data into Processing for the graphical user interface.
Hello World!
It’s alive!
Welcome to the Design tech blog. This is the virtual home of the design technicians and where we will be posting articles, links and general information related to design technology. Please check back on a regular basis and feel free to contact the design techs with all of your tech related questions.
Nga mihi