Category: Tutorials

Tutorials

Arduino Starter Kit Tutorials

2015-03-31 Dan

This is index of existing and future MarginallyClever Arduino Starter Kit tutorials.

A moment of clarity

  • Arduino
  • Serial 1: Texting from an Arduino to a computer
  • Serial 2: Texting from a computer to an Arduino

Creating a Grammar and Vocabulary

  • Building and Drawing Circuits
  • Breadboards
  • Resistors
  • Capacitors
  • Transistors
  • LED
  • Button
  • Seven Segment Display 1 2
  • 2×16 LCD
  • Passive and Active Speakers
  • 8×8 LED
  • Potentiometer
  • Joystick
  • Stepper Motor
  • Servo
  • Integrated Circuits
  • Shift registers
  • Making PCBs
  • Turing machines, CPU, and Arduino
  • Methods
  • Variables
  • Loops
  • Branches

Forming sentences

  • Speaker 101: How to Blink (or Beep) Morse Code with Arduino
  • Speaker 201: How to make a Piezoelectric speaker play music
  • Decoding Morse Code with an Arduino and a Microphone
  • Little Big Planet Sackboy faces – 8×8 LED, Joystick, Arduino.
  • Maze game – 8×8 LED, Joystick, Arduino
  • Tetris 1 2 3 4 – 8×8 LED, Joystick, Arduino.

From there we can get into lots and lots of other stuff, not in the scope of this kit:

Having a conversation

  • How to make a linear actuator – pi and circle math
  • CNC machines – linear actuators, bresenham’s algorithm, kinematics, algebra
  • 3D printers – CNC machines, thermistors
  • Robot simulation – 2D & 3D graphics with OpenGL
  • CAD/CAM
  • Robot vision

Follow along and comment your questions. I’ll answer them and improve the tutorial based on your ideas.

News Tutorials

Building your own solenoid engine

2015-03-20 Dan

I’m leaving for a week in Mexico starting tomorrow morning, so I don’t have a lot of time to write a blog post today.
Instead, here’s a random Internet Find of the Week: How to build your own solenoid engine.

News Tutorials

Maker Tip: Labels on all your Custom Pieces

2015-02-27 Dan

I’m a big fan of Kaizen, the process of continual refinement. Opportunity is everywhere if you’re looking for it. Sometimes it’s obvious like “hey man, I think you should put a link to X on page Y of your tutorial!” …Ok! Sometimes it’s more subtle, like when a customer on the phone tries to describe a part for which they have no name.

On the good suggestion of Sarah Petkus​ of RobotArmy I’ve started putting part numbers right on all my laser cut pieces. Now I realize it was a hole in my inventory control system. I had a separate inventory number for every item in the store, but the laser cut parts were clumped together as “laser cut parts for kit X”. Now that I have separate part numbers I can… (more…)

Tutorials

Introduction to Joysticks

2015-02-24 Dan

Today, I’m going to show you a little bit more of the joystick with an Arduino and what exactly a deadzone is. Let’s hop right in! A deadzone lets you see into people’s future and tell if they’re going to be the next Hitler or not. Wait, no, hold on. That’s the Stephen King novel. Let me start again.

Programming-wise, a deadzone is a region at the center of the joystick that is not recognized by the device. What’s this mean? On most joysticks, there’s going to be a small area where moving the stick does not result in movement of the device. This deadzone area varies from model to model, but it can usually be adjusted. Let’s play with that today.

A photo posted by Dan Royer (@imakerobots) on

Take a look at the joystick we get to play with. It’s fairly similar to the kind you’ll see on your XBOX or PS3 controller. It’s got an x-axis, a y-axis, and if you push straight down you get a button. You’ll remember that we used this joystick in our tetris game.
(more…)

News Tutorials

Little Big Planet Sackboy faces with the Arduino Starter Kit

2015-02-18 Dan

Today, we’re going to build faces using LEDs and a joystick. Previously, we’ve wired up LEDs and learned how to control individual lights, how to draw pictures, and how to use a joystick. Today, we’re gonna put them all together to make a set of emotions based on the direction we push the joystick. Again, we’ve got the debounce, so the emotion will stay on our screen until we push the stick in a new direction.

(more…)