Here is an easy project using a Echo Dot (Alexa) to control my ESP8266. I give it simple commands (Alexa, lights, off) and the command shows on the LCD screen attached to the ESP8266. Actual relays will be the next step to attach.
The project is based on the Adafruit tutorial at https://learn.adafruit.com/easy-alexa-or-echo-control-of-your-esp8266-huzzah/overview
with LCD and other modifications made by me. My code is found at https://pastebin.com/NjMcsTRh
PC gaming was only lacking one thing in my eyes… analogue movement. There are a few projects which tackle this, but they are a little incomplete, or require an Arduino micro to be seen as a game controller. My take on this uses an Arduino Uno, and should basically be good to go straight away!
What secrets are hidden inside the Japanese and European ROMs for Dragon’s Lair (NES)? Let’s take a look inside!
An update to Steam released earlier this week has, tucked away in its changelog, a very cool piece of news: if you’re playing a game that supports Remote Play Together, you can now invite anyone to play with you, even if they don’t have a Steam account.
This won’t work for all Steam games, only those that support Remote Play Together. But if the game you’re playing does—and there are a lot of them, from Overcooked to Enter The Gungeon to Spelunky to the LEGO games—then only one person has to own the game on Steam. Everyone else they invite only has to click on their invite and they can get playing.
The first version of my Light Up Clock for Kids I published a few years ago. At the time my wife and I were going crazy with our young kids (between 2 and 4 years old) who could not understand how to “wait for the 7” on the clock before coming in and waking us up early in the morning! Now the youngest (the 4th and hopefully the last) is 3 years old and this clock has been life-saving the last few years! Enhanced over time, it has provided a HUGE solution to our “child-waking-us-up-at-insane-hours-of-the-morning” problem!!!
The game is displayed using a laser which is directed using mirrors. You can find kits on eBay (search for laser galvo).
After 27 years TonyHax has been released – a softmod backup loader for the Sony PlayStation 1. This is a backup loader that leverages a save game exploit present on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and 3 (more games are now available). In this episode , we take a closer look at the exploit and how it works.
A low-cost home robot that can do tasks around the house.
I have been developing an autonomous home-assistant robot. This robot was entirely designed, created, and built from scratch with no use of a kit or directions. In the process of creating this, I taught myself how to use ROS, Python, C, HTML, CSS, OpenCV, and other complex systems/languages.
The robot is able to travel around the house independently using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) with Robot Operating System (ROS) for navigation. It knows where to go based on pre-set waypoints. This machine is a prototype of a low-cost robotic assistant for the average person to use in their home. It combines facial recognition, navigation, and a web-control page, as well as other easy-control options such as gesture-control, Wii remote, and even hand-guided. The robot uses many Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control systems which allows the robot to self-balance, making it more user-friendly, lighter weight, and maneuverable.
New features and bug fixes for the podcasting and musician-friendly open-source software.
Given that it’s been around for more than 20 years, it seems remarkable that Audacity – the acclaimed free and open-source audio editor that’s beloved by musicians, podcasters and anyone else who wants to edit audio on a computer – has only just reached version 3.
Low-cost 3D-scanning system offers sub-30-micron accuracy on a cheap Raspberry Pi Camera Module v2.1, or 10-micron on the HQ Camera.
Thomas Megel is aiming to bring down the cost and complexity of accurate 3D scanning — and to prove it, he’s scanned a Raspberry Pi single-board computer using another Raspberry Pi single-board computer.
