Arduino in a Nutshell

The Arduino is a family of microcontroller boards to simplify electronic design, prototyping and experimenting for artists, hackers, hobbyists, but also many professionals.   This little booklet, written by Prof. Jan Borchers, introduces you to using an Arduino. It comes with shopping tips and a SparkFun online wish list to get the parts you’ll need.   Book size is 8 x 6 inches. Print at original size (100% scale!) onto larger paper and cut to size outside the cropmarks on the cover. The size is also perfect for reading on an iPad.   The latest version is 1.13, from Jun…

Keep Calm and Love Robots!

Arduino Tutorial

Introduction So, I get two or three emails a day, all basically asking the same thing: “Where can I learn about electronics?” In general, most of these people have seen some of my projects and want to be able to build similar things. Unfortunately, I have never been able to point them to a good site that really takes the reader through a solid introduction to microcontrollers and basic electronics.   Lesson Plan Follow these lessons for happiness and prosperity. Lesson 0: Pre-flight check…Is your Arduino and computer ready? Click Here Lesson 1: The “Hello World!” of electronics, a simple…

Learn all about WEARABLES

In the class, you will learn how to build wearable electronics and program interactions using the Arduino software.   Perhaps you know how to sew but have always wanted to learn more about electronics. Or, you have used a microcontroller before but want to know what conductive fabric is all about. In this class, we will cover the hardware, software and the sewing that it takes to start you off and running towards building interactive and well-crafted projects.   You will learn techniques and apply new concepts by building a sewn circuit pin, two kinds of soft switches, a flex…

Learn all about Laser Cutting

Enroll to get: 8 lessons accessible anytime, anywhere Learn by doing with hours of project focused instruction Complete material lists and downloadable project resources One-on-One help with your questions   The Laser Cutter is every maker’s dream tool. Whether you want to etch detailed graphics, cut intricate patterns, or fabricate complex 3D objects, this tool will make your life much easier. In this class, you’ll get started with a box-making web app, then learn the basics of custom cutting and pattern etching with 2D graphics. You’ll also learn how to make CAD designs into 3D objects in Fusion 360– an…

Learn all about 3D PRINTING

Enroll to get: 17 lessons accessible anytime, anywhere Learn by doing with hours of project focused instruction Complete material lists and downloadable project resources One-on-One help with your questions   Welcome to the world of 3D printing! In this class, you will learn everything you need to know to design and 3D print your own creations. It’s really three-classes-in-one. We’ll learn Fusion 360, an awesome (free) 3D modeling program that will let you design just about anything. We’ll learn the ins-and-outs of desktop 3D-printing, and we’ll learn how to sketch by hand so we can generate solid ideas. With this…

Manuals and Curriculum

Manuals and curriculum provide cohesive coverage of Arduino in general, or of specific applications of Arduino in particular. In either case, these are single sources that cover a variety of related topics. These could be used by individuals, teachers, and classes as stand-alone introductions to Arduino.   Free: Arduino Comic – created by Jody Culkin (2011): A very simple introduction to Arduino that will help you out during your first days. It is a Creative Commons document, please check out if there is a translation to your language and if not, feel free to make one and push it back….

It’s time we let our kids ‘tinker’

One million children will be cultivated as neoteric innovators — this is the vision of the Atal Innovative Mission. In fact, the Niti Aayog is in the process of establishing 500 Atal Tinkering Laboratories in schools across India towards realising this vision. The objective is to foster in young minds curiosity, creativity and imagination and to inculcate skills like “design mindset”, computational thinking, adaptive learning and so on. The workspaces generated by the new laboratories, along with appropriate tools and equipment, will provide hands-on, DIY (do-it-yourself) experiences. The focus, as expected, will be STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), which is…

Robots Will Steal Your Job, but That’s OK: Federico Pistono at TEDxVienna

Federico Pistono is an author, social entrepreneur, scientific educator, activist, blogger, and aspiring filmmaker. He is author of the book Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That’s OK: How to Survive the Economic Collapse and be Happy, which explores the impact that technological advances have on our lives, what it means to be happy, and provides suggestions on how to avoid a systemic collapse. He is Co-Founder of WiFli, a benefit corporation that seeks to provide universal access to information and knowledge via the Internet, for every person on the planet, focusing on the disenfranchised in emerging economies. He has…

How artificial intelligence will make technology disappear | Rand Hindi | TEDxÉcolePolytechnique

When is the last time you had dinner with someone without checking Facebook or Instagram on your phone? With smartphones and connected objects invading our everyday lives, it is getting harder and harder to connect with people nowadays. Rand Hindi astounds us by proposing a solution to this problem that might just change our lives.  

The Next Great Era: Envisioning A Robot Society: Robin Hanson at TEDxTallinn

Robin Hanson is a Professor of Economics at the George Mason University in the US and a researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. He is an expert on prediction markets and the social implications of future technologies, e.g. artificial intelligence and nano-technology and their influence on the economy and society. Politically he supports futarchy — a society where policy decisions are made based on open prediction markets.   Robin has a diverse background: he has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in physics but a PhD in social sciences. Robin has researched the artificial intelligence and Bayesian…

The Humanoids are Coming!: Kankana Shukla at TEDxLouisianaTechUniversity

Kankana Shukla is best known for her work with the humanoid robots. She believes that robots will play an integral role in places ranging from households to industries and from hospitals to rehabilitation centers in the near future.  

Robots, Emotions & Empathy | Angelica Lim | TEDxKL

How do we co-exist with robots? What will robots with empathy be like? A computer science graduate from Simon Fraser University, Canada, Angelica completed her doctorate in Kyoto University, where she built a new breed of robot emotion system, based on the knowledge of human infant development.   She was the first employee at Aldebaran Japan working on the new humanoid robot, Pepper. Also part of the Okuno Speech Media Processing Lab in Kyoto University, she has won awards for her work, including signal processing and entertainment robotics, and aims to develop human-inspired models of emotions and intelligence in robots….

On Designing User-Friendly Robots: Angelica Lim at TEDxKyoto 2012

Robots move a step closer towards the human world as Roboticist Angelica Lim demonstrates the empathetic and emotional potential of our electronic partners.  

The next frontier in robotics: social, collaborative robots | Andrea Thomaz | TEDxPeachtree

Roboticist Andrea Thomaz gives us an under-the-hood peak at what is coming in the field of Robotics where robots will eventually be able to function and collaborate with humans as naturally as humans do with each other in social situations.   Andrea Thomaz knows robots. Her work developing robots that don’t need programming to perform every task and that can collaborate side by side with humans as assistants, domestic help, etc. has been recognized by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. Her work with social robots “Simon” and “Curi” has been featured in the New York…

The power of robots with a face | Tony Belpaeme | TEDxPlymouthUniversity

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Professor Tony Belpaeme – In his talk Professor Belpaeme describes the awesome power of how humans can project personality onto inanimate objects. Tony shows us how by harnessing this aspect of human nature we may be able to do incredible things with the robots of the future.   Professor Tony Belpaeme – Tony Belpaeme is Professor of Cognitive Systems and Robotics at Plymouth University. His research include social systems, cognitive robotics, and artificial intelligence in general.   About TEDx, x = independently organized event In…

Why Every Kid Should Build A Robot | Mark McCombs | TEDxJacksonville

All 21st-century students deserve a role in engineering the future. McCombs will give a first-person account of what happens when children are given an opportunity to see what they are capable of in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). He believes that hands-on, mentor-driven robotics education contributes to a sense of self-efficacy, which may be the one of the greatest advances we can see this generation make.   Over the past twelve years, Mark McCombs has been a part of FIRST Robotics as a student on a high school team, as a college mentor, a head coach,…

A robot that runs and swims like a salamander | Auke Ijspeert

Roboticist Auke Ijspeert designs biorobots, machines modeled after real animals that are capable of handling complex terrain and would appear at home in the pages of a sci-fi novel. The process of creating these robots leads to better automata that can be used for fieldwork, service, and search and rescue. But these robots don’t just mimic the natural world — they help us understand our own biology better, unlocking previously unknown secrets of the spinal cord.   TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers…

We are encouraging research, innovation and use of technology through Atal Innovation Mission

Let us AIM to innovate with ‘Atal Innovation Mission’, says PM Modi – ANI News