As an Arduino Leonardo or compatible board such as our Freetronics LeoStick can emulate a USB keyboard or mouse, it gives you many new options for creating alternative input devices to be used with computers and so on. One interesting example of this is by YouTube user planetleak who created an RFID access logon system for their personal computer.
Doing so is easy, with using an inexpensive RFID reader connected to the Arduino. When an RFID card is presented to the reader, the card's number is compared with pre-stored values - and if a match is found the Arduino sends the required keystokes acting as a USB keyboard to log in to the computer. This is shown in the following video:
A neat way to give access to a computer withour sharing passwords. For links to the code and video, visit the project's YouTube page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
Need a small Arduino-compatible for use with your own USB HID emulation projects? Then check out out our LeoStick. It's the Arduino Leonardo-compatible board that's cheaper and smaller than the original:
Apart from being one of the smallest Arduino-compatibles on the market with USB, it also has an onboard RGB LED and piezo which can be used a knock sensor and various tune and sound effects. Plus you can add extra circuitry with the matching protostick! For more information and to order, click here.
