And now for something completely different - the "Snarky Swami" by Instructables member paulindallas. This is a clever Arduino-powered take on the mythical fortune-teller ... by waving your hand over the crystal ball, your fortune or other random advice will be dictated by the Swami.
However in reality this project is an Arduino-compatible board that can play simple audio files stored on an SD card. With the aid of a light sensor, the Arduino can detect when your hand is over the ball above the sensor and randomly play one of the pre-recorded audio files. A demonstration of this is shown in the following video:
Even if you're not interested in a fortune-teller, this project is a good example of audio file playback without extensive external hardware. For all the details to make your own Snarky Swami, head over to the project page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
Looking for a small Arduino-compatible board to embed into final projects? Consider 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.
