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As part of a university course, David Sharfi and fellow group members were tasked with creating an electronic device, and resulted with a great example of an electronics "Rubik's Cube" game. This involves a large number of LEDs all driven by the Arduino via shift registers, which sounds complex but with some planning is quite simple.

By using nine LEDs on each face of the cube the state of play can easily be understood, and buttons on all faces of the cube are used to "move" the cube's pieces in either axis. Check out the following video for a demonstration:

This is an incredibly imaginative and interesting project, and along with the Arduino sketch David's group have also provided the schematic and details required to make the PCBs to reproduce your own game. For more information visit the project's Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

We never cease to be amazed at the range of interesting test equipment you can make with an Arduino, and another great example has been documented by Instructables member MariaL7 who shows us how to make a Spirometer. For the uninitated, this is a device to measure the volume of air that passes through a tube or cylinder which has a fixed diameter.

The Spirometer uses a Honeywell differential pressure sensor, which in itself is an interesting device that measures the difference in air pressure between two areas, and uses this data to calculate the air flow. Then with some maths which have been explained in the tutorial, the volume of air flowing through the tube can be determined and displayed with an inexpensive LCD shield:

You can learn more about this interesting project from the Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you need to add external hardware or devices to your next Arduino project, you'll need a protoshield to mount the external circuitry. In doing so, consider our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega we have a wide range to suit your application.

Using our range of LED Dot Matrix Displays is easy thanks to our Arduino library and included interfacing hardware, however creating customised graphics has involved combinations of line and pixel control commands to achieve the desired output.

However this process has just become infinitely easier thanks to Freetronics forum member jedihermit whose Microsoft Excel macro can be used to easily draw images, with each LED being represented by a cell in the spreadsheet.

Once you have drawn your image in Excel - the required code for your Arduino sketch is created and can be copied from a tab in the Excel sheet. You then simply copy this code into your own sketch to control the DMD with your creation.

This is a fantastic piece of Excel work - so to download the Excel file and discuss this project further, please visit the Freetronics forum. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

As used in the example mentioned above, check out our Freetronics Dot Matrix Displays. They're simple to use, yet very bright for indoor and outdoor situations. Available in various colours, the 32 x 16 LED matrix can display text and graphics quite easily - and can be daisy-chained together for extended displays. For more information, see our range of Dot Matrix Displays here. 

 Next in the series of ongoing tutorials for the beginner from the Arduino LEGO Trains YouTube channel is a neat explanation of how to add infra-red remote control to a 9V LEGO train system. This builds upon an earlier explanation of using an L298-based motor controller with an Arduino. 

Although the latest evolution of LEGO trains use infra-red remote control, the receiver is in the train and for larger layouts requires tracking by the user for control, whereas this system allows the user to stay in one place for control. Enjoy the following video for an interesting demonstration of what is possible:

Even if you're not interested in trains, this offers you the framework to add IR control to any Arduino-based project. For more interesting LEGO train videos, subscribe to their YouTube channel. And for more, we're on twitter, facebook and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you found the project above interesting - but not sure how to start with Arduino, then the best way to learn is with our Experimenter's Kit for Arduino:

Generally speaking the Arduino platfom hasn't been known for its ability to create quality audio, however it is possible with the right software. A neat example of this has been created by Tim Barrass whose "Mozzi" Arduino library allows for various sound effects that are much more pleasant than a typical beep.

Audio output is via a PWM-enabled digital output pin, and can then be fed to a simple amplifier circuit or a PC for capturing. For an example of what is possible, check out the following video:

Kudos to Tim for sharing such a neat audio library, which you can download from his github page. And for more, we're on twitter, facebook and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

Over the last few months the Arduino team has increased the speed and feature updates of the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that is used by the majority of Arduino and compatible board users to enter and upload our sketches to the hardware. The Arduino IDE is a neat and easy to use tool which is ideal for beginners to the world of programming.

And since the introduciton of the later versions, culminating with the current v1.6.4 - installing libraries for various devices has become much easier thanks to the Library Manager. Here at Freetronics we're really excited about this as we are working towards having all of our own Arduino libraries made available to Arduino IDE users. To install or keep up with the latest versions, simply run the Arduino IDE, and open the Library Manager from the Sketch>Include Library>Manage Libraries... option.

After a moment the Library Manager window will appear, at which point you can enter "Freetronics" into the search box - which will result with the current libraries we have available for direct download and install, for example:

We're continuing to add more libraries, however you can also find them from our product pages or github repositories. And if you ever need help with these or anything else, let us know in the Freetronics customer support forum. And for more, we're on twitter, facebook and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you have heard about the Arduino development platform and wanted to learn more -  you can't go past reading a copy of "Arduino Workshop -  A Hands-On Introduction with 65 Projects” by John Boxall.

Arduino Workshop takes the reader from having zero knowledge about the Arduino platform, electronics and programming and leaves them with the know-how and instructions on everything from blinking an LED, to robotics, wireless data, cellular communications, motor control, sensors, Internet connected systems and more. For more information including a sample chapter and table of contents, visit the book page.

As an way of demonstrating how colour can be used to represent information about the environment around us, Franklin Marsh has created an interactive mood lamp which is controlled with an Arduino. Data and input can be captured from a variety of sensors and devices - such as direct controls such as a potentiometer or analogue joystick, data from real-time clocks and temperature sensors... or anything else you have an interest in.

The information from the attached devices can  then be used to drive an RGB LED to create various colours. However in this instance a much more powerful 10W version is used - controlled by high-power transitors. This is then ideal for mounting inside lamp shades or fixtures - which results in with a device you can happily display to others. Franklin demonstrates his project in the following video:

To learn more about this great lamp projeect, visit Franklin's Instructable page. And for more, we're on twitter, facebook and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Need to control up to six high-current signals from your Arduino? Save time and space with our N-Drive Shield for Arduino:

With the N-Drive Shield you can directly control up to 6 separate high-power loads such as high-intensity LEDs, lamps, motors, and relays. Incorporates 6 N-channel MOSFETs, each capable of switching up to 60Vdc at 20 Amps. That's enough to drive massive loads such as 30W and 60W RGB LEDs capable of burning your eyeballs right out of year head!

Each MOSFET is connected to an Arduino pin with PWM capability, so you can vary the power delivered to each load individually. For much more information, tutorial and to order - check out the N-Drive product page.

It seems that every month or two another cloud-based data gathering and distribution service appears, and Samsung has also joined the market with their "SAMI" service. Using SAMI one can gather data and send it back to their cloud service for retrieval and analysis, whcih has been demonstrated with a neat weather station project built around a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino.

The Arduino side of the project is used to gather data from a common temperature sensor, whose value is sent out via the hardware USB port. The Raspberry Pi captures this serial data using a Node.js script and shoots it off to the SAMI cloud service via an Internet connection. From that point the data can be retrieved using a web-enabled device as expected.

It's always good to see more options in the cloud-based arena, so to learn more about SAMI and using it with common hardware visit their interesting project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

For more complex Raspberry Pi projects that require interaction between an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi for enhanced hardwre control you can save time and space by using our new PiLeven board:

Although an Arduino or other microcontroller platform is designed to follow a certain sequence of events, with some thought you can create a device that can have a wide varierty of reponses to external stimuli and even have a little bit of personality. This type of device has been achieved by Evan Frazier whose "Brobot" has a range of emotions which can be articulared with various output devices.

With LED matrices for eyes, servo horns for eyelids, and his head mounted on a pan and tilt base, the Brobot can move about and also express emotions via physical actions. Furthermore it can detect the presence of others nearby with an ultrasonic distance sensor - or be controlled remotely via Bluetooth and an Android device. For an excellent explanation and demonstration, view the following video:

To learn more about Brobot and to recreate your own version, visit Evan's Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.