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Now and again an interesting project appears that is based on the concept of measuring the vital signs of the user, and one example has been brought to our attention - a pulse oximeter and heart rate monitor by Arduino forum member die_Diode.

It uses two Arduino-compatibles in this neat device which uses some clever analogue circuitry to monitor the level of oxygen saturation and also the heart rate of the user. The finished project looks great and according to the creator is quite accurate when compared to a commercially-available machine.

Please note that although making such a device is an excellent educational project, you should rely on the advice of medical professionals and also call for help if your heart rate or other conditions take a turn for the worse. However for more information about the device, visit the Arduino forum. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're wanting to make your own Arduino-compatible project such as the pulse oximeter above, you'll need an ATmega328P MCU with Arduino Uno bootloader:

This is the same Atmel AVR ATmega328P microcontroller used in the official Arduino Uno, as well as our Eleven, EtherTen, USBDroid, and other boards. Perfect for building your own Arduino-compatible project directly on a breadboard or on a custom PCB, or for replacing the MCU in an existing board. Comes with the Arduino Uno bootloader pre-installed. Better still, it even has a special label stuck on top with details of the pinout, so you don't even need to look up the datasheet when connecting it up in your project! For more information and to order, click here!

Voice recognition is generally though to be outside the realm of the Arduino world, however with some help it can become a reality. Usuall this involved an expensive shield with dedicated voice-recognition microcontrollers - however if your project can be located near a PC then things become much easier. This has been demonstrated by Saurabh Vyas who created a voice-controlled RGB lamp using an Arduino and a PC running his custom VB.net application.

The PC takes care of all the voice recognition, and simply sends the resulting commands as text down the USB/serial to the Arduino. This offloads all the work to the PC, and allows the Arduino to shine in its role as the hardware controller. It's a win-win that works very well, for example the following video:

You can learn about Saurabh's lamp including the code and notes from his Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking to make your own colourful LED-based project, consider our Freetronics RGBLED: full colour module. It includes a bright RGB LED on the top of the board and a WS2801 constant-current, addressable, multi-channel LED driver on the back. This smart module can be daisy-chained, so you can connect a number of these together in a string and drive each of the module colours individually from your microcontroller. For more information and to order, visit the product page.

After coming across a first-generation Apple Time Capsule (a device with a hard drive which automatically backs up data from a Mac) that was worse for wear, Instructables member hitekmike brought it back to useful life by converting it to a Raspberry Pi-driven equivalent.

To do so required a small amount of hardware modification, however with a new hard drive, power cabling and replacing the colour of the LED for subjective reasons, the Time Capsue is brought back to life under control of the Raspberry Pi. Plus it also doubles as a classy enclosure for the single-board computer. For a very well documented process of hacking, check out the project 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 connect external circuitry to your Raspberry Pi, consider our PiBreak board. It provides labelled breakout pins for all GPIOs, a large prototyping area with solder pads, and power rails for easy power connection:

Furthermore the PiBreak also includes mounting hardware to firmly attach it to your Raspberry Pi using a nut, bolt, and spacer - and is compatible with all revisions of both model A and B Raspberry Pi computers. For more information about our new PiBreak board, our Getting Started guide, and to order - visit the product page.

Art can be created using an inifinite amount of forms, and of course one of these is electronics. Instructables user sath02 who is also an electronic visualisation artist had teh same though, and created synergy with the world of art and Arduino with their freefrom Arduino insect.

By paring down the circuit for an Arduino-compatible down to the bare minimum, the results can then be crafted into an interesting design or pattern - and in this case the working circuit takes the form of a large insect, for example:

With a few extra components it could come to life with LEDs or chirp with a piezo - however to learn about the orginal, visit the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're wanting to make your own Arduino-compatible work of art such as the insect above, you'll need an ATmega328P MCU with Arduino Uno bootloader:

This is the same Atmel AVR ATmega328P microcontroller used in the official Arduino Uno, as well as our Eleven, EtherTen, USBDroid, and other boards. Perfect for building your own Arduino-compatible project directly on a breadboard or on a custom PCB, or for replacing the MCU in an existing board. Comes with the Arduino Uno bootloader pre-installed. Better still, it even has a special label stuck on top with details of the pinout, so you don't even need to look up the datasheet when connecting it up in your project! For more information and to order, click here!

After needing to deploy networked AVR-based hardware (such as an Arduino) in a location that isn't easily accessible, William Sowerbutts created an interesting solution that allows code uploading via Ethernet. By modifying the "Optiboot" bootloader, new firmware can be uplaoded using avrdude straght from a command line - however this can also be done using normal programmers directly connected to the hardware.

To allow for remote uploading once installed, your code needs use the internal EEPROM for IP data storage and also listen for a command received via Ethernet in order to reboot the hardware into Ethernet-upoad mode - and once the new firmware is received the bootloader will reboot the hardware and run the uploaded code. 

A clever solution to a common problem, and you can find all the details on William's interesting website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

When putting together your next Internet-enabled Arduino or AVR project - save time, space and money with the Freetronics EtherTen. Apart from being fully Arduino Uno-compatible, it has onboard Ethernet, microSD socket, full USB interface (so you don't need a costly FTDI cable just to upload a sketch!) and supports optional Power-over-Ethernet.

Making your own clock for fun or a gift to others is always a neat Arduino project for the beginner or enthusiast alike, and Instructables member NextFab has documented a hybrid analogue/digital clock that can be made quite easily.

Using twelve LEDs, the clock can display the time down to the nearest half hour, and uses a real-time clock IC for accurate time-keeping. Once the circuit has been made you can fit it inside all sorts of enclosures, however the project had a neat laser-cut face, for example:

For all the details including Arduino sketch and construction notes, visit the clock Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Now and again we stumble across a fascinating project or demonstration, and this week we'd like to share what enthusiast Anatoly Kuzmenko has demonstrated. In his latest blog post Anatoly shows his virtual 3D touch screen that uses a group of ultrasonic distance sensors to determine the position of an object in nearby space.

The system uses an Arduino Due due as a higher refresh rate is required than can be offered by the typical Arduino and compatible boards. However the investment is worthwhile as the distance measurement has a resolution 12 um (micro-metres). A demonstration is shown in the following video:

Although Anatoly hasn't shared the code for the system, it's an interesting project to keep an eye on - so visit his interesting website to keep up to date. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

In what could be described as a throw-back to the discoteques of the 1970s, Instructables member hockeyman271 has solved a problem and also added an interesting highlight to their room by covering some unpleasant ceiling area with a grid of opaque tiles hiding a range of RGB LEDs.

And with a Bluetooth-enabled Arduino board and some PC software, the lights can be used as simple illumination right through to colour and blinking changes that can match a music track. It would be great for parties or just setting the mood, and a quick demonstration is shown in the following video:

A great addition to the room and also a lot of fun. You can find complete details from the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

As the Raspberry Pi wasn't originally intended for the multitudes of hardware applications that have befallen the popular single-board computer, it misses out on a few convenient features such as an analogue-to-digital converter. However you can easily add your own with one of the many options that have been documented, and one of those is by Instructables member AntMan232 who uses a PICaxe 28X1 PIC-based microcontroller.

As the PIC can communicate via I2C, and has four ADCs - it's a neat solution to the problem. It can easily communicate the values from the ADCs back to the Pi and using simple python code the values can be integrated into local software.

For complete details including code for both platforms, visit the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Every day we find more uses for our PiBreak board, such as the ADC project above - which makes the PiBreak a great way to mount circuitry to your Raspberry Pi. It provides labelled breakout pins for all GPIOs, a large prototyping area with solder pads, and power rails for easy power connection:

Furthermore the PiBreak also includes mounting hardware to firmly attach it to your Raspberry Pi using a nut, bolt, and spacer - and is compatible with all revisions of both model A and B Raspberry Pi computers. For more information about our new PiBreak board, our Getting Started guide, and to order - visit the product page.

Connecting almost any type of switch to an Arduino's digital output pin will require a method of de-bouncing, that is avoid the incredibly fast on/off cycling from the switch. One method to avoid this is to simply put delay statements after polling an input, however this freezes the entire sketch.

An interesting alternative has been created by Mike Schwager who wrote an Arduino library called "tigger" which is used to handle bouncing in software, through pin-change interrupts and allows for a more logical form of reading digital inputs.

Using the library is quite easy, the instructions and downloads can be found on Mike's project page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking for an Arduino Uno-compatible board for various projects, choose what tens of thousands of others have done and use our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs: