#Martians
Martians is a fun project teaching how to make wireless animated communication devices.
Video of Martian's in action. Click the image to view the video:
[email protected] Martians is a free GPL open source project. See LICENSE for details.
Martians teaches:
- Wireless communication
- GPS location tracking
- Magnetometer (compass) tracking
- Data Serialization
- Real-time and multi-tasking software engineering
- 8-bit processor environments (Arduino)
- Battery operated and portable environments
- LED display technology
Instructions:
- Buy the components. See below for a parts list. Cost in 2019 was less than $100 USD.
- Wire the components. Follow the Wiring Guide.
- Install the needed libraries to documents/arduino/libraries. See the list below.
- Create a new Arduino IDE sketch/Project
- Set the radioNumber value for the first Martian to 0, the second Martian to 1
- Compile MartiansAtMakerFaire2019.ino in Arduino IDE and upload to the Mega board
- Repeat 5-6 for the second Martian
- Have fun with your Martians
Jim Henson’s Muppets work on Sesame Street inspired this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ
I brought the Martians to the Maker Faire, San Mateo, California. May 17 to 19, 2019. http://makerfaire.com
Video of Martian's in action: https://youtu.be/dwj0wr4Axek
Martians is a free GPL open source project. Find all code, wiring, components, and everything else at: https://github.com/frankcohen/Martians
See Martians Wiring Guide 2019.pdf for wiring instructions.
Martians uses the following components (parts): TMRh20/RF24 wireless radios, https://github.com/tmrh20/RF24/ Neo7 GPS board, https://www.ebay.com/i/273760042170?chn=ps Magnetometer, https://learn.adafruit.com/lsm303-accelerometer-slash-compass-breakout/coding WS2812b LED strip, http://bit.ly/2W06RPd Arduino Mega
Software libraries: TinyGPS+ - object library for working with GPS data Adafruit_Sensor and Adafruit_LSM303_U to read compass and accelerometer ArduinoJson - serialize and deserialize data between Martians FastLED - drives LED display
Plastic housing found at IKEA. SOLVINDEN solar powered table light, $15 https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40422098/
-Frank Cohen, May 16, 2019