Blog - Curious Inventor

How to use Raspberry Pi to track motion and turn skeleton head as people walk by

This project utilizes a Raspberry Pi Zero, servo, camera, and OpenCV python library.

Parts:
Pi Zero W (with wireless): https://www.adafruit.com/product/3708
PWM Servo bonnet: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3416
Servo: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2307
USB to Barrel Jack cable: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2697
Pi NoIR Camera (camera without an IR filter that’s better at night): https://www.adafruit.com/product/3100
camera cable that fits Pi Zero: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3157
USB Hub: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2991
mini HDMI to regular HDMI adapter: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2819
BYOS (bring your own skeleton)

How to DIM LED with Arduino & Triac

Zero-Cross & Triac Optically Isolated Switch “Tail”: https://www.powerswitchtail.com/pssr-zc-tail
arduino: https://amzn.to/2P12JaL
RealTimeClock (RTC): https://amzn.to/2NTKsjg
15W Dimmable LED https://amzn.to/2OqlHL0
CR2032 battery for RTC: https://amzn.to/2Ov8elf
sourcecode: https://github.com/curiousinventor/AC-triac-arduino-led-dimmer

Course on Bitcoin, Blockchain, Decentralization

Our new course on Bitcoin, Blockchain and Decentralized technology gives a crash course on Bitcoin and many other blockchain projects, like Ethereum, MakerDao, IPFS, SlockIt, the DAO, Zerocash, and more. There are demos on how to acquire, store and use Bitcoin, including web, hardware and paper wallets. Some of the latest topics in Bitcoin are also covered, like soft vs hard forks, segregated witness, the lightning network and more.

SMS to Cheap Scrolling LED using Arduino USB Host Shield and Android App

This project shows how to send SMS text messages to a cheap scrolling LED display via an Android app and arduino with USB host shield.

The project was originally inspired by a friend wanting to make a “sexting themed” costume, with a scrolling LED display of live texts sent from people at the party. We found a $13 LED belt buckle online, which looked cool, but only had a few buttons to manually enter in messages. A couple wires and lines of arduino code later, we were able to automate entry of messages.
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