Curious Inventor Blog

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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)

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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The Essence of How Bitcoin Works


A brief intro to the main ideas behind How Bitcoin Works, including how money is transferred, who keeps track of it, and how the whole thing is secured.

Augmented Reality Circuit Building Guide

An iPad app that provides augmented reality steps for building a circuit on a bread board. Graphics are overlayed on the actual breadboard to show you exactly where to put parts, and provide extra information, like values, tolerances, and voltages.