Arduino Projects: Entertainment, Art, and Medical
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Build a smart home entertainment system | Arduino Blog
Smart homes have many benefits, and it’s not all about convenience, security, and chores. Entertainment is a big part of what we do at home, and smart technology can help us maximize our enjoyment of our home entertainment systems and manage them more easily.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the ways smart home technology leads to better entertainment, and we’ll share a few examples of home entertainment projects from the Arduino Project Hub that you can try.
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Flux is a kinetic art installation brought to life with Arduino | Arduino Blog
Art may be subjective, but all of our readers can appreciate the technology that goes into kinetic art. That term encompasses any piece of art that incorporates movement, which means it can be as simple as a sculpture that turns in the wind. But by integrating electronics, artists can achieve impressive effects. That was the case for Nicholas Stedman and his Devicist Design Works team, who built the Flux kinetic art installation for Shopify’s Toronto offices.
Flux is a massive 40-foot-long kinetic art piece that hangs suspended from the ceiling in the Shopify offices. That length is divided into 20 individual planks, each of which contains two reflective prisms. The prisms rotate in different patterns, resulting in mesmerizing visuals as light reflects around the art piece and the surrounding office. It is striking in its industrial minimalism, but subtle enough that it blends into the space instead of overpowering it.
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Uroflow measures urine stream to monitor medical treatments | Arduino Blog
Many medical conditions can affect urine flow, either as the primary effect or as a secondary symptom. That’s especially true for men, because prostate problems often affect urination. Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), for example, is a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate that results in a weak urine stream. BPH is usually treatable with medication, but doctors need a way to measure a treatment’s efficacy. Jerry Smith developed Uroflow to monitor urine streams and track the progress of BPH treatment.
When one’s prostate enlarges, it can both put pressure on the bladder and restrict the urethra. That results in a frequent feeling that one needs to urinate, but also a weak stream. When the enlargement isn’t related to cancer, it falls under the BPH umbrella. A key to diagnosing BPH is a urinary flow test, which detects stream strength and urine volume. Follow-up urinary flow tests help doctors monitor treatment. But typical equipment for urinary flow testing is expensive and requires that the patient visit their doctor. Uroflow is inexpensive to build, which would let patients perform urinary flow tests at home.