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Open Hardware/Modding: Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and More
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Hackaday ☛ Designing An Open Source Micro-Manipulator
When you think about highly-precise actuators, stepper motors probably aren’t the first device that comes to mind. However, as [Diffraction Limited]’s sub-micron capable micro-manipulator shows, they can reach extremely fine precision when paired with external feedback.
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Raspberry Pi ☛ 1TB Raspberry Pi SSD on sale now for $70
You’ll need a Raspberry Pi 5–compatible M.2 adapter, such as the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+, to use our SSDs.
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Arduino ☛ Repurpose gadgets as Arduino-ready modules
Most people have a general awareness of how economies of scale play into the cost of products; a bespoke, handcrafted vase is going to cost a lot more than a mass-produced vase sold in the millions. But the ramifications of that concept can be really counterintuitive when it comes to electronic goods. In some cases, an entire device can cost less to purchase than just one component in that device. In a new video for element14 Presents, Clem Mayer demonstrates how to repurpose those components for use with Arduino boards.
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Premier Farnell Ltd ☛ Turn anything into an Arduino Module: Reusing Everyday Electronics -- Episode 681 - element14 Community
Clem shows how to reverse engineer a cheap breathalyser key-fob and re-purpose it into an Arduino-compatible sensor module. By dissecting the circuit, discovering the LM339 comparator at its core, and reducing current draw by removing LEDs, he adapts the device for safe use with 3.3V logic micro-controllers like the Arduino MKR WiFi 1010. The project demonstrates how to integrate salvaged electronics into Arduino projects, including building voltage dividers for level shifting, handling warm-up delays, and logging sensor data. Follow along to learn techniques that can be applied to countless other gadgets.
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Arduino ☛ Turtle bots, Gestalt principles, and emergent art
In the worlds of programming and robotics, turtles are entities — either virtual or physical robots— that follow commands to move around a 2D plane. Those are usually very simple commands, such as “move forward 10 units” or “rotate 90 degrees clockwise,” and they help people learn some programming fundamentals (like Logo in the ’80s!) in an intuitive way. But a lot of complexity can evolve out of simple building blocks, as Niklas Roy proved with his turtle bots that create surprisingly intriguing emergent art.
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Daniel Estévez ☛ 10 GHz FMCW radar LO board
In February this year I was in the Spanish amateur microwave radio conference Micromeet 2025. In this conference, Luis Cupido CT1DMK presented a simple and inexpensive 10 GHz transverter that he called Nes-Transverter, with the motto “Instant microwaves. Just add solder”. The main idea of this design is that it is very simple and can be built by anyone with just a handful of inexpensive components. Luis was hoping that this project would help more people get on the 10 GHz band in a hands-on way, and he also wanted to demystify some ideas such as amateur microwave radio being difficult or expensive.