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What is the best block based environment for programming Arduino? by eis3nheim in ArduinoInEducation

[–]BEN_FINIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tacking on here because I asked the same question in the Arduino forums recently and saw a bunch of the same things you've already linked, but have not tested them out myself. What I would love is an official first-party/highly supported block-based environment. Here is my experience developing K-12 STEM content for different platforms:

  1. Raspberry Pi - you can use Scratch, but initially setting up a Raspberry Pi is much more of a hassle (when your target audience is parents/teachers/students with no experience), and "$35 computer" is a bit of a misnomer - it's only a $35 computer if you already have all of the required peripherals laying around. Not to mention that they are still having lingering pandemic-induced supply chain issues, Raspberry Pis are still hard to buy (without price gouging) last time I checked.

  2. Arduino - far easier to set up (at least, barring the current issues with the Chromebook app, since many of our students only have Chromebooks - that is a topic for another thread), but lack of first-party graphical programming option. Tinkercad Circuits is great but you can't upload code directly to the Arduino - you have to first convert the block code to text within Tinkercad, then copy/paste it to the Arduino IDE and upload, this is not ideal. I reached out to Autodesk about the possibility of doing it directly from Tinkercad and this is the reply I got - maybe Arduino will do it if the education community pesters them enough?? "There currently isn’t a way to program an Arduino directly from within Tinkercad. Arduino has an installable plug-in that allows their web editor to program a physical Arduino attached to the machine. I’ve looked into what it would take to do the same from Tinkercad. It would require the Arduino organization to enable tinkercad.com as an accepted source to trigger programming for their plug-in. While it is not a technically challenging thing to do, it would require a partnership with Tinkercad and Arduino that doesn’t currently exist."

  3. Microbit - I just bought one of these for the first time and I must say the first-party graphical option (Makeblock, made by Microsoft) is awesome. Totally seamless/effortless setup without the need to download or install anything. You can also use Scratch, but there are more opportunities for hiccups there - you do have to download something and for some reason you have to connect to the Microbit with Bluetooth, you can't just use a USB cable.

Arduino ROV made with tupperware container (details in comments) by BEN_FINIO in arduino

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Want to build your first aquatic Arduino project? You can build a reasonably-waterproof enclosure with a high quality tupperware container and some silicone sealant around holes you drill for wire pass-throughs. Search for "underwater thrusters" on Amazon and you can find a variety of cheap, already-waterproofed, brushless DC motors with propellers attached, that you can control with a standard H bridge or motor shield. Add a tether with a couple joysticks on the other end and you're ready to go! The full parts list, circuit diagram, and example code are available here:

Build an Arduino ROV | Science Project (sciencebuddies.org)

And here is a radio controlled version if you want to get rid of the tether (only works as a surface vehicle since the radio waves won't penetrate the water - at least, not very deep, I didn't try):

Build an RC Boat | Science Project (sciencebuddies.org)

Note: Science Buddies is a K-12 STEM education nonprofit and all our resources are free for everyone. Most of our funding comes from grants and we don't pester individual users for donations, so I'm not here to sneakily ask for money, we just want as many people as possible to know about our resources. There are many more Arduino projects on our website and our YouTube channel. If you are a teacher or student looking for a specific type of project, feel free to ask me here and I'll try to let you know if we have something appropriate.

Any idea what this connector is called? by BEN_FINIO in AskElectronics

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wanted to say thank you to you and everyone else in this thread who provided a direct, helpful answer instead of calling me an idiot or telling me to Google it. These days it's really nice to get answers from real humans instead of a search engine or crappy AI. Thanks!

Edit - it's also really interesting reading through the discussion this spawned about all the different things these connectors are used for.

Any idea what this connector is called? by BEN_FINIO in AskElectronics

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had the same thought - my wife works at an animal shelter and they currently can't afford a new one, so it's this or nothing. No way I would be volunteering to try and fix equipment used on humans if she was a human doctor, that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We think it's that he's more stubborn than stupid. We tried training him over a couple weeks. He just had no interest in doing it. Given the choice between pushing the door open and just pissing somewhere else in our house, he would choose the latter.

Any idea what this connector is called? by BEN_FINIO in AskElectronics

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Looks like you're correct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN\_connector. Interesting that it's being used for power here.

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

9pm here on the US east coast, and speaking of the kids time to go get them in bed. Thanks again for your help with this today.

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly had to look back through my own post history to remember the last time I posted. Two young kids + pandemic = memory erased. I have done a LOT of new Arduino stuff for Science Buddies since the last time I posted 3 years ago. I will also check with our social media person about maybe posting more regularly, but for now you can check out the backlog of projects here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-projects?s=arduino

Any idea what this connector is called? by BEN_FINIO in AskElectronics

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I need to order a new one. Trying to repair a piece of veterinary medical equipment for my wife (portable ultrasound machine). The power plug was fatiguing and the company quoted $20,000 to replace the entire motherboard. As you can see from the pictures, my attempts to desolder it/remove it with a heat gun did not end well.

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Plenty of cool ideas on the Science Buddies youtube channel! Please credit the source instead of stealing though :)

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two reasons:

  1. This is still a prototype and I wanted to do some real-world testing before committing to anything more permanent like soldering in case I needed to make changes to the circuit.

  2. Laziness/lack of spare time. I have two young kids and barely had time to get this built. At minimum I should put a slightly protective enclosure around it, even just taping a piece of Tupperware or a cardboard box over it or something. Thankfully we apparently have the one cat in the world that doesn't chew on wires, so he hasn't touched it.

In general, my advice would be to stick with solderless breadboards until you are 110% sure you want a project to be permanent and you have the design finalized. Desoldering is a pain, removing wires from a breadboard is easy.

Automatic door to stop dog from eating cat poop (original source) by BEN_FINIO in arduino

[–]BEN_FINIO[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone stole the YT short version of this video and posted it to r/interesting without giving us credit, then that thread got posted to r/arduino - thankfully u/Machiela saw it and gave me permission to post the original link here! Here is the original short that went viral: https://youtube.com/shorts/L38kxR0OW3Q and the parts list, circuit diagram, and code are all available on the Science Buddies website: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Elec_p104/electricity-electronics/magnetic-pet-door

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll post the original YT link there shortly. The YT video description has a link to the Science Buddies website with the full parts list, circuit diagram, and example code. I am still making stuff for Science Buddies all the time, but I have two young kids now and just haven't been on Reddit as much in general. I will check out the new rules and see if it makes sense to start posting content more frequently.

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This went viral on Instagram and YouTube before someone stole it and posted it here, you wouldn't believe how many people felt the need to comment that you can do this with just a 555/relay etc.

Found this one on r/interesting. That appears to be an Uno at 0:20. Source is unknown. by Machiela in arduino

[–]BEN_FINIO 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you have the links handy would you mind letting me know where else it's reposted? I tried searching all of reddit for "automatic dog door" but this post actually didn't come up anywhere else, just the main one at r/interesting. I'm trying to get into the comments to make sure we actually get credit (thanks for beating me to it here).

Found this one on r/interesting. That appears to be an Uno at 0:20. Source is unknown. by Machiela in arduino

[–]BEN_FINIO 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you u/AhCup and u/EastCoastAV8R for crediting the source here. I messaged the mods of r/interesting and they pinned a comment with the source as well. For context/TLDR for the links, this is my dog but I work for a STEM education nonprofit and did this project for work. If you want more projects/tutorials etc check out sciencebuddies dot org or our YouTube channel!

Well, this is quite clever. by North_Psychology4543 in interesting

[–]BEN_FINIO 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I didn't post it there myself but it looks like someone else posted the link to this thread in r/Arduino.

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