Hi everybody, this is Humberto from the video tutorials. We are always in need of project ideas that we can turn into Video Tutorials. Ideally these projects are medium scale (weekend project), have an interesting end product, and teach something in the process. This is a great place to discuss things you would like to see explained on our tutorials!

Thanks for your input. Humberto

I'd like to see some RFID tech.

Perhaps something like a lockbox, that when the correct RFID is scanned, a servo is activated to open the latch.

Also I don't know how advanced it would be, but perhaps some wireless tech such as receiving an 8bit number over an antenna, such that it could enable digital code locking for transmitting / receiving so noise doesn't accidentally trigger it.

how about a simple guitar effect. you'll need some 1/4" cable adapters, but you should be able to create a simple delay or overdrive effect. lots of people like guitar, even if they can't play. it could spark some interest.

I'd like to see projects that uses: 1) TCP/IP stack via ethernet adapter 2) bluetooth connectivity

It would be nice to see nerdkit just "hook" into the existing home network and really expand the idea of bridging the virtual-to-physical world. If the nerdkit can talk one of the common network protocols, it doesn't have to be physically attached to a PC, and open up doors for other slew of interesting projects. I think arduino already has an ethernet shield that allows network communication. I would love to see something like that on nerdkit.

Make a Universal remote. One that can learn from other IR devices. Or at lest be able to send and recive IR signals.

I second jbremnant's suggestion. I would like to see ethernet connectivity for remote monitoring or kick off a script, send an email, etc if some event occurs or a condition is met.

Also, the temp sensor program will write data back to the pc's usb port. A tutorial on how to capture this data would be cool.

I love jbremnant's idea. That is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I want to be able to make cool things happen (like ring a buzzer or display a message) remotely, like with an email or through my home server.

@FWSquatch - if you build the led marquee, then connect it to your home server, you can display a message remotely. Once I've figured out the python-listener, I could then check emails and display ones containing a certain subject. I suppose this could be modified to buzz a buzzer instead.

Thanks for the heads up mcai8sh4. I haven't tried that one out yet.

I don't know how easy or hard it would be to interface ATmega with one of the TCP/IP stack implementations, but I suspect it's just too complicated to be a simple project. One can imagine running a small PPP implementation on the MCU, however, a simpler way would be to just write a specific message straight to the UART when the microcontroller sees something interesting happen. On the computer, have a program that listens for the message and does something else. For example, on Linux and in bash (using GNU grep):

while true; do grep -m1 "^trigger_message" /dev/ttyUSB0 && mail -s "Intruder Alarm!" user@example.org; done

would send an e-mail to user@example.org when the MCU outputs "trigger_message" via UART.

Zoran

I would like to see tutorial on controlling relays. Using both MOSFET and regular transistors.

I would like to see how to hook up two nerdkits and send messages between them. I think this would be a good way to explain how interrupts work and how to use them so you don't miss a message from the other nerdkit.

Some cool projects could be: <br> Two way morse code, expand on other project Laser Tag, use a IR led and IR receiver * Wireless messages using these: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8945

Scott B-)

Similar to some of the responses above, I'd like to see anything related to networking, servos, home automation, etc.

I don't know enough about electronics (mainly timers/timing... or any of it for that matter :) ), but I'd like to see a simple binary clock ( you know the type of thing, displays the time in binary form using LEDs.

I imagine displaying the time is not the issue (the binary adder is a good place to start I suppose). I can program one for the computer, but I wouldn't know how to get an accurate 'second' on the MCU.

If it's not too difficult, I think this would be a nice little one day project. I imagine you'd have to trade off between simplicity and accuracy.

Maybe you could make a tutorial about the basics of transistors. You could include information like how to use them, what the different kinds are, what they are for, etc.

How about a servo motor controller?

Oops, just saw your servo thing on the video tutorials. :) Ignore my last post please.

ethernet example please...

Acelerometer and Nerdkit capabilities

I wrote that before, But I really like to see how piezoelectric printheads works with nerdkits without limitation of ink counter.

Serkan

I would like to see a tutorial on wireless communication with xbee

I second hariharan.