One thing we know for a fact – DIYers are a creative bunch, always coming up with cool solutions to problems that we face on a day-to-day basis. In talking to makers and DIYers, we know that many of you are always looking for your next project, so we thought it would be fun to have a little contest here on The Shack Blog to bring in some ideas from our awesome readers.
Here’s the skinny:
We have seen some amazing projects centered around the Arduino system and now that Arduino is available at RadioShack, we want to challenge you! What can you make with Arduino? You’ll have three weeks (11/11-12/2) to come up with an idea, build it, submit your project to the Great Create and leave a link to your project in the comments below. We’ll go through and pick the project that uses Arduino in the most creative and innovative way – the chosen project will get a $500 RadioShack gift card – just imagine the awesome projects you could build with that!
So….to recap:
- Come up with a project using Arduino
- Head to RadioShack to pick up extra parts and pieces, or just use what you already have at home
- Build the project, and record a video of it or snap some great photos
- Upload the project to RadioShack’s Great Create site between today and December 2, 2011 at 12 midnight CT – be sure to mention Arduino in the description field!
- Come back here and share the link to your project in the comments below (of course, if you have ideas for future topics, you can leave those in the comments, as well)
- Have a chance to win a $500 RadioShack gift card
We can’t wait to see what awesome projects you come up with!
We do have a few rules/guidelines:
- Must be a resident of the 50 United States to enter
- Must be at least 18 years or older to enter
- Project must use Arduino to count as an entry
- Project must be submitted to http://www.RadioShackDIY.com between 12 midnight CT November 11, 2011 and 12 midnight CT December 2, 2011.
- You must submit photo/video with your project
- The winning entry will be chosen by RadioShack as the project that best shows how you can use Arduino in a creative and innovative way
UPDATE:
After careful deliberation, we’ve chosen the winners of The Great Create Arduino Challenge!
First place: Steve Miley’s Time Lapse Dolly
Second place: Eric Leininger’s Fishing Cabin
Tie for Third place:
Kevin Osborn’s USB MIDI Theremin
Chet Zema’s Twitter-controlled Switch
Thanks so much for all the GREAT entries. We’ll have another contest coming up soon, so keep building and creating!
Mike
I heard a rumor that Radio Shack is going to carry Arduino stuff. I hope so! Arduino is da bomb!
I just got mine about two weeks ago. Hopefully I can get something finished before this contest is over.
Dan
I think the getting the Arduino in Radio Shack and the challenge are great ideas, but why would it be limited to 18yo or over? I was creating microelectronics projects when I was 12. I think the challenge should be open to everyone!
James
Did you read the post?? It’s available now!!
Michail
Just got the email from Radio Shack. I LOVE Arduino. Very happy to know they are going to be selling them. Got several projects completed and in the works. And, More to come. Nice to make a device to open my garage door from anywhere in the world.
Simon
Hello I am not 18 but could I enter it through instructables or do I have to get my dad to publish it?
albert rosenblatt
webbar to see on Skype
how much does one cost for microsoft 2003?
Den
How about chips & Cheese???
Will
I have several projects that used an Arduino to prototype, then I transferred the ATMega itself onto a home-made etched board for permanent installation. Will that still count?
Thomas Fletcher
Too bad it isn’t for propeller projects, i guess it is sponsored by Arduino.
Christopher
@ Dan,
Agreed totally. I’m fourteen and made a simple robot from an arduino board and almost all radioshack parts… If i worked with it more, maybe add some shields, refine the code or something, I could maybe enter, but I’m under the age limit…
Scott
I went to my local Shack store a few days ago. No Arduinos yet. But there’s a lot of Parallax stuff there. Are the Parallax widgets compatible with Arduino?
Thomas Fletcher
Sensors? Probably, they can be wired to work with anything. The basic stamp I believe is 5v. The propeller though is 3.3v logic, so it is not as compatible with arduino designed circuits.
Thatcher
@Christopher
Same deal! I’ve made some cool stuff with the TVout library but that age limit is just too bad. I’ll bet a lot of people who are interested are under eighteen. Perhaps if the Arduino guys took over a bit…?
Anyway, I’m so excited Radioshack is stocking these. Now, when my Arduino loses its blue smoke, I can get a new one! Yay!
Joe
Scott – The Parallax zensors almost all work great with Arduino stuff. Check out http://arduino.cc, http://www.sparkfun.com or http://adafruit.com for lots more.
Adafruit.com also hosts “Ask an Engineer” live on Ustream every Saturday night, 7 pm PST, 10 PM EST. Come on out and join everyone there! See her website for the exact link.
John Beale
The Arduino CPU chip, Atmel ATmega328P will run OK at 3.3V, and there are several “Arduino-like” boards which do this- for example the JeeNode, and the Seeeduino. You can modify an official Arduino to 3.3V also. Running it at 3.3V and 16 MHz is slightly overclocked relative to official specs, but it actually works fine. Alternatively you can stay at 5V and use a 5V / 3.3V level shifter for your 3.3V I/O, like the 74HC4050. Adafruit.com sells one based on the TXB0108, with 8 bidirectional (!) lines.
Alan Parekh
Great contest idea, I look forward to seeing some of these entries.
Ricky Cadden
Thanks for the great comments everyone.
Unfortunately, the age limit is required for the contest due to legal reasons. You can, of course, still share your project on the Great Create. We definitely hear you though and will work to remove this limit on future contests.
Seth
http://radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/arduino-controlled-5x5x5-led-cube
Arduino Controlled LED Cube
Kevin Osborn
I just posted my entry, an Arduino Midi Theremin.
Step by step on my blog:
http://baldwisdom.com/usb-midi-controller-theremin-style-on-arduino-uno/
Kevin Osborn
What is the most appropriate mechanism for site feedback?
One of the pictures in my project is broken, and I can’t see any way to edit the project once I’ve submitted it.
Ricky Cadden
Kevin,
Thanks for submitting, and thanks for asking about the edit. We don’t have this functionality on the site, but are working out a way to get it done. I’ll reach out via email ASAP.
-Ricky.
Jeffrey Steel
I recently submitted a project into the Great Create and I received an email with a link to my project, but that link does not seem to work and I cannot find the project when searching for it
Subline Design
Hey I posted my project Shadow Puppet Beat Boxing, and the pictures and post are up but the video doesn’t seem to be showing up
Subline Design
Sorry Just Shadow Beat Boxing.. Please Post the video onto the project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua234SGd-uw
Subline Design
I posted the video link in a comment section, but I would really appreciate it if the video would get posted to our project
sarahspins
My Arduino powered electric spinning wheel
http://radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/electric-spinning-wheel
Zachery Twigg
This is my iphone+arduino firework launcher!!!
http://www.radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/arduino-powered-firework-launcheriphone
Jeffrey Steel
The video associated with our post is still not linked to our project. The project ‘Shadow Beat Boxing’ and this is the video link
Please post the video to the project.
Jeffrey Steel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua234SGd-uw
Ben Noble
Arduino Powered Sniper Detector
http://radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/arduino-powered-sniper-detector
I guess the Great Create People didn’t like my video because they didn’t post the link I submitted. It does show more of us just shooting guns to test the thing but I still think its pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLDzRmuipAM
Tommy
I would love to see Radio Shack to assist the free, open-source Fritzing project. ( http://www.fritzing.org )
Specifically, Fritzing is in dire need of a wide variety of parts (especially those carried by Radio Shack!
. If RS could devote some man power to creating their components in Fritzing format, I could definitely spend some more money at RS on parts!
What’s in it for RS? It would drive Arduino adoption, it would drive in store parts sales and drive in store PCB etching material sales. Bottom line it would encourage more traffic in the doors of RS across the board.
Please look into this opportunity to help grow a true DIY project!
Dominic G.
I respectfully wish to submit my following project to the Radio Shack Great Create Arduino Challenge.
Arduino Powered Breathalyzer
http://www.radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/arduino-breathalyzer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZnUW09qBDI
Chet
Arduino Bank Monitor
http://radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/bank-monitor
Chet
Arduino Twitter-Controlled Switch
http://radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/twitter-controlled-switch
Chet
Async Labs had developed a WiFi shield as well as an Arduino/Wifi combination. They no longer sell them. I managed to get one just before they stopped and it works great.
It would be great if Radioshack could provide something similar, in addition to the Ethernet shield.
steve
Arduino Controlled Chicken Coop Door. I posted the project to Great Create Site but don’t have the link yet. Here is my website with project details and video:
http://sites.google.com/site/egluautomaticdoor/
Eric Leininger
Posted an arduino project (Fishing Cabin Web Status and Control) for consideration in the Challenge – have not yet recieved confirmation that it was posted…
Ricky Cadden
Thanks for all the AWESOME submissions! We’ll go through each one this week and announce the winner soon!
steve
It appears my project didn’t get posted in the Great Create. Let me know if I need to do anything more.
erlisejansen
Great post but not all is correct becouse i found this also