Hacking Cool things
With
Microcontrollers!
Mitch Altman
Chief Scientist, Cornfield Electronics, San Francisco, CA USA
Author of The Brain Machine in MAKE Magazine #10
Inventor of TV-B-Gone universal remote control
email: mitch@CornfieldElectronics.com
site: www.CornfieldElectronics.com
Codebits
November 14, 2008

I Love My Job!

Why make cool things with
Microcontrollers?

Why make cool things with
Microcontrollers?
Microcontrollers are fun to play with
And anyone can learn…

Examples of Cool Microcontroller Projects
(in my opinion)
TV-B-Gone Kit
TV-B-Gone TV-B-Gone Pro

Examples of Cool Microcontroller Projects
(in my opinion)
MiniPOV3 kit Solar BugBot
The Brain Machine
LED Cube
Trippy RGB Light

Examples of Cool Microcontroller Projects
(in my opinion)
Mignonnette Game kit

Examples of Cool Microcontroller Projects
(in my opinion)
Trippy RGB Waves kit

What is a Microcontroller?

What is a Microcontroller?
A complete computer on a chip (with a little extra stuff)
RAM
Program
Processor
Memory
Inputs
Input/Output
Outputs
Timers

What Does a Microcontroller Do?
Like all computers:
Fetch Instruction
Execute Instruction
Repeat forever (till power goes off)

How to Make Cool Things with
Microcontrollers
• Idea
• Hardware
• Firmware
• Coolness!

Hello World
Make an LED blink

Hello World – Hardware
Battery +
Resistor LED
Microcontroller Battery -
Battery -

Hello World – Digression:
(Very) Basic Electronics Lesson
Electronics: electrons flowing through wires and parts
(sorta like water flowing through pipes)
Current -- speed of electrons flowing
Battery -- like a pump pushing electrons
Resistor -- like a kink in a pipe, slows down electrons
Diode -- one-way valve for current
LED -- special diode: emit photons when current flows
Transistor -- remotely controlled switch
Microcontroller -- zillions of transistors!

Hello World – Firmware
Assign a value to a variable:
Software: X = 00000001
Firmware: X = 00000001

Hello World – Firmware
Changing an output pin:
PortA = 00000001
PortA = 00000000

Hello World – Firmware
Changing an output pin (using manual delay):
PortA = 00000001
Call Delay
PortA = 00000000
-----------
Delay:
Count = 0
Wait:
Count = Count + 1
If Count < 10,000 goto wait
Return

Hello World – Firmware
Changing an output pin (using hardware timer):
Main:
Call Init
PortA = 00000001
Call Delay
PortA = 00000000
Sleep
-----------
Delay:
Timer0 = 60,000
Wait:
If Timer0flag = 0 goto wait
Return

Hello World – Firmware
Advanced topic:
Changing an output pin (using interrupts):
Main:
Call Init
PortA = 00000001
Call Delay
PortA = 00000000
Sleep
-----------
ISR: Delay:
TimeFlag=1 Timer0 = 60,000
Wait:
Return If TimeFlag = 0 goto wait
Return

Hello World – programming your chip
Use software on your computer
Text Editor
Compiler
Programmer
Specific software Depends on your microcontroller
PIC, AVR, etc.
Need hardware programmer (often very cheap)

Real Project: Ladyada’s MiniPOV3
Just like “Hello World”,
but 8 LEDs and different timing
Etc…

Hacking! :
The easy way
to make your cool microcontroller projects

Hacking!
TV-B-Gone from MiniPOV3 kit

Hacking!
TV-B-Gone Kit from MiniPOV3 hack

Hacking!
TV-B-Gone Pro from TV-B-Gone Kit

Hacking!
Trippy RGB Light from MiniPOV3 kit
... ... 1/2 brightness
Pulse
Width ... ... 1/4 brightness
Modulation
(PWM)
... ... min brightness

Hacking!
Trippy RGB Waves kit from Trippy RGB Light
IR detector causes
interrupt when it sees IR
reflecting from your hand

Hacking!
Solar BugBot from MiniPOV3 kit

Hacking!
LED Cube from MiniPOV3 kit
(First NYC Resistor Project)

Hacking!
Brain Machine from MiniPOV3 kit
Synchronizes your brain to a desired brainwave sequence
(and hallucinate along the way!)
WARNING: Blinking lights are not good for people with epilepsy

Brain Machine

Video by Bre Pettis
What’s It Like?

Come by the Workshop
Hardware Hacking Area
Microcontrollers are fun to play with
And anyone can learn!

Q&A

Hacking Cool things
With
Microcontrollers!
Mitch Altman
Chief Scientist, Cornfield Electronics, San Francisco, CA USA
Author of The Brain Machine in MAKE Magazine #10
Inventor of TV-B-Gone universal remote control
email: mitch@CornfieldElectronics.com
site: www.CornfieldElectronics.com
Codebits
November 14, 2008