3D printing, Accessories, DSI display, GPIO boards, Internet of things, Nature

Monitoring the environment of a snake with a Raspberry Pi – the Pivarium

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Richard Hayler recently acquired a new pet snake which he’s called The Kernel. The Kernel is housed inside a tank and Richard wanted to monitor the temperature and humidity of the environment. So, he used a DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensor (like you might get in the CamJam EduKit 2) and also a DHT22 humidity sensor and hooked them both up to a Raspberry Pi. He added a second Pi with a camera to keep an eye on the snake and also connected one of the Pis up to a 3D-printed door mechanism to ensure that the door was always closed after tank/snake maintenance. All the data is uploaded to IoT service provider Initial State and he’s used a Pimoroni Inky pHAT to display the information locally. You can take a look at more information on Richard’s blog and see the code and 3D printer files on GitHub.

Magazines, Raspberry Pi Foundation

The MagPi magazine, issue 62, for Raspberry Pi owners – LEGO special – out now!

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The new issue of The MagPi magazine is now out. Plenty of great stuff in this issue including a special on how LEGO can be used in conjunction with our favourite single-board computer. Download for free from the MagPi’s site or buy it in print from The Pi Hut or ModMyPi. It’s also available in good newsagents and supermarkets.

Android, Art, Robotics

Beautiful kinetic sculpture uses a Raspberry Pi and solar wind data to create something hypnotic

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Yiannis Kranidiotis has created a kinetic sculpture which reacts to live data of the solar wind. Called Cyma, which is Greek for ‘wave’, the sculpture works by the bottom plank being moved and then that movement being translated up through the stack along a nylon strand. The data is read and analysed by a Raspberry Pi, whilst the motor control for the bottom plank is controlled by an Arduino.

The movement of the sculpture is driven in real time by live data of the solar wind. The strength of the wave movement (amplitude of the modulation) is controlled by the solar wind speed and the mode of waves (fundamental or harmonics) is controlled by north-south direction of the interplanetary magnetic field (Bz).

You can read a lot more, especially about the data, on his website and you can see Cyma in action below:

Internet of things, Research, Science

Human brain on the internet – the Brainternet is here – Raspberry Pi used to visualise brain data

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Adam Pantanowitz and a team from the Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering in Johannesburg have put the data from a human brain on the Internet for the first time. Using an Emotiv EEG device (pictured), they collect EEG (electroencephalogram) data with a Raspberry Pi and then live stream the data to an API which displays the data on an open website, effectively making this an IoT brain! Currently limited to arm movement, the team hopes eventually (and scarily) to have an input/output stream to the brain. More information can be found on the Wits website and in the video below:

Arduino, Making, Media centre, Retro

Revitilizing a Wurlitzer Jukebox with a Raspberry Pi

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Tijuana Rick’s father-in-law found a 1969 Wurlitzer 3100 Jukebox, for free but without the original 45s. Together, they refurbished the Jukebox and then set about turning it into a media centre. They used an Arduino Mega to read button presses which were then fed to the Raspberry Pi 3 which controlled the musical playback. You can read more about the project here and see it in action below: