Category: Tutorial

The Sparkfun mp3 player shield, is the AIR LAB default infrastructure for enabling the Arduino UNO's to play mp3 files. This guide is focusing on the exact steps you need to take, to make it work with our hardware, and the ressources we have tested are working together. This guide assumes a basic knowledge of Arduino (how to upload and run a program etc.)  DISCLAIMER: Working with mp3 files on an Arduino is often a bit of a struggle, which is why we always suggest to use something more suitable for playing sound. Our goto platform for this is a laptop running Processing code, if…

SDeraser is an AIRLAB Infrastructure that enables easy formatting of SD cards via a simple interface in the lab. This interface is useful when handling larger amounts of Raspberry Pi's, zoom recorders or similar where quick formatting of SD cards is necessary. The interface is a simple build consisting of a Raspberry Pi, an illuminated pushbutton and an SD card reader. The Raspi is running a python script that automatically detects newly inserted block devices (such as SD-cards or even USB drives), and subsequently erases the device using the ubuntu software called "parted". This tutorial will walk through setting up the Raspi, and explains the functionality of the…

In AIRLab we're lending out a lot of equipment to students throughout semesters. Some of this equipment holds an SD card for storage of data such as Raspberry Pi Kits and Zoom recorders, which means that data can easily be shared when equipment is inattentively returned and borrowed. It goes without saying, that AIRLab cannot take up responsibility for SD Cards that are returned with sensitive information. In AIRLab we therefore strictly require that SD-cards are formatted (wiped of data) before returned. This is primarily to avoid accidental sharing of sensitive data (eg. audio-interviews, photos, etc.), but it also makes it easier for the next borrower to get…

If you want to work with capacitive touch sensing in AIR LAB, we have several MPR121 modules available for Arduino. This is a tutorial of how to get started with the very basics of capacitive touch sensing. This includes how to establish electrodes as toggles, buttons, and proximity sensors via the MPR121 library, published by Bare Conductive. At the very bottom of this page, we have gathered useful documentation to help you get further with capacitive touch sensing if needed. What is capacitive touch sensing? Capacitive touch sensing, is at its very core a constant measure of the change in the conductivity of a circuit.…

When working with Raspberry Pi it can be useful to do complete backups of the SD card. The most obvious reason relates to securing your prototype if something breaks, but it also allows you to quickly revisit old projects without setting up a new OS. The backup is created with the imager tool applePiBaker. The resulting diskimage is a compressed file that mirrors the entire SD card. Upon restoring, the image is burned to a new SD card in compressed state and subsequently expanded in the Raspberry Pi config. What you will need Raspberry Pi  micro SD card from a functional Pi that needs backing up micro…

This tutorial will run you through setting up a Raspberry pi that automatically launches a customizable dias-show from an external drive when booted. What you will need Raspberry Pi w/screen, mouse, keyboard and powersupply 16gb micro SD card for Pi OS USB Flash drive for media files   Setting up the Pi Download the Raspberry Pi Imager Software and install the latest Raspberry Pi OS on your SD card Boot the raspi and follow the setup wizard. From the desktop go to pi > preferences > raspberry pi configuration > display and disable screen blanking: Install feh and xscreensaver by running the following commands in the…

Reading RFID tags in Processing with the OLIMEX MOD-RFID125 scanner This example shows how to read RFID tags from the Processing coding environment, using the OLIMEX MOD-RFID125 scanner. The scanner emulates a USB keyboard, making this a very easy thing get started with. Needed to run this example 1 x OLIMEX MOD-RFID125 scanner (link) A laptop with Processing installed (processing.org/download/) 4 x RFID (125 kHz) cards/tags NB: One card/tag is enough to make it work, but you wont be able to see the full code work Trying it out Download and unzip the Processing example code MOD_RFID125_reader from the OLIMEX_RFID_scanner folder in our Tutorials repository.…

This tutorial shows a way of doing position and orientation tracking of a person using a Kinect sensor (IR webcam) and three IR LEDs. The code example used here was developed for an interactive sound installation with the need to track a personfrom above, getting both position and orientation. Normally getting the position of a person is pretty straight forward using a Kinect, but also getting the orientation of the person is a bit more tricky. In order to do this we developed the code resources included in this tutorial, and a headgear that could be mounted on a set of over-ear headphones. The headgear…

This tutorial will show how to setup a load cell with Arduino. Load cells comes in a variety of forms that allows for different tasks and categories of weight. They generally work by converting force into resistance, which can be measured and used in a broad variety of projects. This tutorial will use a single-point rectangular load cell rated for 20kg. This cell requires fastening between two surfaces to function properly. We will use the HX711 wheatstone bridge to measure with Arduino. You will need Load Cell, 20kg rectangular, fastened between two surfaces. HX711 wheatstone bridge Arduino + USB-cable  Breadboards Jumper wires Building the setup…

In this short tutorial you can see how we schedule the running of Processing sketches (code) on a Raspberry Pi. In part 1 you can see how to set up a processing sketch to run on a schedule using CRON scheduling. In part 2 you can see how to set it up so the sketch runs when the Pi boots up, and make scheduled reboots using LXSessions and CRON. What you need A Raspberry PI with Raspberry Pi OS, or Rasbian. Basic knowledge of Raspberry PI and Processing. The Processing sketch For this tutorial we are using a simple Processing sketch that writes three random…

Utilizing Unity with the Oculus Quest 2 allows you to create your own VR experience for your project. Similarly, you can use the Quest 3 with Unity to develop AR experiences, unlocking even more possibilities for your projects. You will need experience with Unity to utilize this. Here are links to the guides we currently find most useful for setting up the development environments for Oculus Quest & Oculus Go. NB: We try to keep these updated, as this frequently changes, so please let us know if you encounter any problems with these links or the guides they reference. Setting up Unity for Oculus Quest…

Introduction This tutorial shows how to measure sound level in an environment using the KY-037 sensor and Arduino. The sensor offers two different outputs: A digital signal which is changed depending on a certain threshold of sound, and an analog signal representing the soundlevel. The sensor works best with audio/noise sources in close proximity. What you will need Arduino + USB cable KY-037 sound sensor Jumper wires Arduino example code found via our GitHub Page Preparing setup Connect Arduino and KY-037 as shown on schematic and table below. Connect the Arduino to your computer and upload the code to the Arduino Using the digital output…