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[on:]

Hi there, Firstly im sorry if i have posted this up in the wrong place, Ill gladly move this post if thats the case!.
Im working on a project currently at university and i plan on including arduino within it.
Ill explain as best as i can what ive made and what i plan on doing.

So i have a character ive designed and cut out on a laser cutter, Its a cast acrylic bird (similar to an angrybird) with a space inside of 80mm x 80mm.
Ive ordered an arduino kit and will make any alterations to it so the components will fit inside snugly.

My concept is that this bird will plug into your computer and once the software is running It will alert you when someone responds or messages you on twitter, I want to make the bird either flap its wings, make a tweeting noise and maybe have some LED's behind the eyes.

As im completely new to arduino this is going to be quite a task, and any help you can offer would be appreciated.

So i ask of you internet, firstly is it possible to use arduino to play a soundclip through a small speaker, or maybe play a soundclip through some other method that can be housed inside the bird?. Can i make arduino perform multiple functions all at one time? And last of all, Where do i start when trying to communicate with twitter?.


Im not asking any of you to do this work, but any help or a push in the right direction would be a great help.

[Reply #1 on:]

The electro-mechanical parts seem conceptually simple and are mainly a matter of styling and construction. The main issue I see is that the sketch needs some way to receive information from twitter.

The main options I can see are :

• Install an application on the PC to access twitter and send commands to the 'angry bird' via serial over USB (this is the simplest, but requires some software installation on the host PC which makes your product platform-specific). You would need to solve the problem of identifying the right serial port.
• Provide the Arduino with a WiFi or Ethernet interface (and proxy details and credentials etc) and access twitter from the Arduino.
• Provide a 3G modem (and data plan) and access twitter from the Arduino.

[Reply #2 on:]

Thanks for the extremely quick response, I think once i have spent some time experimenting and getting used to the basics the construction shouldn't be too difficult to work out, Ive attached some images of a card and an acrylic mock up just in case anyone is interested.
Would there be a program you could recommend me to use for this? For the sake of the project a host pc running an application would be enough to show my end result, But if its a success i would like to put everything online for other people to make if there interested!.
Unfortunately the last two options are not really available to me right now due to having no money left over, But still thank you for future reference, Ive had a look into the Arduino wifi shield's and will definitely purchase one in the near future.

[Reply #3 on:]

You need to purchase a wifi or Ethernet shield. Good luck on your cool project!

[Reply #4 on:]

Thanks for the advice!. Currently i cant afford to purchase one but its definitely on my list of things to buy, So using an Ethernet shield would allow the Arduino to run a sketch that connects to the internet?