Berlin, Germany workshops

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Workshops
1

Hello all. Next on my to-do list is a workshop at the UdK (Universitat der Kunst), which would be sponsored by their student organization called Interflugs. I also found that you can buy Arduino boards over-the-counter in Charlottenberg at an electronics store called Segor: http://www.segor.de/

Post here if you're in Berlin and may be interested in attending.

-JD
www.jditmars.net

2

Workshop round-up (review)

Our brief 3-session workshop was highly productive!

1st session:

  • We began with a simple introduction to Arduino and interfacing: blinking LEDs and reading from switches.
  • Then we did an analog input example by reading a potentiometer.
  • To see the precise digital result, we printed the variable to the screen using Arduino's serial functions and the IDE's "Serial Monitor".
  • After an overview of the functionality of servo motors, we linked the POT input to a PWM output to turn a hobby servo motor.

2nd session:

  • Clemens was interested in reading an Optical Encoder, so our first order of business was a brief tutorial on the functionality of the encoder, with it's common pin, and two out-of-phase pulse outputs.
  • After another tutorial on the microcontroller's hardware interrupt functionality, we used the elegant example program (playground link here) to read the encoder and print it's position to the IDE monitor.
  • Johannes and I worked on the wiring for his stepper motor driver chip.
  • Julian and Sascha wanted to wire Arduino to Flash, so we began with the "Flash VS Arduino" sample program from Jowan Sebastian. Installing all of the java drivers was a bit tricky, but we eventually got it to work on all of our machines. We were happy to see the bunny open and close his mouth at the end of the course!

3d session:

  • We found that modifying the Jowan Sebastian Flash<>Arduino code was not very easy, so we went back to do some research to see if a broader functionality had already been sketched. We were happy to find Kasper Kamperman's zipfile (download it here) on the Playground. His code uses a simple and elegant communication method in which Flash sends an array of outputs (via a serial proxy) to the serial port. When Arduino hears this message, it immediately responds with an array that contains the state of all of it's input pins.
  • It was easy to modify this code to send more or less elements by simply adding to or subtracting from the array. For Julian and Sascha, we wanted Arduino to take inputs from an "Accelerometer", which is a little digital levelling device that warms up and measures the position of a tiny air bubble as it tilts. The device sends pulses on two pins to represent X and Y tilt. We had Arduino convert these pulses into integers. We added two more elements to the array to communicate the integers back to Flash. It worked brilliantly and we were happy to see our two new sliders visually represent the Accelerometer on the screen.
  • Meanwhile, Clemens had swiftly decoded a set of LCD displays that he had salvaged from some old phones. He showed how he could use and input switch and his encoder to move around the display and select from the set of ASCII characters.

I am quite happy with our ability to swiftly research, find examples, modify code, and solve problems with Arduino. I plan to use it in future workshops and classes for Artists and Designers. Hopefully we can continue with a full class at the KHB Weissensee in the spring. I am also proposing a similar introductory workshop for the UdK Berlin.

-Jason Ditmars
www.jditmars.net

3

Just a quick update:

I'm hosting 2 more workshops on Arduino this winter:

  1. Kunsthochschule Weissensee - sponsored by the Design Department and ASV. Starts Sat Feb 2

  2. Universitaet der Kunst - sponsored by ASTA. Starts in April.

contact me if you are interested in attending

-Jason Ditmars
www.jditmars.net

4

hello jason

i'm in berlin thursday 31 jan to give a talk at club transmediale, let's meet up

massimo

5

hello jason

i'm in berlin thursday 31 jan to give a talk at club transmediale, let's meet up

massimo

hej massimo, could you tell more about the location? i always get lost in the transmediale programme and stuff like that. i thought "club" transmediale was more about music and live visuals than talks...but what do i know. anyway hope to see you there.

@jason
i'll try to attend the weißensee workshop. glad to notice my school is really getting into this now. isn't this like your third workshop within the last half year? really cool. hope i'll find the time.

kuk

6

I'm going to be at

// [BN] BALLHAUS NAUNYSTRASSE
Naunynstrasse 27
10997 Berlin-Kreuzberg

7

Good to hear that you'll be in Berlin, Massimo. It would be great to meet you. I plan to take the Arduino group on a field trip to Transmediale on Saturday Feb 2nd. Our first meeting is actually tomorrow (Thursday the 31st). I hope that we can get in touch. I will send you my contact details in a PM. How long are you in town?

-Jason Ditmars
www.jditmars.net

8

to everybody who is planning to join in the field trip to Transmediale tomorrow, Saturday Feb 2nd: the BVG went on strike this morning, the public transport system will be down until tomorrow 3 pm. So I guess we have to find alternative transportation means. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow, so that we can go by bike..
see you tomorrow, Julian

9

hi there,
hope to see you tomorrow at 13:15 http://www.arduino.cc/yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/smiley.gif
sascha

10

Interest in Arduino and Electronics for Artists and Designers is surging in Berlin! I'm currently giving a full-fledged course on Arduino to Design students at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee (KHB). We meet every Monday in the Design Department.

I'm also giving weekend workshops at the Universität der Künste (UdK) near the Cafe in their main building at Hardenbergstraße 33. The first one is happening now, with over 20 students attending, and Interflugs (the school student organization) has agreed to sponsor a second one coming soon.

In the first workshop we covered:

  • Introduction to the Arduino Microprocessor Platine
  • Introduction to Electricity, Theory and Components
  • Uploading and Modifying the "blink" program to Arduino to flash an L.E.D.
  • Switch Inputs with Pull-up Resistors
  • Soldering
  • Reading a Potiometer and writing feedback to the Serial Monitor
  • Driving Relays with Transistors and Diodes
  • Introduction to C Programming for Microcontrollers
  • Diagnostic Tools: The Multimeter
  • Using motors: Servo, DC (PWM), and Steppers

We've got some momentum now. I'm looking forward to some fascinating projects.

-Jason Ditmars
www.jditmars.net

11

The next Berlin 3-day workshop will be this summer at the Universität der Künste.
It will be held in the large room next to the Cafe in the main building at Hardenbergstr. 33.

ADVANCED DEVICE and SENSOR CONTROL with ARDUINO
25.07.08 - 27.07.08

Friday July 25th, 17:00-20:00h
Saturday July 26th, 11:00-15:00h
Sunday July 27th, 11:00-15:00h

ANMELDUNG: Um sich für diesen Workshop anzumelden, kommt bitte montags von 15 bis 18 Uhr ins Interflugs Büro in der Hardenbergstr. 33, Raum 33! Es ist ein Pfand von 20 Euro zu hinterlegen, der Workshop an sich ist kostenlos!

12

God do I miss Germany, love your country!

13

to get a short report about the workshop ...

ein kurzer Bericht wäre schön, ein langer auch ;-))

Grüße nach Berlin
Paul

14

Had another workshop at the UdK recently. This was an another advanced 3-day workshop sponsored by Interflugs, from Oct 25-28.

  • We looked at using the MAX7219 to drive an 8x8 LED matrix or a series of 7-segment numerical displays.

  • We also looked at a dual stepper motor driver based on the L2930NE.

  • Finally we did some coding examples that took a simple analog input from a pot (for speed control), and drove a servo motor output (with custom PWM code that uses the internal timer). Our robotic motor would cycle through four positions... as we increased the speed we could watch as it failed to reach a certain position, and played "catch-up" to our control signals.

Was a very fun workshop and I thank everyone who participated. Should I post the code samples here? Also feel free to contact me if you would like to organize future workshops in Berlin.

-Jason Ditmars
www.jditmars.net

15

Hi all, I'm new to the Arduino world, I already love to this little device :smiley:

I'm from Italy, but I moved to Berlin a few months ago.

I'm interested in the Arduino workshop, especially on advanced sensor for a project that I had for several years.

My ideas is basically a sensor for photometry [i.e. 350-750 nm] modified to work in the infrared range > 800nm.

That device (depending on how many sources and detectors you use) can perform a very basic spectrometry, allowing, for example, distinguishing between different materials or degree of humidity, without any physical contact with the sample.

Have anybody suggestion on where I can find inexpensive Laser or LED emitting in that strange ranges? I've found w w w . roithner-laser.at [sorry I can't post link] other inputs are welcome.

Mario

16

We're running a workshop this Saturday (21st March 2009) with a strong Arduino component - more towards control rather than sensor input. It's with the wonderful Gijs Gieskes from NL and will start at 2PM: pickledfeet, Linienstrasse 54, Berlin 10119 near Rosa Luxemburg Platz. Price 10 euros.

best wishes
Martin