What are some ideas for an embedded and/or robotic

Question

I'd like to start messing around programming and building something with an Arduino board, but I can't think of any great ideas on what to build. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Bicycle-related ideas:

• theft alarm (perhaps with radio link to a base station which is connected to a PC by Ethernet)
• fancy trip computer (with reed switch or opto sensor on wheel)
  • integrate with a GPS telematics unit (trip logging) with Ethernet/USB download of logged data to PC. Also has an interesting PC programming component--integrate with Google Maps.

Other ideas:

• Clock with automatic time sync from:
  • GPS receiver
  • FM radio signal with embedded RDS data with CT code
  • Digital radio (DAB+)
  • Mobile phone tower (would it require a subscription and SIM card for this receive-only operation?)
  • NTP server via:
    • Ethernet
    • WiFi
    • ZigBee (with a ZigBee coordinator that gets its time from e.g. Ethernet or GPS)
  • Mains electricity smart meter via ZigBee (I'm interested now that smart meters are being introduced in Victoria, Australia; not sure if the smart meters broadcast the time info though, and whether it requires authentication)
• Metronome
• Instrument tuner

Answer 2

I'm currently developing plans to automate my 30 year old model train layout.

Answer 3

This reverse-geocache puzzle box was an awesome Arduino project. You could take this to the next step, e.g. have a reverse-geocache box that gives out a clue only at a specific location, and then using physical clues found at that location coupled with the next clue from the box, determine where to go for the next step.

Answer 4

You could do one of the firefighting robot competitions. We built a robot in university for my bachelor's final project, but didn't have time to enter the competition. Plus the robot needed some polish anyway... :)

Video here.

Mind you, this was done with a Motorola HC12 and a C compiler, and most components outside the microcontroller board were made from scratch, so it took longer than it should. Should be much easier with prefab components.