But at that moment I didn’t realize automated sprinklers would become an important part of my life for the next few years. The mint-tin valve controller was a rewarding project and a lot of fun to make. Mint-tin Water Valve Controller Arduino-based OpenSprinkler I published the project along with a demo video as my first ever blog post: “ A Mint-tin Water Valve Controller.” A few days later it got posted on the Make: blog.
#Opensprinkler bee pro#
I started doing research on it, and a few weeks later, I completed the first functioning prototype built with an Arduino Pro Mini, a wireless transceiver, and a homemade PCB. What if I need more flexible watering schedules? What if I am traveling and need to turn off sprinklers remotely? Wouldn’t it be cool if I could build my own sprinkler controller, set schedules any way I want, and even better, program it wirelessly? My experience in Arduino got me seriously thinking about the idea. The sprinkler timers sold in retail stores looked like they were designed in the 80’s - very limited functionality and no web connectivity at all. I went to retail stores and wasn’t very happy with what I found there. I had to shop for a sprinkler timer to water the lawn regularly. An opportunity came when I installed a new lawn in my backyard in spring of 2010. I’d always hoped to use Arduino in a home automation project. Recently I’ve offered several wearable electronics workshops at UMass and nearby colleges, using an Arduino-based controller board that I designed called SquareWear. I started giving lectures on Arduino and physical computing in the Computer Graphics and Java programming classes that I teach. Together with my students, we built a camera remote for taking time-lapse photos, and a controller for a pan-tilt camera that tracks objects in real-time. I soon started learning about Arduino.Īs a Computer Science professor at UMass Amherst, I saw it as an inspiring and enabling tool for research and teaching. Getting to know Arduino was like re-discovering my childhood passion for electronics - I came to realize how much it would’ve enabled me to do had it existed when I was a kid. Open-source hardware, physical computing, Arduino, these were all brand-new concepts to me, and they looked completely fascinating. I first got to know Arduino when I read Phillip Torrone’s open source hardware gift guide in 2007. Taking apart used circuits, learning to solder, and etching PCBs - these were some of the happiest moments of my childhood. Most of the electronic parts I worked with back then were scavenged from waste circuit boards. I’ve had a passion for making electronic circuits since I was a kid, spending hours looking at schematics and building simple circuits like a single-transistor radio, an electronic cricket, a sound-controlled switch. This is the story of how learning Arduino inspired me to invent the OpenSprinkler - an open-source, web-based sprinkler controller. Graphics and More to Help Spread the Word Learn More About the Amazing Maker Awards Subscribe to the premier DIY magazine todayĬommunity access, print, and digital Magazine, and moreīrowse and Vote on Your Favorite Projects
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#Opensprinkler bee free#
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