(YouTube Link)

If you ever wanted finer control over your Etch-A-Sketch lines, then you may want to consider splicing in a NES controller! Here’s the process as described by Alpinedelta32, the creator of this brilliant mod:

I connected the etch-a-sketch knobs to stepper motors, which are then controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. The Arduino program I wrote takes signals from the NES controller and sends them as stepper motor control instructions.

Low tech toys meets high tech mod, this is what geeks do with their toys when they grow up!

–via Endgadget

Ed Rogers likes to keep the windows of his bedroom open. But he lives next to active railroad tracks, which makes his bedroom very noisy at times. So he assembled a machine that closes the windows automatically when a motion sensor detects a train on the tracks. The windows don’t close quickly, but once they are shut, there is a noticeable decrease in noise.

-via DVICE

Open the cardboard box and enter the fabulous world of Super Mario Bros. Our hero is controlled with a plastic straw. Running into the magnetic sticker Goombas will cause a sensor on Mario to reset the game. If you’re up for the challenge of making your own video game hardware, the source code is available from Teagueduino.

Link -via Geeks Are Sexy | Teagueduino

HAC:Manchester, a hackerspace community in Manchester, UK, made a huge Etch A Sketch. The image is projected onto the screen from the rear. An arduino controller permits the knobs to be used in the traditional manner of the classic toy. Shaking the screen, as the user above is doing, gradually erases the screen — again, just like with an actual Etch A Sketch.

Link and Video via Make

Simon Lanson’s record player is an odd juxtaposition of technologies. It’s powered by a tiny steam engine and controlled by an Arduino processor. In the above video, it plays “God Save the Queen” by The Sex Pistols.

Link via Technabob

Felix Vorreiter invented the txtBomber, a handheld gadget that prints text on any flat surface using Arduino-controlled pens:

The txtBOMBER is a one-hand-guerillia-tool – a machine not much bigger than a pressing iron – that generates political statements on the fly and immidiately prints them on any flat surface.
If you feel you are part of our modern viewless generation, the txtBOMBER is the perfect tool for you!

Link via DudeCraft | Video

“Cardboard Mechanics” is an art installation created by four students at the Utrecht School of Art and Technology in the Netherlands. It is a clockwork machine built out of cardboard and controlled by an arduino. You can view more videos of the machine at the link.

Link via The Presurfer

Steve Hoefer made an arduino-controlled glove that can play rock-paper-scissors. Sensors on the glove determine what move the user makes while the glove offers its own. It learns patterns in the way that the user plays and tries to anticipate the user’s strategy.

Hoefer provides building instructions and schematics at the link.

Link via CrunchGear

Pong Prom is a video game/art project developed by Ed Keeble modeled on the 1972 video game Pong. Users were special hoodies with display panels on the front. They control the paddles by moving their partners back and forth in a slow-dancing motion:

The project uses the Lilypad Arduino platform to control game play, run the display, and communicate between devices. Patches of conductive fabric on the shoulders, hips, and cuffs of the shirts are used to create a serial connection between the Arduinos. An accelerometer attached at the back of the neck allows each player to control their game paddle by rocking their partner back and forth.

In the links, you can find a video demonstrating the system.

Link via Technabob | Video Demonstration | Photo: Department of Covert Athletics

I made these plastic milk bottle lights by embedding LEDs in the caps, hanging them from a bent section of pipe and hooking them up to an Arduino microcontroller.

Not happy with an on-off switch, I thought they might look mesmerising with a rotary control knob turning them on in sequence. It works! They make great low lighting to wind down for sleep, and they’re great to hang in the hall for parties too.

There are complete build instructions on Instructables.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Nachimir.