Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! This fun pack has all the fun without the soldering. Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper. This is the assembled version, for kits visit our kit page.
Runs on a single AAA battery for many hours (even ‘nearly dead’ batteries will work)
Use pencils, brushes, people, fabric, anything you want to make noise.
Ridiculously fun for all ages
The assembled Drawdio pack contains:
Assembled & tested Drawdio – no soldering required!
Large brush
Soft lead pencil + thumbtack
2 x Alligator clips
4 x Wire ties (the photo shows 2, but the kit has 4)
12″ of copper tape
There’s lots more information at the Drawdio kit website Including a bunch of inspirational videos here. The Drawdio kit was designed in collaboration with Jay Silver based on his original design.
For more information, check out the LCD datasheet (marginally useful) or the HD4470 datasheet with useful stuff like the character map. To use with an Arduino, we suggest using our library (see below). This one is faster, more complete, uses 1 less pin and is works with more LCDs.
To use, connect pin 1 (GND) to ground, pin 2 (VDD) to +5V, pin 3 (Vo) to the middle of the pot, pin 4 (RS) to Arduino pin 7, pin 5 (RW) to ground, pin 6 (E) to Arduino pin 8, leave pins 7-10 disconnected, pin 11 thru 14 (DB4-DB7) to Arduino pins 9 thru 12, pin 15 (BL+) to +5V and pin 16 (BL-) to ground. See For a detailed photo if you’re having difficulty (the pinout is the same for 16×2 and 20×4 LCDs)
If you’re not using Arduino 17+, then delete the old LiquidCrystal library in Arduino/hardware/libraries and in its place copy the updated LiquidCrystal library. Now in the IDE select the LiquidCrystal->HelloWorld example sketch to try it out! (You may need to adjust the contrast pot.) For a detailed guide on using the LCD, check out the the Arduino LiquidCrystal Reference and LiquidCrystal Tutorial
The ScrewShield is a “wing-format” shield that extends the Arduino pins to sturdy, secure, and dependable screw terminal blocks. (You even get a few bonus terminals for extra GND and power!)
The wing design allows you to extend just one or both sides (“analog” & “digital”) of the Arduino, and still access the jumpers, LEDs, and buttons on the Arduino.
Thanks to its extra-long header pins, the ScrewShield can be stacked above or below other shields.
Special thanks to everyone who attended and participated in our chat, great questions! Join us next week 10/10/2009 10pm ET! Congrats to Matt for winning the trivia question too!
Q: Who was the fourth woman in the United States to obtain a pilot’s license?
A: Katherine Stinson… Also, On July 18, 1915, Stinson became the first woman to perform a loop, at Cicero Field in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to perform this feat some 500 times without a single accident. She also was one of the first women authorized to carry airmail for the United States.
One weekend this past July, an invitation-only group of 40 artists, designers, and researchers from design hotspots and leading institutions such as IDEO, Microsoft Research, NYU, Stanford, Umeå Institute of Design, Wired Magazine UK, and Yamaha, among others (complete list here), gathered in an (almost) secret location in London. During the fourth-annual Sketching In Hardware Conference (SH09), three big-impact themes emerged: tools to support the design of better, more complex experiences; the challenges of open innovation; and the basic conditions for open devices to become a reality
Yes, the rumors are true. In October, chumby industries will be launching the new chumby one. It is every bit a chumby, but still a little different from the chumby classic that you know and love. Obviously a different look and some other differences that we will soon tell you about, for example an optional battery capability.
For those playing at home, the Chumby is one of the few 100% open source hardware projects in the retaily commercial space. Bunnie and gang have done an excellent job with keeping the design open as well as improving the next gen Chumby. Looks like the new model will have: FM radio and the processor has been bumped up from 350mhz to 454mhz.
Printable catalog (PDF)
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