Change internal logic from relays to an Arduino
Redo

© Lead Image © donatas1205, 123rf.com
An electronic project at a local science center was showing its age, calling for a refresh: in this case, rebuilding it almost from scratch with an Arduino instead of relays.
A museum exhibit called Buzzwire looks like outlines of two oversized hands giving you a high five (Figure 1). Each hand has a metal handle with a loop, and your goal is to move the loops up and down the hand without touching it. For an even bigger challenge, you can try to do both hands at once in the same or opposite directions. If either loop touches the hands, a buzzer and light come on and the handle vibrates.
The original circuitry for the hands comprised interconnecting timer relays to switch the assorted components. The design had no microcontrollers or anything smarter than a switch, which had several drawbacks – but the main one was that if the puzzle was abandoned mid-run, the light, buzzer, and vibration motor would run continuously until the handles were removed.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.