Vibration and the Intel Edison Sparkfun Starter Pack

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1

So, I’m toying with the idea of various projects revolving around augmented senses, and I’d like to do a wearable that uses vibration using my Intel Edison, which came in the aforementioned Starter Pack. However, it doesn’t appear that there is any sort of vibration block available for that style of block-stacking, and Arduino looks potentially a bit bulky for a wearable solution.

I’m truly not sure where to get started on the vibration. Is there a block I can use with something else to do vibration, or a SparkFun Edison block solution I’ve managed to overlook when searching?

Thanks!

2

What level of vibration? There are some cheap piezo sensors that can be amplified. Also, the Arduino ProMini is less than an inch wide.

3

Vibration noticeable in a wearable application with one or two layers of cloth between it and the user, ideally with some amount of variation in intensity of output vibration (though I suppose it could be pulsed at different duty cycles) – which I’m realizing just now I wasn’t clear about, as it looks like piezo sensors are for sensing vibration (among other things), not generating it.

I’m figuring it’s not the Arduino itself, but the available vibrating shields, that would be sizable.

4

Yes, much clearer now. The typical way to generate, as opposed to sensing, vibration is to use an offset weight motor. Here are a bunch: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8449 and http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/p … ?dept=1107

They are regular motors, but have a small weight offset from the center and the out of balance rotation causes the motor to vibrate. Works pretty well. I made a vibrator with a 1/10HP motor and even with the platform suspended from nylon rope, you could feel the vibration throughout the house.

5

Excellent, thanks – just one question, can I wire that directly to GPIO, or would it be wiser to use additional parts to protect the processor?

6

It is not possible to power motors directly from microprocessor IO pins; the pins and possibly also the processor will be destroyed. At minimum you need a suitable transistor and a resistor for on/off switching, plus a flyback diode across the motor terminals to prevent large voltage spikes.

7

jremington is correct. You need a driver from the edison to handle the motors. There are many circuits online you can use as examples. I offer [this one as a prebuilt easy to use interface for Arduinos, etc. to drive motors and other high current DC loads.](http://www.cedarlakeinstruments.com/blog/archives/219)

8

Thank you both, that helps quite a bit.

9

For one of the little vibrator motors suggested above, a very simple circuit will work. I’ve attached an example. All the parts may be substituted with similar ones. Be sure to connect the motor battery and the microcontroller grounds together.