Do you spend a lot of time opening and closing your blinds each day? With this project from FreedomToCreate you can create your own automated blind controller which allows you to open or close your blinds based on a schedule, current temperature or outdoor light levels. The blinds are driven up and down by a stepper motor so that you can have precise control over the position. You can even have the added flexibility of controlling your blinds from your smartphone. Although it sounds like a relatively minor “chore” it is amazing how much time you could save across an entire year if you didn’t have to worry about your blinds! This is a really great project to develop your maker skills and learn how to create internet connected devices. To get started on this handy project check out the instructable.
If you're looking to develop projects based on an Arduino that use stepper motors - simplify the process with our Freetronics StepDuino board:
The StepDuino is a complete, self-contained Arduino-compatible board with 2 onboard stepper motor drivers, 2 servo outputs, a 20x4 LCD, a micro SD card slot, and more! It's a fantastic general purpose board for any project that uses stepper motors. You can use it as the brain of your automated blinds!
The StepDuino uses the same processor architecture as the common Arduino Uno, so you can program it right from the Arduino IDE simply by selecting "Arduino Uno" as the board type. Everything simply works out of the box, just as it would with a regular Arduino - but now you can also drive steppers directly and display feedback on the huge LCD. For more information, tutorials and to order - visit the StepDuino page.
Considering automating your blinds? Have a project you would like us to feature in this blog? Let us know in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.
