Including voice instructions to a LEGO planetarium set with an Arduino Nano 33 IoT

From Mindstorms to Technic, LEGO has produced all kinds of units that give customers new studying and inventive experiences, and for Electromaker’s Robin Mitchell, this was the LEGO planetarium set. With it, rotational enter will trigger the Earth and moon fashions to orbit across the solar whereas sustaining sensible positions and even correct axial tilt. Curious about taking issues a step additional, Mitchell sought to motorize the complete show and provides it an IoT integration for voice management.

After assembling the set, Mitchell discovered that three rotations of the drive shaft would advance the mannequin’s time by someday, that means {that a} NEMA 17 motor may very well be simply related and turned with precision. As for the electronics, he opted for an Arduino Nano 33 IoT, an A4988 stepper motor driver module, and a 16×2 character LCD to point out the present community connection standing. Because of the Nano’s Wi-Fi connectivity, the mannequin can robotically sync to the present time and transfer accordingly upon boot.

The final characteristic of this motorized planetarium set is the voice management side, which was made doable via a mix of a easy internet app and an online server hosted on the Nano. When a person connects with their browser, they can present directions for advancing time in a unit comparable to days, weeks, or months by way of the JavaScript SpeechRecognition module. Then, as soon as the Nano receives these values, it instructions the stepper to rotate for the equal variety of steps.

To see extra about how Mitchell constructed this LEGO planetarium challenge, watch his Electromaker video beneath!