solar bird

What is a solar bird?

There are many species of solar birds. This one (like most) feeds on sunlight through a solar cell. Its brain is made up of an ATtiny13 microcontroller. With the help of a computer (and a human) it can learn new songs. A piezo speaker is the bird's voice. A resistor limits the inrush current through the piezo when the bird starts singing. And a capacitor supplies food during shady periods.

Code

The solar bird can be programmed via the ISP header using a USBasp programmer and the command make flash.

The code can be found in Urban Bieri's repository. He developed it together with Christoph Haberer (ChrisMicro) based on Christoph's original code from 2008.

Images

Here is a rendering of the PCB front, with components:

A beautiful solar bird made by a student at Kollegi Schwyz in September 2020 (workshop with Felix Bänteli, using an older PCB version):

PDFs

The schematic:

solar_bird_schematic.pdf

Use a 3V or 4V solar cell.

KiCad files

The schematic and layout were drawn in KiCad 5.1.8. You can find the project in this directory.

I am experimenting with different PCB layouts that share the same schematic. Therefore there are three project files between which one can switch in the project tree (using the right mouse button):

• solar_bird.pro (to edit the schematic)
• solar_bird_pcb_01.pro (to edit layout version 1)
• solar_bird_pcb_02.pro (to edit layout version 2)

License

CC .. ..

To dos

• Arduino code as an alternative to main.c & makefile?
• Provide a guide for tweaking the code
• Program via audio bootloader and corresponding hardware? (We likely need to switch to ATtiny45 or 85)
• Add alternative footprints for SMD components?
• Add labels in copper layer for DIY etched version
• Plot PDF and Gerber files for production
• Correct GitHub link in label on silkscreen layer
• Add license

Research

• Where and when did this solar bird first appear - SGMK diy-makeaway? Who was there?