I’ve recently been playing with an Arduino Nano, and I have to say I love it. It takes me back to having various electronic kits for Christmas, and building things with connect-this-to-that wiring diagrams, jumper leads and spring terminals. The Arduino is even better, in fact, since hardware interfacing is made a great deal easier by being fully programmable, all from a desktop computer.

So, here’s an idea: I’d love to see a hardware experiment with an Arduino, a clear plastic box of iron filings, and a mutating magnetic field. This could be realised via traditional bar magnets connected to stepper motors on different axes, or perhaps some electromagnets placed around the box. Could animated sculptures be achieved? If nothing else, it’d make great a YouTube video – we just need a lolcat to be pawing with fascination at the movement inside.