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https://hackaday.com/2012/03/26/digital-gaming-table-made-with-no-smoke-just-a-mirror/ | Digital Gaming Table Made With No Smoke, Just A Mirror | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"gaming",
"mirror",
"projector",
"table"
] | The concept of having a digital gaming table got stuck in [RobotGuy’s] mind over the weekend and he managed to whip this up in no time using materials on hand. He already had a ceiling-mounted projector which just happens to reside immediately above the space occupied by his coffee table. By swapping that piece of furniture out for a white Ikea table, and adding a mirror to the projector he now has
the virtual gaming surface he was looking for
. The mirror mount is nothing more than a desk lamp that includes a spring clamp and flexible neck. He hot glued the piece of mirror to this, and attached it to the projector’s ceiling anchor. Since rear-projection screens are common, all digital projectors have the ability to mirror and rotate the image being displayed so that it appears on the table in the correct orientation.
We love the look, but this is really only one portion of a digital gaming project. We think the table needs some interactivity. We often see this done
using infrared light processed by a webcam
. That multi-touch option is not going to work with a standard table since the camera needs to be on the opposite side of a translucent surface. But if you don’t mind using a stylus
this IR whiteboard technique would work
. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "612970",
"author": "Nate",
"timestamp": "2012-03-26T21:58:27",
"content": "I would want to put a few piezos under the surface and use them to triangulate taps.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "612982",
"author": "Akoi M... | 1,760,376,923.546395 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/26/arduino-aquarium-lights/ | Arduino Aquarium Lights | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"aquarium",
"cree",
"ds1305",
"light",
"rtc"
] | [Kalle Hyvönen] just finished
building his own aquarium lights
. He used four powerful soft-white LEDs, mounting them on a pair of heat sinks to keep things cool. Now he could have just connected them to the power supply and plugged it into the wall, but instead he included is own controller. An Arduino drives the switch-mode power supply, offering dimming thanks to PWM, and the ability to automatically switch the light on and off using an RTC chip with a battery backup. The sketch includes the ability to alter the lighting schedule and other variables by sending serial commands through a USB connection. This protocol is detailed with comments in his sketch.
We’ve seen a lot of interesting aquarium light projects. This one that
uses heat from the LEDs to warm the water
is one of our favorites. Others are full of features like
this version that includes a moonlight mode
. But Arduino enthusiasts don’t have to look far to find offerings like
this PAR meter build
, or
this aquarium light controller library
which can be recreated using the ubiquitous controller board. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "612940",
"author": "Faelenor",
"timestamp": "2012-03-26T20:44:07",
"content": "That’s funny, it’s almost the same thing as I’m doing right now! Except that I’m using the AVR chip directly, not an Arduino.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,376,923.732465 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/26/press-play-on-tape-for-your-fignition/ | Press Play On Tape For Your Fignition | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"fignition"
] | [Julian Skidmore] has been busy
improving the Fignition
, a tiny AVR-powered educational computer, to support loading programs from a cassette tape.
We first saw the Fignition after the
BBC decided to cover an old-school hacker
dedicated to improving computer education with a simple ‘bare-metal’ computer. [Julian]’s Fignition harkens back to the days of very simple computers like the BBC Micro and the TRS-80, and encourages students to work with PEEKs and POKEs instead of the decades of cruft that have accumulated on our laptops and desktops.
Because the Fignition is designed to hacker and student-friendly, it’s entirely possible to
build a keyboard
, or even
build a Fignition on stripboard
. Now, these students have much improved hardware that allows for saving and loading programs to tape (or any audio recorder) , and even a graphic video mode with 160×160 resolution.
We know it seems a little weird, but kids graduating High School this year were born in 1994, and in all probability have never laid their eyes on a Commodore 64, Sinclair Spectrum, or the other 1980s microcomputers an entire generation learned on. The Fignition is an attempt to stem the tide of ignorant masses unaware of how far the computer has progressed in the last 30 years, and we love it for that. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "612924",
"author": "fightcube",
"timestamp": "2012-03-26T20:09:45",
"content": "Very cool project and great logo! ;) Excellent price for such a fun tool/toy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "612929",
"author": "Chris",
"... | 1,760,376,923.496506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/25/simplecortex-for-when-an-arduino-is-too-wimpy/ | SimpleCortex, For When An Arduino Is Too Wimpy | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"arm cortex",
"dev board"
] | Sometimes, an Arduino just doesn’t have enough horsepower. Whether you’re gathering loads of sensor data and sending it over the web via Ethernet, or just trying to build a home-brew video game, it’s very easy to run into the limitations of the Arduino platform. [Rik] and his fellow classmates may have a solution to this problem with their
SimpleCortex development board
.
The SimpleCortex began as an answer to the Arduinos [Rik] and his classmates had to use at school. The SimpleCortex gets its name from an ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller running at 120MHz; more than fast enough to do some very interesting things, and 512kB of Flash to hold much larger programs.
The Arduino IDE is admittedly terrible, and big projects are a pain in the butt with a tiny 8-bit micro. SimpleCortex improves upon this development environment by using the free
CoCenter
IDE put out by
CooCox
. The CoCenter IDE supports debugging and code completion, standard features on any serious desktop programming environment.
The SimpleCortex has Arduino-compatable header pins, so it should be easy to use existing shields, like the
3G modem
we saw this week and the
NTSC video IO shield
that can do
object tracking
. While the specs of the SimpleCortex put it in a distant second to the
Raspberry Pi
,
sometimes you just don’t need Linux
, but a standard AVR or PIC isn’t quite enough.
There’s no word on when this board will be available, but the team is working with
ITead Studio
to officially release boards into the wild. | 46 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "612197",
"author": "Flame500",
"timestamp": "2012-03-25T19:34:10",
"content": "This is something I would really like to have. Having worked with ARM’s before, they are much harder to prototype with. I personally see little value add to to arduino since AVR’s need very little support... | 1,760,376,923.688298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/25/self-stabilizing-autonomous-bicycle/ | Self-stabilizing Autonomous Bicycle | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"bicycle",
"inverted pendulum"
] | For [Gunnar]’s diploma thesis, he wanted to build an autonomous bicycle. There’s an obvious problem with this idea, though: how, exactly does a robotic bicycle stand upright? His solution to balancing the bicycle
was a reaction wheel
that keeps the bicycle upright at all times.
A bicycle is basically an inverted pendulum; something we’ve seen controlled in
a number
of projects
. To balance his driver-less bike, [Gunnar] used a stabilizing wheel and an IMU to make sure the bicycle is always in the upright position. The bike measure the tilt and angular velocity of itself, along with the speed of the stabilizing wheel. To correct a tilt to the left, the stabilizing wheel spins clockwise, and corrects a rightward tilt by spinning counterclockwise.
While [Gunnar]’s solution of a bike wheel used as a gyroscope is clever – it uses common bicycle wheel, hugely reducing costs if someone wants to replicate this project – there’s not a whole lot of ground clearance. The size of the stabilizing wheel could probably be reduced by replacing the 7.4 kg steel wheel with a Tungsten, Osmium, or Lead disk, possibly becoming so small it could fit inside the frame. Still, though, a very nice build that is sure to turn a few heads.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAhQyBLxgu4&w=470] | 52 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "612062",
"author": "gizmoguyar",
"timestamp": "2012-03-25T15:56:36",
"content": "Very cool. I’ve seen small vehicles like this, but never a full size. I’d also be interested in seeing a bike that stays upright by steering. That’d be something to see, an RC bicycle.",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,376,923.818458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/25/antique-electromechanical-calculating-machines/ | Antique Electromechanical Calculating Machines | Jeremy Cook | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"calculator",
"electromechanical",
"ipad",
"mechanical"
] | The decision to use electronics for our calculating machines has long been decided. However, that doesn’t mean that mechanical engineers didn’t put up a valiant, if ultimately futile, fight.
[Dvice.com]
has an interesting article comparing the calculating technology of the 1960s, such as the [Haman 505], to today’s iPad.
This comparison and pictures were made possible by
[Mark Glusker]’s
excellent collection. These models can be divided into two categories, rotary calculators, and printing calculators. According to
[Mark]
‘s site, the printing calculators stayed on the market a few years after the rotary calculators, which were off the market by 1970.
Although we may never see machines like these made again, anyone even a little bit mechanically inclined would be hard pressed not to be inspired by this collection. Be sure to check out the video of a [Madas 20BTG] calculator after the break to see what one of the rotary models looks like in action!
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMaQppNIzC0%5D
Thanks [Caleb] and [Adam] for the sources of this article! | 18 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "611989",
"author": "ultimatereality92",
"timestamp": "2012-03-25T14:33:51",
"content": "It sounds and looks so beautiful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "612021",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2012-03-25T15:17:1... | 1,760,376,923.277103 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/24/make-your-own-atomic-clock/ | Make Your Own Atomic Clock | Caleb Kraft | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"atomic"
] | We see plenty of clock projects come through, but usually it is their visual or mechanical design that stands out. The
DCF-77 LED PIC clock
is fun because it is synchronized with the Atomic clock in
Braunschweig
Germany. The clock picks up the radio signal at 77.5 KHz known as DCF77, and that’s where it got its name.
The circuit looks surprisingly simple and usually costs less than $30 to build, depending on how you piece it together. You can download the schematics and code from the site, but you may have to do a little research about how to catch the signal from your location. The person who wrote this was located in Europe.
[found via
HackedGadgets
] | 30 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "611475",
"author": "Mrok",
"timestamp": "2012-03-24T19:11:07",
"content": "Make your own Atomic clock?Next week on Hackaday: Make you own Atomic Bomb!(actually just a crappy arduino hack that allows you to display video of an atomic explosion on a crappy nokia phone display)",
"... | 1,760,376,923.343433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/24/following-faces-with-opencv-and-arduino/ | Following Faces With OpenCV And Arduino | Caleb Kraft | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"face tracking",
"laser"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD4uFD7j0AU&w=470]
[Marco] has had some fun with
OpenCV in the area of face tracking
. Using an older laser project, he has cobbled together a system that will track a face and put a laser on it. While he is just using this as a proof of concept, it goes without saying that you probably shouldn’t mount a laser on a face tracker. However, stuffing this into a myKeepon wouldn’t be a horrible thing.
[Marco] shares the process of getting the OpenCV bit working in this writeup, you’ll have to refer back to his
laser gun
project for the physical build.
[via
Adafruit
] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "611529",
"author": "Nuno.S.Almeida",
"timestamp": "2012-03-24T21:00:10",
"content": "and a full blown computer. From the title it would seem the arduino was doing all the openCV processing…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "611530... | 1,760,376,923.859332 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/24/burning-plasma-screen-with-breathtaking-beauty/ | Burning Plasma Screen With Breathtaking Beauty | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"hdtv",
"high voltage",
"plasma",
"transformer"
] | At some point you’ve got to resign yourself to the fact that the TV you’ve been trying to resurrect is just not salvageable. But if you’re knowlegable about working safely with high voltage, you might get quite a show out of it yet. Here [Aussie50] finds
beauty in destruction when he fries a large plasma panel
from a broken HDTV.
The flyback transformer from a microwave oven drives the display. The video after the break starts off kind of boring at first but before long it takes off. As portions of the display burn out the electric arcs jumping those gaps provide a thrilling view for the remainder of the 14 minutes.
Don’t want to commit to a video that long? Here’s a display that
gives up the ghost after just four and a half minutes
but we don’t think it’s quite as cool.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZTIY-YIBZA&w=470] | 29 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "611348",
"author": "FrankTheCat",
"timestamp": "2012-03-24T14:12:34",
"content": "Yay Aussie50! He’s one of my favorite Youtubers; has a variety of cool stuff on his channel.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "611357",
"author"... | 1,760,376,923.917388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/23/smduino-helps-arduino-fit-into-tight-places/ | SMDuino Helps Arduino Fit Into Tight Places | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"smd",
"smduino",
"surface mount"
] | [Adam] was tired of plopping the same components over and over into his Arduino-based designs. He spent part of his weekend laying out a small board that would host everything he needed and could be built as a single component for all future projects. Above you can see the project he calls
SMDuino, an Arduino clone that can be used as a surface mount part
.
The contacts on four sides of the board break out the pins. They’ve been designed with 0.1″ pitch which means they will work with standard pin headers. But since they’re plated through from top to bottom they are easy to solder to surface mount pads as well. The project is open source, so you can order your own boards (he used DorkBot PDX) or email him if you want to get in on a pre-order. That is for unpopulated PCBs only. But there’s few components used here so it’s pretty inexpensive to throw together. You’ll need four caps, four resistors, a crystal, an LED, the ATmega*8 of your choice (an ATmega328 is used here), and a low dropout regulator. Of course it is
possible to go without the crystal oscillator
.
Does this remind anyone else of the Basic Stamp 2? | 21 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "610742",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": "2012-03-23T21:14:11",
"content": "Looks really sharp, and pretty compact when you solder headers on. As an SMD part though, I don’t really get it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "610... | 1,760,376,923.604787 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/the-first-raspberry-pi-build-is-a-mame-machine/ | The First Raspberry Pi Build Is A MAME Machine | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Linux Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"linux",
"mame",
"raspberry pi"
] | The Raspberry Pi was launched nearly a month ago, but these wonderful cheap single-board computers are still on their way from China to the workbenches of hackers and builders around the globe. Although they haven’t shipped yet, plenty of people are chomping at the bit to do something useful with the Raspi. [Nicholas] figured he should hit the ground running, so he
emulated a Raspberry Pi
to get everything ready for the MAME machine he’ll build when his new toy arrives.
[Nick] found a
Raspi VirtualBox image
on the official Raspberry Pi forums. After getting a web browser up and running with a few console keystrokes, he turned his attention to a MAME emulator. It’s a relatively simple install (although it did take six hours to compile), but we’re sure the Raspi will be featured in quite a few MAME builds so it was time well spent.
Sure, the Raspberry Pi you ordered a month ago is probably on a container ship in the middle of the ocean right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start planning your build. Just load up a VirtualBox image, check out a
few of the tutorials
, and you’re ready to go. | 28 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "609804",
"author": "rda",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T16:12:23",
"content": "VirtualBox is handy. Wish that all Linux distros made a habit of releasing official VB image alongside each updated iso (yeah, I know there are various unofficial releases around, with the regular drawbacks)."... | 1,760,376,924.286617 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/kinect-for-windows-resources/ | Kinect For Windows Resources | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"Kinect",
"kinect for windows",
"Visual Studio"
] | Despite having been out for nearly two months, the world has yet to see a decent guide to the Kinect for Windows. While the Xbox and Windows versions of the Kinect use basically the same hardware, there are subtle but important differences. Thanks to [Matthew Leone] and his awesome
summary of developer resources
, getting your Kinect project up and running is now a lot easier.
After getting the SDK from the
Microsoft Kinect for Windows site
, you might want to check out the
Microsoft Programming Guide
. The Windows Kinect can only be used with Visual Studio, but with that inflexibility comes a few added features. Both versions of the Kinect have a microphone array that allows for determining the direction of a sound source. The
Open Source driver
has very little support for audio input, but the official Microsoft version
has all the APIs
for audio capture, source localization, and speech recognition ready to go.
At $250, the Kinect for Windows is a fairly hefty investment. A used Xbox Kinect can be had for around $80, so we’re pretty certain the hacker community is going to steer itself away from the Windows version. Still, if you’re ever paid to develop something for the Kinect you might want the friendly APIs and features not found in the XBox version. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "609813",
"author": "Zee",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T16:29:36",
"content": "But can’t you use the Kinect for windows SDK with a regular kinect?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "609868",
"author": "Brian Benchoff",
... | 1,760,376,924.055969 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/ancient-laptop-given-new-life-as-mobile-prototyping-platform/ | Ancient Laptop Given New Life As Mobile Prototyping Platform | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"breadboard",
"compaq",
"laptop",
"prototyping"
] | What can you do with a broken Compaq SLT 286? Its briefcase-like size and shape actually make for
a pretty interesting portable electronic prototyping station
. [Philip] gutted the components and started adding back the items he most commonly uses when developing a project.
He shares all of the details in the video after the break. At center stage is a double breadboard where the keyboard would normally be found. It’s hard to make out in the image above, but there is a set of terminal strips running vertically to either side of these breadboards. Each terminal is connected to a peripheral or power/ground bus. The black knob to the left lets him adjust the output of a variable voltage regulator. To the lower right there’s a rotary encoder, push button, toggle switch, and a couple of potentiometers. These, along with the keypad and character display (mounted where the screen used to be) and DB connectors (on the back of the case) have their pins mapped to the terminal block to the right. [Philip] has mounted an Arduino Uno over the area to the bottom left, but we’re sure that it’s pretty easy to swap out for just about any breakout board he needs.
To answer [Philip’s] running dialog from the video: no, it is not the worst demo ever. We think you did a great job demonstrating all the features. Loose connections are par for the course when it comes to prototypes.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7jp4Ztcu8M&w=470] | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "609751",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T14:16:36",
"content": "I now must find my old laptop",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "612148",
"author": "JohnnyMc",
"timestamp": "2012-03-25T18:16:49",
... | 1,760,376,924.100209 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/robot-jellyfish-fueled-by-hydrogen-from-the-water-around-it/ | Robot Jellyfish Fueled By Hydrogen From The Water Around It | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"chemical reaction",
"hydrogen",
"jellyfish"
] | RoboJelly is certainly not what we’re used to seeing when it comes to robots. Instead of a cold metallic skeleton,
this softie is modeled after jellyfish
which have no bones. But that’s not the only thing that’s unusual about it. This robot also doesn’t carry its own power source. It gets the energy needed for locomotion from the water around it.
Artificial muscles are what give this the movement seen in the clip after the break. These muscles react to heat, and that heat is produced through a chemical reaction. The construction method starts with the muscle material, which is then covered in carbon nanotubes, and finally coated with black platinum dust. Sounds a bit like witchcraft, huh (Eye of newt, dragon heart string, etc.)? We certainly don’t have the chemistry background to understand how this all works. But we are impressed. So far it doesn’t have the ability to change direction, the flexing of all of the muscle material happens at the same time. But the next step in their research will be finding a way to route the “fuel” to give it some direction.
Edit
– Looks like it is fueled externally. The actual study
is here
, but you need to log in to download it.
This brings another jellyfish-inspired robot to mind.
Check out FESTO’s offering
which flies through the air with the greatest of ease.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2OSJQhHQp8&w=470]
[via
Reddit
] | 26 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "609705",
"author": "chic",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T13:07:50",
"content": "The second (FESTO) link is wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "609725",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T13:41:06",... | 1,760,376,924.170463 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/heads-up-display-mounts-on-brim-of-your-cap/ | Heads-up Display Mounts On Brim Of Your Cap | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"baseball cap",
"heads up display",
"heads-up"
] | [Matt Kwan] says that
coming up with a personal heads-up display
wasn’t that hard. Well that’s because he made design choices that make all the difference.
The goal here was to add some augmented reality to his field of vision. He went with a baseball cap because it’s a pretty easy way to strap something to your head. You can’t see it from this angle, but the setup requires you to cut a rather large hole in brim. The image from a smartphone (HTC Desire Z in this case) which is situated with the screen pointing toward [Matt’s] forehead. The screen reflects off of a small mirror, guiding the image down through a Fresnel lens mounted in the hole of the brim. The image is reflected a second time by the plastic in front of his eyes which is coated with a slightly mirrored material. Since the image is reflected twice it appears right-side up, and the use of the Fresnel lens places the image out about 20 cm in front of his view. He tried to get some images of the effect, but we think you’ve got to see it in person before passing judgement.
This does away with the need to track head movement (there’s a few
hacks for that
out there though). Augmented reality software is used to turn the view from the smartphone camera into overlay data for the display.
[Thanks Tom] | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "609277",
"author": "andar_b",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T22:15:54",
"content": "Tiny periscope. :D Reminds me of a submarine arcade game.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "609330",
"author": "JC",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T0... | 1,760,376,924.22421 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/aquarium-water-exchanger-built-from-keurig-parts/ | Aquarium Water Exchanger Built From Keurig Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"aquarium",
"clean",
"coffee maker",
"keurig",
"pump",
"siphon"
] | We keep seeing commercials for those Keurig coffee makers that use a plastic pod of grounds to brew just one cup of coffee. We’re pretty sure this is a fad, and absolutely sure that the extra packaging created by brewing with this method is a waste. But to each his own. [Danman1453] has two of the devices. One he bought, the other is a warranty replacement. He decided to scrap the malfunctioning unit and see if he could put it to good use. What he ended up with is
the aquarium pumping system you see above
.
It is conceived as tidier way to swap out the water in the fish tank. He had been using tubing to siphon the water, but found he almost always made a mess. This system uses an air pump to prime the water pump by pressurizing the tank which forces water into the lines. Once the water pump is primed he switches over to that for the rest of the work. He used an old metal tool box as an enclosure, using the cover to mount the push-buttons which route power to various components when pressed. Many of the parts were transplants from the coffee maker, but even if you sourced all of the components new this wouldn’t cost too much to put together. | 22 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "609238",
"author": "Tinkering Engineer",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T20:57:20",
"content": "Actually, it’s not always a waste. I manage a small industrial test lab, and we often have customers come in for testing. We often times make a whole pot of coffee for someone who drinks only a ... | 1,760,376,924.805563 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/dead-hdd-smartphone-stand-still-holds-secret-data/ | Dead HDD Smartphone Stand Still Holds Secret Data | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"hidden",
"secret",
"storage",
"thumb drive",
"usb drive"
] | We’ve actually got a few dead hard drives collecting dust so when we hear about a project that finds a use for one we perk up a bit. But we were somewhat disappointed when we discovered this was a smartphone stand, pen holder, and LED lamp in one. We just don’t have a use for this kind of triple-tasker. But wait… the dead drive has a secret. It still serves as data storage, if you know
how to enabling the drive within
.
As you can seen, [Samimiy] removed all the guts of the HDD, repurposing the platters and mounting brackets as the phone holder, and mounting plate for a couple handfuls of LEDs. The lamp portion can be adjusted thanks to the articulated based from a small desk lamp he had in his parts bin. The device receives power from the USB connector you can see in the upper right. That’s where the first part of the secret comes in. This isn’t just supplying power, it provides a USB connection to the thumb drive hidden inside the HDD case. But just connecting it to your computer won’t mount it. [Samimy] took the light sensor from an automatic nightlight and set it up below the pen holder. If you shine a flashlight down the hole in that piece of wood it will routed power to the secret USB drive causing it to enumerate on your system. Pretty clever! Take a look at his build video after the break.
We wonder if there’s a way to incorporate this light-based lock system into
that mouse-mounted thumb drive
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UaylHzq9GQ&w=470] | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "609181",
"author": "Twilight Sparkle",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T19:24:58",
"content": "Congratulations on receiving the award for most grammatical errors in a hackaday article! Here’s your very own Derpy Hooves.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,924.68334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/23/adding-speech-control-to-an-old-robotic-arm/ | Adding Speech Control To An Old Robotic Arm | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"python",
"robot arm",
"sl4a",
"speech recognition",
"telnet"
] | [Joris Laurenssen] has been hanging onto this robotic arm for about twenty years. His most recent project uses some familiar tools to
add voice control for each of the arm’s joints
.
The arm has its own controller which connects via a DB-25 port. [Joris’] first task was to figure out what type of commands are being sent through the connection. He did some testing to establish the levels of the signals, then hooked up his Arduino and had it read out the values coming through the standard parallel connection. This let him quickly establish the simple ASCII character syntax used to command movement from the device. There’s only eight command sets, and it didn’t take much work to whip up a sketch that can now drive the device.
The second portion of the project is to use voice commands to push these parallel signals to the arm. Instead of reinventing the wheel he decided to use the speech recognition feature of his Android phone. He used
Scripting Layer for Android
(SL4A) and a Python script to interpret commands, push them to his computer via Telnet, and finally drive the arm. We’ve embedded the video demo after the break. He gives the commands in Dutch but he overlaid comments in English so you can tell what’s going on.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaUX5g0on90&w=470] | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "610675",
"author": "everlastingphelps",
"timestamp": "2012-03-23T19:13:40",
"content": "Oh no! The dirty joke comes to life!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "611413",
"author": "jorisl42",
"timestamp": "2012-03-24T16:59:... | 1,760,376,924.723133 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/23/cardboard-framed-tricopter/ | Cardboard Framed Tricopter | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cardboard",
"tricopter",
"yaw"
] | Talk about reducing the costs of a build,
this tricopter uses cardboard as a frame
and has one less motor than its quadcopter relatives. There are almost no details other than those shared in the video after the break so we’re just going to guess based on what we see (feel free to share your own insight in the comments).
The smooth curves of this integrated landing pad makes us thing the frame was cut either with a CNC device or a utility-knife wielding ninja. Two of the three motor supports look just like what is shown above, but the third has a hinged mounting bracket attached to a servo motor. This way the propeller can be tilted around an axis running parallel to the support arm. We’d bet this feature is mainly for adjusting the yaw of the aircraft.
The video comments mention that this can hover when the throttle is at 45%, showing that there’s a lot lift available when needed. That is until you really weigh it down by
adding plastic cages around the propellers
. It’s kind of neat to see the thing ‘sticking’ to the ceiling at the end of that clip by driving the throttle wide open and using the cages as top-sided landing gear.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38768963 w=470]
[Thanks Carter] | 17 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "610632",
"author": "Havel",
"timestamp": "2012-03-23T17:55:10",
"content": "Cardboard… Almost as useful as duct tape when hacking things together (Not to mention cheap and plentiful). Very nice work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,376,924.545006 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/23/decoding-then-cloning-an-ir-helicopter-toys-control-signals/ | Decoding, Then Cloning An IR Helicopter Toy’s Control Signals | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"helicopter",
"infrared",
"S107",
"Syma",
"vhdl"
] | [Mike Field] got his hands on this Syma S107 helicopter with the intention of hacking it. After playing around with it for a while he set out to
build his own infrared controller for the toy
. It seems there is some protocol information about it published in various forum posts, but he decided it would be more fun to figure it out for himself.
He started off trying to capture the IR signals using
Adafruit’s tutorial which has come in handy
on a number of other projects. He could get his television remote to register, but not the toy’s controller. This didn’t stop fun, instead he tore open the controller and grabbed a logic sniffer to see what’s being pushed to the IR LEDs. The signals are a bit curious. It seems two different packets are sent with each command which [Mike] thinks is for use with two different models of the toy. In addition to that the frames are not synchronized. But a bit of 10 MHz sampling helped him to figure everything out, and he believes he’s got a more accurate version of the protocol than had previously been discovered. To prove it he developed an FPGA-based controller using VHDL which he shows off in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89HvwYWg838&w=470] | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "610605",
"author": "F4R4D4Y.dc414",
"timestamp": "2012-03-23T16:31:39",
"content": "Done, demonstrated, with lots of lulz at Defcon414 meeting a few months back. Kit available for $10ish from dc414 :)The unit pirates the chopper’s signals, then you take it over just like INVASION OF... | 1,760,376,924.493561 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/electric-poncho-keeps-you-warm-on-the-go/ | Electric Poncho Keeps You Warm On The Go | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"electric blanket",
"heated",
"poncho"
] | With the mild winter and spring we have had, it might seem strange to think about ways to keep yourself warm, but there’s
no better time than the present
to prepare for chilly weather down the line.
In his blog [Berto] was thinking about how to keep warm when things cool off again, and decided that a heated poncho would be great to have on hand. He found a dead simple way to craft his heated poncho, requiring little more than a bit of wiring, some thread and cloth, as well as a pair of scissors.
[Berto] picked up a 12V-powered electric blanked, then proceeded to cut a head-sized slit in the middle of it, avoiding the heating coils. He sewed a bit of cloth around the hole to ensure it didn’t end up ripping over time, then he wired the blanket up to a 12V battery he tucked away in his backpack.
The result is a variable-temp poncho that you can use to keep warm in a variety of situations.
[Alan Parekh] from Hacked Gadgets
says that he thinks the poncho would be awesome on a full-day snowmobiling trip, and we think he’s right!
Continue reading to see a short video where [Berto] explains how to put one of these heated ponchos together.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA2rn9o0BoU&feature=player_embedded#!&w=470] | 36 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "609978",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T22:11:39",
"content": "It’s nice how simple this hack is, but good luck getting on an airplane with that thing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "610331",
"author": "E... | 1,760,376,924.884156 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/remove-your-arduinos-external-oscillator-to-gain-a-free-pair-of-io-pins/ | Remove Your Arduino’s External Oscillator To Gain A Free Pair Of IO Pins | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"crystal",
"I/O pins",
"oscillator"
] | [Mark] from SpikenzieLabs was wrapping up a project using an Arduino the other day and found himself
in need of a few more I/O pins.
He could have added extra circuitry to the project, but he decided to see if he could gain a few pins by removing a few components instead.
He put together one of his Minuino boards, but rather than installing the crystal and its associated capacitors, he added a couple of pin headers in their place. It’s well known that the internal clock on the chip is not as precise as a crystal, but [Mark’s] project was not that time sensitive, so he had no problem sacrificing the oscillator for a few extra pins.
With his new I/O pins in place, he merely needed to tell the ATmega chip which clock it should be using, and he was well on his way. While this might not be the best solution for all projects out there, if you are building something that values pincount over precision, this hack is for you.
Check out the video below to see [Mark’s] hack in action.
[via
HackedGadgets
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gHU0zrn1o-w#!&w=470] | 30 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "609937",
"author": "Felicitus",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T21:04:52",
"content": "Why didn’t he simply use a regular Atmel? They’re cheaper and can run the Arduino software anyways.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "609941",
... | 1,760,376,924.95131 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/babys-first-star-light-projector-and-a-foil-slip-ring/ | Baby’s First Star Light Projector And A Foil Slip Ring | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"mobile",
"night light",
"stars"
] | For a newborn, everything is magical; a lack of object permanence means everything is new, wonderful, and novel. What then, could be better than
a projected star field
circling an infant’s room, gently sending them to sleep?
[Pete] was inspired by
this earlier starlight projector
that projects a rotating star field onto the walls and ceiling of a nursery. Instead of a rather loud servo, [Pete] used a quiet 12 Volt gear motor that spins the star field at 5 RPM. Like the previous build, a LED was used but [Pete] found a color-changing RGB LED that automatically shifts colors.
The shaft of [Pete]’s gear motor is tiny, and unlike the servo, there’s constant rotation. This meant a
slip ring
was needed to pass electricity into the spinning sphere. A piece of copper foil and a pair of improvised brushes served just fine. While [Pete]’s project, like its predecessor, doesn’t seem to have any recognized constellations drilled into the sphere, the foil slip ring opens up the possibility for a small microcontroller being fitted inside the globe with blinking lights.
Check out the video of [Pete]’s build in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhB0vsh-BeI&w=470] | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "609897",
"author": "timbo",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T19:57:04",
"content": "Buss Fuse case for a project box!!!! I love this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "609927",
"author": "Wizzard",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T20:45:5... | 1,760,376,924.996234 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/22/adding-new-features-and-controlling-a-kinect-from-a-couch/ | Adding New Features And Controlling A Kinect From A Couch | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks"
] | [
"computer vision",
"Kinect",
"media center"
] | Upon the release of the Kinect, Microsoft showed off its golden child as the beginnings of a revolution in user interface technology. The skeleton and motion detection promised a futuristic, hand-waving “Minority Report-style” interface where your entire body controls a computer. The expectations haven’t exactly lived up reality, but [Steve], along with his coworkers at Amulet Devices have vastly improved the Kinect’s skeleton recognition so people
can use a Kinect sitting down
.
One huge drawback for using the Kinect for a Minority Report UI in a home theater is the fact that the Microsoft Skeleton recognition doesn’t work well when sitting down. Instead of relying on the built-in skeleton recognition that comes with the Kinect, [Steve] rolled his own skeleton detection using
Harr classifiers
.
Detecting Harr-like features has been used in many applications of computer vision technology; it’s a great, not-very-computationally-intensive way to detect faces and body positions with a simple camera. Training is required for the software, and [Steve]’s app spent several days programming itself. The results were worth it, though: the Kinect now recognizes [Steve] waving his arm while he is lying down on the couch.
Not to outdo himself, [Steve] also threw in voice recognition to his Kinect home theater controller; a fitting addition as
his employer
makes a voice recognition remote control. The recognition software seems to work very well, even with the wistful Scottish accent [Steve] has honed over a lifetime.
[Steve]’s employer is
giving away their improved Kinect software
that works for both the Xbox and Windows Kinects. If you’re ever going to do something with a Kinect that isn’t provided with the SDKs and APIs we
covered earlier today
, this will surely be an invaluable resource.
You can check out [Steve]’s demo of the new Kinect software after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-2izbHeN-k&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "609884",
"author": "Mojo",
"timestamp": "2012-03-22T19:30:58",
"content": "Sufficiently advanced voice recognition is indistinguishable from magic",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "609996",
"author": "Smonson",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,925.037907 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/robotic-assist-helps-paraplegic-stand-and-move-around/ | Robotic Assist Helps Paraplegic Stand And Move Around | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"paraplegic",
"rmd",
"robotic mobilization device",
"standing",
"WheelChair"
] | Seeing this device help a man get up out of his wheelchair makes us wonder why this hasn’t been around for ages. The design principles behind
the Tek RMD greatly benefit those without use of their legs
. But it’s not just to help him stand, it also serves as motorized transport that makes bulky electric wheelchairs look so last century.
Instead of having the support structure beneath the rider, the RMD (Robotic Mobilization Device) uses a sling-like method to hang from the hinged arm. A folding handlebar can be raised up, allowing the rider to move from sitting to standing with a bit of help from the machine. Whether upright or sitting, the device can travel using its electric motors. In fact, this tip was sent in because it looks
very much like riding a Segway
.
The video demonstration after the break really hits home the functionality provided. This is an instant quality of life improvement, breaking down some of the barriers of moving around in confined quarters with a motorized wheelchair. There is also a lot to be said for having the option to stand. The demo shows several circumstances like shopping at the market, going through the checkout, and grilling out. What an amazing use of technology.
[Thanks Doug via
Gizmodo
] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "609103",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T18:11:25",
"content": "Great machine!. Im just concerned that even thought he batteries are at the bottom, that it may still be fairly top-heavy and unstable on uneven ground relative to a wheelchair.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,376,925.085565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/doppler-effect-lets-you-add-gestures-to-your-computer/ | Doppler-effect Lets You Add Gestures To Your Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"Doppler",
"doppler shift",
"gesture recognition",
"gestures",
"sound",
"SoundWave"
] | What if you could add gesture recognition to your computer without making any hardware changes? This research project seeks to
use computer microphone and speakers to recognize hand gestures
. Audio is played over the speakers, with the input from the microphone processed to detect Doppler shift. In this way it can detect your hand movements (or movement of any object that reflects sound).
The sound output is in a range of 22-80 kHz which is not audible to our ears. It does make us wonder if widespread use of this will drive the pet population crazy, or reroute migration paths of wildlife, but that’s research for another day. The system can even be used while audible sounds are also being played, so you don’t lose the ability to listen to music or watch video.
The screen above shows the raw output of the application. But in the video after the break you can see some possible uses. It works for scrolling pages, double-clicking (or double-tapping as it were), and there’s a function that detects the user walking away from the computer and locks the screen automatically.
[Sidhant Gupta] is the researcher who put the video together. In addition to this project (called SoundWave) he’s got several other interesting alternative-input projects
on his research page
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_u8-UQmOs&w=470]
[Thanks Dan] | 40 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "609060",
"author": "warspigot",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T17:26:29",
"content": "2:37 good way to look crazy in public.I wonder if you could use small pulses of high frequency sound very fast and see the return time on the microphone, that way you could no the precise(kinda) distance... | 1,760,376,925.162702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/the-pirate-bay-aims-for-the-clouds-literally/ | The Pirate Bay Aims For The Clouds…literally | Mike Nathan | [
"News"
] | [
"autonomous",
"drones",
"solar",
"The Pirate Bay"
] | There is no shortage of government and entertainment-related agencies chomping at the bit to shut down the Pirate Bay for good. While the group has not suffered a permanent service ending raid like [Kim Dotcom] and the Megaupload crew, they are always thinking up novel ways to ensure that the site can endure whatever law enforcement throws at them.
In a recent blog post
, representatives from the group unveiled plans to put their front line servers in the clouds, courtesy of custom-made autonomous drones called “Low Orbit Server Stations.” The project is in its infancy, but the general idea is to mount small computers like the Raspberry Pi on GPS-controlled drones kept aloft 24×7 (presumably) using solar energy. These drones would communicate with clients on the ground via radio transmitters which they state can provide a “100Mbps node up to 50km away”.
Calling the claims grandiose would be an understatement, but then again the Pirate Bay has proven to be a difficult organization to quash in any substantial way, so only time will tell.
[via
The Daily What
– Thanks, roboman2444] | 62 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "608997",
"author": "Kalle Hyvönen",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T16:08:52",
"content": "This sounds like some kind of trolling and not like anything to be taken seriously…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "609002",
"author": "land... | 1,760,376,925.258665 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/noise-reduction-techniques-for-your-shop-vac/ | Noise Reduction Techniques For Your Shop-Vac | Jeremy Cook | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"CNC router",
"noise reduction",
"shop vac"
] | Shop-Vacs are great tools, but they do have the notable disadvantage of being loud. Fortunately, much of the noise emanates from the exhaust, and with a muffler or “silencer”, this can be controlled. The
results of my noise-recustion experiments
were noticeable, reducing the noise by roughly 5.6 decibels. This may not sound like a huge improvement, but since the scale is logarithmic the sound intensity is actually cut by roughly two-thirds, according to
this calculator
.
As for how to actually make the muffler, I’ve
outlined everything in this post
. As of now, the Shop-Vac muffler is used in a static configuration, but with some changes it could be used on a mobile vacuum. The disadvantage of this reduction in noise is a slight reduction in suction, but it seems to be an acceptable trade-off in this situation – used for a little CNC router
with this adapter
.
For a video of the Shop-Vac in action with the
CNC router
in question, check out the video after the break. Note that this is pre-silencer, so you can definitely hear the vacuum noise!
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DM0VcuEiNo%5D
If you’d like more dust-collection fun, why not check out these
mini-kegs turned into a cyclonic dust collector
! | 29 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "608963",
"author": "phisrow",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T15:22:18",
"content": "It’s really loud with the shop-vac on…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6282745",
"author": "otto van winkledorf",
"timestamp": "2020... | 1,760,376,925.407537 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/arduino-shield-includes-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink/ | Arduino Shield Includes Everything But The Kitchen Sink | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"3G shield",
"arduino",
"gps",
"HSPA",
"WCDMA"
] | The crew at Cooking Hacks in Zaragoza wrote in to share a new shield they developed for the Arduino platform. There are a hundred different shields out there that do this and that, but we think
their 3G/GPRS shield looks pretty slick.
The base shield contains a WCDMA and HSPA compatible 3G modem as well as a GPS receiver. The modem can be used with an Arduino, or plugged directly into a computer via USB, allowing it to be used any way you like it. The more advanced kit offered by the Cooking Hacks crew features a VGA video camera, as well as an audio kit that can both play and record audio.
One neat feature they were quick to point out is that not all network communications need to be handled by the Arduino. Simple transactions (HTTP/FTP/POP3/SMTP) can all be carried out by sending standard AT commands to the modem.
Now, the kits don’t come cheap, but we can’t help but be interested in seeing what applications people dream up with this shield at the helm. Cooking Hacks is a division of Libelium Communcations, but as they are the company’s “Open Hardware Division” there are schematics available should you be interested in rolling your own 3G modem instead. | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "608928",
"author": "japamalaillo",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T14:27:07",
"content": "All I know is now I want to make a kitchen sink shield.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "608933",
"author": "gknoll",
"timestamp": "2012-0... | 1,760,376,925.463894 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/21/hackaday-links-march-21-2012/ | Hackaday Links: March 21, 2012 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"android",
"bell labs",
"human powered flight",
"Joystick",
"restoration",
"SUMPOD",
"technical journals",
"typewriter"
] | Don’t get your dirty fingers on the glass
[Poke] sent in a video of
him using Android devices
with a wiimote and PS3 controller. The build uses the Joystick2Touch and the USB Joystick Center app. Root is required, but this will be very useful when tv-sized Android devices start showing up.
Wonderful restoration work
[John] sent in an Instructable on
restoring an ancient typewriter
. It’s almost beautiful seeing all those delicate metal parts so finely cleaned and reassembled.
Proof of the Big Bang is in one of these articles
[Paleotechnoligist] has been
reading the technical journals
from Bell Labs. These people were the Google of the 20th century and did some amazing stuff. Here’s the
math for getting to the moon
and a thing
about “cellular telephony.”
Oooohhh extruded aluminum
[Richard Sum] sent us a pic of his
new 3D printer kit
he’ll be offering soon. Very professional looking.
Flying like a three dollar bill
[Yannick] and [SaakNeMah] sent in
this video
of a guy strapping on bird wings, running down a field, and then flying for about 100 meters. The project is
Human Birdwings
and it’s gotten an amazing amount of press coverage. We’re calling fake on this for three reasons: the wings
didn’t produce lift
, the
camera angles are all wrong
(only applicable if there was a single flight), and this guy would be a gazillionaire if his wings actually worked. Argue amongst yourself in the comments; we’d love to be proven wrong. | 62 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "608891",
"author": "kajer",
"timestamp": "2012-03-21T13:16:56",
"content": "@BirdWings – One more angle to watch was his landing. There is no way a GoPro camera could get that close a shot of the grass when on top of a 5+ foot human standing up.Did anyone read some comments on the b... | 1,760,376,925.561455 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/print-your-own-supercaps/ | Print Your Own Supercaps | Adam Munich | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"lasers",
"super capacitor"
] | [Gil] recently wrote in to tell us about some awesome research going on at UCLA. Apparently by layering some oxidized graphite onto a DVD and tossing it into a lightscribe burner, it’s possible to print your own super capacitors; some pretty high capacity ones at that.
For those that are unaware, supercapcaitors are typically made using two electrolyte soaked, activated carbon plates separated by an ion permeable film. Since activated carbon has an incredible surface area huge energy densities can be reached, in some cases 1kJ/lb.
Laser-formed graphite sponge replaces the activated carbon in the researchers’ printed capacitors. A video after the break discusses the whole process in moderate detail, meanwhile greater detail can be found in
their
two
papers
on the subject.
First one to print a transistor gets a bag of mosfets!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oEFwyoWKXo&w=470] | 125 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "608323",
"author": "CoolMod",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T20:07:48",
"content": "yay!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1193275",
"author": "Rene",
"timestamp": "2014-02-11T16:21:08",
"content": "I wonder if... | 1,760,376,926.139208 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/atmega324-acts-as-a-gpu-for-homebrew-computer/ | ATmega324 Acts As A GPU For Homebrew Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"atmega324",
"veronica",
"vga"
] | [Quinn Dunki’s] homebrew computer project is moving up another evolutionary rung. She needs a more versatile user interface and this starts with the data output. Up to this point a set of 7-segment digits has served as a way to display register values. But her current work is aimed at
adding VGA output to the system
.
She starts off her write up by justifying the protocol choice. Although composite video would be easier to get up and running (we see it
in a lot of AVR projects
) [Quinn] doesn’t have a screen that will display composite video. But there’s also a lot of info out there about VGA signal generation. She delved into the specifics and even found
a great AVR-based example over at Lucid Science
.
The version seen above uses the 40-pin ATmega324. It’s a lot bigger than necessary for the example she put together, but in the future she plans to add video memory and will be glad to have all of those extra I/O pins. When it comes to video sync, timing is everything. She wrote the code to drive the display using assembly. In this way, she was able to look up the cycles used for each command to ensure that the loop is running with near perfect timing. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "608315",
"author": "willrandship",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T20:01:25",
"content": "That’s awesome. Am I the only person who thinks we need a way of having a standardized open video card software system for linux?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,925.748329 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/software-defined-radio-from-a-usb-tv-capture-card/ | Software Defined Radio From A USB TV Capture Card | Brian Benchoff | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"ham",
"radio",
"software-defined radio",
"usb"
] | With a simple digital TV USB capture card, you can build your own
software defined radio
or spectrum analyzer. While it may not be as cool as
[Jeri Ellsworth]’s SDR
, it’s still very useful and only requires $20 in hardware.
The only piece of hardware required for this build is a USB FM/DTV capture device with the Realtek RTL2832U chipset. So far, two USB sticks have been tested and the unit with the largest frequency range (64 – 1700 MHz) is available direct from China for $20.
Turning these cheap capture cards into software defined radios and spectrum analyzers was
discovered by [Antti Palosaari]
after sniffing the device. These cards demodulate the frequency and send
all
the data to the computer and is decoded via software. If you have one of these capture cards lying around, you can
grab the software
and load it up on your *nix box. Right now, the software only writes directly to a file, and may drop a few samples if writing to a hard disk instead of ram. Small problems, but we’re sure this project will pick up steam in the very near future.
via
reddit | 48 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "608238",
"author": "Neckbeard",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T18:06:40",
"content": "So… Its the same concept as the Funcube Dongle and seems to use the exact same chip?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "609022",
"author": "P... | 1,760,376,925.885953 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/humanoid-robot-will-eventually-take-over-the-world/ | Humanoid Robot Will Eventually Take Over The World | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"asimo",
"bipedal",
"humanoid",
"robot"
] | Over the last two years, [Mark] at the Harford (and Baltimore) Hackerspace has been building
401k, a humanoid robot
that will soon be able to walk on two legs, detect objects, and fight along with its comrades in the robot insurrection that leads to the extinction of man.
To get an idea of how complicated a humanoid robot is, realize the
Honda ASIMO
has been an ongoing project for over a decade now and can be easily
defeated by stairs
. [Mark] doesn’t have the benefit of millions of dollars in funding or dozens of lab assistants – in
one video
, [Mark] shows us the foot pads made out of [George Foreman] grill lids and hip joints made out of DVD players. Even though he’s using “unconventional” parts, 401k still has a very
advanced pair of legs
that model their human analog very well.
Even though it’s still a work in progress, there’s an incredible amount of work and expertise that is going into this build. [Mark] is wants to take 401k to
this year’s RoboGames
next month. We hope he gets his build walking in time, even for a few baby steps.
You can check out more of the 401k build vlog on
[Mark]’s YouTube channel
. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "608218",
"author": "GameboyRMH",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T17:28:33",
"content": "I, for one, welcome our affordable DIY humanoid robot overlords.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "608513",
"author": "Chrisdc",
"t... | 1,760,376,925.68613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/birdwatching-meets-a-computer-controlled-water-cannon-awesomeness-ensues/ | Birdwatching Meets A Computer-Controlled Water Cannon, Awesomeness Ensues | Jeremy Cook | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"computer vision",
"open source",
"squirrel",
"turret",
"water gun"
] | Sure, squirrels may bother the average home owner, but few have attempted as creative a way to
control them as this automated water turret
. Check out the video after the break to see how this was accomplished, but if you’d rather just see how the squirrels reacted to getting squirted, fast forward to around 16:00. According to [Kurt] he was sure this would be his solution, however, his conclusion was that “squirrels don’t care.”
As for the presentation, it’s more about how to use
[OpenCV]
, or Open Source Computer Vision. It’s quite a powerful piece of software, especially considering that something like this would cost thousands of dollars in a normal market. An Arduino is used to interface the computer’s outputs to the real world and control a squirt gun. If you’d rather not program something like this yourself, you could always simply use a garden hose as someone suggests just after the video.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgqfnKG_T4&w=470&h=315%5D
Thanks to [Bill] for letting us know about this excellent talk! | 23 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "608171",
"author": "sharkLaser",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T16:52:14",
"content": "Animal cruelty.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "608241",
"author": "Peter",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T18:19:06",
"content": "two words:P... | 1,760,376,925.806929 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/connecting-toy-blocks-with-a-universal-construction-set/ | Connecting Toy Blocks With A Universal Construction Set | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"Duplo",
"Kinex",
"lego",
"lincoln logs",
"tinker toys",
"toys"
] | We were all children at one time, and surely some of us remember the pain of trying to make one type of building block work with another type of block. The folks at the Free Art and Technology Lab have an answer for your inner child:
adapters that connect any type of building block
to any other type of building block.
The project is called the Free Universal Construction Kit. This “gee, I wish I thought of that ideas” is a set of 79 play set adapter that allow any child to mix up their Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears! Gears! Gears, K’Nex, Krinkles, Lego, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoy, ZomeTool, and Zoob building sets in any way imaginable. Most of these adapters are
up on Thingiverse
, ready to be printed out with a 3D printer or sent to Shapeways.
An interesting aspect of the work of the F.A.T. Lab is the legal and intellectual property aspect; since this is the product of reverse-engineering several building sets, it’s entirely possible the manufactures of these toys wouldn’t want adapters out in the wild. The team really covered their bases, though. Of the ten toy systems included, eight are no longer patent protected, much to the chagrin of the company behind MEGA Bloks. Adapters for the two remaining systems – Zoob and ZomeTool – won’t be released until the patents run out in 2016 and 2022, respectively.
Check out the video after the break for the wonderful ‘a-ha moment’ one of the inventors had when watching his 4-year-old son playing with Tinker Toys and K’Nex.
[vimeo=37778890] | 25 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "608092",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T15:05:04",
"content": "Would have been better if it were parametric, say in OpenSCAD, so you could compile your own permutations.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "608095",
... | 1,760,376,925.939191 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/when-console-modders-face-off-only-good-things-happen/ | When Console Modders Face Off, Only Good Things Happen | Mike Nathan | [
"News"
] | [
"GeneBoy",
"genesis",
"Modded by Bacteria",
"Multi Gen",
"portable",
"psone",
"sega"
] | We really love when
friendly competition leads to excellent hacking.
Not too long ago, we showed you
a nicely done Sega Genesis portable
put together by console hacker [Downing] who challenged fellow hacker [EVIL NOD] to a build off. The two were hacking Sega consoles, [Downing’s] for personal use, while [EVIL NOD] was working on a commissioned build.
As you might have guessed, [Downing] finished first, but that doesn’t mean [EVIL NOD’s] console is anything but spectacular. His Sega Multi Gen is a portable Genesis console modified to play both NTSC and PAL games. It features a large 5” PSOne screen as well as the guts from an official 6-button Genesis game pad. The case was vacuum formed by [Downing], and is another example of his fine workmanship. The console looks as if it’s had the controller melted right into its face – a design that is sure to give you the authentic feel of sitting in front of your TV mashing away at the buttons.
Check out the video below to see an unboxing video that [EVIL NOD] put together before sending the console out to its new owner.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2J275vrjyo&feature=g-upl&context=G2713972AUAAAAAAAAAA&w=470] | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "608076",
"author": "hospadar",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T14:25:35",
"content": "So I’m sure that the game on the right is ‘James Bond’, but it kinda looks like ‘James Pond’I thought to myself “Oh dang! James Pond? Is he like a froggy spy? A minnow disguised as a tadpole? Does he h... | 1,760,376,925.993178 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/20/tearing-down-a-failed-led-bulb/ | Tearing Down A Failed LED Bulb | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"bulb",
"led",
"teardown",
"Todd Harrison"
] | [Todd Harrison] was thinking of replacing some incandescent light bulbs in his house with LED models, so and his wife picked up a single candelabra bulb to test before they spent the cash to swap them all out. The bulb died in about a week’s time, so [Todd] got out his trusty electronic disassembly device (his hammer),
sharing his post-mortem examination with us.
After taking a cursory look at it, [Todd] found that the circuit powering the bulb was not overly complicated. A small bridge rectifier along with a few caps and resistors are all that was used to power the device, making it’s failure a bit puzzling. When [Todd] wired it up to his power supply, the bulb lit up, much to his surprise. His best guess as to why it died is that the shrink wrap around the PCB managed to cause a short, though he also noticed that one of the bridge rectifier’s legs was not soldered down.
He started tooling with the light to find out more about it, but he managed to blow out a handful of LEDs in the process. All in all the LED lighting swap was a disappointment, but at least he had some fun along the way!
Continue reading if you’re interested in seeing [Todd’s] diagnosis in its entirety.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kDVkCcBK2cE#!] | 45 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "608010",
"author": "jon",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T13:12:25",
"content": "This is the single biggest problem with LED light bulbs. In order to keep the cost down, they skimp on quality, and when they skimp on quality, the bulb never lasts it’s 10,000-50,000 hours.I’ve had half doze... | 1,760,376,926.220851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/isomorphic-piano-keyboard-is-button-madness/ | Isomorphic Piano Keyboard Is Button Madness | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"cherry keyswitches",
"keyboard",
"midi controller"
] | [nikescar] sent in a link to a
huge isomorphic MIDI keyboard
. We might have missed it the first time around, but that doesn’t diminish such a great looking project.
According to the
project page
, this humongous keyboard is the work people at Louisville Soundbuilders’ efforts to clone the
AXiS-64 MIDI controller
. Instead of looking like a ‘normal’ piano keyboard, this isomorphic keyboard puts notes in a hexagonal pattern. This keyboard layout is very useful – fingerings for chords are the same across all keys – but these keyboard layouts are fairly rare and MIDI controllers are expensive as a result.
To make the keyboard
in the video
velocity sensitive, there are two layers of PCBs. The top layer uses Cherry key switches, while the bottom PCB is an array of tact switches. Measuring the time between the top and bottom key presses gives the on board microcontroller velocity information that is converted to MIDI notes. This setup has a few downsides, namely the huge amount of switches, components, and pins needed for two keyboard matrices.
The project page hasn’t been updated for a few months, so we’re pretty curious about the current status of this build. If any of the Louisville Soundbuilders have an update on this project,
send it on in
. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "607197",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T14:24:14",
"content": "Those are seriously a lot of fun to play. Even without musical theory training, you can play certain rows/patterns on the keyboard and they will all fall within a scale. Easily the fastest way to come up ... | 1,760,376,926.317819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/getting-a-home-built-scanner-from-92-up-and-running-again/ | Getting A Home Built Scanner From ’92 Up And Running Again | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"classic hacks",
"scanner",
"typewriter"
] | In 1992, [Arpi] didn’t have much time for Ninja Turtles, Nintendos, and other wonderful wastes of time his fellow geeks were raised on. He was busy
building a scanner for his Commodore 64
. Although this very impressive build could have been lost to the sands of time, he pulled his project out of the attic for a “Try to use it again” party. Although this party is not a formal competition, we’re going to say that [Arpi] walked home that night with the most geek cred.
While there are no build details, there is a bunch of info to be gleaned from
the gallery
about how this machine was built. We’re pretty sure a good majority of the build was a typewriter at one point, and it looks like there’s a
windshield wiper motor
in there somewhere. Like this
completely unrelated but similar build
, [Arpi]’s scanner uses a photoresistor and a few LEDs to transfer image data to the
custom software
. In case you were wondering, yes, the
ancient 5 1/4 floppy disk
was still readable – one of the few advantages of the huge sectors on these disks.
Check out the videos of this scanner in action after the break, and if you’ve got a decades-old hack sitting in your attic (remember that acoustic modem you built?), send it in on
the tip line
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaW_RlN1fjY&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko5Efkb4TqA&w=470] | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "607174",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T13:15:59",
"content": "The ‘stache rating of that printer is pretty damn high! :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "607194",
"author": "rue_mohr",
"timestamp": "2012-03... | 1,760,376,926.266558 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/18/motor-controller-also-does-nyan-cat/ | Motor Controller Also Does Nyan Cat | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega328",
"i2c",
"motor",
"motor controller",
"robot"
] | As a freshman at UC Berkeley, [Keegan] has been helping out with his school’s Pioneers in Engineering program that gives high school students some hands on experience with engineering principles, usually by building robots. This year, [Keegan]’s project is a
motor controller
that just so happens to
play the nyan cat song
over the motor PWM output.
The motor controller is meant to replace the Pololu
simple motor controller
the PiE team is currently using. Onboard is an
H-bridge chip
and an ATmega328 that takes commands from an I2C bus. The ‘328 is loaded up with the Arduino bootloader making the firmware very accessible – a good thing for the high school students that will be building and programming these robots.
[Keegan] put up the Eagle files for the board
up on the PiE Wiki
. For now, just enjoy the dulcet tones of the pop tart cat theme song after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flp0m_UXWkE&w=470] | 15 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "606581",
"author": "DrLuke",
"timestamp": "2012-03-18T20:13:08",
"content": "Just what I always needed!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "606596",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2012-03-18T20:38:53",
"content": "Th... | 1,760,376,926.369401 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/18/a-full-auto-pvc-battery-gun/ | A Full Auto PVC Battery Gun | Jeremy Cook | [
"News",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"battery gun",
"full-auto",
"pneumatic",
"PVC"
] | So what’s better than a battery gun? A
full auto pneumatic battery gun
of course! [ukilliheal], decided to build one of these, and show us the results in his video after the break. After turning the gun on, this contraption shoots at a pretty impressive rate of fire (although, apparently not as fast as some of his other experiments). Apparently batteries can do a pretty fair amount of damage to a cardboard target as shown around 1:20. [ukilliheal] apparently thinks this is pretty hilarious, but we wouldn’t want to be on the other end of this device!
Although details on this build are fairly slim in this video, [ukilliheal’s] other videos should provide some clues, especially those where he explains how to make
a full auto paintball gun
. If the same technique is used, a piston reloads the chamber using a homemade valve that releases pressure when it gets too high. Electronics could also be used, but keeping everything mechanical will allow for the batteries to be used solely as ammuntion.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Gs2mKNjV0%5D
If full-auto guns aren’t your thing, why not check out this
bolt-action miniature pneumatic spud gun
! | 41 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "606386",
"author": "jkent",
"timestamp": "2012-03-18T16:32:40",
"content": "Dupe:http://hackaday.com/2011/11/07/do-not-build-a-fully-automatic-battery-launching-air-gun/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "606395",
"author... | 1,760,376,926.616576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/18/storagebot-finds-all-your-components-makes-your-storage-drawers-feel-inadequate/ | StorageBot Finds All Your Components, Makes Your Storage Drawers Feel Inadequate | Brian Benchoff | [
"Parts",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"storage"
] | Your experience with making things, building projects, and hacking hardware is directly proportional to the amount of components you have on hand; as our experience grows, so do our space and storage requirements, it seems. [Danh Trinh] must have decades of experience, because his
StorageBot robotic parts drawer
is as awesomely absurd as it is clever and useful.
At first glance, StorageBot just looks like a bunch of small parts drawers mounted to the wall with LED strips along the top and side. The magic happens when [Danh] walks up to the wall-mounted laptop and commands StorageBot to find a component with his voice. A video is worth a thousand words, so you might as well
head to the video
for the best description available
To get the StorageBot to listen to his voice, [Danh] downloaded Microsoft’s
speech recognition SDK
and built a VB app to turn his voice into a location of what drawer contains the part he requested. Once StorageBot finds the row and column of the requested part, a pair of stepper motors behind the wall of parts drawers swing into action. Soon enough, the drawer containing the requested part pops out, and [Danh] can go about his business building more awesome stuff.
Because a few paragraphs can’t convey exactly how cool [Danh]’s StorageBot is, take a look at the videos after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbRsGL2lCqA&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIaPYj399VI&w=470] | 33 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "606327",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2012-03-18T14:59:17",
"content": "Eleven!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "606346",
"author": "smoketester",
"timestamp": "2012-03-18T15:19:19",
"content": "I wish him good ... | 1,760,376,926.441733 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/17/twittertape-machine-keeps-track-of-your-social-media-stock/ | Twittertape Machine Keeps Track Of Your Social Media Stock. | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ethernet",
"thermal printer",
"ticker tape"
] | During the gilded age, oil magnates, entrepreneurs, and robber barons would have a ticker tape machine in their study. This machine would print stock and commodity prices and chart these men’s assets climbing higher and higher. A lot has changed in 100 years, as now [Adam] can be kept apprised of what @KimKardashian, @BarackObama and @stephenfry ate for breakfast with
his Twittertape machine
.
Interestingly, [Adam]’s build didn’t start off as a tarnished lump of 100-year-old brass; he built his beautiful ticker machine out of old clock movements he picked up on eBay. Even though the shiny part of the build only holds the roll of paper, it’s still a wonderful build. Right now the machine is connected to Ethernet, but he’s planning on adding WiFi and a few batteries for a completely wireless build.
Unlike the other
ticker tape machine
we saw this week, [Adam] did away with the loud clashing of gears and solenoids found in 100-year-old ticker machines. This ticker machine prints on cash register receipt paper and a very small thermal printer in the base. Although [Adam]’s build doesn’t sound like two robots trading blows, there’s no ink needed and no danger of the letter wheel becoming misaligned and misspelling everything.
Check out [Adam]’s build in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RvgPJHROzo&w=470]
via
reddit | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "605903",
"author": "rue_mohr",
"timestamp": "2012-03-17T19:54:29",
"content": "AHA! finally something I can apply all the guts of old recipt printers to!But where to get clocks…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "605942",
"auth... | 1,760,376,926.710147 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/17/diy-film-projector-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand/ | DIY Film Projector Fits In The Palm Of Your Hand | Mike Nathan | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"News"
] | [
"altoids tin",
"digital camera",
"projector",
"salvage"
] | DSLRs aside, the price of digital cameras these days can make it easy to consider just tossing your old one out when it breaks.
[Leonidas Tolias] had another idea
, and with a few broken cameras he had on hand he constructed a slick little pocket-sized projector.
The project started out as a pair of lenses from busted cameras and an Altoids tin in which he mounted them. The larger lens from a video camera was installed on the exterior of the tin, while the smaller of the two was mounted inside. Bits from disposable cameras were used to create a set of film reels, which he supports with some hand cut scrap aluminum. He made some test photo slides by printing some images on transparency paper, which he can cycle through using a film advancement rig he built out of string and a couple of gears.
While you won’t be using this projector for your next boring PowerPoint presentation, it does work pretty well as you can see in pictures on [Leonidas’] site.
[Thanks, Taylor] | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "605927",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2012-03-17T21:08:00",
"content": "Everything works better in a Altoids tin – lol.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1556808",
"author": "gaylordsinc",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,376,926.661347 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/android-rolled-into-linux-kernel-3-3/ | Android Rolled Into Linux Kernel 3.3 | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"kernel",
"linux",
"upstream"
] | The latest version of the Linux kernel was just released on Sunday, and there’s a little bonus which we think is worth considering. It seems that
many changes from Android made their way into version 3.3 of the Linux kernel
.
This may not sound like much, but it’s a great example of the power of open source. Since device specific changes based on the Linux kernel must be released under the same license, hardware manufactures are compelled to release their sources. But normally this would only help you if you have the expertise to slog through their code and find the parts that you need for whatever purpose you have in mind. But with these changes being rolled into the main kernel you should be able to run your own distributions on Android devices relatively easy; hardware support is already in there. Of course there’s still a lot of expertise that goes into cross-compiling an OS.
This may have the potential to open up old Android hardware as a development platform. Think of
how Chumby hardware has been used in robotics projects
. Now what if your old Bluetooth and WiFi enable cellphone had a stock kernel that was as easy and open to use in your own projects?
[Thanks Adam] | 21 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "607566",
"author": "test34",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T00:12:50",
"content": "nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "607570",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T00:20:16",
"content": "As long as those Android... | 1,760,376,926.815673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/never-miss-your-transport-with-this-bus-arrival-notifier/ | Never Miss Your Transport With This Bus Arrival Notifier | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bus",
"countdown",
"json",
"router",
"schedule",
"wrt54g",
"wrt54gl"
] | [John Graham-Cumming] was all set to start a new project based on the Raspberry Pi. Well, that was until shipment was delayed due to manufacturing issues. Not to fret, he transitioned over to a router board which
displays the arrival countdown for mass transit bus service
.
He based the build on a web page the Transport for London provided. You can load it up and see if your bus is running on time or not. There’s no published API, but by studying the source code from the site [John] was able to figure out how the JSON commands were formatted.
The next step is building a standalone device to pull the data and display it. The board seen above is from a Linksys WRT54GL router. This longtime favorite has a serial port header which can be driven from the Linux kernel. He wired up a jack on the router’s case, and uses an extension cable to get from it to the 7-segment displays mounted in a model of the bus. Since there’s four digits the display can tell you minutes until the arrival of two different buses.
[Thanks Pseudo Lobster] | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "607582",
"author": "henry22",
"timestamp": "2012-03-20T01:01:53",
"content": "cool stuff, Canberra buses (australia) will soon have this feature (with iphone/adroid applications). AFAIK they’re also making the data stream open, so any software can tap onto it.",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,376,926.75873 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/hot-dirt-keeps-your-plants-happy-in-the-winter-months/ | Hot Dirt Keeps Your Plants Happy In The Winter Months | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"greenhouse",
"planter",
"temperature"
] | [Craig] tried heating his greenhouse last winter, but really only managed to push the limits of his utility bills. This time around he took a different approach by
building a system to warm the soil
in which his vegetation is planted.
The core of the system is this box which houses the plants. It is lined with heating tape along the bottom which warms a layer of dirt. The plants are in pots, but since those are surrounded by the dirt it doesn’t really inhibit the warming properties of the soil. The controller takes into account the temperature inside the box, as well as ambient temperature in the greenhouse. When it’s a bit too cold the controller will close the lid, which is covered with translucent plastic. This makes sure the temperature around the plants won’t fall below about 41.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
This really takes the work out of caring for you plants in the winter. What would have been a multiple-times-per-day visit can be limited to every day or two. Now he just needs to expand this to regulate temperature and humidity in the greenhouse itself,
kind of like this other hack
. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "607514",
"author": "Natalie",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T22:20:36",
"content": "cool idea, wish i had one, only thing is why not insulate the insides to help heat loss.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "607633",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,926.903481 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/hacking-the-green-goose-for-fun-and-profit/ | Hacking The Green Goose For Fun And Profit | Adam Munich | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"gps",
"location",
"probe"
] | [Troy] recently got his hands on a greengoose starter kit and like any HAD reader would do,
proceeded to probe it mercilessly
.
The greengoose appears to be some sort of location-tracking device which reports back to a server on the position and location of radio transmitters relative to it. [Troy] managed to not only get the base-station’s firmware, but to also hack it and greengoose’s data to his own server. As if that wasn’t good enough he broke down the packet structure for us. Good job [Troy].
Looks like the greengoose could be a fun tool for anyone interested tweeting the whereabouts of their cat, or checking if the toilet seat lid is down. Let’s see what people come up with. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "607513",
"author": "naturetm",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T22:18:31",
"content": "Judging by the greengoose website, I think it’s actually an accelerometer + transmitter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "607802",
"author": "Gala... | 1,760,376,927.07281 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/another-homebrew-segway-clone-comes-in-at-under-300/ | Another Homebrew Segway Clone Comes In At Under $300 | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"Cypress CY8C29466",
"gyroscope",
"segway",
"SoC",
"wii motion plus",
"wii nunchuck"
] | [Matt Turner] tipped us off back in January about
his homemade Segway project
. Unfortunately that message slipped through the cracks but we’re glad he sent in a reminder after reading Friday’s feature an
a different 2-wheeled balancer
.
We like it that he refers to this project as being on the budget of a graduate student with a young family. We certainly understand where he’s coming from, and we hope he can ride this to job interviews to show them he truly lives engineering. The control circuitry is a bit higher-end than we’re used to seeing. He chose a Cypress CY8C29466 SoC to control the device. But the sensors are a common choice, using the Wii Motion Plus and Wii Nunchuk for the gyroscope and accelerometer they contain. This is a no-brainer since the sensors are high-quality, cheap and available locally, and communicate of the standard I2C protocol.
When looking for motors [Matt] was happy to find an old electric wheelchair on Craig’s List. This also gave him a gear box, wheels, and tires. He added a pair of motor drivers, with his own alterations to suppress feedback. Sounds like they run a little hot because he plans to add cooling fans to them in the future. But this first iteration is up and running quite well as you can see in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAZrFdnam3I&w=470] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "607542",
"author": "Ivan",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T23:30:53",
"content": "Well… not sure if I want to ride something called “SegFault”. Nice work though!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "607556",
"author": "tlalexander",
... | 1,760,376,926.860505 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/el-wire-piping-on-a-party-couch/ | EL Wire Piping On A Party Couch | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"el wire",
"electroluminescent"
] | If you’ve been putting off that reupholstering project here’s a little incentive to get started. Adafruit now has some electroluminescent wire which is perfect for use as piping. They’ve
outfitted a small sofa with the glowing material
and we think it looks great whether switched on or not.
The installation process is really quite easy. The EL wire is covered with clear material that provides a continuous tab running the length of the wire. This can be stapled on like you see in the image above, or sewn into a fabric seam. So you could take an existing sofa cover, remove all the stitching, and sew it back together with the EL wire replacing the original piping. The video after the break shows how simple the process is.
This will be a nice complement to
that Daft Punk table we’ve been meaning to build
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7si_73v31I0&w=470] | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "607412",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T19:51:09",
"content": "Pimp my couch!P.S. I love to see a woman solder.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "607567",
"author": "t&p",
"timestamp": "2012-03-2... | 1,760,376,929.430492 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/19/ian-shops-seoul-south-korea/ | [Ian] Shops Seoul, South Korea | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"seoul",
"shopping",
"south korea",
"store"
] | We don’t get a chance to shop some of the cooler electronic component shops here in the States, much less hop on a plane and experience the Hacker’s Disneyland that are the Asian markets. So we’re glad to live vicariously through Hackaday alum [Ian Lesnet’s] adventures. This time around
he’s combed through Seoul, South Korea’s electronics markets
. That link will take you to the roundup of about a dozen posts he published during his recent trip.
The image above is a screenshot from one of the videos he made of the experience. After the break you can watch him put on the tour-guide hat. We think he did a great job of explaining the experience and showing off what the market is like without letting the video drag on. The shops mostly offer a window display with all of the components they sell. To make a purchase you just window shop, then go inside and they will pull out an order for you from bulk bags stored on floor-to-ceiling shelves. [Ian] also makes a stop at the local Hackerspace where they show off some of their 3D printer builds.
This is not the first time he’s given us a tour like this, go check out
his Akihabara trip
if you missed it before. He’s also planning to meet up with the Seeed Studio folks to
tour the shops in Shenzhen
next month.
[yotuube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_wa2MPbCAM&w=470] | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "607353",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2012-03-19T18:10:28",
"content": "I’m just glad I do not have such a shop near where I live. I would spend all my money on things I just “need”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "607362"... | 1,760,376,928.653572 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/17/the-gauntlet-a-1-watt-laser-module/ | The Gauntlet: A 1 Watt Laser Module | Adam Munich | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Reviews",
"Teardown"
] | [
"gauntlet"
] | This is the gauntlet; a place where things are tortured in ways that only an engineer could appreciate.
Today’s victim is a 1.0W green laser module, manufactured by Suzhou Daheng under the brand name “DHOM”.
As far as Chinese laser manufacturers go, Suzhou Daheng is about one rung lower than CNI in terms of quality. Although US companies like Coherent blow these guys out of the water, both are still reputable nonetheless. As far as Chinese lasers themselves go, this one seems a bit conservatively rated; a nice change from the “1000MW 532nm laser cat toy burning module” that’s not too uncommon on dealextreme and the like.
More after the break…
Here are the laser’s typical ratings, as quoted by the manufacturer.
Wavelength: 532nm
Output Power: <1000mW
Transverse Mode: TEM00
Divergence: <1.5mRad
Beam Diameter: <2.0mm
Cooling Mode: TEC
Modulation: Analog 0~10K
Expected Lifetime: 10,000hrs
IR leak: <1mW
Let’s start off by identifying the transverse electromagnetic mode and divergence. The following photo was taken at f/36, 1/2000th shutter and a 4x neutral density filter. For all you camera buffs out there, that should give you an idea how bright this spot actually is.
The laser mode hops dramatically as it warms up, but it eventually settles on what I can best describe as
TEM11.
While theTEM mode isn’t up to spec, that’s not too uncommon in high power lasers like this; getting a TEM00 beam at this intensity is quite hard to do. Fortunately, the mode is circular and will not have a fast axis when focused with a lens.
Beam diameter at the output was measured to be 3mm, where it then expanded to 20mm after transversing 20 feet. This
works out to be a
divergence of about 2.7 milliradians, which is not great, but not terrible either. Certainly a far cry from the stated divergence of 1.5mRad though.
P = I
2
R
Next, let’s test the output power. As expected with a high power DPSS system, it takes a little while for this laser to stabilize.
At about 800 seconds into operation though this beam settles around 1.45 watts.
That’s pretty good! It far exceeds the manufacturer’s
<1000mW rating, even if it must operate at a higher order mode to do so. This is pure green power mind you, since this laser was found to leak no discernible amount of infrared light.
f = 1 / 2π√LC
Time to put the laser’s modulation capabilities to the test. Supposedly, this one can be analog-modulated up to about 10kHz, but is this true?
The following setup will be used to verify this rating. It’s pretty much
just a green LED
rigged to the input of my scope.
At 500Hz, the modulation is nice and square. A wee bit of baseline offset but nothing too concerning.
At 5000 Hz we’re starting to see a little bit of slewing. The fall time is still nice and quick though, so no streaking should be observed when using the laser to draw an image.
At 10,000Hz the beam’s modulation becomes more of a sawtooth than a square, and falling edge starts to slur quite a bit. I’d say this is about the maximum frequency at which I’d like to modulate this thing at.
At 20kHz all hell breaks loose, while at 50k there’s no longer any light to be seen.
Vout = 1.25 * (1+(R2/R1))
Everybody loves teardown photos, so let’s have a look-see inside the power supply.
It seems to be nothing more than a linear current regulator piggy-backed on a switch mode converter. Although the switch-mode PSU looks like a rather high quality one, I’ve measured the 5V bus to be a bit high at 5.13V. Though it’s higher than I would have liked, that 5.13V rail is actually very stable and has no meaningful high-frequency noise.
A top-down look reveals a few recognizable ICs.
Operationally it seems rather simple. The modulation input is compared to a TL431 reference voltage and the current supplied to the laser diode is varied accordingly. That NAND gate makes sure that power is only given to the laser diode when the thermistor inside the laser head says it’s safe to do so, while another voltage reference’d op-amp circuit makes sure that the KTP crystal’s thermoelectric cooler/heater is maintaining a certain temperature. Unfortunately none of these trimmers are labeled…
[In case anybody’s wondering, that big potentiometer is actually my modification to the supply. It replaces the inconvenient key-switch that was once there].
No user serviceable parts inside
While it appears to be built a bit better than the PSU everything in the laser head is cemented with white epoxy; leaving no room for adjustment. Though it’s not atypical for Chinese lasers to be constructed like this, it’s impossible to move those crystals a few microns to coax the laser into TEM00 emission. On the bright side, this epoxy completely protects that KTP and ND:YVO
4
from the elements.
Recap:
Wavelength: 532nm
++
Output Power:
<1000mW
1,450mW
Transverse Mode:
TEM00
TEM11
Divergence:
<1.5mRad
2.7mRad
Beam Diameter:
<2.0mm
3mm
Cooling Mode: TEC
++
Modulation: Analog 0~10K
++
Expected Lifetime: 10,000hrs
??
IR leak: <1mW
++
Overall I’d say it’s an average laser; not wonderful, but not craptastic either. If your goal is to make a laser harp or a projector then this module should work fine, however if your goal is holography or high-speed long-distance communication this isn’t the module for you. At $1200 though, it’s still a good deal as far as the green ones go.
That’s all folks; feel free to tweet ideas for future victims to
@irfp260
. | 41 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "605756",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2012-03-17T14:13:52",
"content": "“1/2000th shutter and a 4x neutral density filter”And an ISO rating of?ISO 6400, not impressed.ISO 16, impressed.;-)But for $1200, I’ll be sticking with my DX cat burners.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,376,929.045911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/self-balancing-transport-is-arduino-controlled/ | Self-balancing Transport Is Arduino-controlled | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"balancing",
"electric",
"scooter",
"segway"
] | [Nick Thatcher] has built several iterations of a homebrew Segway, and
the latest version is very impressive
. When developing the project he figured there was just no way the thing would ever work, which led to its name, the No-way.
After the break you can catch a video of [Nick’s] test-ride. Looks like the two-wheeler is ready for daily use. You can just make out a red kill-switch on the right side of the polycarbonate body. This lets you disconnect the power if things get out of hand, or just when you’re done riding it. But there is also a dead-man’s switch which we believe uses two sensors where your feet go on the enclosure’s top surface. The handle has some indicator lights built into it, as well as buttons under each thumb which are used for steering. Control circuitry includes an Arduino UNO which reads a gyroscope/accelerometer sensor board from SparkFun. Two 7.2 Ah batteries provide 24V for the pair of electric scooter motors that turn the wheel-barrow wheels.
We love looking at
these Segway clone project
. So if you’re working on one of your own don’t forget to document your progress!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4ax3N0UW38&w=470] | 24 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "605110",
"author": "anonymus",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T22:33:27",
"content": ">Two 7.2 Ah batteries provide 24VMath, how does it work?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "605767",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,376,928.923994 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/automated-sky-tracking-to-catch-ufos/ | Automated Sky Tracking To Catch UFOs | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"sky tracking",
"spectroscopy",
"telescope",
"UFO"
] | If you were to try to take a picture of a UFO, how would you do it? Sit by the side of a road in Nevada near Area 51? Pie tin on a string? A French team of UFO enthusiasts put together an
automated UFO detection device
(
Google translate
) out of a disco light and CCTV camera so long nights of watching the skies can be automated.
The build uses a disco light with an altitude and azimuth mount to constantly scan the skies on the lookout for strange, unexplained lights. Attached to this swiveling mount is a camcorder and a CCTV camera that streams video to the command and control laptops for image analysis.
In addition to object tracking, there’s also a diffraction grating in front of the CCTV camera. The team behind this project previously used this for some
very low tech spectroscopy
(
translation
) to identify emission lines in a light source. Light that have a signature including Oxygen and Nitrogen will probably be ionized air, while less common elements may be the signature of “advanced propulsion.”
While this build is going to detect
a lot
of satellites and meteors, there’s a definite possibility of capturing an unexplained phenomenon on video. | 27 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "605033",
"author": "Dowser",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T21:35:57",
"content": "Sure, it wouldn’t be as much of a hack, but isn’t it easier and possibly cheaper to just use a bunch of cameras a’la google streetview and record the entire sky?That way you can be sure to record everything... | 1,760,376,928.868771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/fashion-leads-to-mind-controlled-skirt-lifting-contraption/ | Fashion Leads To Mind-controlled Skirt-lifting Contraption | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"eeg",
"lilypad",
"mindflex"
] | This must be an example of when worlds collide. Who would have thought the geekery of Mindflex and Arduino could make its way into high fashion? But sure enough,
this dress transforms based on the mental concentration of the model
(must resist urge to crack joke here).
Details are a bit sparse, but you can get a look at the prototype in the video after the break. There’s no nudity; a larger skirt covers a more plain version. That over-skirt is connected to some type of motor system which is driven by an Arduino. When the EEG sensor in the hat detects a certain level of brain wave activity, the outer skirt is lifted and pulled to the back of the outfit, exposing the tighter version beneath.
[Lorenzo] wrote in to share the link to this garment hack. He mentions that a Lilypad and Mindflex are at work here. Looking more into
the artist’s website
we find this isn’t the only tech-wear produced. There’s a maternity outfit which can sense the baby’s beating heart, and harvest other data about both mother and baby, as well as a few others.
We can’t think this has much future as an everyday outfit, but
more utilitarian versions
are out there so we think the sky’s the limit on wearable tech.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38547109 w=470] | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "605010",
"author": "Robot",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T20:45:41",
"content": "Oh no. I am already as helpless as a lamb when a woman decides to flirt with me. mind-controlled clothing may just be the end of me.Cool stuff, I hope to see more hacks by artists.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,928.745718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/hackday-links-march-16-2012/ | Hackday Links: March 16, 2012 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"3d printing",
"power supply",
"quadcopter",
"resistors",
"shamrock"
] | Shamrock hat
[Josh] whipped up a shamrock themed hat by
adding an outline of green LEDs to this bowler
. Just remember, don’t drink and solder. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
Battery-powered Xmas lights can be more useful
[Karl] took a string of mostly useless battery-powered Christmas lights and found a good use for them. He replaced the stock board with a boost convert and uses the two AA batteries as
a 5V power supply when mains power isn’t handy
.
3D printed appliance repair
The broken plastic piece seen here keeps a dishwasher closed while running. The part couldn’t be sourced by a repairman but the best solution turned out to be
printing a perfect replacement part
.
Generating labels for resistor storage
[Darrell] picked up a surplus test-tube rack to use as resistor storage. It’s a great system, but his
Ruby script that uses LaTeX to generate color-coded labels
is a really nice touch as well.
DeLorean quadcopter build log
No, it’s not a dupe. [Alp_X] found the link to
a build log for the DeLorean quadcopter
that headlined
our last Links post
. It’s in Russian but
the machine translation
should help a bit. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "605032",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T21:35:34",
"content": "“No, it’s not a dupe”Very clever, since it’s actually a double duplicate.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "605111",
"author": "ChalkBored",
"times... | 1,760,376,928.701554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/crt-vector-graphics-arcade-game-built-from-an-fpga-board/ | CRT Vector Graphics Arcade Game Built From An FPGA Board | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"crt",
"vector",
"vhdl"
] | [Sprite_TM] wanted to challenge his VHDL skills, and there’s no more satisfying way of doing this than making something that will be playable when you’re done. He decided to try his hand at
creating a vector-based CRT arcade
. The distinction here is that vector-based games take control of the magnetic ring that guides the electron path toward the screen. This technique allows point-to-point graphic generation rather than the pixel-based scanning that CRT televisions use.
He had a small color CRT on hand and decided to grab a VHDL version of asteroids from the Internet to see if he could get it to work. But upon further inspection of the source he found that it had a chunk of code which rasterized the vectors for use with a scanning monitor. After removing that chunk, and giving it a spin he had enough confidence that he knew what he was doing to start implementing his own game. The choice of what title really came down to the hardware the original arcade cabinets used. He was not interested in implementing a soft-process for the math chips used in games like Star Wars and Tempest. In the end he got a version of Black Widow up and running, and even built a miniature cabinet for the thing. Check out some of the gameplay in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CroIdhD3veE&w=470] | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "604874",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T17:31:51",
"content": "ARGH!I want!alsohttp://www.fpgaarcade.com/index.htm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "604922",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2012-03-... | 1,760,376,928.802432 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/3d-printers-and-becoming-intelligent-designers/ | Becoming Intelligent Designers And Saving The RepRap | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Rants"
] | [
"3d printer",
"reprap"
] | While Hack a Day’s
modus operandi is serving up hacks from around the Internet, sometimes we feel the need to exercise a bit of editorial freedom. A thousand words is a bit awkward for the front page, so feel free to
skip the break
and head straight to the full text of this article.
It’s no secret myself and my fellow writers for Hack a Day are impressed with the concept of a personal 3D printer. We’ve seen
many
,
many
,
builds
over the years where a 3D printer is
a vital tool
or
the build itself
.
Personally, I love the idea of having a 3D printer. I’ve built a
Prusa Mendel
over the past few months –
Sanguinololu
electronics, [Josef Prusa]’s PCB heated bed, and a very nice
Budaschnozzle 1.0
from the awesome people at
LulzBot
. I’ve even made some really cool bits of plastic with it, including the
GEB cube
from the inside cover of
Gödel, Escher, Bach
(a very tricky object to realize in a physical form, but not a bad attempt for the third thing I’ve ever printed, including calibration cubes). Right now I’m working on the
wheel design
for a rocker-bogie suspension system I hope to finish by early August when the
next Mars rover
lands. My Prusa is a wonderful tool; it’s not a garage filled with a mill, lathe, and woodworking tools, but it’s a start. I think of it as the
Shopsmith
of the 21st century.
Lately I’ve become more aware of the problems the RepRap and 3D printer community will have to deal with in the very near future, and the possible solution that led me to write this little rant.
Infinite variety in infinite combinations
If I were to start researching what 3D printer to buy or build
now,
I would be faced with even more options than I had just one year ago. Even if I limited myself to a printer under the RepRap banner, I would need to choose between the
Mendel
, the
MendelMax
,
Prusa
, or
Mendel90
derivatives, the
Huxley
, the Printrbot-based
Wallace
,
this neat folding RepRap
, and even one that can
print its own case
.
Outside of “official” RepRaps, there’s the Makerbot
Thing-O-Matic
,
Replicator
, and the deprecated
Cupcake CNC
, as well as
Makergear Mosaic
,
Ulitmaker
,
SUMPOD
,
Printrbot
, and the
UP! 3D printer
, among others.
Keep in mind that this list is not complete and only includes the hardware for molten plastic printers, not
laser-cured UV resin
or
laser sintering
printers. There’s also the issue of a dozen versions of
electronics boards
, a
handful of firmwares
, and a few types of
host software
available for each and every machine. In short, the 3D printer community is fractured nearly beyond repair.
What we should do
The father of the RepRap, [Adrian Bowyer], came up with the idea of a biologically inspired self-replicating machine nearly 10 years ago. The RepRap, as originally envisioned, was a physical manifestation of a
Von Neumann Universal Constructor
. [Bowyer]’s idea of a 3D printer serving as the foundation of a Universal Constructor models biological life and evolution; a machine designed to make parts for itself ‘evolves’ with each generation being more capable than the last. This idea caught on, and the huge abundance and variety of RepRaps and other 3D printers is like the diversification of flora and faunae of the
Cambrian explosion
.
This diversification is not without evolutionary dead ends; useful add-ons like the
automated build platform
are compartmentalized and only available for the Cupcake and Thing-O-Matic.
Small keypads
for computer-less printing are not always interchangeable between electronics boards and firmware versions. Obviously, there needs to be a standardization; like a comet smashing into the Yucatán peninsula, it may be time to wipe the dinosaur designs off the map.
What will happen anyway
In [Adrian Bowyer]’s vision of self-reproducing machines,
we serve as hosts
to the virus-like RepRaps that copy themselves and are assembled by humans. We are the evolutionary force that guides new generations of self-replicating machines.
It’s time for us to start acting like intelligent designers.
What I’m suggesting is simple; have the
RepRap Core Team
define standards for officially sanctioned RepRaps. Throw a few designs up for review, like the
Prusa Iteration 2
, the
Makerbot Replicator
, and the
Printrbot
, and pick the best half-dozen machines from the lot, and put the RepRap name on them. Repeat that every six months or so, gradually improving each model along the way. Put the faith of the RepRap community behind every machine. Make “RepRap” a generic trademark. Put value into the RepRap name so in 50 years everyone has “a RepRap” on their desk instead of “a fused filament fabrication rapid prototyping device.”
What’s in a name
With a half-dozen designs for 3D printers, what do we gain? The combined development skill of hundreds of hobbyists, tinkerers, and makers from around the world for starters. Hundreds of people working on a hundreds of designs brings is a linear development process, and doesn’t benefit the project as a whole. It’s a piecemeal approach that invests too much time towards reinventing the wheel.
Hundreds of people working on a small handful of designs turns the linear development into an exponential development process. A limited set of possible machines means more improvements per model for every generation. If 3D printers are
“breeding” exponentially
, it follows they should
improve
exponentially.
Not only would we get a more directed development, but it would become feasible for someone to hand the models of a set of printed parts to an injection molding factory in China without worrying about ‘next week’s model.’ With a set of standards, RepRap kit makers can invest in the tooling to mass-produce kits instead of relying on
a shelf full of printers
to make the next generation of kits.
Parallels to Parallax
There is a remarkable similarity to what I’m suggesting and another well-known open source project. In 2005,
this
was the Arduino. Just take a look at how far the Arduino has come in seven short years: there’s a USB port, a better microprocessor, a huge library of example code, and a reduced parts count between the Arduino Serial and the Arduino Uno. Development on the Arduino still continues, and now there are
Ethernet Arduinos
and
Motor Shields
that provide a standard library of hardware and software for others to improve upon.
Nothing about the Arduino is new; the
BASIC Stamp
had been wrapping a microcontroller and peripheral components in a single package for
years
before the Arduino. Now, the Arduino is available in every Radio Shack while capable hardware like the
Handy Board
is relegated to educational pricing and the closets of schoolrooms. All this was due in part to the Arduino team defining a standard board and IDE. Without this, the Arduino would not be what it is today.
The RepRap can easily become the next Kleenex, Xerox, Thermos, or Aspirin. All it takes is a benevolent dictator to decide what is best for all of us. As with the Arduino, development of peripherals and improvements will continue. The best printers will rise to the top, and we’ll finally become the intelligent designers a RepRap allows us all to be.
Alright, rant over. It’s just an idea that I’ve been throwing around for a while. If you’ve got a rebuttal, or would like to add your own thoughts, drop a note in the comments. We now return you to your regularly scheduled build posts. | 148 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "604821",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T16:09:53",
"content": "I couldn’t agree more. Core standards are important to foster creativity.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "606015",
"author": "John",
"ti... | 1,760,376,929.272389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/using-the-nook-as-a-keyboard/ | Using The Nook As A Keyboard | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"keyboard",
"Nook"
] | [Andrew] has been pining for an Optimus Maximus – a keyboard with a small LCD screen in each key – for years. Like a lot of people, he love the idea of a completely configurable keyboard, but balked at the two thousand dollar price tag. Although it doesn’t have full color OLED screens behind each key, [Andrew]’s nook simple touch
can be used as a keyboard
just the same.
After rooting his new nook, [Andrew] had a very nice tablet computer, and the only Android device with an e-ink screen. Although[Andrew] never wrote an Android app before, he wanted to do a proof of concept build to see if a nook keyboard would actually work. The “keyboard app” is actually just a webpage hosted on his home server. When he presses a virtual key, JavaScript sends an ASCII value back to the server where it is decoded and sent to
xte
.
[Andrew] says his build works, but not very well. Opera mini doesn’t like the homebrew server he set up, and Cyrillic characters are a no go. Still, it works, and looks like an awesome application for an e-ink tablet with a proper Android app. Demo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSetKjjege0&w=470] | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "604809",
"author": "mbafford",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T15:47:48",
"content": "Remote Droid (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joshsera&feature=search_result) works really well as a remote keyboard, at least for a Linux host (I haven’t tried anything else). It runs a... | 1,760,376,928.964126 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/16/storing-sketches-in-the-cloud/ | Storing Sketches In The Cloud | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Git",
"github",
"source code",
"version control"
] | There’s a fine line between solving problems that don’t exist and solving problems that no one recognizes until a solution is found. The former shows up with housewares peddled on late-night infomercials, while the latter is summed up by [Henry Ford], “If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” [Dave]’s method of
storing microcontroller code in the cloud
definitely falls into the ‘useful’ category.
[Dave] first realized the problem when he was digging around the
IDEO Toy Lab
and came across an orphan project, a Barbie credit card swiper. [Dave] had no idea if the firmware for this project was saved on the server, or even if the current version was available. One solution to this problem could be burning a copy of the source onto the Flash or EEPROM on the board.
There’s a problem with this idea, though: storing the source in an Arduino’s memory takes space. Thinking laterally, [Dave] realized that editing source happens on a computer, computers are connected to the Internet, so why not keep the source “in the cloud?”
[Dave]’s solution is to host the source on GitHub, and tie every piece of code to a board’s unique USB serial number. This gives every Arduno a unique ID, allows for version control, and libraries of multiple files.
This very clever addition to the Arduino IDE is
up on GitHub
, ready to be added to any Arduino installation. Why the Arduino IDE doesn’t already have this feature is beyond us, but that’s what you get when you want a faster horse. | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "604733",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2012-03-16T14:08:46",
"content": "But what happens when the USB serial numbers are not unique? When someone re-uses someone else’s ID because they don’t want to pay $$$ to get their own.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,376,929.332029 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/analog-clock-display-uses-a-nipkow-disk/ | Analog Clock Display Uses A Nipkow Disk | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"display",
"nipkow",
"POV"
] | Although [Serokoy] is not thrilled with the outcome of
his Nipkow disk clock
(
translated
), but we really enjoy it. It uses the Persistence of Vision concept to create a light display from a rotating disk.
We’ve come across a lot of rotating disk clocks. Several were based off of the platters of a hard drive,
using a slit
, or
series of slits
to make up the display. This
Nipkow disk
uses a similar technique but in a more general way. The series of holes arranged in a spiral pattern allows a grid of concentric rings to be used as pixels when the disk is spinning. The bottom portion of the disk is used as the display area. Each pixel is illuminated at just the right time by LEDs below in order to freeze that pixel in the viewer’s eye. The demo is a bit rough, and [Serokoy] mentions that the precision of the hole layout makes all the difference. He drilled these by hand in a CD which was spray painted matte black. Even though he used a computer to lay out and print a template, it took four tries to get a suitable disk.
[Thanks Svofski] | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "604254",
"author": "Miroslav",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T23:34:57",
"content": "Nice effort. Too bad those Jandeks videos won’t load, so I can’t see the demo :( He should transfer them to Youtube.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,376,929.382919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/color-changing-coaster-has-a-built-in-drink-detector/ | Color Changing Coaster Has A Built-in Drink Detector | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"coaster",
"constant current",
"mbi5168",
"rgb"
] | [Robert] put together his own
illuminated coasters that know when they hold a drink
. They look fantastic, thanks to professionally produced PCBs and a layered, laser-cut acrylic case. They’re much like the pagers given to restaurant-goes who are waiting for tables, but this version is much fancier (and doesn’t include the vibrating/paging feature).
The RGB-LED board is
a previous project
which was developed using eight surface mount RGB LED modules around a circular board. It uses an ATmega168 paired with an MBI5168 constant-current LED sink driver. The coaster enclosure gave him room for a few more items, like the pair of AA batteries which work in conjunction with a boost converter to power the device. It also houses an IR reflectance sensor which is used to detect the presence of a drink on the coaster. This is important since an on-occupied coaster looks like it would be blindingly bright if there wasn’t a glass to diffuse the intensity of the LEDs.
He mentions that incandescent light bulbs mess with the IR reflectance sensor. But there must be some way to account for ambient conditions with the code, right? | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "604238",
"author": "atomsoft",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T23:12:17",
"content": "Clear isnt a good look really. A milky white would have made this 100% awesome! but since its not that color i still give this 90% thumbs up!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,376,929.925382 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/kid-friendly-rfid-media-center-playlist-control/ | Kid-friendly RFID Media Center Playlist Control | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"Dreambox",
"home entertainment",
"rfid",
"tv"
] | While young children have the tiny hands and fingers that most hackers/tinkerers wish they possessed from time to time, their fine motor skills aren’t always up to par when it comes to operating complicated electronics. People are always looking for ways to make their home entertainment systems accessible to their kids,
and [Humpadilly] is no exception.
Much like some of the
other hacks we’ve seen this week
, he has devised a way for his little ones (1 and 2 years old) to control his Dreambox Media Player using RFID, which seems to be the go-to technology for this sort of thing.
His RFID remote consists of three major components aside from the media player itself. An Arduino runs the show, and is connected to both an Ethernet shield and a breakout board fitted with an ID-20 RFID reader module. The Ethernet shield allows the Arduino to talk to his Dreambox over a telnet connection, while the RFID reader does what you would expect.
The device is in its infancy at the moment, and while [Humpadilly] hasn’t published a ton of details about the actual RFID devices he is using to control the system, he says that more details and improvements are forthcoming. In the meantime, you can
check out his code here. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "604193",
"author": "Vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T21:54:24",
"content": "More (and more and more) serious studies show that it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep the little ones (i.e. under 5 years old) AWAY from all TV’s, Computer’s, etc. Their developing brains can’t de... | 1,760,376,929.969133 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/twiddling-an-led-using-the-beaglebones-embedded-linux/ | Twiddling An LED Using The BeagleBone’s Embedded Linux | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"angstrom",
"arm",
"beaglebone",
"Embedded Linux"
] | If you comfortable working with 8-bit microcontrollers, the thought of moving to a hardware platform running embedded Linux may be a bit daunting. After all, there’s a lot going on between you and the chips on a board like the BeagleBone seen above. But [Matt Richardson] shows how easy it can be to get at the pins on this device. He put together
a primer on hardware control from the embedded shell
.
You will remember that the
BeagleBone is the newest generation of the BeagleBoard
. The ARM processor and other goodies make it a powerful tool, and those already familiar with Linux will be able to get up and running in no time. Just connect the board to your network and SSH into it to get started. [Matt] outlines this setup process in the clip after the break. He then hits the reference manual to find the pinout of the female headers on either side of the board. Each available I/O pin is mapped to the /sys directory and can easily be controlled by echoing your commands to the appropriate files. But [Matt] went a step further than that, writing his own Python library that implements Arduino-style syntax like the digitalWrite() function.
This example should give you enough of a shove to start porting your own libraries over for use with the device. Don’t forget to document your projects and
tip us off about them
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uqRVxismQ&w=470]
[Thanks Manu] | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "604099",
"author": "Serre",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T18:29:47",
"content": "The pins on the Beaglebone have a really low current limit. 4~8mA for most of them. So to be safe with the red LED you should use a 470 ohm resistor, or check the data sheet:http://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/am3359s... | 1,760,376,930.078313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/rfid-playlists-plus-a-qr-code-concept/ | RFID Playlists Plus A QR Code Concept | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"itunes",
"playlist",
"qr code",
"rfid"
] | Here’s another audio playback hack that uses physical tokens to choose what you’re listening to. It uses Touchatag
RFID hardware to control iTunes
. The concept is very similar to
the standalone Arduino jukebox
we saw on Wednesday except this one interfaces with your computer and the tags select entire albums instead of just one song. A shell script processes the incoming tag ID from the reader, populates a playlist with all the tracks from the associated album, then executes an AppleScript to launch that playlist. Check out the short demo after the break.
But what really caught our eye is the QR-code reader concept which [Janis] hopes to implement at some point in the future. The computer side of things doesn’t need to be changed, but we love the challenge of putting together an FPGA-based camera to recognize and decode the QR image. Looks like
a perfect use for that $10 camera module
and it’s FPGA driver!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBlZb2SDSNk&w=470] | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "604040",
"author": "Wizzard",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T17:35:42",
"content": "Somebody is realising one of my concepts again. This particular one was invented by meh about half year ago. I must learn to keep mouth shut about my projects :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,930.278105 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/a-better-dust-skirt-for-your-cnc-mill/ | A Better Dust Skirt For Your CNC Mill | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"clear",
"mill",
"PVC",
"skirt"
] | [Joshendy] wanted to get a better look at the cutting head on his CNC mill when it was running. The problem is that the rotating blades throw up a lot of junk which you don’t want flying around the shop so they’re usually surrounded with a shroud connected to a shopvac. He just
milled is own transparent dust skirt
to solve the problem.
The original dust skirt uses black bristle brushes to contain the waste from the cut. In addition to obscuring your view of the cutter this didn’t do a very good job of containing bits and pieces. The solution seen on the right uses clear, flexible PVC as the skirt. The video after the break details the build process. [Joshendy] cut out a replacement plate which is then fitted with magnets to connect to the cutter. The skirt is affixed to that plate with a series of screws, making it easy to replace if it ever wears out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YHAqdXDTdM&w=470]
[via
Reddit
] | 18 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "603470",
"author": "Ben Wright",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T20:26:41",
"content": "I don’t know if either dust shield material is better than the other. I think it’s more about personal preference. I don’t know if I would of made the flaps so long that the bit can hit them.",
"p... | 1,760,376,930.02458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/an-inside-look-on-how-reed-switches-are-manufactured/ | An Inside Look On How Reed Switches Are Manufactured | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"annealing",
"manufacturing",
"reed switch"
] | [York] wrote in to
share a video he stumbled across
while researching reed switches and relays, which documents the tightly controlled process through which they are produced. Like many other electronic components out there, we usually don’t give a lot of thought to how they are made, especially when the final cost is relatively small.
For something often taken for granted, the process is an incredibly precise one, requiring a clean room environment the entire way through. The video follows the production line from beginning to end, including the soft annealing of the contacts to remove magnetic remanence, the sputtering process that applies sub-micron thick conductive coatings to the contacts, through the laser cutting and sealing of the glass tubes that make up the body of the switch.
At the end of the day, the video is little more than a manufacturer’s promotional video, but it’s worth the 8 minutes it takes to watch it, if only to satisfy your curiosity as to how they are made.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FhUt7VyMKT4&w=470] | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "603439",
"author": "conundrum",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T19:21:06",
"content": "fascinating, always wondered about that.In case anyone is curious, reed switches are still often used on bicycle speedos due to the zero power requirement.They are also used on some electronic chess/drau... | 1,760,376,929.814049 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/machining-copper-parts-using-cupric-chloride/ | “Machining” Copper Parts Using Cupric Chloride | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"brush",
"cupric chloride",
"etchant",
"motor"
] | [Ben Ardwin] was asked by a friend to help fix an old motor. It needed a new set of brushes. They’re just thin pieces of copper that mount on the motor housing and contact the commutator. The metal is so thin he thought he’d try
fabricating replacements by dissolving copper stock
.
This is not copper clad board; the raw material used in PCBs that has a copper-covered fiberglass substrate. It’s just thin sheets of copper stock. [Ben] started by covering top and bottom with painter’s tape. This will act as a resist for the chemical etchant. He headed over to the laser cutter to remove the tape mask around the outline of the parts. From there it’s into the Cupric Chloride for about two hours.
The etched parts are a bit rough around the edges so he cleaned them up by hand using a file. When writing to us about the process he suggests a few improvements. The tape used for masking wasn’t ideal and he would try a different method. He would also remove less area around the parts to help speed up the process.
This technique is a really becoming popular as a home-fabrication tool. Recently we’ve seen etched copper used to make
a faceplate for an enclosure
, and a
translucent template for a clock
. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "603424",
"author": "Keith",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T18:59:16",
"content": "Ok, that’s great, but couldn’t you just have used tin snips or a nibbler and a drill? LOLI figure that it would probably have been cheaper and faster, but I applaud you’re creativity.",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,376,929.869117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/robotic-doodle-clock/ | Robotic Doodle Clock | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arm",
"dry erase",
"felt",
"servo"
] | This clock has a robotic twist to it. It will
show you the time by drawing it
in dry-erase marker. There’s a bit of play in the arm joints and some loose motor precision which results in a wavy font that prompted [Ekaggrat] to name his project the Doodle Clock.
The shape and building material used here really make the timepiece look great. We think if the arm holding the acrylic writing surface had been at right angles this would not look nearly as pleasing. The video after the break shows the bot in action, at first flexing its wrist to switch back and forth between marker and eraser. From there it starts to draw the time, tracing the segments of each digit multiple times to achieve a readable number. The entire thing is driven by an Arduino compatible board mounted on the base of the clock.
This reminds us of
that felt-tipped Turing Machine
. A variation on that would also make a really nice clock display.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSdylL9qs7o&w=470] | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "603411",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T18:19:56",
"content": "Very cool and the copper gives it a steampunk look, I just hopes its parkinsons clears up. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "603414",
"author":... | 1,760,376,930.180062 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/poking-machine/ | Poking Machine | Brian Benchoff | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"bluetooth",
"facebook",
"poke",
"servo"
] | We may be showing our age here, but we have no idea what a ‘poke’ on Facebook actually means. Whether it’s the passive-aggressive manifestations of online stalkers or an extension of the ‘like’ button, all we know is [Jasper] and [Bartholomäus] built a machine that
translates virtual pokes into our analog world
.
The “Poking Machine” as [Jasper] and [Bart] call it, syncs to your phone over a Bluetooth connection. The build is incredibly simple: just an ATtiny running
Arduino for ATtiny
, a Bluetooth controller (possibly
this one
from Sparkfun), and a servo. When the Facebook app on [Jasper] and [Bart]’s phone receives notification of a ‘poke’, the servo is powered and gently taps the wearer on the arm.
One thing we really like about this project is the case made of several layers of laser-cut acrylic bolted together. This case offers a very clean look even if it is a bit ungainly. We suppose the guys could have used a simple vibration/pager motor for this build, but it wouldn’t exactly be a poking machine at that point. Check out the build video after the break.
[vimeo=38155224] | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "603285",
"author": "Jimbo",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T16:09:15",
"content": "Perhaps also you could make a ‘fingering’ machine for when you’re fingered over a UNIX network.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "603298",
"auth... | 1,760,376,930.229612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/nanoscale-3d-printing/ | Nanoscale 3D Printing | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"stereolithograpy"
] | This 3D-printed model of the Tower Bridge is only 200 micrometers long. To put that into perspective, the distance between the towers is the width of a human hair. This model is the
product of research
at the additive manufacturing department of the Vienna University of Technology
The models were fabricated much like normal stereolithography – a laser shines onto a vat of light-sensitive resin. The resin hardens when exposed to light, and the model is built up layer by layer. These nanoscale models were made using a process called “two-photon lithography,” something we’re not going to pretend we understand completely but
here’s
a nice paper that provides a good overview. Needless to say, the precision these prints exhibit are nearly ludicrous. The researchers claim a precision of ±1µm, a respectable amount of precision for very high-tech machining applications.
The researches posted a video of the fabrication of a nanoscale F1 race car filmed in real-time. Check that out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y0j191H0kY&w=470] | 17 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "603238",
"author": "atomsoft",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T15:09:40",
"content": "OMFG Awesome!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "603244",
"author": "HAD",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T15:19:41",
"content": "Slow right now bu... | 1,760,376,930.129647 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/a-mannequin-head-arduino-webcam-lots-of-creepy-fun/ | A Mannequin Head + Arduino + Webcam = Lots Of Creepy Fun! | Jeremy Cook | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"mannequin",
"styrofoam",
"webcam"
] | This
mannequin head
was purchased years ago on sale for less than $3. As with many things one sees while shopping, it didn’t have a purpose at the time, but seemed like it would be useful later. Add in an Arduino, some servos, and electronics parts that were acquire in a similar manner, and you have all the ingredients needed for a cool hack.
The build is well documented in the video after the break, and we especially like at 2:24 when who we suppose is the mom says “Look at this mess!” Apparently the next iteration will be a robot to clean everything up!
This iteration is quite impressive though, as it uses a webcam to track objects using a servomotor and lists the code used. For a view of it tracking stuff along with a view of the PC, fast forward to around 8:45. In addition to tracking the parts using the servo, the non-webcam eye changes color from green to yellow depending on if it’s tracking or not. It also featured a blinking necklace, which is also a plus in our eyes.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TithLO3KzzU&w=470&h=315%5D
For more random head-like creepiness, be sure to check out
[Boxie the Creepster]
! | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "603236",
"author": "Dingdong",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T15:04:34",
"content": "I think it’s the wife that says: “Look at this mess”, not the mother.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "603266",
"author": "Tweeks",
"timestamp... | 1,760,376,930.513904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/usb-controlled-spoka-night-light/ | USB Controlled SPÖKA Night Light | Mike Nathan | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"ATtiny25",
"ikea",
"led",
"SPÖKA"
] | [wejp] picked up
an IKEA SPÖKA night light
, but he wasn’t entirely impressed with its functionality. Pressing the top of the ghost’s head causes it to cycle through a few colors, and pressing it a second time locks it into displaying the current color until its tapped again. Inspired by
this SPÖKA hack
which used a different version of the night light, he tore his down to see what he could do with it.
Upon stripping off the outer cover, he found that the internals were considerably different than those found in its glowing brethren, though they were perfect for what [wejp] had in mind. He removed the rechargeable battery pack as well as the controller board, which sits on a PCB separate from the LEDs. He replaced the stock micro with an ATtiny25, which he uses to give himself a bit more control over the light display.
He couldn’t quite cram all the functionality he desired into the ATtiny, but he planned on powering the light using his computer anyhow, so he installed a small USB port in the back. When connected to his PC, the SPÖKA can be controlled more precisely than when it operates alone.
Unfortunately there’s no video available of the SPÖKA light in action, but there are plenty of images available on his site. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "603166",
"author": "bigdeal",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T13:38:52",
"content": "Very nice throughout write-up! The wow-factor of the project itself is limited to a few leds and a button, but there are nice possibilities, such as using it as a notification acknowledgment device (nabazt... | 1,760,376,930.649167 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/fine-pitch-smd-soldering-with-minimal-tools/ | Fine-pitch SMD Soldering With Minimal Tools | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"0402",
"oven",
"relow",
"smd",
"surface mount",
"toaster oven",
"vacuum tweezers"
] | We try to stick to the 0805 parts because they’re still big enough to solder by hand. But [Scott] shows us that
it doesn’t take too many special tools to reflow fine-pitch components
at home. In this case he’s using 0402 resistors, a footprint that we consider functionally impossible to solder using an iron.
The two parts of the equation that he spent some money on are professionally produced PCBs and a solder stencil. The stencil is laser-cut from Kapton, which is heat-resistant so it doesn’t warp during the cutting process. An acrylic frame holds the PCB in place, and he just tapes the stencil over it and uses a chunk of acrylic as a squeegee to evenly apply the solder paste. Splurging on the PCB and stencil means you’ll achieve tolerances which lead to success.
The next issue is placing the components. [Scott] shows off some vacuum tweezers he built using an aquarium pump. Watch the video after the break to see how small those 0402 parts are when he extracts one of the resistors from the tape packaging. With the board manually populated (check everything twice!) he moves the board to a completely unaltered toaster oven for reflow. We have seen a lot of projects which
add controllers to these ovens
, but he really makes the case that you don’t need it. Instead, he uses a thermocoupler read by a multimeter just to let him know what’s going on with the temperature. He uses a smart phone as a timer, and switches the oven on and off to match the solder’s heat profile.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqv9HF_2GlY&w=470] | 58 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "602434",
"author": "Sven",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T22:14:14",
"content": "“In this case he’s using 0402 resistors, a footprint that we consider functionally impossible to solder using an iron.”You what? There is absolutely no problems in soldering 0402, i do that daily at work.0201... | 1,760,376,930.603609 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/carabiner-helps-you-hone-your-milling-skills/ | Carabiner Helps You Hone Your Milling Skills | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"aluminum",
"carabiner",
"mill",
"solidworks",
"water jet"
] | [Christian] is learning to use the metal milling tools at what we assume is his local Hackerspace. We love this about the communal spaces, they provide so many opportunities to delve into new fields. He embarked on a voyage that included visits to most of the machinery in the shop as
he build his own carabiner with a magnetic gate
. He’s not going to be hanging off the side of a mountain from it. But his keys or a water bottle will find a happy home thanks to the device.
It all started with some sketches to establish the shape of the overall design. From there he spent some time modelling the frame of the carabiner in CAD. He’s lucky enough to have access to a water jet which took the SolidWorks files and cut out the aluminum frame for him. That left a part with very sharp edges, so he used a wood router with a carbide bit to round them over.
The next part is adding the gate. He used an end-mill to add a mounting area on the frame. The locking ring for the gate was textured using a knurling tool, and the rest is milled with a simple cutting tool. This gate uses a magnet to center itself, with the knurled ring as the only mechanical latching mechanism. [Christian] does a good job of demonstrating the completed carabiner in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ7hULTHsPs&w=470] | 26 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "602386",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T21:23:15",
"content": "Looks strong enough to hold 4 maybe 5 house keys.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "602421",
"author": "noone",
"timestamp": "2012-0... | 1,760,376,930.812366 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/reverse-engineering-old-pda-software/ | Reverse Engineering Old PDA Software | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"Axim",
"backlight",
"dell",
"disassembly",
"pda",
"reverse engineer"
] | [Troy Wright] acquired a lot of twenty broken Dell Axim PDAs. This type hardware was quite popular a decade ago, but looks archaic when compared to a modern cell phone. That’s why he was able to get them for a song. After a bit of work he managed to resurrect eight of the units, but was dismayed to find there’s no published method for controlling the back light from software. For some reason this is a deal-breaker for his project. But he knew it was possible because there are some apps for the device which are able to set the back light level. So he
found out how to do it by reverse engineering the software
.
The trick is to get a hold of the code. Since it’s not open source [Troy] used
IDA
, a graphical disassember and debug suite. He had some idea of what he was hunting for as the Windows CE developer documentation does mention a way to directly control the graphical hardware independently from the display driver. A few hours of pawing through assembly language, setting break points, and testing eventually led him to the solution. | 13 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "602360",
"author": "Dmitry Grinberg",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T20:54:29",
"content": "that pda uses an x-scale chip. pwm registers addresses are known and windows on the device allows one to map hardware regs using a single api callone can then adjust the PWM to ANY, not just one of... | 1,760,376,930.699814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/playing-mp3s-from-an-fpga/ | Playing MP3s From An FPGA | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"dac",
"fpga",
"helix",
"mp3"
] | Building an audio player is a fun project. It used to be quite a task to do so, but these days the MP3 decoder chips are full-featured which means that if you know how to talk to other chips with a microcontroller you’ve got all the skills needed to pull off the project. But that must have been too easy for [Ultra-Embedded], he decided just to
build an MP3 player out of an FPGA
.
It’s not quite as difficult as it first sounds. He didn’t have to figure out how to decode the audio compressions. Instead he rolled the Helix MP3 decoder library into the project. It had already been optimized to run on an ARM processor, and since he’s using a RISC soft processor the translation wasn’t tough at all. He’s using a 24-bit stereo DAC chip to bridge the gap between the audio jack and the FPGA output. Clocking that chip with the FPGA isn’t ideal and causes 44.1 kHz audio to run 3% too slow. He says it’s not noticeable, which we believe. But if you try to play along with a song the pitch shift might end up driving you crazy.
If you’d prefer to just stick to the microcontroller based players
this one’s small and inexpensive
. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "602288",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T19:37:57",
"content": "Ok, nice project… though I can’t for the life of me imagine why you’d want to take a perfectly good (but somewhat expensive – E22 here) FPGA and implement a soft-core in it, needing an extra SRAM-chip to... | 1,760,376,930.854457 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/controlling-a-dslr-with-a-nintendo-ds/ | Controlling A DSLR With A Nintendo DS | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"digital camera",
"dslr"
] | At Hack a Day, we’ve seen dozens of intervalometer builds that open and close a camera shutter remotely. [Luke Skaff] decided to take these builds to the next level by
automating a camera’s focus and shutter
with a Nintendo DS.
[Luke]’s build is based on the
Open Camera Controller project
that puts the power of an intervalometer, sound trigger, sequencer, and HDR bracket shooting into the hands of professional photogaphers. The Open Camera Controller is built to run on a Nintendo DS with an
AVR-based card
attached to the Game Boy Advance cartridge port.
The Open Camera Controller attaches to a camera’s shutter port, but [Luke] stepped things up a little bit by using a
USB host controller
and implementing the
picture transfer protocol
. Now, instead of [Luke]’s controller telling his camera when to open and close the shutter, the focus of the camera can be adjusted as well. [Luke]’s build uses an Xilinx CoolRunner-II CPLD and a
USB host controller
to convert the DS cartridge port to a USB port every DSLR can connect to.
[Luke] still has a mess of wires on his hand, but even we can see the power that inexpensive automation would bring to the world of digital photography.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAHeJVDePk&w=470] | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "602199",
"author": "HAD",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T17:53:28",
"content": "Hasn’t this been done before, and featured on HAD?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "602201",
"author": "HAD",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T17... | 1,760,376,930.745573 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/brewtarget-open-source-homebrewing/ | Brewtarget: Open Source Homebrewing | Caleb Kraft | [
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"beer",
"open source"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BEdkZIUkvA4]
Several of us here at Hackaday Brew our own beer. Needless to say, we got a little excited when we saw members of the open source community building a brew tracking system.
Brewtarget
is an open source tracking system that you could download right now and begin tracking and building your recipes. It looks like there is a fairly active development group working on it and even a feature request form that seems to be filling up. Maybe we overlooked it, but there doesn’t seem to be an existing feature list. We look forward to seeing where this project goes.
Brewtarget implements BeerXML, which means it should also be compatible with
Beershmith, a commercial application
.
[via
adafruit
] | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "602092",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2012-03-13T16:08:42",
"content": "… and it installs itself under “Education” in the “Applications” menu.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "602158",
"author": "ScottInNH",
"timesta... | 1,760,376,931.044354 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/11/geneboy-is-the-portable-sega-genesis-youve-always-wanted/ | GeneBoy Is The Portable Sega Genesis You’ve Always Wanted | Mike Nathan | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"console",
"genesis",
"portable",
"sega",
"video game"
] | There’s something about portable gaming systems that just doesn’t get old. Perhaps its the nostalgia, or the unique cases and form factors the modders come up with. Whatever it might be, we think they’re great.
[Downing] wrote in to share
a portable system he just wrapped up, called the GeneBoy.
He broke down a Sega Genesis console to the bare necessities, then attached a 3.5” backup camera screen to serve as the display. A 3rd party Genesis controller donated its buttons to the GeneBoy, while his D-Pad was salvaged from an original Playstation controller.
The case was built from vacuum formed plastic, which made it easy to get just the size and shape he needed to hold everything together perfectly. Even though he says that the outside of the case got a bit roughed up during final assembly, we think it looks great. I would certainly enjoy having all the fun of [Sonic the Hedgehog] or Road Rash in the palm of my hand any day!
Continue reading to see the GeneBoy in action, and be sure to check out
[Downing’s] blog
along with the
Modded by Bacteria forum thread
where he discusses the finer details of its assembly. | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "600512",
"author": "ob3sus",
"timestamp": "2012-03-11T15:23:16",
"content": "I wonder if this pulls more juice than a sega nomad",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "600517",
"author": "WiredUp",
"timestamp": "2012-03-11T15:3... | 1,760,376,930.993452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/10/over-engineering-windshield-wipers-to-sync-to-music/ | Over Engineering Windshield Wipers To Sync To Music | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"car",
"control theory",
"windshield wipers"
] | In the late 90s, Volkswagen aired a series of awesome television advertisements that won a few awards relevant to those in advertising circles. One of these ads was titled
Synchronicity
and showed a VW Jetta’s windshield wipers (among other things) syncing to music as the car drove down a rainy alley. [ch00f] thought
beat tracking wipers
would make for a great project, and we love the sheer amount of engineering that went into this build.
The build began with [ch00f] taking apart his wiper motor to get some specifics for his build. Ideally, a rotary encoder would be very useful for this project, but designing a durable encoder would be a pain anyway. [ch00f] had to settle with the ‘parking pins’ on the wiper gear motor that allow the wipers to be driven in intermittent mode.
[ch00f] spent a great deal of time writing code that would
guarantee a constant wiper speed
, but that didn’t solve the problem of phase, or having the wipers begin or end their cycle on the beat. This problem was somewhat solved (as you can see in the video after the break) by using a feed forward system – basically, the software would predict the change in phase needed and correct it by changing the speed.
The build still isn’t perfect, although that’s mainly due to the placement of wiper parking switch on the wiper motor. [ch00f] plans on spending a little more time correcting the wiper speed/phase control with software, but what he’s got now is still very impressive.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOCpIA_D6nU&w=470] | 43 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "599994",
"author": "Almost?",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T23:17:35",
"content": "Insert nerdgasm here.Why do this? Because we can.We need hacker awards so we can bestow honor on guys like this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "60... | 1,760,376,930.932111 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/10/hackday-links-march-10-2012/ | Hackday Links: March 10, 2012 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"back to the future",
"DeLorean",
"LaTeX",
"LED display",
"LED panel",
"microsoft surface",
"organization",
"oscilloscope",
"quadrocopter",
"resistors",
"ruby",
"touchscreen"
] | We’re throwing money at our monitor and nothing’s happening!
Sometimes we get hacks sent
into our tip line
that are outrageously awesome, but apart from a YouTube video we’ve got nothing else to write about. So begins the story of the
flying
Back to the Future
DeLorean quadrocopter
. Sadly, the story ends with the video as well. (If you’ve got any info, send it in!)
Fine, we’ll throw in another cool car
Mercedes
covered a car with LEDs
and made the James Bond’s invisible car from
Die Another Day
.
The Mercedes video cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce, so
of course
there’s camera trickery; we’re just wondering how much credit Adobe After Effects gets for this build.
Microsoft touchscreen demo might be impossible
Yes, Microsoft does care about user experience. Just take a look at
this video
from their applied sciences group. They did user testing with touchscreens that updated every 1 millisecond, compared to the ~100ms our phones and tablets usually update. Of course the result was a better UX, but now we’re wondering
how they built a touch screen that updates every millisecond?
That’s a refresh rate of 1 kHz, and we’ve got no clue how they bodged that one together. We’re probably dealing with a Microsoft Surface projector/IR camera thing here, but that doesn’t answer any questions.
Edit: [Philip Rowney] sent in a tip that it could be
this TI touch screen controller
that can sample above 1 kHz. The only problem is this chip uses a resistive touch screen, instead of a multitouch-enabled capacitive screen. At least that solves
one
problem.
And now for something that
can
measure 1 kHz
[Paleotechnologist] posted an
excellent guide
to the care and feeding of an oscilloscope. Most of our readers probably already know the ins and outs of their awesome Techtronix and HP units, but that doesn’t mean the younglings won’t have to learn sooner or later.
Good idea, except the part about saving it for spring
In a moment of serendipity, [Valentin] figured out how to use
touchscreens with wool gloves
. The answer: rub thermal grease into the tip of the index finger. It works, and doesn’t look to be too much of a mess. We’ll remember this for next winter.
The last one didn’t have a picture, so here’s this
[Darrell] used a little bit of LaTeX and Ruby to make
colored labels
for his resistor collection. We’re struck with the idea of using test tubes to organize resistors. It’s cool and makes everything look all sciencey and stuff. | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "599932",
"author": "nes",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T21:31:47",
"content": "Touchscreen, I’m going to guess it’s doing it with back projection of the image, the screen is side lit with infrared and there’s something a like an overclocked Wiimote camera also back there there tracking t... | 1,760,376,931.247588 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/10/adding-a-laser-sight-to-your-drill-press-in-just-a-few-easy-steps/ | Adding A Laser Sight To Your Drill Press In Just A Few Easy Steps | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"dremel",
"drill press",
"laser sight",
"pcb"
] | [Derek] was using his Dremel drill press to prep a bunch of PCBs, and found that it was getting difficult to focus on the spinning drill bit each time to line it up with the solder pads on the boards. He figured that a laser sight would help move the process along, but since no off the shelf solution was available for his press,
he built one of his own.
He bought a cheap desk lamp with a flexible metal neck, which he disassembled, saving the flexible metal sheath. He installed a conduit clamp on one end of the neck, and a laser module at the other. [Derek] then mounted the laser arm on the press’ crow’s nest aiming it at the tip of the drill bit.
As you can see in the video below, the ability to easily position the drill bit using the laser helps him make quick work of any PCB.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFXv9WlAM8Y&feature=player_embedded&w=470] | 34 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "599901",
"author": "AS",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T20:08:05",
"content": "It seems that using two laser modules with line-lenses so that you have a cross projected on the target would help with making sure that you’re always lined up no matter what height the drill target is.",
"... | 1,760,376,931.384261 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/10/3d-printing-from-an-android-device/ | 3D Printing From An Android Device | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Android Hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"android",
"gcode",
"makerbot",
"reprap",
"skeinforge",
"stl"
] | [skullkey] over at the House4Hack hackerspace in Pretoria, South Africa wanted a way to get kids excited about technology and desktop fabrication labs. Wanting to give kids a visceral feel for the march of technology, he created
Makerdroid
, an android app that allows for the creation 3D objects on an Android tablet and preparing them to be printed on a Reprap or Makerbot.
What’s really interesting about this build is not only the fact that [skullkey] and his lovely beta testers are generating .STL files on an Android device, the object files are also being converted to GCode on the Android, without the need for a conventional computer. Makerdroid uses the very popular
Skeinforge
to generate the instructions for the printer (although a lot of people are switching over to
Slic3r
).
Makerdroid doesn’t need a PC to print objects out on a 3D printer, but we think the process of shuffling GCode files from a tablet to the printer with an SD card is a little archaic. It might be possible to print directly from an Android tablet over Bluetooth with the
Android Bluetooth Reprap app
that is currently in development. Still, we love the idea of printing objects we just created on a touch screen, as shown in the Makerdroid demo video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1iYwOiiI-o&w=470] | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "600141",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2012-03-11T04:26:50",
"content": "Android’s killer feature is that it is more accessible world wide (cheaper) and lays no restriction to open ended development :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,376,931.167739 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/10/steganography-in-xkcd-comics-without-the-img-alt-tag/ | Steganography In Xkcd Comics Without The Img Alt Tag | Brian Benchoff | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"javascript",
"steganography"
] | Inspired by a recent Hackaday post [austin] decided to
try his hand at steganography
. Steganography, or ‘concealed writing’ has come a long way from ancient Greek slaves/couriers shaving their head, tattooing a message on their scalp, and
regrowing their hair
. We recently saw a music file masquerading as a
picture of a kitten
, but that method of hiding data required running a Ruby script. [austin] thought steganography would be a great way to hone his JavaScript skills, so he made an image encoder and decoder purely in JS and HTML.
Like the previous incarnation, [austin]’s work takes a regular .PNG image file and hides stuff in the pixel data. A few of the lower bits for each pixel are modified (three bits from the red and blue, two bits from the green – a good choice, the human eye is very sensitive to green) and a file is embedded inside the .PNG image.
For an example, [austin] embedded some stuff inside the xkcd comic underneath this post’s title. Even though the image is mostly white, we can’t see anything wrong with the colors. If you’d like to decode the message, [austin] put his encoder and decoder
up on github
. Feel free to take a shot at it. | 28 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "599785",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T16:58:06",
"content": "Is there something that prevents using the Alt-text tags in HTML after doing the stego conversion?I was under the impression alt text had nothing to do with the image itself and was just an HTML feature."... | 1,760,376,931.313791 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/vijay-kumars-ted-talk-on-the-state-of-quadcopter-research/ | [Vijay Kumar’s] TED Talk On The State Of Quadcopter Research | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"GRASP",
"quadcopter",
"university of pennsylvania"
] | [Vijay Kumar] is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the GRASP lab where research centering around autonomous quadcopters is being met with great success. If you were intrigued by the video demonstrations seen over the last few years, you won’t want to miss
the TED talk [Dr. Kumar] recently gave on the program’s research
. We touched on this the other week when we featured
a swarm of the robots in a music video
, but there’s a lot more to be learned about what this type of swarm coordination means moving forward.
We’re always wondering where this technology will go since all of the experiments we’ve seen depend on an array of high-speed cameras to give positional feedback to each bot in the swarm. The image above is a screenshot taken about twelve minutes into the TED talk video (embedded after the break). Here [Dr. Kumar] addresses the issue of moving beyond those cameras. The quadcopter shown on the projection screen is one possible solution. It carries a Kinect depth camera and laser rangefinder. This is a mapping robot that is designed to enter an unknown structure and create a 3D model of the environment.
The benefits of this information are obvious, but this raises one other possibility in our minds. Since the robots are designed to function as an autonomous swarm, could they all be outfitted with cameras, and make up the positional-feedback grid for one another? Let us know what you think about it in the comments section.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ErEBkj_3PY&w=470]
[Thanks László] | 22 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "599186",
"author": "Slegiar",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T00:24:31",
"content": "well, while i admit i don’t know much about quadcopters, would a super low strength magnetic field array work? i heard about something like that used before in the razer hydra pc motion controller, where t... | 1,760,376,931.52473 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/chocolate-as-rocket-fuel/ | Chocolate As Rocket Fuel | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"candy bar",
"hershey's",
"milky way",
"potassium nitrate",
"rocket",
"sugar"
] | [Adric Menning] has an unfortunate allergy. He’s allergic to chocolate. Instead of eating the stuff, he’s
using it to build model rocket engines
. The project stems from the Quelab Hackerspace’s chocolate hacking challenge which
spawned a number of interesting hacks
. [Adric’s] doesn’t use pure chocolate (an experiment with a Hershey’s bar was a bust) but manages to ignite using a Milky Way bar.
This is not as unorthodox as you might think. Sugar and potassium nitrate have long been
used to create solid rocket propellant
. The chocolate version is swapping out plain old sugar for the candy bar. It was chopped into 10 gram chunks to make proportion calculations easier later on. The chunks go into the freezer to make them easier to grind using a mortar and pestle. Once it’s a somewhat chunk-free powder he mixes it with the potassium nitrate which previously had its own trip through the grinder. After being packed into a chunk of PVC pipe and fitted with an exhaust nozzle the engine is ready to go.
You can check out the test-fire video after the break. There’s a burn restriction in his area due to drought so this is just an engine test and not an actual rocket launch.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vldXM1Inc0&w=470] | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "599173",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2012-03-10T00:04:06",
"content": "Delicious AND Deadly! Whats the next tasty rocket fuel, twinkies, cheetos, vodka?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "599351",
"author": "gman... | 1,760,376,931.64514 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/tuna-can-and-some-other-trash-turned-into-a-sterling-engine/ | Tuna Can And Some Other Trash Turned Into A Stirling Engine | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"CAN",
"sterling engine",
"tuna"
] | Next time you’re making yourself a tunafish sandwich, try to figure out
how to build a Stirling engine from the leftovers
(
translated
). If you can pull it off as well as [Killerlot] did we’d say you’ve earned your
hacker badge
.
The can used in this project was actually sardines in tomato sauce, but the former contents are moot. The can serves as a steam chamber for the sterling engine. A cam rod, piston, and valve are all fashioned from paperclips, along with the support structure that holds them in place. Inside the can is a
damp
sponge. When an alcohol lamp is placed beneath the can it heats the
water
air inside, which creates pressure on the piston, pushing it up until the cam opens the valve, relieving pressure just in time for the cycle to start over again. Momentum is a necessary part of the mechanism and that’s where the CD fly-wheel comes in. See it chugging along in the clip after the break.
Update:
Corrected spelling thanks to [Chris Muncy] and removed references to water/steam thanks to
this comment
from [Khordas].
[Thanks Mat] | 35 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "599041",
"author": "Conner Smith",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T22:03:29",
"content": "What would make this hack even cooler would be if it was a sterling engine generator that charges some capacitors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,376,931.592745 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/build-your-own-usb-to-serial-dongle/ | Build Your Own USB To Serial Dongle | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"dongle",
"ftdi",
"serial",
"usb"
] | [Johan von Konow] found that he was using an FTDI USB-to-Serial chip in a lot of his projects and wanted to have an easy prototyping component on hand to facilitate this. What he came up with is the
extremely small USB to serial dongle
seen above. The copper fingers are designed to plug into your USB port. And if you’ve got an unused thumb drive (we’ve got a 128mb version that’s been collecting dust for years) it would make a perfect enclosure for the device.
He’s using an FT232BL chip in a LQFP-32 package. That’s got 0.8mm pitch so make sure you’ve got a steady hand, a fine tipped soldering iron, and some solder wick on hand. The 0603 passives might also give you a bit of a run-around during soldering, but all-in-all we think everyone will be able to successfully assemble this with a little bit of practice. The chip is the most expensive component at just under $6. But the good news is that the board is single sided and only needs one jumper wire making for very little drilling and easy home fabrication.
If you’re putting in a parts order, we’d recommend getting doubling the amount of resistors and capacitors. Chances are you’ll drop a few and nary will they be seen again. We also highly recommend looking into [Gerrit’s]
surface mount component clamp
. | 21 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "599009",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T21:14:14",
"content": "And those looking into a truly minimalistic (not necessarily the best or the fastest) solution should look into AVR-CDC project, which is based on V-USB library. Actually even the crystal is not going to b... | 1,760,376,931.747927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/chipcon-cc1110cc1111-serial-bootloader/ | Chipcon CC1110/CC1111 Serial Bootloader | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"bootloader",
"cc1110",
"cc1111",
"chipcon",
"girltalk",
"im-me",
"serial"
] | [Joby Taffey] just rolled out
a serial bootloader for the Chipcon CC1110/CC1111 processors
. The project is called CCTL and aims to make prototyping with the Girltech IM-ME a bit less tedious. Up until now firmware for the device had to be pushed in with a GoodFET or TI proprietary programmer which was quite slow. But this bootloader makes it possible to push your code via the chip’s serial port at 115200 baud. But
the pretty pink pager
isn’t the only device using these chips and to prove it [Joby] send this picture of all the electronics he has on hand running this architecture.
Once the 1KB CCTL bootloader has been flashed to the chip, a serial port or USB to Serial converter can be used as a programmer. [Joby] warns that the Chipcon processors are not 5V tolerant so you need to either use a 3V serial converter or add a level converter into the mix.
CCTL provides the features you’d expect from a bootloader. It uses the chip’s watchdog timer to guard against failure due to broken code. And there is an upgrade mode available at power up. Instruction for use are included in the Github repo linked at the top. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "599149",
"author": "nes",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T23:27:53",
"content": "Awesome boot loader. Surprisingly small too. Thanks for releasing it to the world.Must go and find my Im-me and dongle now. And dig out my 8051 handbook :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,376,931.689302 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/a-capacitive-discharge-weldercutter-for-all-your-lightweight-needs/ | A Capacitive Discharge Welder/cutter For All Your Lightweight Needs | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"atmega16",
"capacitor",
"cutter",
"microspot",
"welder"
] | [Radu Motisan] wrote in to share a cool project he has been working on lately,
a pulsed microspot welder/cutter.
The device is capable of spot welding thin metals such as foils and battery tabs by sending a pair of high current pulses between the two electrodes whenever [Radu] presses the trigger button. The cutting portion of his device uses the same general mechanism, though it requires a far greater number of pulses to get the work done.
The welding/cutting process is controlled by an ATMega16, which is also tasked with taking input from the user and displaying information on the LCD panel. The microcontroller creates quick (in the ten to several hundred microsecond range) pulses for both welding and cutting, with the latter obviously requiring a long series of pulses.
[Radu] started out using a relatively small capacitor array to power the device, but has recently upgraded to a 1.6 Farad car audio capacitor, which works (and looks) much better than before. His blog seems to update every few days with more pictures and details about his welding station, so be sure to check back often for updates.
Be sure to stick around to see a short video of [Radu] adding metal tabs to batteries and tearing down an aluminum can with his cutter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVj0Tey3SSM&feature=player_embedded&w=470] | 20 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "598973",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T19:50:34",
"content": "Wow, this is very cool, this will make rebuilding batteries so much easier, thanks.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "598983",
"author": "Bradley"... | 1,760,376,931.808205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/wireless-solar-water-heater-controller-ensures-hot-water-every-time/ | Wireless Solar Water Heater Controller Ensures Hot Water Every Time | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino nano",
"bluetooth",
"temperature",
"water heater"
] | [Peter Sobey] had a solar hot water heater installed in his home, which worked great until he relocated his kitchen to a neighboring room. Now a good bit further from the tank, the hot water reaching his sink was tepid at best due to the increased distance and temperature limiting mixer valve in the new heater.
He installed a salvaged solar panel and water tank solely for use in his kitchen, but as the panel was located above the tank, he had to find a way to actively monitor and control the water temperature. His pump and valve system was originally driven with an off the shelf PICAXE-based controller, but
he eventually got the urge to add a wireless display and control panel to the mix.
A pair of Arduino Nanos run the show now, one of which resides in the pump controller box, while the other is used in the temperature display box in his kitchen. He uses a set of Bluetooth modules to link the Arduinos together, relaying temperature data and allowing him to send the pump controller manual commands if needed.
He says the system works a treat, and he’s much happier with his homebrew controller than the one he used originally. | 8 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "598945",
"author": "Steve-O-Rama",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T18:33:03",
"content": "Hot water doesn’t need to be heated.;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "599080",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T22:4... | 1,760,376,931.9046 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/09/installing-military-hardware-in-a-home-flight-simulator/ | Installing Military Hardware In A Home Flight Simulator | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"cockpit",
"crt",
"simulator"
] | The cockpit of an F-16 Fighting Falcon features a small 3-inch display that monitors and tracks hostile aircraft and missiles, friendlies, and the current target. This Radar Warning Receiver is vitally important to pilots in combat, so [Mike] decided to
add one to his homebuilt F-16 simulator
that runs
Falcon 4.0
.
The RWR displays threats as
symbols
that are usually generated by tens of thousands of dollars worth of military hardware. [Mike] figured a $7 PIC microcontroller would work just as well and set about designing vector graphics that would fit on a single chip.
[Mike] had the graphics displaying correctly
on an oscilloscope
, but that’s a far cry from the from the surplus RWR display he picked up. Although the display is a simple CRT, the original designers of the radar warning receiver thought it necessary to put the deflection amplifiers in another part of the airplane. After building a pair of 30 Watt amplifiers, [Mike] could finally display more than a single dot on the display.
After all was said and done, [Mike] has a wonderful radar warning display that fits into his F-16 cockpit perfectly. While it’s not quite a
737 in a garage
, we’ve got to respect someone who takes surplus avionics and makes them work. Check out [Mike]’s display in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKg11SHZZ5A&w=470] | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "598902",
"author": "David M.",
"timestamp": "2012-03-09T17:43:21",
"content": "This would make a great screen for asteroids or battlezone :)Nice job!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "599018",
"author": "Simon",
... | 1,760,376,931.858323 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/gamelatron-a-fully-robotic-indonesian-gamelan-orchestra/ | Gamelatron, A Fully Robotic Indonesian Gamelan Orchestra. | Jesse Congdon | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"instruments",
"midi",
"orchestra"
] | Last summer we got to have a little chat with [Aaron Taylor] about his automated Gamelan orchestra,
Gamelatron
. The robotic orchestra features a large collection of Indonesian gongs,
metallophones
, xylophones and cymbals actuated using simple pull solenoids attached to mallets. Gamelatron’s custom controller activates the various 24V solenoids using MIDI, the whole thing is essentially a gigantic MIDI instrument that can be played by whatever sequencing device you so please.
[Aaron] has a variety of ways to pump MIDI into the controller including the “Padma Bhuwana”, a wooden box with 16 arcade buttons wired to an Arduino. The Arduino can either activate sequences on a computer running Ableton live or the MIDI sequence can be pumped directly out of the Arduino for a computer free interactive installation. [Aaron] also plugs his Akai MPD32 to the computer for live shows or he can just let the laptop do all the work for non-interactive installations.
The really interesting thing about having 170 or so simply actuated instruments is the ability to spread them out and fill every facet of a space. A great example of this was the Temple of Transition at Burning man 2011 where the gongs and what not else would span multiple floors. Here is a recent
Wired magazine
video published where [Aaron] gives a quick overview of the setup, or if you are too impatient for the ads check out a few videos of Gamelatron in at burning man and PEX summer festival after the jump. We also included [Aaron]’s kickstarter video which has a few more details on the setup (as well as irrelevant stuff about the kickstarter project that has since expired). With all the crazy
midi instrument
hacks we get around here it is not stretch of the imagination to see this has lots of interactive potential.
*slight nudity warning | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "603995",
"author": "Grovenstien",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T16:37:59",
"content": "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gea9SYUdJeYis another example however this one hacks the building into an instrument",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,376,931.947414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/solar-charging-a-buddha-machine/ | Solar Charging A Buddha Machine | Brian Benchoff | [
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"Buddha machine",
"rechargable",
"solar",
"solar panel"
] | While having ambient music playing in the background can lead to a more relaxed state of mind, we can’t imagine the annoyance of having to replace the batteries constantly. Thankfully, [Phil] added
solar charging to his Buddha Machine
so he won’t have to worry about batteries anymore.
If you’re not familiar, the Buddha Machine is a small plastic box that loops nine tracks of ambient music inspired the Buddhist temples of south-east Asia. There’s not much to these little boxes; they’re just a plastic box with a speaker, on/off knob and an EEPROM loaded up with samples of music.
A year or so ago, the people behind the Buddha Machine
posted a prototype
of a solar-powered meditative noise box that was unfortunately never made. Thankfully, [Phil Stearns] stepped in posted a guide on how to
convert a AA-powered Buddha Machine to solar power
.
The modification is incredibly simple: after replacing the disposable AA batteries with NiMH rechargeable, two wires are swapped connecting the battery compartment with the main PCB and the box is sealed up again. Now, whenever one of [Phil]’s
solar panels
is connected to the power jack the batteries begin charging. [Phil] says he can get two days worth of runtime with a full 8-hour charge, so he shouldn’t need any batteries for his Buddha Machine anytime soon. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "603999",
"author": "Jerry Whiting",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T16:45:42",
"content": "Ahhh, Buddha machines. Looks like the one in the photo is the first generation. After stumbling across one at Wall of Sound in Seattle, I began collecting Buddha Machines (FM3) as well as more tradit... | 1,760,376,931.992185 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/a-simple-touch-interface-for-music-player-daemon-and-more/ | A Simple Touch Interface For Music Player Daemon And More | Mike Nathan | [
"computer hacks",
"Linux Hacks",
"Musical Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"linux",
"mpd",
"music",
"Seeedstudio",
"seeeduino",
"touch sensor"
] | [Andrew] recently got the authorization to install Linux on his work PC, and he was looking for a way to control his music without relying on keyboard shortcuts to do so. Additionally, he wanted an unmistakable visual cue when he received messages in Pidgin, so he decided to build
an external input/notification box.
The control box, quite literally, is a cardboard box in which [Andrew] crammed some components he got way back when from the crew at Seeed Studio. A Seeeduino serves as the brains of his control panel, interfacing with his PC over USB. He uses a set of 4 touch sensors and a potentiometer to control the MPD, allowing him to easily switch tracks, pause his music, control the volume, and lock his computer with a simple touch. A side-mounted RGB LED lights green to show that the system has received his commands successfully, pulsing a bright blue whenever a message arrives via Pidgin.
While the case isn’t exactly pretty, it is small, recycled, and takes up very little desk space. [Andrew] says that it works great, and he has made his code available on
github
if anyone is interested in using it. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "603973",
"author": "Frederik",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T15:44:47",
"content": "I am using a cheap IR remote (http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Remote-Control-PC-Multimedia-Wireless-For-XP-Vista-/270826348818?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e822112) which behaves like a standard HID keyb... | 1,760,376,932.14224 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/15/bringing-a-19th-century-stock-ticker-into-the-21st-century/ | Bringing A 19th Century Stock Ticker Into The 21st Century | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"python",
"stock ticker",
"ticker tape"
] | [Ames]’s father has had an old stock ticker sitting on a shelf for some time. He may have become quite listless over his spring break, because he decided connect a
century-old stock ticker to his laptop
.
When stock tickers were in use, they were all connected to a stock ticker circuit that would broadcast stock prices as a sequence of pulses. For each of these pulses, the letter wheel would advance by one character and finally print the letter with a great
ca-thunk
. Because stock tickers are incredibly simple devices – just a few solenoids and a couple of gears – [Ames] knew it would be relatively easy to connect one to his laptop.
[Ames]’ tool of choice for moving electrons back and forth in a wire is an Arduino, with none handy he needed to rig up something with the tools available on hand. [Ames] took a USB FTDI serial port connected the flow control lines to his ticker. A pair of MOSFETS and a tiny Python script advances the letter wheel and prints on the paper tape, a success by any measure.
After the break, you can see [Ames]’ stock ticker going about its antique machinations for the first time in possibly a hundred years. Not bad for a something put together over spring break.
[vimeo=38370561]
[vimeo=38246791] | 20 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "603892",
"author": "rue_mohr",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T13:13:06",
"content": "hah, great! if you take it into a shop that makes stamps, they might be able to find you an inkpad solution! (does it use a pad or an ink tape?) I can’t seem to find a datasheet for it ;)",
"parent_id... | 1,760,376,932.198407 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/rfid-jukebox-for-the-kids/ | RFID Jukebox For The Kids | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"jukebox",
"rfid",
"tag",
"wave shield"
] | [Dominik] built a fun musical toy for his daughter [Anna]. It’s a jukebox that
lets her play her favorite tunes using RFID tags
to select between them.
The project is simple, yet robust. The enclosure is a wooden craft box that you can pick up for a couple of bucks. Inside there’s an Arduino with a Wave Shield which handles the audio playback. An RFID reader takes input from the set of card-tags he procured. An internal Lithium battery powers the device, with a USB port for charging.
Sure, those guts have some cost involved in them. But there’s no LCD which can be broken, and we thing the boards will hold up well to abuse if mounted correctly. Plus there’s a lot of future potential here. When we saw the cards we thought of those toys which make the animal sounds (“what does the cow say… mooo”). This could be used for that with really young children. Then repurposed into this jukebox as they get a bit older. If you put the guts in a new enclosure it will appear to be a brand-new toy, right?
See a demo of the project in the clip after the break.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38416886 w=470] | 12 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "603554",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T00:10:52",
"content": "This is great!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "603590",
"author": "Grayda",
"timestamp": "2012-03-15T01:45:29",
"content": "Oh.. a cow says m... | 1,760,376,932.336276 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/increasing-a-digital-servo-motors-range-of-motion/ | Increasing A Digital Servo Motor’s Range Of Motion | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"digital",
"potentiometer",
"servo"
] | Unhappy with the 120 degree range of movement for this digital servo motor [Malte] set out to expand its flexibility. He settled upon a hack that
alters the feedback potentiometer in order to give the motor a wider range
(
translated
).
The test video (embedded after the break) shows tick marks for before and after his alterations. You can see that the wider tick marks get much closer to the 180 degree range he’s interested in. The control method is no different than it was before, the internal circuitry is still listening for a control signal with pulses between 1 and 2ms to establish the position of the servo horn. [Malte] added resistors on the two outside legs of the feedback potentiometer. This is what that control circuit measures in order to judge the position of the servo horn. He’s using 1.6k Ohm resistors in this demonstration. But he didn’t just drop them in willy-nilly. His writeup discusses the calculations he used to determine the target voltage for the motor position he wants.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjQjU343sTE&w=470] | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "603509",
"author": "Ikari-pt",
"timestamp": "2012-03-14T22:13:04",
"content": "It works, but you lose precision.Ok for some tasks, but when you need pressision and torque, its not a solution.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "60... | 1,760,376,932.525128 |
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