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https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/rc-car-controlled-by-an-ipad-or-kinect/ | R/C Car Controlled By An IPad Or Kinect | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Kinect hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ipad",
"Kinect",
"R/C car"
] | R/C cars can be tons of fun, but sometimes the fun runs out after awhile. [Gaurav] got bored of steering around his R/C car with its remote, so he built an interface that lets him control the car
using two different motion-detecting devices
.
He built an HTML5 application for his iPad, which allows him to steer the car around. As you can see in the video below, the application utilizes the iPad’s tilt sensor to activate the car’s motors and steering depending on where on the screen he has moved the guide marker.
The second steering method he devised uses his Kinect sensor to track his movements. His hand gestures are mapped to a set of virtual spaces similar to those which the iPad uses. By moving his hands through these areas, the Arduino triggers the car’s remote just as it does with the iPad.
The actual remote control interface is achieved by wiring the car’s remote to an Arduino via a handful of opto-isolators. The Arduino is also connected to his computer via the serial port, where it waits for commands to be sent. In the case of the iPad, a Python server waits for commands to be issued from the HTML5 application. The Kinect’s interface is slightly different, with a C# application monitoring his movements and sending the commands directly to the serial port.
Check out the video below to see the car in action, and swing by his site if you are interested in grabbing some source code and giving it a try yourself.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Ses-VGU9U&w=470] | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "371212",
"author": "Travis",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T20:49:20",
"content": "Yeah, it turns out that it’s not _too_ difficult. A while back uber-hacker Matt Might showed us how to make an iOS-controlled robot in ~6 hours an 200 lines of Javascript / Python:http://www.hizook.com/blo... | 1,760,377,228.865138 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/screaming-altoids-tin-just-in-time-for-april-fools/ | Screaming Altoids Tin Just In Time For April Fool’s | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555 timer",
"prank",
"screamer"
] | Maker [Dino Segovis] has started on a project he calls “Hack a week” where he will be putting together one hack or project per week, for a full year. The first installment of his video series was finished just two days before April Fool’s, and appropriately enough covers the construction of a
circuit you can use to prank your friends
.
The “Altoids Screamer” is a simple circuit based on a 555 timer that he built into a standard Altoids Tin. The 555 timer is used to generate a loud pitched squeal whenever the tin is opened. This is accomplished by wiring up the 555 in astable mode, and connecting it to a speaker to output the sound. A micro switch is installed inside the tin to detect when the top has been opened, triggering the “scream”.
While it’s not the most complex circuit we’ve seen, it definitely gets the job done and is easy enough to build in time for tomorrow’s festivities. It is a great hack for the office, the library, or any other quiet place.
Continue reading to watch [Dino’s] first
Hack a Week
video demonstrating the prank’s construction. If you are interested in some more of his work, be sure to check out this
automatic ball launcher
and this other
555 Screamer toy
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8fqwOllRVI&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "371198",
"author": "Stevie",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T20:15:08",
"content": "Hack a week – nice idea. I’m not a fan of this first project but will keep an eye on his site :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "371209",
"author":... | 1,760,377,229.018034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/think-geeks-wants-you-to-have-broken-stuff/ | Think Geeks Wants You To Have Broken Stuff | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces",
"News"
] | [
"broken",
"damaged",
"returned",
"salvage",
"think geek"
] | Think Geek has a growing pile of
returns and damaged product that they’re trying to get rid of
. The purveyors of technological oddities, like any other large retailer, sometimes have stuff that doesn’t work right, or has been damaged somewhere between factory and consumer. The broken bits find their way back to the distribution center and now they’re stuck with the task of doing something with it.
They can’t sell it, and we’re happy to say they don’t want to throw it out. So they’re considering giving it away to worth-while causes like Hackerspaces and schools. Looks like no real details have been hammered out as of yet. But if you belong to a Hackerspace or other group that can find a use for this stuff, click-through the link above and sign up to let them know you’re interested. The goldmine of reusable stuff is located in Columbus, Ohio and pick-ups might be available. Otherwise they’re going to need to find a way to cover the cost to ship boxes to those interested.
Don’t forget to document your projects and
let us know what you use this stuff for
.
[Thanks RenderMan] | 13 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "371141",
"author": "Invader21",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T18:11:15",
"content": "A) first coment! Woot! B) damn. I just put up somthing just like that on the clasifides.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "371161",
"author": "ino... | 1,760,377,229.246599 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/building-an-advanced-mobile-phone-service-amps-base-station/ | Building An Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) Base Station | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"advanced mobile phone service",
"amps",
"base station",
"tower"
] | Remember the early days of cellphones and carphones when they were super-bulky and all the rage? Those early handsets used analog technology for communications in a protocol called Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). As more customers flocked to wireless providers, networks were transitioned over to digital phones in order to save bandwidth. Some places still support AMPS but it has rapidly gone the way of the Dodo. But a few years back [Mark Atherton] got his hands on some old hardware, including a bag-phone and some test equipment, and set out to build
a base station that can control AMPS handsets
. In short, he’s creating his own analog cellphone tower. There’s a wealth of information on his page. The writeup comes out as a mix of protocol and electronic resources he scavenged across the net, as well as a work log serving as a testament to his successes and failures. He did his experiments in New Zealand, so if you’re thinking of undertaking this make sure to research your local radio regulations first.
[Thanks J] | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "371222",
"author": "DanAdamKOF",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T20:57:15",
"content": "This is really great. If only my cousin didn’t lose my OKI 1325 a year ago :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "371265",
"author": "andrew",
... | 1,760,377,229.066413 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/solar-powered-mp3-playing-speaker/ | Solar-powered MP3 Playing Speaker | Mike Nathan | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"mp3",
"solar",
"speakers"
] | [Valentin] bought a small battery-powered cube speaker with a built-in amp some time ago, but didn’t have much patience for replacing or recharging the batteries. It sat on the shelf for awhile until he decided to
revive an old MP3 player he had sitting around
.
He gutted a pair of solar garden lamps, retaining the solar panels, the built-in charging circuits, as well as the included rechargeable batteries. The MP3 player was disassembled, and its components were built into the speaker enclosure. The player’s buttons were relocated to the outer shell of the speaker box with a few pieces of wire, allowing him to easily control his music without having to build in a method for opening the case. Both the speaker and the MP3 player are powered by the batteries salvaged from the solar lamps, which is why he opted to mount both of the solar panels on the the side of the speaker enclosure rather than just one.
We like it even though the speaker looks a bit rough at the moment, especially where the MP3 player’s buttons were transplanted. After a few minutes of touch-up work however, it’ll look great.
If you’re interested in some more solar hacks, check out this
solar-powered junkbot
, these
solar toys for kids
, and this
solar-powered WiFi repeater
we featured in the past. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "371096",
"author": "Stevie",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T17:00:56",
"content": "I think I would have put one solar panel on each side, on a hinge that could be propped up so the solar panel would be catching light from above. I can’t imagine much light is going to hit the side of that ... | 1,760,377,228.96812 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/pcbs-without-any-substrate/ | PCBs Without Any Substrate | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"free formed",
"pcb",
"steel wire"
] | [Kimio Kosaka] is taking the concept of free-formed circuits to the next level with
O’Baka Project No.7
. It’s a fully functioning Arduino board, without the board. The traces are there and provide all of the support for the rest of the hardware. You can imagine the fragility of the package so it won’t be a surprise to learn that O’Baka Project means ‘stupid’ project.
We don’t think this manufacturing process is completely worthless. The ‘board’ seen above looks quite interesting and might be a good idea when building a show-piece where you want the circuitry to be seen. [Kimio] describes the process he used to achieve this look. The first step is to design a single-sided circuit board; he used EagleCAD. After printing out the traces he used 0.46mm steel wire to trace out each connection. Now heat up that soldering iron – [Kimio] recommends using high-acid flux to ease the process of soldering to the steel.
We think this would nicely compliment projects like
LED cubes
that use the circuit itself as a support structure. See this Arduino alternative from several different angles in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3ZUCmhe18&w=470]
[Thanks Eric] | 52 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "371029",
"author": "Jac Goudsmit",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T15:07:41",
"content": "Yeah I know everyone’s gonna say “not a hack”. But still impressive in kind of an artsy way.And he didn’t even name it the “Skeleduino” or something.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,377,229.197433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/the-electroaxe-full-body-percussion-suit/ | The ElectroAxé Full-Body Percussion Suit | Jason Komp | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"drum suit",
"midi",
"wearable",
"wireless"
] | Carnival in Salvador, Brazil is arguably one of the biggest and craziest parties this world has ever known. With millions in attendance for what is already an incredible audio and visual display, performers are faced with the daunting task of continually bringing something new and fresh to the masses. One could always add more fireworks or visual displays (never a bad thing), but it will only take you so far. [Kyle McDonald] and [Lucas Werthein]’s answer:
The ElectroAxé Full-Body Percussion Suit
as demonstrated by Carlinhos Brown at Carnival 2011.
When most people hear the word “axe” as related to music they think of an electric guitar. “Axé” however, refers to a unique Afro-Caribbean fusion genre of music that originated in Salvador in the mid 1980’s and is a favorite at Carnival. [Carlinhos Brown] is a popular Brazilian percussionist and was looking for a creative new way to express himself through his song and dance. Instead of being stuck in one place near his instruments or carrying one or two drums around “marching-band style”, he is now able to move around the stage freely – his body has become his instrument.
In order to make the magic happen, [Kyle] and [Lucas] designed custom laser cut and cnc machined drum pads containing piezo sensors and integrated them with a full-body jump suit. When struck, these sensors send a signal to an Arduino with a Sparkfun Midi Shield housed in a custom enclosure on the performer’s waist. From there the MIDI signal is sent wirelessly and then audio is played through the existing sound system – it appears that a CMD WIDI X-8 wireless MIDI system is employed for the actual wireless transmission.
Although details are somewhat scarce, there are plenty of
pictures
, (
more
) available. You really can’t argue with the results as you watch thousands of people jam along.
Come join in the festivities with video after the break!
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/21531156
w=470] | 17 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "371025",
"author": "mknghorn",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T15:00:29",
"content": "check out a guy named futureman.he has been doing this for decades in bela fleck ‘ band the “flecktones”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "371063",
... | 1,760,377,228.923587 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/jason-scott-gets-a-job-in-a-candy-factory-kinda/ | [Jason Scott] Gets A Job In A Candy Factory — Kinda | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"archivist",
"bbs",
"documentary",
"historian",
"internet archive",
"jason scott",
"phone phreaking"
] | Remember when you used to have to dial into a Bulletin Board System to connect with others through computers? How about those fond memories of phone phreaking? If you find that the details are fading in your mind you’ll be happy to know that [Jason Scott] is making sure they’ll never be forgotten. And now
he’s landed a new job that will make this mission even easier
.
We’re most familiar with [Jason’s] film,
BBS: The Documentary
. This five-hour epic traverses the oft-forgotten world of the BBS. It pays attention to things like the formation of ASCII art groups, the elite control of the Sysop before the Internet decentralized access to information, and quirky technological limitations like what happened as FIDOnet ran out of addresses for new nodes.
In short, [Jason Scott] is a technological historian.
He gives speeches
, makes movies, and finds information stashes that history shouldn’t forget. He’s done this outside the tradition of finding a Professorship or Curator position for a major institution. Instead he
asked for sabbatical funding through Kickstart
, and now he’s found his way to a position that seems like it’s made just for him; Archivist for
the Internet Archive
. Go get ’em [Jason]. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "370975",
"author": "bbses.info",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T13:23:19",
"content": "Congrats jas!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370988",
"author": "Stevie",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T13:54:46",
"content": "Sounds cool.... | 1,760,377,229.34732 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/31/using-touchosc-with-your-projects/ | Using TouchOSC With Your Projects | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"android",
"iphone",
"open sound control",
"osc",
"processing",
"touchosc"
] | [Marcus] wrote
a guide to using TouchOSC
to control your projects. He sent a link to us after reading our feature about
using Open Sound Control for Arduino
without an Ethernet shield. He’s been using that method for quite some time now, but takes it one step further by using a smartphone as a control device. He designs his own user interface for the iPhone using TouchOSC. This is a package which
we’ve seen in other projects
but now you can get an idea of how easy it really is.
The project starts by interfacing an Arduino with the device you’d like to control. The circuit above patches into a remote control using a couple of transistors. Now the Arduino can simulate button presses on that remote, sending the signal to turn a light on or off. Next, TouchOSC is used for the smartphone – here it’s an iPhone but the suite works on Android as well. In the video after the break you can watch a quick interface design demo. Buttons are dragged into existence, uploaded to the phone, then configured to control you device over a network. A Processing sketch listens for OSC commands and then sends instructions to the Arduino via USB.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMEoPwIA6w&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "370961",
"author": "USL",
"timestamp": "2011-03-31T12:58:53",
"content": "Neat!But is there a way of doing this without a PC or Mac? i.e. direct connection mobile – Arduino (or similar device)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "37... | 1,760,377,229.116522 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/snuggle-up-with-the-softer-side-of-hacking/ | Snuggle Up With The Softer Side Of Hacking | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"lilypad",
"quilt"
] | Not all hacks need to be made up of servo motors, wireless radios, and PIR sensors. Sometimes hacking has a softer side, of which [Katie]
reminds us with her latest creation
.
Her LED quilt incorporates 64 hand-sewn LEDs, all of which were painstakingly attached with conductive thread. The same thread was used in a sewing machine to build the conductive grid that powers the LEDs. One half of the circuit was sewn into the front of the quilt in the form of 8 rows, while the columns are sewn into the back side. All of the rows and columns meet in the corner of the quilt, where they are attached to a Lilypad Arduino using simple metal snaps.
The LED matrix panel was then tested, then sewn into an actual quilt. The finished product looks completely innocuous until lit up, as you can see in the video below. We think it would make a great nightlight replacement for a child, especially if programmed to display soothing light patterns.
[via
Make
]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/20846646 w=470]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/20969368 w=470] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "370683",
"author": "CutThroughStuffGuy",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T22:18:00",
"content": "Somebody needs to come up with a truly soft and flexible LED. Maybe some kind of non silicon technology and embedded in a flexible silicone elastomer?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,229.298275 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/oscilloscope-thinks-its-a-video-monitor/ | Oscilloscope Thinks It’s A Video Monitor | Jeff Katz | [
"Tool Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"oscilloscope",
"video"
] | There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
Where would we be if we listened to advice like that? [Eric] writes that with a fairly simple circuit, he’s able to
split a composite video signal into its constituent X and Y ramp signals
for display on his trusty Tektronix 465m. A LM1881 IC does the bulk of the heavy lifting. After running the signal through a few passive components, the generated ramp signals are ready for consumption by his venerable ‘scope. All that’s needed past that is some additional glue logic to invert the levels so the image shows up properly. The end result is a display that has an almost ethereal quality to it, like an old TV set or something out of the movie
Brazil
.
Hit the break to catch a video of the circuit in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FK7hy5usYE&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "370656",
"author": "Pedro",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T21:19:45",
"content": "This is so awesome. I can’t think of a practical use (except for showing off to nerdy friends, I suppose) but I love it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,229.449853 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/stupid-expert-builds-a-machete-slingshot-for-the-impending-zombie-apocalypse/ | “Stupid Expert” Builds A Machete Slingshot For The Impending Zombie Apocalypse | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"dangerous",
"machete",
"slingshot"
] | Sometimes people build things for the simple challenge of building.
This is one of those cases
.
The gentleman you see in the image above is [Jörg Sprave] of
The Slingshot Channel
. He is a self-proclaimed “Supid Expert” on the subject of slingshots and has taken his love of flinging things at absurd velocities to a whole new level.
His latest creation is a machete slingshot, which is really more accurately described as a machete crossbow. Measuring over six feet long, the impressive apparatus fires a specially altered machete with an insane amount of force using thick rubber bands. In the test firing shown in the video below, the machete is embedded up to the hilt in six layers of very thick cardboard, requiring quite a bit of work to remove.
As he states in the video while brandishing his bloodied forearm, building such a device is extremely dangerous, and should be limited to “Stupid Experts” . In no way should you attempt to build one of your own.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSU1jQoGIqo&w=470] | 50 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "370615",
"author": "DiogoW",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T20:08:48",
"content": "What could possibly go wrong ? LOL",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370619",
"author": "Michael Nielsen",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T20:17:32",
... | 1,760,377,229.964869 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/jacobs-ladder-makes-itself-at-home-in-a-floppy-disk-box/ | Jacob’s Ladder Makes Itself At Home In A Floppy Disk Box | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"floppy disc",
"high voltage",
"jacob's ladder"
] | [Plasanator] adds a bit of safety to his
Jacob’s Ladder by housing it in a familiar enclosure
. It doesn’t take very many components to make one of these, but to
get the high voltage you’ll need some type of coil
. He’s using one from the electrical system of an old car, then building around it with a big 15mf 220V capacitor, a dimmer switch normally used in household wiring, terminal blocks, and some braising rod or coat hanger for the spark to traverse.
The video after the break shows this in operations, and we’d agree with [Plasanator] that this is a wonderful addition to your Halloween decor. Of course you want to keep fingers away from the dangerous bits and that’s where the enclosure and key lock come into play. Were not sure what he made the upright cylinder from, but the base is a blast from the past. Remember when one of those used to sit proudly on every desk as a tribute to how important the information you had on had really was?
Don’t want to play with high voltage like this? You can
build a fake using EL wire
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqpo-3pbjto&w=470] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "370601",
"author": "Kyle",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T19:27:37",
"content": "That’s 15uF – m = milli, u=micro. Wow. Really, Mike?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370606",
"author": "woutervddn",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T19... | 1,760,377,229.661981 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/converting-the-blinkm-into-the-worlds-tiniest-arduino/ | Converting The BlinkM Into The World’s Tiniest Arduino | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"blinkm",
"led"
] | The BlinkM “Smart LED” is a great little device on its own accord. It allows for complete control of its RGB LED using a built-in microcontroller, enabling the user to do a wide array of things that normally require PWM to accomplish. At just over half an inch square, this little device might also be
the smallest Arduino on the market
.
The BlinkM packs an ATiny85 micro controller, which allows it to be flashed with the Arduino bootloader thanks to the people over at the [High-Low Tech group at MIT]. They did some tweaking of the Arduino IDE configuration files and incorporated some core library code created by [Alessandro Saporetti] to get the job done –
all of which is available on their site
.
Once the code is uploaded to the BlinkM, you essentially have a micro Arduino running at 8MHz with a built in LED and 2 I/O lines (5 if you snip off the LED). It’s a great device to have on hand if you feel like a full-fledged Arduino would be overkill in your project.
Stick around to see a video tutorial of the reflashing process.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXbxfsceAEM&w=470] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "370565",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T18:09:03",
"content": "I have a surface-mount resistor that runs the Arduino bootloader, what now?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370568",
"author": "biozz",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,229.877882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/sms-gateway-lets-you-twitter-by-text-message/ | SMS Gateway Lets You Twitter By Text Message | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"api",
"gammu smsd",
"gateway",
"python",
"sms",
"twitter"
] | [GuySoft]
threw together a cellphone-based SMS gateway
that allows him to push text messages to Twitter. Once up and running, it can be used by multiple people, either with shared or individual Twitter accounts. At its core, this setup uses the cellphone as a tethered modem on a Linux box. The open source software package, Gammu SMSD, provides hardware hooks for phones running in modem mode. The package is already in the Ubuntu repositories but it runs cross-platform and
can be downloaded from the project site
. This gave [GuySoft] the ability to script a framework that checks for received SMS messages, compares the incoming phone number for a match on a saved list, then pushes the message from a confirmed number to Twitter via their API.
A web interface is used to register new numbers and associate them with Twitter accounts. On the back-end, [GuySoft’s] own Python script handles the translation of the message. You can download all of the code, and get more insight on setup from the readme file, over at
the GitHub repository
. | 27 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "370530",
"author": "Abyss",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T17:13:59",
"content": "Wait, didn’t Twitter already do SMS? Yep, they did:http://support.twitter.com/articles/14589-how-to-add-your-phone-via-smsSolution without a problem. Sorry guys, this makes no sense.",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,377,229.821308 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/designing-a-controllable-rgb-led-driver-board/ | Designing A Controllable RGB LED Driver Board | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"asmt-mt00",
"attiny2313",
"led",
"lm3407",
"puredata",
"rgb",
"rs485"
] | [Paul] wrote in to tell us about
this LED driver board
he’s been working on with a few friends. The collaborators had been unhappy with the Lumens per Watt ratings (or lack of a rating) on low powered LEDs and set out to find a better solution. They picked up the beefy ASMT-MT00 which houses all three diodes in one package, with all the pins on one side of the surface mount package, a heat dissipating tab on the other side, and pushed 30 Lumens per Watt. With that in hand they set out to design a host board for the blindingly bright light.
The board includes a heat sink on the underside. To drive the LEDs [Paul] sourced an LM3407 constant current driver. The manufacture recommends using one of these chips for each of the colors in the LED package. [Paul] built a circuit that allows him to route power around each LED, making the system work with just one low-side driver. From there, an ATtiny2313 provides addressable control via the RS485 protocol. Screw terminals on either end of the PCB allow this to be chained along with other modules, and they’ve already worked out a basic PureData program that will be able to address multiple boards once they finish manufacturing them. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "370501",
"author": "IJ Dee-Vo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T16:29:30",
"content": "Brillian!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370502",
"author": "IJ Dee-Vo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T16:29:50",
"content": "t",
"paren... | 1,760,377,230.332539 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/headphones-use-standard-sized-but-proprietary-rechargeable-batteries/ | Headphones Use Standard-sized But Proprietary Rechargeable Batteries | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"aaa",
"batteries",
"headphones",
"rechargeable"
] | Here’s something we haven’t run across before. We’re familiar with proprietary battery shapes (we’re looking at you, digital camera manufacturers), or custom recharge connections (look of death directed toward cellphone manufacturers), but
using electrical tricks to force AAA brand loyalty
is a new one. It seems that’s exactly what is happening with [OiD’s] wireless headphones which were manufactured by Phillips.
The headphones take AAA sized batteries and can use either disposable or rechargeable varieties. There is a warning label advising that only Phillips brand rechargeables should be used, and sure enough, if you try a different brand the performance suffers both in charging time and in battery life. The original batteries are labelled as Nickel Metal Hydride at 1.2V and 550 mAh, which falls within common specs. But [OiD] noticed that there is an extra conductor in the battery compartment that makes contact with the sides of the battery case. Further inspection reveals that a reverse-biased diode makes contact through this conductor with a portion of the battery which has not been painted. This is not true with other brands, allowing the circuit to distinguish between OEM and replacements.
[OiD] shorted out that connection and immediately saw a performance boost from his replacement batteries. It’s hard to know exactly what’s going on here without a full schematic for the circuit, but we’d love to hear your speculation on this setup in the comments. Is this a low tech version of
the identity chips that camera batteries sometimes hide
? | 83 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "370418",
"author": "Robot",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T15:06:07",
"content": "Wow. That is infuriating!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370419",
"author": "PaoloC",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T15:09:47",
"content": "I fou... | 1,760,377,230.107874 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/propeller-lamp/ | Propeller Lamp | Kevin Dady | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"propeller",
"remote"
] | Wanting to replace a power hungry halogen lamp in the living room, [Jason Dorie] went out to design a
Remote Controlled, Dimmable Led Lamp
(
pictures
). The body of the lamp is a pretty interesting idea, sporting a couple waste baskets with a translucent HDPE skin as the lampshade and a PVC column for structure.
The column is wrapped in a spiral of 16 foot long led strips , and are wired so they can be controlled in groups. Light output is (estimated) at about the same as a 100-150 watt incandescent while only consuming 24 watts.
The lamp is controlled via a universal remote and features a TLC5940 driven by a Propeller, all sitting on a CNC machined PCB. With that much horsepower under a lamp you can expect that it will not just simply dim in and out, so join us after the break for a video to see how to turn on a lamp with style.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8H9-FBXlFY&w=450] | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "370370",
"author": "danman1453",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T13:14:43",
"content": "Any ideas on how well the light is diffused through the “lamp shade”? Are you still able to see the points from the LEDs? I really like this for a “man cave” I’m designing for a friend. Maybe with a dif... | 1,760,377,230.018976 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/snes-to-pc/ | SNES To PC | Kevin Dady | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"snes",
"super nintendo"
] | The Nintendo Entertainment System is by far the most popular 8 bit post crash video game system. Therefore, the NES gets all sorts of mods and hacks done with it, but there is not a whole bunch of noise for its bigger badder 16 bit brother the Super Nintendo. Have no fear though [Vigo the Carpathian] (I did not know it was the season of evil!) helps to correct that in his first Instructable, turning a SNES into an
all in one classic video game player
.
Using the shell of a Super Nintendo the bottom half includes ZOTAC IONITX-C-U mini ITX motherboard, and a dual SNES controller port to USB that fits in the original openings to use the real deal controllers. A USB port is also mounted for some wireless dual shock action.
On the top half, the eject button, and cartridge slot flaps have been removed and speaker grill cloth was added to provide venting. Near the back of the unit, SD-card to SATA adapter provides storage, which we think is a good idea for cheap SSD storage. Micro switches are also rigged up so that the original power and reset buttons control the same computer functions.
Clean looks, small form factor, join us after the break for a quick video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYrPk6g8Weg&w=450] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "370354",
"author": "Mathorne",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T12:31:14",
"content": "Ok… Now I’m really confused about what’s cooler; to build this in a arcade cabinet, or to build it in a original console… Love it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,230.158041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/30/robotic-bird-flaps-away-last-bits-of-privacy/ | Robotic Bird Flaps Away Last Bits Of Privacy | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"flapping",
"gull",
"real or fake"
] | This really gives a lifelike look to the eye in the sky. In case you were worried that every part of your life wasn’t being recorded by a surveillance camera, the Festo Bionic Learning Network has come up with
a drone that will be hard to discern from the wildlife
.
Watch the video after the break. We’re not 100% certain that it’s not fake, but it looks real enough (the mark of a truly amazing design). You’ll see the robo-bird flapping away both from a fixed point on the ground, and from a camera view behind the head of the device. It propels itself both by flapping and rotating the wings and is capable of taking off, flying, and landing autonomously.
It’s bigger than
the hummingbird drone
that was developed for DARPA, but we think that it sticks out less when caught at a glance. No word on the intended use for the device, but we’re sure that some of you are enjoying the nostalgia of the mechanical owl from Clash of the Titans, and that’s why we want one.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR8fDW3Ilo&w=470]
[Thank Hudson via
Singularity Hub
] | 45 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "370333",
"author": "AlanWright",
"timestamp": "2011-03-30T11:15:02",
"content": "With their history, it’s body is probably a helium-filled balloon to assist with lift.This thing is very neat, but I find it hard to imagine it being useful. It can barely carry a small cam.",
"par... | 1,760,377,230.237749 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/wireless-luge-timer-levels-the-playing-field/ | Wireless Luge Timer Levels The Playing Field | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"luge",
"timer"
] | In Colorado,
amateur luge competitions are serious business
.
Every winter, [Ryan’s] friends dig a long luge track through the many feet of snow that occupies their yard, and have competitive sled races to see who can make it down the giant hill in the least time. They call it
the Mario Cup
, after one of the participants, not the Nintendo mascot, and they were in desperate need of some timing equipment.
You see, the luge track is several hundred feet long, and they decided that a human armed with a stopwatch is not a good enough means of picking a conclusive winner. A set of three Arduino sensors packed inside plastic food containers were used along with light sensors to track when the luger passed the start, midpoint, and finish lines of the race. XBee radios then transmitted the timing data back to the base station for recording.
The system worked quite well according to the participants, and they look forward to using the system again in the future. Of course, improvements have been planned, including dual timers at each checkpoint to gauge the luger’s speed, as well as a Christmas-tree starting signal like you see at drag races.
Continue reading to see a video below of the luger’s in action, as well as the timer system undergoing some tests.
[via
Make
]
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/25404257@N04/5535414235/ w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r95RXY9zeGA&w=470] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "370117",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T22:59:13",
"content": "LUGER, LUGER!! (Nah, I’m just kidding, it actually looks kind of neat.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370143",
"author": "swighton",
"time... | 1,760,377,230.276392 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/propeller-android-communications-using-debug-mode/ | Propeller-Android Communications Using Debug Mode | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"adb",
"android debug bridge",
"propeller",
"TCP"
] | Here’s a new way to connect an Android phone and a Propeller microcontroller. It’s called
the PropBridge
and uses a very simple circuit with a voltage regulator, a couple of transistors, and a few resistors. The trick to this method lies in creative use of software features that already exist on Android hardware, the
Android Debug Bridge (ADB)
. The ADB was added with development in mind, but since it provides low-level control of certain parts of these devices it was just waiting to be incorporated into a hack.
The Propeller itself uses firmware to make Android think it is one of two different externally connected hardware devices. It can act like a PC running the ADB client or it can mimic a TCP connection. There’s still plenty of room on the uC to add your own firmware, and the majority of the I/O pins are unneeded for the basic connection. Check out the video after the break for a quick overview of the system.
If you need a little help with Android programming before you’re able to use this in your own projects, check out
our Android development series
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcR0ZG_7YC8&w=470] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "370090",
"author": "multivac",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T22:23:15",
"content": "i was waiting for the pic to finish loading… but that was it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "370100",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2011-... | 1,760,377,230.388529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/cfl-breakdown/ | CFL Breakdown | Kevin Dady | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"cfl",
"high voltage"
] | Reader [Jay] was inspired by one of our earlier articles and started digging around the web for some more information, and found a handy web page with
tear downs and schematics of popular compact florescent lamps
.
Schematics are provided to 15 fairly common models including bigluz, isotronic, luxtek, maway, maxilux, polaris, brownie, Phillips, Ikea, Osram, and eurolight. Also, just in case you were ever interested in these little packages but did not want to open them due to sharp glass, mercury vapor, or phosphorus powders, photos are provided as well.
So if you need a few hundred extra volts to pack a little spark in your next project, need a
63rd way to cook your goose
you should check this page out. | 26 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "370017",
"author": "Jordan Gray",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T20:15:19",
"content": "Well, this is great. I just received an unknown CFL PCB and was planning on using it for an EL project… this will be wonderful! Thanks HaD!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,230.460468 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/quadcopter-pair-plays-table-tennis-without-the-table/ | Quadcopter Pair Plays Table Tennis Without The Table | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"copter",
"drone",
"helicopter",
"ping pong",
"quad",
"quadrotor"
] | This pair of
quad-rotor helicopters does a better job of keeping a ping-pong ball in the air
than we could. The two flying drones are performing inside of
the flying machine arena
, a 1000 cubic meter indoor space surrounded by nets with a foam-padded floor. This makes for a prototype-friendly space, protecting the copters from hard landings and the experimenters from the maiming that might accompany a runaway robot.
This project is headed by researcher [Raffaello D’Andrea]. Previously, we’ve seen his work on
a distributed flight array
. This time around he’s not working with configurable modules, but completely separate units. Don’t miss the video after the break to see several iterations used to keep a ball in the air. Each bot has the head of a tennis racket mounted at its center. Throw a ball at them and they’ll to what they can to prevent it touching the ground.
While we’re on the topic, we caught
a story on NPR about hobby drones
. Sounds like their growing popularity has caught the attention of the non-hacker community and restrictions might be on the way. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and make your own flyer while it’s still the wild-west of personal drones.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CR5y8qZf0Y&w=470]
[Thanks Ketin] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "369968",
"author": "Wizzard",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T19:08:16",
"content": "No net can contain these once a runaway robot WANTS to run away or maim it’s experimenters, and is not merely doing so accidentally.Awesome video, too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,377,230.517314 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/printable-gripping-rover-is-wristwatch-controlled/ | Printable Gripping Rover Is Wristwatch Controlled | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cc1110",
"chronos",
"msp430"
] | [Lars Kristian Roland] is
using a wristwatch to control this rover
. The bot itself is a utilitarian build with a gripper based on
this Thingiverse project
. As you can see in the video after the break, it’s got variable speed control based on accelerometer data from a
TI ez430 Chronos wristwatch
.
The watch connects to the bot wirelessly thanks to a CC1110 development board which relays communications to the on-board Arduino through a serial connection. It looks like it’s a bit of a bother to make slow and precise movements using this setup, but this can probably be changed by tweaking how accelerometer values are interpreted (using a non-linear equation would allow you more control at low speeds without sacrificing top speed for the motors).
Because this is using the same RF hardware that the IM-ME does, we can’t help but wonder if the CC1110 development board could be swapped out for an unused
IM-ME dongle
?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhE8F9rWmAg&w=470]
[Thanks Hugo] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "369971",
"author": "swighton",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T19:14:29",
"content": "The tilt control is neat but it seems really hard to control. Throw on one of these:http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9032And I bet you would see a huge increase in controllability.Really cool use of repra... | 1,760,377,230.564533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/propeller-proto-board-has-you-flying-in-no-time/ | Propeller Proto Board Has You Flying In No Time | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"parallax",
"propeller",
"prototyping"
] | [Parker]
was in need of a Propeller development board
to make working on his projects easier. More often than not, when he needed to prototype something, he would pull the only one he had on hand from his home made pinball machine, and replace it when finished. This was time consuming and cumbersome, so he decided he needed a better way of doing things.
He looked into purchasing a Gadget Gangster proto board which allows you to use a Propeller much like an Arduino, complete with support for shields and the like. Unfortunately, they were sold out and he was in a hurry to finish up a project. Rather than wait, he decided to build his own proto board, which would be more flexible than the COTS version – allowing him to add things like an Analog to Digital converter without having to use a shield.
He looked around online and found some schematics to follow, and had his proto board constructed in no time. It gets the job done and looks quite clean, considering it was put together using perf board.
Keep reading to see a video walkthrough of the Propeller development board construction.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc5mCpTmNBs&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "369907",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T17:10:08",
"content": "Nothing groundbreaking here, but it’s very well explained and… hey is that a SD card slot? :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369911",
"auth... | 1,760,377,230.893127 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/super-pong-table-doubles-the-fun/ | Super Pong Table Doubles The Fun | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"pic",
"pong",
"video games"
] | While Pong has traditionally been a game played between two individuals, Instructables user [Brad] has put together
a variation that doubles the fun
. His Pong coffee table has the ability to support up to four users at once, and makes for quite the living room centerpiece.
The table is made from sheets of MDF and incorporates a grid of 900 LEDs, all controlled by a PIC18 micro controller. The MCU is installed on a control board he designed, along with the other additional bits required to drive the LED array. A set of old Atari paddle controllers were disassembled and installed around the table, making this a true retro Pong experience.
As you can see in the video, the action is pretty frantic. It’s hard to tell who is winning until the game is over, but [Brad] says that a scoreboard will come in a future revision.
4-way Pong is a really cool idea!
, but it looks like there are no open source schematics or code for the control board. We’re hoping someone sees this project and puts together a version for all to use, free of charge.
We were mistaken about the status of this project in relation to whether or not it was open source. [Brad] wrote to us letting us know that his code was not originally included with the Instructable as a result of a late night omission. As always, his projects are open source, and you can now download all of the source code and schematics at the page linked above (and in the first step of the Instructable, no less). Mea culpas all around, thanks for the update, [Brad]!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jdxOdGvJJw&&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "369871",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T16:23:42",
"content": "Dude.Cool project, but share the love!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369875",
"author": "r_d",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T16:31:59",
... | 1,760,377,230.943741 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/how-a-hp-vfd-module-was-reverse-engineered/ | How A HP VFD Module Was Reverse Engineered | Kevin Dady | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"vfd"
] | We all love getting a good deal on sweet parts, but not all of them are documented. Some of us have trained our eyes and brains to spot “timesinks”, having been burned before. The rest sit down with whatever pile of stuff they have on hand, and figure out how to talk to that
HP Media Center VFD
.
[Jayeson] found some good deals on some
Vacuum Fluorescent Displays
from a HP Media Center computer as “new”, from some (unmentioned) shady dealers. Once receiving his B stock displays he needed to figure out a way to make them work.
Fun and excitement includes: figuring out the pins, first attempts of communication, getting the data sheet for a house brand chip… that still has the Atmel stamp on it, sniffing traffic with a logic analyzer, and deciphering that data. All that while being a pretty interesting read, good showing of willpower, and resulting in a couple Arduino Libraries as a bonus. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "369844",
"author": "Faelenor",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T15:32:49",
"content": "Cool, I wanted a similar display for a project. Anyone knows a source for those? I found some on the web, but either too expensive or with prohibitive shipping fees.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,377,230.72119 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/portable-bench-supply-carries-around-10-amp-hours-of-juice/ | Portable Bench Supply Carries Around 10 Amp-hours Of Juice | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bench supply",
"boost converter",
"charger",
"lipo",
"lithium",
"pcm",
"power supply",
"sparkfun"
] | [Punish3r] wanted to have power for prototyping on the go. What he came up with is this little thing above. Inside you’ll find common components that let the unit provide
10 amp hours of current with a 12V 500mA output
.
The storage capacity is provided by a dozen Lithium batteries. These 3.7V cheapies are wired in parallel behind a protection board. For charging and discharging, a Sparkfun LiPo charger board was used, taking care of all the work necessary to top off the batteries using a wall-wort. The final piece in the puzzle is a boost converter that provides the regulated 12v connected to the red and black banana plug receivers on the bottom of the case.
This is very much a plug-and-play design… just make sure you hook the parts up correctly and you’re up and running. We would love to see a roll-your-own boost converter circuit that include a switch or dial that lets you select common PSU voltage levels. If you’re going to the trouble to make your own board you might as well incorporate the charging circuit at the same time.
[Thanks Paul] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "369768",
"author": "gmcurrie",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T12:13:44",
"content": "‘wart’ rather than ‘wort’?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369777",
"author": "vtl",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T12:38:18",
"content": "I ha... | 1,760,377,231.044961 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/29/ps3-guncontroller-hybrid/ | PS3 Gun/controller Hybrid | Mike Szczys | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"gun",
"namco",
"six-axis"
] | [Luis] is very particular about his gaming controllers. He wanted to mod a Six Axis controller to fit into a Nerf gun body but there wasn’t really enough room for all of the components. After shopping around for a while he discovered a wired gun controller made by Namco which was developed for use with the game Time Crisis. He picked one up and went to work
replacing the guts with a set pulled from a wireless controller
.
The majority of the work on a mod like this one comes in extending the reach of each component. After cracking open the gun controller’s case, [Luis] begins preparing and soldering all twenty contact on the Six Axis controller PCB, then completing the connections necessary for each relocated component. This does make us wonder if there won’t be some element of noise introduced to the signals coming from the analog sticks? He mentions that one of them is ‘glitchy’ but that could be because he started with a used controller from eBay.
We took a couple of good tips out of this. Since the plastic housing is designed to hold each of the original PCBs securely, [Luis] reused them as a mounting surface for the replacement components. A little creative use of protoboard and some time in the paint shop and you’re done. Check out a video of the entire process, which also shares the finished results, after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdL8_KkylBI&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "369803",
"author": "Don",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T13:48:19",
"content": "Nice build, looks great! Thanks for sharing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369815",
"author": "Neo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-29T14:22:41",
"co... | 1,760,377,230.99221 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/keeping-beer-chilled-from-keg-to-tap/ | Keeping Beer Chilled From Keg To Tap | Mike Nathan | [
"Beer Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"beer",
"homebrew",
"keg"
] | [Stan] was putting together his nano-brewery, and while waiting for his beer to finish fermenting, he decided to work on the storage portion of his project. He built a kegerator to store his forthcoming brews but realized that since it was about 10 feet away from his tap tower, the beer was becoming unacceptably warm and frothy in transit.
In commercial tap systems, a separate line of chilled propylene glycol is bundled with the beer lines, keeping it cool as it travels from keg to tap.
[Stan] decided to replicate this setup
, and after three different iterations, he nailed it.
His first two attempts involved keeping the cooling solution inside of the kegerator, but he found that either the pumps added too much heat to the solution, or that the kegerator was running at nearly a 100% duty cycle. Scrapping any sort of kegerator-based cooling, he decided to build a separate cooling unit with a dehumidifier he had sitting around. After fitting the unit into a cooler and filling it with solution, he found it to cool so well it turned the propylene glycol solution to slush!
Check out his site for more details on his cooling setup – if you are in the business of homebrew, you will be glad you did. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "369471",
"author": "Girrrrrrr2",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T23:04:01",
"content": "This goes perfectly with the Auto Beer, now we just need to get it into cans, and we can use the beer launcher to get it to us….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,231.102042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/automated-home-beer-brewery-best-laundry-room-add-on-ever/ | Automated Home Beer Brewery — Best Laundry Room Add-on Ever | Mike Szczys | [
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"beer",
"brew",
"homebrew",
"Renesas",
"robot"
] | All-grain home brewing takes time… a lot of time. We’re not going to pretend like a good batch of beer isn’t thanks mostly to the artist that is the brewmaster, but at the same time it’s pretty amazing to see a compact
system like the one above that can boil a batch of wort without much help from you
.
[Zizzle] built this machine as his entry in
the Renesas contest
. You can see the development board there just to the left of the brew kettle. It’s network connected with a web interface that allows you to take recipes from
Brewtarget
and import them directly to the system. All you need to do is make sure that you load up the grain basket and boil addition modules to match your recipe. The bot takes it from there, filling the kettle, preheating that water, lowering the grains and maintaining temperature for the mash, and completing the boil with additions from the servo-controlled PVC pipe pods. Experienced brewers will notice a few steps missing, like the sparge, and a quick way to cool the finished wort. But this does take a huge part of the drudgery out of our hands. If only it had a clean-in-place system… then we’d really be happy! Don’t miss the video after the break and take a moment to check out
the build-log posts
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xQenrnkNOQ&w=470] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "369453",
"author": "Girrrrrrr2",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T22:32:55",
"content": "I want this… but i would take 2 sheds and make them into my own home brew area.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369460",
"author": "Sean",
... | 1,760,377,231.16183 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/your-robot-stand-in-has-arrived/ | Your Robot Stand-in Has Arrived | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"balancing",
"balancing bot",
"telepresence",
"wrt54g"
] | Meet TIPI, the
Telepresence Interface by Pendulum Inversion
. TIPI is something of a surrogate, giving physical presence to telecommuters by balancing an LCD screen and camera atop its six foot frame. The user has full control of the robot’s movement, with their own camera image shown on the display so that others interacting with the bot will with whom they are conversing.
A pair of 12.5″ wheels connec to DC motors via a gear box with a 37:1 ratio. These specs are necessary to recover from a sudden 20 degree loss of equilibrium, quite impressive for a bot of this stature. An Orangutan SVP board monitors a two-axis accelerometer and a gyroscope for accurate positioning data. This board automatically keeps balance, while taking user commands from a second control, a Beagle Board. The Beagle Board handles the communications, including sending and receiving the video signals, and delivering incoming position control data to the Orangutan. Separating the two systems guards against a screen-shattering fall by making sure the hardware likely to face slow-down or lockup is physically separate from that responsible for balance.
Check out the video clip after the brake to see some balancing goodness. It shouldn’t be hard to build your own version for much less than the
$15k price tag enjoyed by some commercial versions
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmhrrKtjYDs&w=470] | 15 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "369434",
"author": "Brennan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T21:48:52",
"content": "Didn’t Sheldon do something like this?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369438",
"author": "Jonathan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T21:57:56",
... | 1,760,377,231.213313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/nano-sumo-robot-takes-on-all-comers/ | Nano Sumo Robot Takes On All Comers | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"robot",
"sumo"
] | While most Sumo-style robots are fairly sizable, there is a subsection of the Sumo robot movement that focuses on making small robots. Really small robots.
[Patrick] wrote in to share his latest creation,
a Nano Sumo robot
measuring a scant 1 in. x 1 in. The Nano Sumo is operated by an ATMega 328 micro controller housed on a custom-built PCB. The board was designed to interface directly with the 1A Dual Motor Driver from SparkFun, which provides all of the PWM signaling to the motors for speed control and braking. A small 50mAh Li-poly battery is attached to the robot, which can be charged using 4 AA batteries via a custom charging circuit. The mechanical components of the bot were handled by his friend [Gary], which you can
read about here
.
As you can see in the video below, the bot does its job pretty well. It does seem like the object detection gets confused every once in awhile, but that can likely be remedied with a few software tweaks.
Check out his page for additional build videos, including the PCB construction and programming processes.
If you’re interested in learning more about Sumo bots, check out this
slightly larger robot
we covered a short while back.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-5aRlMBRvE&w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "369414",
"author": "wosser",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T20:50:38",
"content": "Damn, that’s dinky!Very nice construction, looks pretty solid.Could this be done even smaller with a 8-pin PIC and a coin cell?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comme... | 1,760,377,231.262781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/nintendo-hacked-to-fit-inside-an-nes-cartridge/ | Nintendo Hacked To Fit Inside An NES Cartridge | Mike Nathan | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"nes",
"nintendo",
"NOAC"
] | Instructables user [dany32412] recently built what is arguably one of the smallest NES consoles we have seen to date. Using a Nintendo on a Chip (NOAC) board, he has fabricated an
NES system that fits inside a hollowed out NES cartridge
.
He purchased a NOAC system at a local resale shop and got to work disassembling it. As most of these devices typically consist of a game system built into the controller with a Famicom game slot added for good measure, he knew he had a lot of work ahead of him if he was going to convert it to work properly with actual NES games and controllers.
He hacked apart most of the NOAC’s board, leaving just the CPU and the controller interface chip. He then built a custom controller interface board in order to properly map his NES controller’s buttons to the pads on the NOAC. He wired in a 72-pin NES cartridge slot, then added a pair of controller ports and a power switch. Once he had everything connected and tested, it was all secured in a Super Mario Brothers NES cartridge.
Check out the video below of his mini NES in action.
If you can’t get enough Nintendo hacks, be sure to take a look at this
portable NES
as well as this
emulator-based NES in a cartridge
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yGzoNGbgIA&w=470] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "369324",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T18:24:05",
"content": "Insert a Mario bro cartridge into this and let the yo dawg jokes begin. In all seriousness, very clean and small.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "36934... | 1,760,377,231.320174 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/breathing-new-life-into-a-broken-ipod/ | Breathing New Life Into A Broken IPod | Mike Nathan | [
"ipod hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"fix",
"ipod",
"repair"
] | [Craig] had a busted 2nd Gen iPod Nano that was well out of warranty. The play/pause button no longer worked, leaving him unable to play or pause music, nor power off the device. He didn’t want to scrap the iPod, so he figured out a way to
add an external play/pause button instead
.
He ordered an iPod dock connector from SparkFun and found that it had just enough space inside for the electronic components he would be adding. He consulted some online references for pinout information, then got busy cramming an ATiny13 and a pushbutton into the dock connector.
To minimize the drain on the iPod’s battery, he puts the ATiny into sleep mode when it is not being used. When the button is pressed, it wakes up the microcontroller and sends the proper signal to the iPod. Based on his estimations, it would take nearly 250 years for the ATiny to drain the iPod’s battery completely, so he’s pretty comfortable leaving the dongle attached at all times.
If you have an iPod with similar issues, he has made his source code available so you can save yours from the trash heap as well. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "369258",
"author": "Pip",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T16:13:41",
"content": "What is the total cost?Because 2nd Gen iPods do not cost that much.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369268",
"author": "mrbippers",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,231.490566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/motion-sensing-minecraft-creeper-will-scare-the-pickaxe-offa-ya/ | Motion Sensing Minecraft Creeper Will Scare The Pickaxe Offa’ya | Jesse Congdon | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"minecraft",
"motion"
] | [Chris] Writes in to tell us about his motion sensing,
Arduino powered Creeper
. As if these buggers were not frightening enough in game, [Chris] had to go and make the closest (legal) real world facsimile. The Creeper utilizes an Arduino Uno with a wave shield to playback creeper noises, PIR sensor to detect victims, and an RC car as a motorized cart. The creeper sits and waits for a signal from the PIR detector, when it sees motion the RC remote is triggered, Creeper noises played and (we assume) panic ensues.
We might have forgone the entire RC part of the toy car and found the H-bridge motor controller, but using the RC remote has potential. The whole triggering mechanism can be placed remotely allowing the Creeper to jump out from some kind of cover.
Not enough Minecraft? Check out some our other
Minecraft projects
if you are interested in more tree-punching goodness.
A video of the creeper in action is available after the jump!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_mMtAKLzMJE&w=470] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "369238",
"author": "krazeecain",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T15:20:35",
"content": "Well… crap.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369243",
"author": "peter",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T15:26:04",
"content": "ack. Just some ... | 1,760,377,231.692863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/led-floor-lamp-really-ties-the-room-together/ | LED Floor Lamp Really Ties The Room Together | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"disco",
"led"
] | Instructables user [lincomatic] was doing some home decorating and was trying to find something that would really tie the room together. He decided against adding a nice rug, a light fixture is what he was after. Rather than settle on a simple lamp for the corner of the room, he constructed an
8×8 RGB LED fixture he calls the Lampduino
.
He constructed the 8×8 grid using some leftover cardboard packaging, then got to work wiring up the LED strands. In a rather unorthodox move, he decided to wire wrap the LED leads instead of soldering them. Once the LEDs were in place, he wired everything up to his Colorduino, an Arduino derivative specially made for driving large quantities of LEDs. A thin sheet of drafting film was placed on both sides of the board, then it was mounted on a stand for display.
His Daft Punk-esque lamp can be programmed to display just about anything from color patterns to video game sprites, and it can also be timed to music if desired. We think it looks great, and could make for a nice wall hanging if he ever got sick of the stand. While the wire wrap technique sounds like it sped up the development of this project significantly, we would be interested in hearing how it holds up after a few months of use.
Check out the trio of videos embedded below to see the Lampduino in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZUnk9GjPEw&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpqwqo4Rcd8&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFOD6wtOcUo&w=470] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "369215",
"author": "IJ Dee-Vo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T14:20:50",
"content": "3p1c",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369242",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T15:24:58",
"content": "3p1c? or you could just ... | 1,760,377,231.788367 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/hiduino-the-only-limit-is-yourself/ | HIDUINO: Your Arduino Is Now A MIDI Interface | Jesse Congdon | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino AVR ISP",
"usb hack"
] | [Dimitri Diakopoulos] dropped into our tip line to let us know his
HIDUINO
project. The HIDUINO is a set of firmware for the ATmega8u2 used in the new revisions of the Arduino (Uno, and Mega2560 for example). Once the HIDUINO is loaded your Arduino can show up as any HID compliant device you wish, no extra drivers necessary. This means that using this firmware, music software such as Max, Ableton, Reaktor etc can read and write MIDI directly to/from the Arduino. Currently the project is for direct USB-MIDI communication but could be altered to act as a variety of HID devices.
Flashing the ATmega8u2 with your own device type or name requires a bit of work on the developers part like owning an ISP programmer, soldering header pins to the board, and re-flashing the ATmega8u2 every time you want to load new code into the Arduino. Users without an ISP can still flash HIDUINO using
Atmel’s FLIP software
(Windows) or the
DFU programmer
(Mac OS X and Linux) and a precompiled HIDUINO firmware. They still have to solder a
jumper
on the underside of the board to use the DFU bootloader.
This firmware could certainly benefit anyone building an
Arduinome
,
Joystick
, or any
variety
of devices that users simply want to interface to a PC without additional software.
A guide for ISP flashing can be found at [Dimitri]’s
site
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "369158",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T13:17:45",
"content": "If this can do a keyboard, I can see it used for automation in the (sadly frequent) intances in which you aren’t allowed to write a shell script.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,377,232.16037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/wireless-animatronic-hand-control/ | Wireless Animatronic Hand Control | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robot",
"telepresence"
] | [Easton] was looking to enter his local science fair and needed a project that would wow the judges. After considering it for a bit, he decided that
an animatronic hand would be a sure winner
. Many animatronic projects we have seen are connected to a computer for control purposes, but his is a bit different.
[Easton] wanted to be able to control the hand in real time with his own movements, so he sewed some flex sensors onto a glove and wired them up to a custom Arduino shield he built. The Arduino is also connected to an XBee radio, allowing it to interface with his animatronic hand wirelessly.
He built the hand after studying anatomical drawings to better understand where finger joints were located and how they moved. He cut up pieces of flexible wire tubing to build the fingers, reinforcing them with Lego bricks. He ran fishing wire from the finger tips to five independent servos to provide the hand’s motion. Another Arduino with an XBee shield was used to control the hand and receive wireless signals from the glove.
Check out the video below to see why this project won [Easton] first place in the science fair.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYKoNi48m9o&w=470] | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "369142",
"author": "r3",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T12:41:16",
"content": "with all the respect … as such work clearly deserves it … nobody heard of the color coded gloves+webcam API ?http://www.sciencelov.com/?p=3151#more-3151",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,231.741752 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/28/open-source-wireless-mesh-networking-energy-meter/ | Open Source Wireless Mesh Networking Energy Meter | Jesse Congdon | [
"home hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"Monitoring",
"power consumption"
] | [Jay Kickliter] writes in to tell us about his open source
energy/power meter
. With his buddy [Frank Lynam] they designed a small device that crams into existing power boxes and uses and 8 core propeller (P8X32A) microcontroller to perform true RMS voltage and current measurements using a current transformer. [Frank] and [Jay] don’t stop there. The meter also features an xbee pro 900 MHZ to provide wireless (and even mesh networking) capabilities to the whole ordeal.
[Jay and Frank] estimate a total unit cost of around $80 (US) per prototype. With volume the price goes down by about half. With a larger number of units, and the magic of mesh networking, we could see cheaper xbee’s driving the cost down some. Check out the
Google code
page for details or the
schematic
(pdf) if you are interested.
So far the project is in the beta stages, and only features a single module sending data to a PC running an OS X Cocoa application. [Jay] is about to be otherwise occupied by the Merchant Marines and [Frank] the Navy, so they figured we could have a go at it for awhile.
We have seen other hardware used to
monitor power
consumption, but cramming this circuit into each power box is a neat idea.
[Frank] explains the whole project in the video after the jump.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ingz7y9FLMo&w=470] | 35 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "369103",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T11:13:35",
"content": "wow 80 bucks? what is the other 40 for?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369105",
"author": "bootc",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T11:15:44",
"c... | 1,760,377,231.861292 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/27/function-generator-built-and-mounted-inside-electronics-bench/ | Function Generator Built And Mounted Inside Electronics Bench | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bench",
"function generator",
"max038"
] | A function generator is a handy piece of test equipment to have on-site. [Kammenos]
designed and built his own function generator
, using the bench itself as the enclosure. You can see above that the control panel presents a clean finished look. To achieve it, [Kammenos] designed and printed the panel labels on a sheet of paper, and used a piece of acrylic to protect it. The circuit inside uses a MAX038 high-frequency generator chip. This is a full-featured part that allows for great control based on a few external components. One of those is a selectable frequency range based on the capacitance value on one pin. This is selectable using a twelve-step rotary switch with a dozen different cap values. There’s also adjustment knobs for fine tuning, duty cycle, and DC offset.
Check out the video after the break for a full demonstration. If you want to build this yourself you’ll need to do some chip hunting. The MAX038 is obsolete. You may still be able to find one, but at around $20 you should be able to source a replacement with the same features and save yourself cash all in one step.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSryBvvFmBw&w=470]
[Thanks Rich] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "368752",
"author": "dustandechoes91",
"timestamp": "2011-03-27T19:28:42",
"content": "We have these at school for labs, there is a panel in the wall and the TA puts whatever signals are needed into them.Would kill to have that-or even a function gen at home. Damn good idea on this g... | 1,760,377,232.219661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/27/multi-function-bech-power-supply/ | Multi-Function Bench Power Supply | Jason Komp | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"7805",
"7905",
"lm350",
"Multi-function",
"power supply",
"psu"
] | Concerned with your project’s power consumption but don’t want to constantly leave an ammeter wired in series with your power supply? [Rajendra] feels your pain and has recently documented his solution to the problem: a
variable-output bench top power supply
that clearly displays load current consumption among other things!
Everything is wired up in a nice roomy enclosure that has front-panel access to ±5V and variable outputs, an adjustment potentiometer, and even an input for an integrated frequency counter. A PIC16F689 MCU runs the show and displays the variable output voltage and current on a 16×2 character LCD. Although clearly useful as is, the PIC has plenty of I/Os and muscle left for future expansion and a capacitance meter has already been hinted at as and addition for version 2!
The power supply itself is pretty straight forward and uses 7805 and 7905 voltage regulator ICs to provide ±5V DC output. A LM350 IC also provides a variable output of between 1.25V and 9V – limited to 3V below the input voltage, in this case a rectified 12V from a standard transformer.
In order to measure current, a shunt of low but known resistance is wired in series with the output. In high-current applications these shunts are typically made of alloys that maintain a fairly consistent resistance across a wide temperature range. Since the currents in this project will be limited to a few Amperes there shouldn’t be too much resistive heating going on, and a 5 foot length of 22AWG wire wound into a coil provides a convenient and low-cost alternative. The voltage dropped across this resistance can then be measured and is directly proportional to the current flowing through it as related by Ohm’s law. This voltage drop reduces the voltage presented to the actual load as compared to the output of the regulator IC where the voltage is being measured in this case, but is accounted for in the code before the value is displayed on the lcd.
Full source code and schematics are provided and plenty of time was devoted to explaining some of the trickier concepts such as amplifying or decreasing signal amplitudes to levels suitable for ADC input and how to use a prescaler to count high frequencies exceeding the PICs own 20MHz oscillator. Also, although this design limits the current sensing capabilities to 1.2A, alternatives to the op-amp stage are discussed that could increase this limit.
Overall this project should be very approachable to even novice hackers and is a great way to practice many basic electronic concepts. What makes it even better is that the end result is a useful tool for future prototyping. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "368702",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2011-03-27T18:14:51",
"content": "Great, I’ve been looking for somthing to power my bech!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "368708",
"author": "xrazorwirex",
"timestamp": "2011... | 1,760,377,232.102074 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/27/music-synthesized-from-the-game-of-life/ | Music Synthesized From The Game Of Life | Mike Nathan | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"circuit bending",
"game of life",
"synthesizers"
] | [vtol] has built a very elaborate system of electronic sound machines, which can be patched together in various ways in order to create all sorts of sounds and sound effects. The modules range from simple noise synthesizers to pitch shifters, sequencers, and effects processors. The most recent addition to his synthesizer system is a matrix sequencer named 2112, which focuses on
generating random sounds from a very familiar mechanism
.
The sequencer simulates Conway’s Game of Life, representing the colony movements in beeps and buzzes, creating a nearly infinite array of random sound effects. Using firmware from the
Game of Life board by Ladyada
, the sequencer generates different sound patterns based upon the number of colonies on the board. The output varies according to the shapes and proximity of the organisms to one another. Since it is part of his already modular system, the 2112 board can be combined with any number of his other sound generators and effects machines to make all sorts of circuit bent music.
Keep reading to check out the trio of videos below demonstrating the Game of Life board in action.
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/21476617
w=470]
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/21474573
w=470]
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/21475330
w=470] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "368683",
"author": "jAMES",
"timestamp": "2011-03-27T17:36:28",
"content": "listening to that made me angry. if art is defined as something that causes an emotional response, this is a win.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "368686... | 1,760,377,231.911882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/27/arduino-and-open-sound-control-without-an-ethernet-shield/ | Arduino And Open Sound Control Without An Ethernet Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"maxmsp",
"open sound control",
"osc",
"processing"
] | Open Sound Control (OSC) is a communications protocol that can be seen as a modern alternative to MIDI. It’s specifically designed to play nicely with network communication systems. The problem with using it along with Arduino-based gadgets is that you then need to use something like an Ethernet shield to provide the network connection. [Liam Lacey] decided to
use Processing as a go-between for OSC and the Arduino
in lieu of the Ethernet Shield. One of the major benefits of this method is that it gives you some flexibility when it comes to how the Arduino communicates. Since a USB connected Arduino can be addressed by the Processing sketch in the same way as an AVR chip connected via an RS232 serial port, [Liam’s] method will allow you to prototype on an Arduino board, but transition to your own non-USB hardware for the finished project. The one big drawback to this method is the need to have a computer connected to your controller, but we’d bet you’d need one to run MAXmsp anyway. | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "369084",
"author": "Moe K",
"timestamp": "2011-03-28T09:57:35",
"content": "touchOSC on iOS Has a very nice UI and plays nicely with processing with many examples on YouTube",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "369118",
"author":... | 1,760,377,232.052393 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/27/hackaday-links-march-27-2011/ | Hackaday Links: March 27, 2011 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"katamari damacy",
"magnifying",
"pcb",
"photoshop",
"printer"
] | Magnified glasses
A late hacking session, and parts-on-hand came together as the inspiration for [BadWolf’s]
magnified glasses with LED lighting
.
Pendulum Printer
This orb, when swung like a pendulum,
prints images by dropping ink out the bottom
. A processing sketch works in conjuction with a Wii Remote and an IR LED in the orb to sense when the print head is in just the right position for dispensing ink.
ITead PCB fab house tips and tricks
[Flemming] uses a PCB fab house called
ITead Studio
. We hadn’t heard of it before but if you consider giving it a try make sure you look over
his tips and tricks about the service
before submitting your designs.
Katamari Bookmarklet
[Spi] wrote in to let us know about this
Java
Bookmarklet he came across that lets you
turn any webpage into a Katamari Damacy level
. It’s a pretty clever bit of code.
Color-picker pen
Here’s
a pen concept inspired by Photoshop
. On one end there’s a scanner that lets you pick your color from any physical object. Then just turn it around and write with the exact same color. Now go out and make this reality! [Thanks Frank] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "368566",
"author": "Conan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-27T13:33:09",
"content": "First thought was to combine a Pantone Color Real CapSure or similar device with a “Printbrush” printer but maybe still a bit to large to be considered a pencil :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,232.281955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/26/sudoglove-gets-a-big-software-upgrade/ | SudoGlove Gets A Big Software Upgrade | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"flex sensor",
"glove",
"processing",
"puredata",
"synthesizer"
] | [Jeremy Blum] recently finished writing a couple of software packages for his SudoGlove system that turns it into a music controller with a lot of features. We’ve seen the hardware
in a previous post
and as a goal for this iteration he decided not to alter the hardware or the firmware controlling it whatsoever–making this a PC-side software only hack. It’s nice to see improvement on the original ideas as we feel most of the glove-based projects we’ve covered end up getting thrown in the junk box after the developer’s interest wanes.
After the break you can see and hear a demonstration of the complete system. The front end of application shown
was written using Processing and
includes a slew of user configurations for each sensor on the glove itself. Under the hood [Jeremy] built on
the PureData framework
in order to really unlock the potential for translating physical movement into synthesized sound. There is also a visual feedback application which will help you practice your movements, important if you’re giving live performances where each finger is a different instrument. Everything for this project, both hardware and software, has been released under a CC license so check out [Jeremy’s] site if you’re interested in building on part or all of the good work he’s done.
Update:
[Jeremy] wrote in with a bit of a correction for our synopsis. The application shown in the video is written entirely in PureData and the visual debugger was written with Processing. The two are standalone packages that don’t depend on each other. He also sent us
a link to download the code packages
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bXEzAOvSrc&w=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "368237",
"author": "Dino",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T21:05:44",
"content": "Nice work Jeremy and great videos! I can see this getting further development and turning into a really cool and versatile interface.…and it just looks cool too! :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,232.553921 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/26/papercraft-gyroscope/ | Papercraft Gyroscope | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"gyroscope",
"paper",
"paperclip",
"papercraft"
] | Although spring keeps trying to break through the winter doldrums you might be looking for just one more weekend activity before the outdoor season begins. Grab the kids and
give this paper gyroscope a try
.
It’s not
an electronic sensor made of paper
, but the modern equivalent of a spinning top. The frame remains stationary while the center assembly spins at high speed, keeping the whole thing balanced on one narrow point. [Dombeef] put together a printable template which you can use to make your own parts. He got a hold of the heavy paper that’s used to hold X-ray film, but you can just trace out multiple copies of the parts and make a beefy section by laminating them together with glue. Combine the inner and outer parts using a paper clip as the axis and you’re ready to go. Pull hard on a bit of floss wound around the axis to get the center frame spinning, then sit back and see how long it will remain standing. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "368300",
"author": "zool",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T23:39:22",
"content": "i’ve done papercraft, i doubt this works too well",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "368305",
"author": "Dombeef",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T23:55:27... | 1,760,377,232.322904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/26/automatic-trigger-for-lightning-photography/ | Automatic Trigger For Lightning Photography | Mike Nathan | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera trigger",
"lighting",
"photography"
] | [Vicktor] has always been fascinated by photographs of lightning and decided to try his hand at capturing a few strikes on his camera. Every time he attempted it however, he didn’t have much success. Instead of trying to operate his camera manually to take the images, he decided to
build a lightning trigger that would do it for him
.
His circuit uses a large photodiode to sense when lightning strikes, triggering the camera via a hacked shutter release cable. A PIC micro controller is used to adjust the sensitivity of the device, as well as to send the actual trigger signal to the camera. His circuit is connected to the camera via a pair of opto couplers to ensure that his circuit cannot cause any harm to the camera.
When the box is powered on, it enters a calibration mode where the user can adjust the circuit to compensate for whatever amount of ambient light is present. Once armed, the box waits for a sudden change in ambient lighting, sending the exposure release signal to the camera.
A schematic is available on his site, and he will send you the code he use on request. There is currently no video of the trigger in action, but hopefully we’ll see one soon.
If you’re interested in seeing some other remote camera triggers, check out this one
made from air freshener parts
, and this one
which uses lasers
. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "368138",
"author": "Tito",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T17:11:07",
"content": "I also heard it’s possible to make a trigger using a radio receiver, I which case it’s possible to detect a lightning like a second before it happens!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,232.381988 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/26/wifi-radio-plays-your-tunes-in-style/ | WiFi Radio Plays Your Tunes In Style | Mike Nathan | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"openwrt",
"radio",
"wifi"
] | Instructables user [Jan] likes listening to music while hacking away in his workshop, but listening to the same CDs gets tired and boring after awhile. He contemplated listening to streaming audio over the Internet, but hated the idea of needing a computer around at all times. After a bit of reading, he found some information about building a WiFi radio, and
got started on constructing his own
.
Using a guide he found at the MightyOhm, he hacked an Asus router to use OpenWRT, adding a music player daemon to tune in various stations. He added a small LCD display and an ATmega32 to drive it, as well as a rotary encoder to allow him to switch between stations.
The case was built using several layers of MDF which were cut using a CNC mill, and joined together with glue and wooden dowels. The front and back panels were milled out of alucobond sheets, with the remainder of the case covered in white wood veneer. The detail that went into this build is great, we especially love the “WiFi Symbol” speaker grilles.
All of his code and schematics are available for download, should you desire to make a WiFi radio of your own. Stick around to see a video of his completed radio in action.
[via
MightyOhm
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bltRuA8pe4I&w=470] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "368112",
"author": "j0z0r",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T16:05:47",
"content": "That music reminds me of Bioshock, lol. I’ve been looking to do this for a while now, but I wanted it to look professional. I like the small graphic display and just the idea overall. Good, clean hack",
... | 1,760,377,232.508045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/26/kinect-two-fer-mocap-movie-and-robot-control/ | Kinect Two-fer: MoCap Movie And Robot Control | Mike Nathan | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"animation",
"Kinect",
"mindstorms",
"robot",
"video"
] | It’s no mystery that we like the Kinect around here, which is why we’re bringing you a Kinect two-fer today.
We have seen video hacks using the Kinect before, and this one ranks up there on the coolness scale.
In [Torben’s] short film
about an animation student nearly missing his assignment deadline, the Kinect was used to script the animation of a stick figure model. The animation was captured and built in Maya, then overlaid on a separate video clip to complete the movie. The overall quality is great, though you can notice some of the typical “jitter” that the Kinect is known for, and there are a few places where the model sinks into the floor a bit.
If you want to try your hand at animation using the Kinect, all of the scripts used to make the movie are available on the creator’s site for free. [via
Kinect-Hacks
]
Our second Kinect item comes in the form of a
gesture driven Lego MindStorms bot
. Using OpenNI along with Primesense for body tracking, [rasomuro] was able to use simple motions to drive his NXT bot around the house. His movements are tracked by the Kinect sensor which are translated into commands relayed to the robot via his laptop’s Bluetooth connection. Since the robot has two motors, he mapped couple of simple arm motions to drive the bot around. We’ll be honest when we say that the motions remind us of Will Farrell’s “Frank the Tank” scene in Old School, but [rasomuro] says that he is trying to simulate the use of levers to drive the bot. Either way, it’s pretty cool.
Videos of both hacks are embedded below for your perusal.
If you are interested in seeing some more cool Kinect hacks be sure to check out this
Minecraft interface trio
, this
cool Kinect realtime video overlay
, and this
Kinect-Nerf gun video game interface
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv9yFkEP6qI&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPLdbJg047Y&w=470] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "368113",
"author": "Josh",
"timestamp": "2011-03-26T16:05:47",
"content": "That All Nighter vid was awesome. Wonder if Microsoft ever thought the Kinect would be used this way?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "368118",
"autho... | 1,760,377,234.478685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/hand-built-car-made-almost-entirely-from-scavenged-parts/ | Hand-built Car Made Almost Entirely From Scavenged Parts | Mike Nathan | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"car",
"scavenging"
] | So you’ve swapped out your car’s motor or added new tranny. Perhaps you’ve rewired your ancient VW bus from 6v to 12v. Do you think that makes you a car expert? [Orismar de Souza] might beg to differ.
The homeless Brazilian native has spent the last four years of his life
building a car from sheet metal and junked parts
. He searched high and low across the region looking for parts, scoring a 125cc motorcycle motor, among other various components – mostly from old Fiats. He scraped together $270 while panhandling and simultaneously fighting off starvation over the span of four months in order to purchase enough sheet metal to skin the vehicle. Crafting the body panels by hand using a borrowed hammer and chisel, he nearly gave up, but was resolute in not letting his dream die.
The car features more amenities than you would imagine. It can hit 50 mph on the freeway and includes a real car ignition, which replaces the old motorcycle kickstarter. It was recently fitted with a new gearbox that allows him to go in reverse, and if you look at the picture above closely enough, you will also see that he even took the time to install a stereo.
We are totally blown away by [Orismar’s] “Shrimpmobile” – it definitely takes scavenging to a whole new level. Got any amazing stories of scrounging and hacking? Share them with us in the comments. | 73 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "367583",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T21:10:50",
"content": "Pure. WIN.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367600",
"author": "isama",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T21:34:28",
"content": "just wow. i love it!",... | 1,760,377,234.32044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/stirring-plate-from-usb-enclosure/ | Stirring Plate From USB Enclosure | Mike Szczys | [
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"enclosure",
"fan",
"hdd",
"stir plate",
"usb"
] | [Loreno Minati]
built his own stir plate
out of a hard drive enclosure. It’s the exact
same hack as the one we saw a few weeks ago
. A magnet was glued to the center of a computer fan, which causes the magnetic capsule inside the beaker to spin. This creates a vortex, evenly mixing the liquid.
Using a hard drive enclosure is a brilliant idea. It’s designed to sit in plain sight so you get a very nice finished look. It’s also exactly the right size for the fan itself. A potentiometer mounted in the cap of the enclosure allows for variable speeds, and the DC barrel jack is being used for the power source. Now that we think of it, this may be the best use of an external HDD enclosure we’ve ever seen (even eclipsing its original purpose). Check out a video and image gallery of the project after the break.
We’ve categorized this as a beer hack since stir plates are often built by hobbyists for growing yeast starters used in home brewing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uSiuCR-UQU&w=470]
[Thanks Jorge] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "367557",
"author": "CutThroughStuffGuy",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T20:26:59",
"content": "All he has to do now is add a heater :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367579",
"author": "marcus",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T21:05... | 1,760,377,234.231069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/mechanical-turing-machine-can-compute-anything-slowly/ | Mechanical Turing Machine Can Compute Anything…slowly | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"mechanical",
"turing"
] | For several years, [Jim] has wanted to construct
a fully-mechanical universal Turing machine
. Without the help of any electronic circuits or electrical input, his goal was to build the machine using simple hand tools and scrap materials.
If you are not familiar with the concept of a Turing machine, they are devices that manipulate symbols or input from a strip of tape, according to a set table of rules. By definition, a Turing machine should be adaptable to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, albeit in a much slower fashion than you would see from a computer.
He has replaced the strip of tape with a wire grid, and the symbols have been implemented in the form of ball bearings placed on the aforementioned grid. His hand-cranked machine uses magnets to lift the input symbols from the grid, processing them according to the rules table he routed out of a wood block.
The implementation is definitely clever, though [Jim] admits it is not without its problems. He took it to Maker Faire UK, and most people didn’t quite understand what they were seeing without a full explanation. The machine is not quite as reliable as he would like it to be, and he would like to make it a bit more powerful as it currently would take months to add two numbers together.
Keep reading to see a brief video demo of his Turing machine in action, and check out his blog if you want to see more information on how the machine was built.
Interested in seeing more Turing machines? Check out
these
two
machines
we featured a while back.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40DkJ9vt5CI&w=470] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "367522",
"author": "Jay",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T19:26:22",
"content": "Very nice, I am impressed sir. :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367655",
"author": "localroger",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T23:16:22",
"conte... | 1,760,377,234.163882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/low-voltage-wind-turbine-lighting/ | Low-voltage Wind Turbine Lighting | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"stepper",
"turbine",
"wind"
] | Instructables user [Dustyn] recently
constructed a wind-based lantern
to provide a bit of free, renewable light in urban settings. The project is based around a vertical-axis wind turbine, which she says are better suited to these environments since wind often comes from all different directions. Despite their lower efficiency compared their horizontal-axis brethren, this style of turbine seems to fit her needs quite well.
She provided a complete bill of materials, down to the last screw and washer you would need to replicate her work. The wind sails were constructed from thin aluminum flashing, and inserted between two acrylic sheets. These were then mounted to the central aluminum shaft of the turbine, which drives the stepper motor built into the base.
The current from the stepper motor is rectified and run through a pair of capacitors before being used to light the attached LED. This allows the bipolar motor to provide current regardless of the direction the turbine is turning, and the caps smooth things out so that the LEDs don’t flicker wildly under varying wind conditions. The turbine is not going to light up a full city block, but it is definitely a nice alternative to
sun jars
.
Stick around to see a video of the turbine mechanism in action.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustynrobots/5539693723/ w=470] | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "366579",
"author": "HackerK",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T20:14:26",
"content": "Instead of 1N4001, one can use a LDO diode to get more juice out of it….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366581",
"author": "Ragnar",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,234.386864 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/lower-cost-arduino-cell-shield/ | Lower Cost Arduino Cell Shield | Kevin Dady | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"GPRS",
"gsm"
] | People love putting their Arduinos in interesting and remote places. while it may be possible, it may not be practical to run out and collect data from the devices. That is where this
GSM / GPRS shield
comes in handy.
Based around the SIMCom SIM900 that puts this device on the lower end of the price scale, (49 Euro for the module, ~60 Euro for the module mounted on a breakout board, or around 85 greenbacks) makes this module an interesting target for anyone wanting to add cell phone connectivity to a project.
To take this a step further [Boris] whipped up a nice shield PCB for the Arduino and Arduino like footprint users to make connections between the 900’s breakout board and the Arduino layout a snap. Electrically its just wires, and a LM317. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "366549",
"author": "CptAJ",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T19:24:12",
"content": "How come these are still so damn expensive? In this day and age of cheap, 20 dollar cellphones, you’d think a raw module without human interface features would be cheap as hell.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,234.437901 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/laptop-touchpad-based-led-lighting-control/ | Laptop Touchpad-based LED Lighting Control | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"laptops hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"laptop",
"led",
"pwm",
"TouchPad"
] | [Dave] needed some extra light above his desk/workbench area and decided to wire up some RGB LED light strips to brighten the place up a bit. He wasn’t content with using a standard switch to toggle them on and off, and after some brainstorming, he decided to build a capacitive touch circuit using a pair of copper tubes mounted in a project box. Just as he was putting the finishing touches on his switch, he saw a project online where a Synaptics touchpad was used in conjunction with an Arduino for lighting control. The copper tube switch was pitched, and
he got busy working with his Arduino
.
When connected to an Arduino, the touchpads can be used in two modes – relative and absolute. Relative mode is familiar to most people because it is used to guide the mouse cursor around on a laptop’s screen. Absolute mode however, relays coordinate information back to the Arduino, allowing the user to map specific areas of the pad to specific functions. [Dave] enabled his touchpad to use absolute mode, and mapped a handful of different functions on the Arduino. He can now fade his lights on and off or light the room on a timer, as well as use a sliding function to tweak the LEDs’ brightness.
It’s a neat, yet simple hack and a great way to repurpose old laptop touchpads.
Continue reading for a quick demo video he put together, and swing by his site if you want to take a look at the source code he used to get this working.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViBDuM0C-KM&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "366548",
"author": "Leo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T19:24:10",
"content": "Does anyone else think this project would be great with a touchpad overlaid with a colour selector wheel – something like you see in photoshop or paint. Touch the colour you want, and the arduino reads the tou... | 1,760,377,234.110285 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/more-high-voltage-experimentation-with-a-flyback-inverter/ | More High Voltage Experimentation With A Flyback Inverter | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"flyback",
"high voltage",
"inverter",
"plasma",
"transformer"
] | [Electorials] actually
makes working with a flyback inverter sound rather easy
. This comes hot on the heals of the
huge high voltage collection
we saw the other day, but slows way down in the presentation of information. This makes the project very approachable for the newbie, especially considering that the majority of the testing is done with low voltages.
He’s using a flyback transform for this project, which can be pulled from an old CRT monitor. Once you have one in hand, all that’s required to figure out how to use it is a voltometer, a 9V battery, a MOSFET (also salvaged in this case), and miscellaneous components. Once he establishes what each external connection does electronically, [Electorials] builds his circuit on a breadboard, then uses it to create plasma in the bulb above as well as to light up a CCFL. | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "366451",
"author": "Sanjay",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T17:13:01",
"content": "“hot on the heals” ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366476",
"author": "Erik Johnson",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T17:42:56",
"content": "@Sa... | 1,760,377,234.610893 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/redbull-sends-marketing-doodad-to-hackerspace-using-an-open-source-product/ | Redbull Sends Marketing Doodad To Hackerspace Using An Open Source Product | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"advertising",
"marketing",
"redbull",
"uzebox"
] | Posts
Looks like Redbull is harnessing the power of
open source hardware to market their product to hackers
everywhere. We’d say that it worked because here we are, posting up some free advertising for them. It seems that a rep for the company dropped off a package at a hackerspace in LA called
Null Space Labs
. It came in what is obviously a laser cut wooden box, a material that tends to make hackers salivate. Inside they found the board you see above. It took a bit of time to look over the hardware was eventually identified as
an Uzebox
. Sure enough, then plugged in an original NES controller to the controller port on the back of the board and were playing a version of Pac-man in no time.
Marketing and advertising have their place in our lives which can be annoying and intrusive at times. But we have no problem with it when done creatively and targeted to our interests. Good job Redbull, and might we add, that’s a heck of a routing path for your PCB outline! | 39 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "366435",
"author": "addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T16:52:31",
"content": "Yet another corporation with a clue. This is good to see and worth highlighting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366439",
"author": "Alex Grant",
... | 1,760,377,234.683832 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/hackaday-is-looking-for-a-full-time-project-builder-video-host/ | Hackaday Is Looking For A Full Time Project Builder/ Video Host! | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [] | Hackaday.com is looking for an experienced hacker/writer to join our team doing original hacking and modding projects on video. Are you energetic, outgoing, and passionate about hacking/modding? Can you solder AND explain what you’re doing and why? Come join our team and modify/hack/create things daily with a professional film crew to be aired on HackADay, then post a writeup detailing how you did your hack. Let your mind run wild, combine Mythbusters with Ben Heck, can you do it?
To be able to do this job successfully you need to be energetic, passionate and knowledgeable about hacking. The person who is perfect for this job will have experience with computer modding, hobby robotics, basic electronics, microcontroller programming, as well as some larger manufacturing skills like running a CNC mill and welding. Take a look at Hackaday.com to see the kinds of projects we would like to see created. Writing/blogging experience is a plus.
Job duties will include:
-following trends to see what the latest awesome hack would be
-brainstorming your own original hacks and mods
-executing those hacks
-breaking down the hacks to educate the viewers
This is a full-time, in-house position at our Santa Monica office. Pay is $30-$40k a year based on experience and includes benefits. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to our online job board (
http://mhlo.co/ed886g
). In your cover letter tell us why you’d be the best fit for the job, and please feel free to include any links to personal hacks/projects, or any future hack ideas you’d bring to HackADay. | 79 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "366314",
"author": "bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T13:55:19",
"content": "Wish i lived in the US….Looks like you we’re going to have a hack show. Can’t wait to watch it.Good luck HAD!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366316",
... | 1,760,377,234.771331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/video-experimenter-shield/ | Video Experimenter Shield | Kevin Dady | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"lm1881"
] | People always want to do more with less and the
Video Experimenter Shield
is no exception. Consisting of an
LM1881
video sync separator, a handful of passive components, and a stylish PCB in the standard Arduino shield footprint.
The board features simple but useful controls and features, a removable jumper allows you to select a sync source, either from incoming video or the Arduino, a potentiometer to adjust the analog threshold, and there is a convenient signal breakout header.
Software is an enhanced version of the popular
TV out library
and allows you to start off with video graphics overlay, closed caption decoding, a simple gun game, and basic, but still effective frame capture, and computer vision. Of course, there are all sorts of other fun and amusing experiments that start to pop in mind once you check out a quick demo video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGy70XxhpMY&w=450]
| 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "366328",
"author": "Stephen Shaffer",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T14:15:43",
"content": "OOOH I want one! Can the overlay by any color other than white?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366342",
"author": "Nigel",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,234.828806 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/virtual-serial-bridge/ | Virtual Serial Bridge | Kevin Dady | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"emulation",
"serial"
] | When you are running emulators or virtual machines it may be sometimes handy to be able to connect a serial port from the guest machine to the host machine. [Aurimas] had that issue, and also had a fun fix for that using 2 USB <> Serial adapters, but as you can imagine that is not a ideal solution, enter the
Virtual Serial Bridge
.
Digging around Vmware it was found that the support for what he needed was there, but not really used. A little addition of a few lines to the guest OS vmx file and configuring the socat multipurpose relay package. Though the instructions revolve around the Mac platform as the host and Windows as the guest socat and Vmware you can probably mix it up with any software that uses the serial port and a *x or windows host. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "366300",
"author": "syale",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T13:14:01",
"content": "Oracle VirtualBox does this out of the box and it’s free",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366305",
"author": "gcds",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T13:... | 1,760,377,234.876154 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/24/portable-nes-console-gets-it-oh-so-right/ | Portable NES Console Gets It Oh So Right | Mike Nathan | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"nes",
"nintendo",
"portable"
] | [Doug] over at the moddedbybacteria forums has been working hard on a
fantastic looking portable NES console
and wrote in to let us know it was complete.
The console started as a simple idea to use a Nintendo on a chip (NOAC) board in order to create a portable console that played original NES cartridges. Once a plastic case and some batteries were sourced, along with the NOAC board, the project was well on its way.
[Doug] eventually decided that he would rather use a real Nintendo motherboard in the project, so the NOAC was scrapped…temporarily. He accidentally fried the Nintendo board, so it was back to the NOAC, but with upgraded wiring to take care of some interference problems he was having earlier in the build. An original NES controller was disassembled for use in the console, which gives the portable an authentic feel. Getting the case to look just right was a long process, but we think he did a great job with it.
If you want to take a look at his entire build log, be aware that it is 23 pages long. If you’re impatient and want to jump straight to the unveiling, that happens on
page 22
.
Keep reading to see a pair of videos [Doug] put together both during the production and after his build was completed.
If you are interested in seeing some other portable NES consoles we have featured in the past, look no further than
here
,
here
, and
here
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXjkCGqbOPM&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCcHHakUmJE&w=470] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "366268",
"author": "Paul Potter",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T11:38:40",
"content": "Very nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366327",
"author": "jeremiah",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T14:13:56",
"content": "Someone buy ... | 1,760,377,234.927878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/mini-arcade-cabinet-looks-as-good-as-the-real-thing/ | Mini Arcade Cabinet Looks As Good As The Real Thing | Mike Nathan | [
"Netbook Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"EeePc",
"mame",
"netbook"
] | [Ed] had a netbook he no longer needed and decided to
make it into a mini MAME cabinet
for some of his family members. MAME cabinets are pretty plentiful, but this one was so nicely done, we wanted to share it.
He removed the monitor from an EeePC 901 in order to get some precise measurements, then went about crafting a mini cabinet from MDF. The whole thing was wrapped in sticky label paper adorned with old-school Galaga graphics, then covered in plexiglass for a nice sleek look that also protects the artwork.
He used an iPac 2 controller board to wire up all of the buttons and joystick to the netbook, opting to solder the controller’s wires directly to the USB header on the eeePC’s motherboard. A power switch was added up on top for easy operation, and the cabinet was sealed shut, though the back does open easily in the event that maintenance is required. The system is managed using the Maximus Arcade front end for MAME, which [Ed] claims is incredibly easy.
If you are interested in making your own MAME cabinet, check out some of the
other
MAME-based
projects
we have featured in the past, and don’t miss the video below of [Ed’s] cabinet in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIKoh_WYNZ8&w=470] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "366014",
"author": "JeremyC",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T23:05:39",
"content": "Nice build! The tiny cabinets are pretty cool…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "366052",
"author": "DMackey",
"timestamp": "2011-03-24T00:38:5... | 1,760,377,235.329343 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/diy-scanning-electron-microscope/ | DIY Scanning Electron Microscope | Jason Komp | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"electron microscope",
"sem"
] | [Ben Krasnow] has recently completed a
home-built scanning electron microscope
and has posted a video of it in action on his blog.
The build itself was done quite creatively using many off-the shelf components. We particularly like how long threaded brass rods were used not only for the supports, but also to maintain column alignment and fine-tune the spacing between the various beam focusing components. A large glass “bell jar” covers the entire apparatus and is sealed to the bottom plate when the air is removed from within by a mechanical vacuum pump.
In order to produce an image, an electron gun similar to one found in a conventional CRT television tube accelerates the electrons with a 5kV potential from the top of the microscope downwards through a long copper column. Along the way the beam is focused and manipulated by electronic lenses in much the same way that light would be handled by conventional optical lenses. Near the base of the main column there are electrostatic deflection plates placed orthogonally in the X and Y directions that allow for precise scanning of the beam across the sample’s surface. When this high-energy electron beam is scanned across the sample, scattering surface electrons are then picked up by a nearby detector consisting of a phosphor screen and photomultiplier – a system that supposedly allows for higher sensitivity than trying to measure the small numbers of electrons directly.
Although the resolution of the first few scans is
only
around 50uM, this early success clearly shows that the device functions as intended and will provide a great starting point for future refinement with the final goal being resolutions down to the 1uM range.
Despite Ben’s reassurance that the x-rays produced at this energy level won’t even penetrate the glass chamber, you can be sure that if we ever visit his garage we will definitely be donning some tin foil protection like
these guys
.
[Thanks kyle]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdjYVF4a6iU&&w=470] | 22 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "365959",
"author": "wosser",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T21:35:05",
"content": "“Every weekend since January”…What, January 1982?I’m wary of things like this now, since we’ve had a few fake project on here lately.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,235.518037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/geiger-counter-ad-conversion-for-radiation-level-crowdsourcing/ | Geiger Counter A/D Conversion For Radiation Level Crowdsourcing | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"arduino",
"geiger",
"japan",
"radiation"
] | [Akiba] and the crew at Tokyo Hakerspace
are still hard at work
trying to help out their fellow countrymen after the recent earthquake, tsunami, and ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan. You may remember the group as they are behind the Kimono Lantern project
we featured last week
. This time around, their efforts are focused on getting usable information out to those who need it.
With all of the talk about nuclear fallout, they wanted to see what sort of measurements they could get in Tokyo, however they could not locate a Geiger counter anywhere nearby. Luckily, they were eventually able to source two old counters from
the Reuseum
in Idaho. One is being lent out to individuals in order to check if their home’s radiation levels are safe, but it was decided that the other would reside outdoors in order to collect radiation readings from the air.
[Akiba] wanted to put the results from the external Geiger counter up on
Pachube
, however these old units are all analog. He figured that a quick and dirty way to do analog to digital conversion would be to monitor the chirps coming off the counter’s speaker. This was done by wiring up an Arduino to the speaker leads, and keeping track of each time the speaker was activated. This resulted in an accurate digital radiation reading, matching that of the counter’s analog display. The Arduinio wirelessly sends the information to another Arduino stationed inside his apartment, which then uploads the data to Pachube.
A walkthrough of his conversion as well as the source code for both the Arduino counter and the Pachube uploader are available on his site, in case anyone else in the Tokyo area has a Geiger counter handy and wishes to do the same. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "365914",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T20:28:51",
"content": "Just make sure the range settings on the Geiger counter match those on your integrating Arduinio, or people might have a scare.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,377,235.391055 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/fusion-reactor-wins-science-fairs/ | Fusion Reactor Wins Science Fairs | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"deuterium",
"fusor",
"heavy water",
"nuclear fusion",
"reactor"
] | [Will Jack] built
a heavy water fusion reactor
and then won district and regional science fair projects with it. Someone give this man a job!
We
looked in on his fusion reactor
about a year ago. At the time he had managed to build a magnetic containment field but didn’t have the voltages or the deuterium necessary to achieve fusion. We’ll that’s all changed. Using a boron-10 lined sensor tube he’s managed to detect the rise in neutron counts that would indicate fusion. Remarkable. He’s now working on a refined gas system that will allow him to increase the deuterium purity by cutting down on the leak rate. He mentions a few other hardware improvements such as a new containment unit and an ion source upgrade. Both of these concepts go beyond our knowledge so do make sure to put on your Nuclear Engineering hat while reading through his project update. | 36 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "365864",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T19:25:04",
"content": "it just LOOKS like something that could kill you XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365869",
"author": "Givemelove",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T19... | 1,760,377,235.462331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/diy-low-power-psu-for-home-server-use/ | DIY Low-power PSU For Home Server Use | Mike Nathan | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"low power",
"power supply",
"server"
] | [Viktor] decided to replace his old power hungry home server with a model that is much easier on the old electric bill. The new motherboard uses an Intel Atom chip and consumes far less power than its predecessor. He figured there was no reason to use a bulky ATX power supply when all he needed was 12V for the mainboard and a pair of 5V rails for his hard drives,
so he decided to build a PSU himself
.
He sourced a 100VA toroid transformer as the basis of the power supply due to its popularity with audio amp builders, adding a standard bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor before regulating the DC output. A pair of switching regulators were added, one for the 6A, 12V, and a second for the 1.5A, 5V supply. The motherboard only requires about 18W at full tilt, so the PSU should be more than sufficient for his needs.
Schematics and board layouts are available for free on his site, if you are in the market for your own DIY low-power PSU.
Looking for more build to suit electronics? Check out this
DIY amp we featured
just the other day.
[Thanks, Chris] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "365823",
"author": "Alexander",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T18:50:53",
"content": "Or.. You know… You could buy the PicoPSU power supply.Hacks aside, sometimes you have to wonder why a more expensive solution is chosen over a cheaper alternative. As this is essentially what the guy mad... | 1,760,377,235.718462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/darpa-needs-your-help-design-a-ground-combat-vehicle/ | DARPA Needs Your Help! Design A Ground Combat Vehicle. | Jesse Congdon | [
"Hackerspaces",
"News"
] | [
"crowdsource",
"darpa"
] | [Joe Schlesinger] of MakeIt Labs wrote in to let us know about an upcoming
live chat session
march 28th on IRC to discuss DARPA’s latest project, the
Adaptive Vehicle Make
.
DARPA, in the pursuit of innovative high-risk high-payoff tactical technology is looking to crowd-source the design and construction of the 3000-5000 parts that make up your run of the mill super advanced next generation military hardware. They are even going to distribute about a thousand 3D printers to schools, where students will compete to design some of the complex systems. The project emphasizes “not traditional” vendors (IE: Hackerspaces) and monetary compensation will be involved in the parts production process.
If you like acronyms (and who doesn’t), or feel like wading through jargon, check out their site. We also found the
Wikipedia
entry to be helpful in understanding what they are carrying on about. A briefing
PDF
(6mb) also contains a lot of information on DARPA’s plans, and pretty pictures.
As per usual DARPA plans on issuing several challenges to make up the entire project, all with huge cash prizes. The first two challenges last 9 months, starting with the Mobility/Drivetrain Challenge in the middle of 2012. The Chassis/Integrated Survivability Challenge starts in 2013. These first two also include a cash prize of 500 thousand to one million dollars. The third challenge, the Total Platform Challenge
lasts 15 months and begins in late 2013 this carries a prize of one to two million.
[Joe]’s
Hackerspace
will be there, any chance we could help out? | 63 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "367492",
"author": "Hunter",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T18:45:24",
"content": "Okay, so I’m gonna need a reprap and some old school G.I. Joe vehicles to rescale. Mission Accomplished.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367494",
"... | 1,760,377,235.649695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/mame-cabinet-springs-to-life-from-ikea-furniture/ | Mame Cabinet Springs To Life From Ikea Furniture | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"cabinet",
"coffee table",
"ikea",
"mame"
] | [Jed] built
a MAME cabinet into some flat pack furniture
(
translated
). For the housing he chose
an Ikea Ramvik side table
. This is a perfect piece of furniture for the project for several reasons; it’s cheap, coming in at under $70, it’s a reasonable height to use while sitting on the sofa, it has a built-in drawer that will hide the guts of the system, and it was designed to use a piece of glass as the table surface.
The electronics are pretty straight forward. A notebook computer runs the MAME frontend, with an auxiliary screen which is framed nicely under the glass. Controls are standard coin-op type buttons soldered to the contacts on the PCB from a USB joystick. The brushed aluminum bezel added to the surface of the table keeps the modern finished look that one would want with a showpiece like this one.
We always like to keep our eyes open for hackable items when visiting Ikea. Make sure to check out their As-Is department (preferably as soon as they open) to find
hackable furniture
on the cheap. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "367501",
"author": "arfink",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T18:54:50",
"content": "Whoah, I like this. Excellent case work, that’s a fine price for a fine case. :) Having built a sit-down style MAME cabinet myself in high school I can attest to mine having been a lot more expensive.",
... | 1,760,377,235.562906 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/matchstick-model-rocketry/ | Matchstick Model Rocketry | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"matchsticks",
"rocket"
] | [Valentin] is the MacGyver of model rocketry,
building a small rocket out of three items
many people have hanging around the house. Cat litter, matchsticks, and a ballpoint pen are the raw materials that he rounded up before setting to work on the build.
The housing of the ballpoint pen will act as the body of the rocket. [Valentin] stuffed the tip of the pen with cat litter, creating the first part of the fuel chamber. Next, the heads of the matches were very carefully muddled into a fine powder which fills the bulk of the pen housing. Finish this off with another plug of cat litter and you’re almost done. The final step is to drill a hole through the plug layer at the tip of the pen, creating a nozzle to focus the force as the fuel burns.
From the videos we’d say there needs to be some work done as far as rocket guidance, but the solid state fuel certainly does work. Just remember to make your personal safety the first priority when working with combustibles like this!
Wondering how to launch something like this? Here’s a way to
make your own igniters
. | 47 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "367417",
"author": "Tom the Brat",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T17:06:04",
"content": "Um. I think you’d better stick with Estes? Match heads are very unstable, especially when packed into a tight place. Perhaps safer when muddled, but, um, stick with Estes.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,236.006879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/antique-light-bulb-organ/ | Antique Light Bulb Organ | Kevin Dady | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"atmega324",
"light organ"
] | Add a retro light show to any MIDI instrument with this
Antique Light Bulb Organ
, twelve 30 watt antique style light bulbs correspond with the 12 notes in an octave with a simple on or off action. The organ is also monitoring the pedals, so the lights will stay on as you use the sustain. Add in the natural slow reaction time of a light bulb and the effect is quite nice.
Along with MIDI instruments , you can also connect to a PC via USB allowing for remote control either with MIDI or OSC. On the hardware end there is a Atmega324P board that handles communication, user input and of course the lights. To switch the 120v AC current required by the lights twelve Sharp
PR36MF22NSZF
isolated solid state relays were wired up to some screw down light sockets also fitting the retro theme.
Lastly everything is placed in a nice fold up wooden cabinet, perfect for those long road trips to prevent breakage, but it also makes a nice place to put your keyboard while on stage.
Join us after the break for a quick music video that features this good looking light organ.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/19471256
w=450] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "367342",
"author": "Logic6",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T16:10:48",
"content": "Cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367446",
"author": "Io",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T17:41:20",
"content": "The piano lights are great, b... | 1,760,377,235.90509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/bubble-display/ | Bubble Display | Kevin Dady | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Musical Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"bubble"
] | As hackers we have come up with some pretty wild and unique ways to display data, but that never stops us from creating even wilder ways such as this
Bubble Display
. Inspired by a Hackaday article called
Liquid Display
the bubble display started out as a one column lexan tank so the team could check out different liquids, and build methods, which gave them the opportunity to test out their wet/dry vacuum in the basement as well.
After the leaks were solved in the prototype, different fluids were tried out to see what would work best, glycerine (though the most expensive out of the 3 items tested) gave the best performance in how the bubbles rose to the top, and the uniformity of each individual bubble.
The final tank design features (24?) channels to keep bubbles from interacting with each other and are fitted with some Parker A005-C23-2P pneumatic valves hooked up to a standard air compressor. Electrically it’s pretty standard, with the solinoid driver stuff all run by a PIC18F4455 clocked at 48MHz.
Software wise the device has 3 modes, one mode allows users to enter text or simple bitmaps from a computer using a homebrew GUI written in Visual Basic, there is also a demo loop for when you still want to show it off, but there is not someone there to constantly bang data into it, and finally a live keyboard mode which acts as a bubble music visualizer when there is a keyboard connected via MIDI. Check all 3 out in a short video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cQ-oU3LidA&w=450] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "367300",
"author": "Michael Bradley",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T15:05:01",
"content": "Love it, except the end where they put a keyboard on it, then it just didnt seam so nice anymore.I wonder how hard it is to get better resolution and slower rise. perhaps oil instead of watter?",
... | 1,760,377,235.864365 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/interactive-dice-game-pits-man-against-machine/ | Interactive Dice Game Pits Man Against Machine | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega",
"dice",
"hall sensor"
] | While most dice games are based on luck and chance more than anything else, [Mike] decided he
wanted to create a dice
game that took a little more skill to play. He built a replica of a game found in Ian Stewart’s “The Cow Maze”, a book of mathematical stories and puzzles.
The theory behind the game is as follows:
A number is randomly drawn and is considered the “heap”. Players take turns reducing the heap, using the die to represent the number they would like to remove. The only restrictions placed on moves are that you cannot re-use the same number chosen by your opponent in the preceding move, nor can you use the number on the die face opposite that number. The winner of the game is the individual reducing the heap to exactly zero, though you can also lose the game automatically if you reduce the heap to a negative number.
The game operates using a magnet-loaded wooden die and hall sensors built into the playing surface. The sensors relay the value of the die’s face to the ATmega chip he used to run the game. His code provides the logic for your computer opponent as well as for keeping score.
The whole project is wrapped up in a nice-looking wooden box that gives it a bit of old time-y charm, micro controller and LCD aside.
Be sure to check out the video below to see a few rounds of the game being played, and swing by his site for more details.
[via
SparkFun
]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/21342024 w=470] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "367462",
"author": "wosser",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T17:59:27",
"content": "This reminds me of that old text adventure game “Martello Towers” from the BBC micro back in the day.Nice build.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367485... | 1,760,377,236.050546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/25/kinect-minecraft-trifecta/ | Kinect + Minecraft Trifecta | Jesse Congdon | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Roundup"
] | [
"Kinect",
"minecraft",
"motion tracking"
] | Today we have a special treat, three projects combining the “fastest selling consumer electronics device”, Kinect, and the “fastest selling indie java game that once kept us from sleeping for an entire weekend”, Minecraft!
[Sean Oczkowski] writes in to tell us about his efforts to play
Minecraft with Kinect
using no more than the OpenKinect Java wrapper on Ubuntu. The code was written in about 4 days with some help from Wikipedia. Using histograms to locate the player in the field of view, the script calculates the center mass of the body and defines interactions for the limb occupying that quadrant of the screen. [Sean] does an excellent job of running through the whole process as well as the decisions made along the way. The whole thing is a bit like running in
place
, and we can’t imagine the flailing that will occur during the inevitable creeper encounter.
Next we have [Wade McGillis] with his award winning
Minecraft Kinect Controller
. [Wade] provides source code and executables at
his site
. This version of control uses skeletal tracking data to sense the user’s gestures. This still involves holding your hands out like a zombie but it is a bit more versatile as one can pass their arms in front of their own body.
Finally [Nathan Viniconis] has been doing some very
interesting work
using the Kinect to import giant three dimensional models into the game world. [Nathan] then goes the extra mile and animates the figures! Check out the video below for the really impressive results. We here at Hackaday feel that this is the most appropriate use of this technology, and may begin building gigantic statues of ourselves on public servers.
Check out the the tricrafta (minefecta?) of videos after the jump!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcQrkYLLQQ4&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS_N-qIPGY4&w=470#t=2m30s]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2mCDkqXki0&w=470] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "367256",
"author": "BadWolf",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T13:18:44",
"content": "I wanna play minecraft now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "367265",
"author": "Sariel",
"timestamp": "2011-03-25T13:30:31",
"content": "d... | 1,760,377,236.159534 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/hackaday-links-march-22-2011/ | Hackaday Links: March 22, 2011 | Mike Nathan | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"3d",
"atari",
"ben heck",
"case modding",
"rockets",
"servo",
"xbox 360"
] | 3D holographic fog display
Some researchers in Japan are hard at work building a
3D volumetric fog display
that would allow you to live out some of your Leia-related Star Wars fantasies. Using a column of fog and three projectors, they were able to create a display that looks three-dimensional from any angle. It might be a while before the technology hits your living room, so don’t clear your calendar just yet, Obi Wan. [via
Neatorama
]
The Claw – a three-fingered robotic gripper
Instructables user [AntMan] has been hard at work revising his
robotic claw gripping mechanism
. Laser cut from wood, this servo-driven claw can easily grasp small objects with little effort. We can’t wait to see someone build a version from milled aluminum!
Ben Heck’s retro Xbox 360
[Ben Heck] is at it again, and has recently given the Xbox 360
a sweet retro makeover
. Taking inspiration from gaming consoles of the 70’s, he converted an Xbox 360 into a laptop-style portable (again), but this time with the look and feel of an old Atari 2600. Retro gamers rejoice, you can now get your Xbox on while enjoying the sweet simulated wood-grain you grew up with.
Rocket-based ice fishing notification system
What fun is ice fishing if you have to sit outside freezing your butt off? We’re assuming that was the driving thought behind [Mike’s]
rocket-based ice fishing rig
. A model rocket is attached to his fishing sledge, which is triggered when a fish is detected on the line. Using a low-tech detonator, the rocket lets him know it’s time to check the lines. Now only if we could get the fish to fillet themselves…
Case modding video series hits the web
The “
Mod Men
” is a fairly new web series that takes you out of the basement and into the garage for some professionally constructed case mods. Described as “American Chopper for geeks with a dash of This Old House”, the creators aim to showcase over-the-top case mods with a professional flair. They already have three episodes under their belt, all of which are available on their site. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "364919",
"author": "Jeremy Streich",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T14:42:27",
"content": "The steam hologram is now real? Someone tell the creator of seaQuest. Martenson Hologram a.k.a. “The Old Man” was supposed to created this way.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,377,236.206857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/paper-mechanical-iris/ | Paper Mechanical Iris | Kevin Dady | [
"how-to"
] | [
"iris"
] | This functioning
mechanical irs
is made from paper templates, foam core poster board, old credit / gift / etc cards, paper clips and masking tape. First, patterns are designed and multiples are printed and laid out to make the 10 parts needed. Two rings are cut out of foam board and a third ring is cut into wedges to form a cam mechanism on top of one of the other two rings.
Twelve shutters are then cut from the credit cards, and small pieces of paper clip are glued to each end and both sides. One side rides the cam mechanism the other side is punched through the final ring.
We found it to be an interesting project that should be pretty easy for just about anyone to replicate (now that its all figured out for us), and besides, you never know when you might stumble across a small box of hotel key’s with a defunct pizza parlor’s advertisement on the back. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "364873",
"author": "CosmicVoyager",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T13:14:40",
"content": "“you never know when you might stumble across a small box of hotel key’s with a defunct pizza parlor’s advertisement on the back.”Huh?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,236.258586 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/birthday-gift-is-a-constant-reminder-of-impending-aarp-membership/ | Birthday Gift Is A Constant Reminder Of Impending AARP Membership | Mike Nathan | [
"clock hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"launchpad",
"LM317",
"timer"
] | Sometimes milestone birthdays can be a bit depressing. 30 is rough, and 40 tougher – but 50…that’s a big one!
[Ryan’s] uncle is going to be turning 50 shortly, and in the interest of good-natured fun, he has constructed a handy
birthday countdown timer
for his uncle, lest he forget (or tries to avoid) the big day.
The device displays the amount of time left before his uncle’s birthday, playing an audio clip of “Don’t fear the Reaper” when the clock strikes 00:00. This is accomplished by using the MSP430’s internal clock to keep time, while also interfacing with a Nokia 3310 LCD panel to display the countdown timer. The music is provided by the circuit board from a greeting card he gutted for the project, which was wired to the LaunchPad in order to be triggered at the right moment. Everything was crammed inside an Altoids tin, as you can see in the picture above.
Though not overly complicated, it’s a fun little project, and we’re hoping his uncle gets a big kick out of it. Once his birthday has come and gone, [Ryan] plans on converting the piece into a permanent desktop clock for his uncle. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "364845",
"author": "addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T12:18:32",
"content": "This is awesome. Well as long as i dont put it into context with my own age. Then im just glad we have cake.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364850",
... | 1,760,377,236.108194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/wristwatch-turntables/ | Wristwatch Turntables | Kevin Dady | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"instructables",
"turntable"
] | Ever wish you could DJ on the fly while using equipment that your already wearing? Well neither have we but heck now we can, cheaply and easily with the
Wristwatch Turntables
. While being functional and stylish, this interesting project is fairly easy to construct and if need be, even sports a full function digital watch.
The audio electronics are donated by a pair of talking / musical greeting cards. Both, “record your own” and “just deal with what we give you” types, though which ones you choose is left up to your taste. The greeting cards are then cut apart for their hidden goodies and then a little circuit bending action is performed to monkey with the amplifier of the sound module.
Potentiometers are added, buttons are relocated, and everything gets housed in a small box, with a wristwatch ran down the middle so you can wear the whole deal and blast your funky beats anywhere you may be. Join us after the break for a quick video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfFWFbSO8Gk&w=450] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "364822",
"author": "Bramswynn",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T11:23:56",
"content": "This is very reminiscent of the Wasp T12 Speechtool (http://www.trashbat.co.ck/t12/index.html), though of course it lacks the anti-shark mechanism.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,377,236.60857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/rf-range-finder-doesnt-need-to-see-to-calculate-distance/ | RF Range Finder Doesn’t Need To See To Calculate Distance | Mike Nathan | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"range finder",
"RF"
] | Instructables user [Jones Electric] has been quite busy lately, building a
radio-frequency range finder
. Built as part of a German youth science competition, he and his partner built a pair of transmitter/receiver modules that can be used to measure distances of up to a mile (~1.5km). Their argument for radio-based rangefinders is that laser rangefinders are obviously limited to line of sight, whereas their range finders are not.
To determine the distance between the two stations, the base station is triggered, which starts a counter and sends a 433 MHz signal to the second station. When the second station receives the signal, it in turn broadcasts an 868 MHz signal, which is received by the base station. The total distance between the points is then calculated based upon the round trip time of the two radio signals.
[Jones Electric] claims that the range finder is relatively accurate, with a deviation of up to 5 meters per measurement, and that the accuracy could be increased by adding a higher frequency crystal to the timing circuit.
We are pretty sure using these two frequencies in the US without a license is not allowed, though we are unsure of the usage laws in Germany, where this was constructed. | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "364448",
"author": "Nippey",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T22:10:20",
"content": "Great project.These frequencies are free here in germany ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364449",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T... | 1,760,377,236.849223 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/tis-grace-a-new-mcu-ide-gui-dnftt/ | TI’s Grace – A New MCU IDE GUI (DNFTT) | Jason Komp | [
"Microcontrollers",
"News",
"Software Development"
] | [
"ide",
"texas instruments"
] | TI has recently been fighting to gain traction in the market of low-cost microcontroller development platforms with products such as the MSP430 Value Line Launchpad. In order to meet the needs of a rapidly growing customer base and appeal to a broader market they have recently released
Grace beta Graphical Peripheral Configuration Tool
. Grace is a plugin for TI’s own Code-Composer Studio (CCS) IDE that allows users to graphically control many aspecst of MSP430 development and is compatible with all MSP430F2xx/G2xx MCUs.
Utilizing a simple “wizard-like” interface, Grace allows users to quickly and efficiently control peripherals such clocks, timers, OpAmps, ADCs, GPIOs, comparators, and even more advanced features such as serial communications or the configuration of low-level register settings. Once everything is configured as desired, Grace outputs standard C code that can be debugged and handled as if it were hand-written.
Although Code-Composer Studio is not free, there is a 30-day full-featured trial available as well as other (restricted) free
licensing options
as well. Since CCS is based on the Eclipse open-source software development framework, perhaps we will see other similar development tools in the near future. Although not an apples-to-apples comparison, we could imagine that such a tool might provide many novice users with a simple and cost-effective alternative to the Arduino IDE.
The questions then becomes: If a later incarnation were to raise the MSP430 line to “Arduino-killer” status, would it be rejoiced as such or would it simply then become a new target for those die-hard microcontroller purists who love to shout “overkill” on the forums at the slightest provocation? Of course we would love to hear your take in the comments below! | 49 | 46 | [
{
"comment_id": "364405",
"author": "Olivier",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T21:19:12",
"content": "“TI has recently been fighting to gain traction in the market of low-cost microcontroller development platforms with products such as the MSP430 Value Line Launchpad” and “Although Code-Composer Studio is ... | 1,760,377,237.119756 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/magic-8-thing-answers-all-of-your-burning-questions/ | Magic 8 Thing Answers All Of Your Burning Questions | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"8-ball",
"atmega",
"lcd"
] | [Pete] was hard at work putting off a repair job for a friend, and wondered how much longer he could possibly procrastinate. With no fellow humans in earshot to which he could propose this question, he thought it would be great if he could ask a Magic 8-ball for an answer. Alas, he doesn’t have a Magic 8-ball, so
he would have to build one
if he wanted his answer.
Continuing to delay the repair job, he scrounged around his house and dug up an ATmega328 to control the 8-ball and a LCD panel to display the sage-like responses. He wanted the 8-ball to be as authentic in operation as he could, so he had to locate some sort of sensor that would register if the device had been shaken. With no accelerometer at hand, he opted to use a mercury tilt switch that he scavenged from an old thermostat. He wrote some software to display the responses from the original Magic 8-ball when shaken, then he threw the components together in a small plastic case.
As you can see in the video below, his Magic 8-thing works just like the original, sans the dark fluid and icosahedron. If you were wondering, he did finally ask the 8-thing whether he had procrastinated long enough on his initial task – the response: “Yes”
If you’re in the mood for more Magic 8-ball shenanigans,
check out
these posts
!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edm9MSHHszk&w=470] | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "364498",
"author": "Frank",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T23:31:03",
"content": "It would be awesome if you can power this using the same method those shake-up flash lights use.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364499",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,236.710179 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/remote-controlled-tank-tread-robot-will-walk-the-dog-for-you/ | Remote-controlled Tank Tread Robot Will Walk The Dog For You | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"parallax",
"robot"
] | Instructables user [IAMTHEBOT] recently
finished building his robot
which can be controlled by a human using an R/C transmitter, via a PC, or through its built-in object avoidance system. The robot doesn’t seem to have a name, though Johnny Five might be appropriate.
The robot was built using plenty of erector set parts, as well as a Lynx motion tank tread kit. The robot is crammed full of controllers, including a Propeller USB servo controller which operates the arms, and a pair of Parallax motor controllers to manage the tread movement. A pair of Parallax Stamp controllers are used to drive these controllers as well as to manage the remainder of the robot’s functions.
The robot’s head consists of a custom pan and tilt wireless camera system, which allows him to drive it around from the comfort of his home, while watching the video stream on his PC. The robot also has the ability to roam around autonomously, avoiding objects using a ping sensor that can be mounted where the camera is currently located. It seems all that’s missing is Steve Guttenberg.
As you can see in the videos below, the robot manages pretty well on all sorts of surfaces, and even walks this guy’s dogs.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuBOUzhSWc&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGu_RPKA-w&w=470] | 30 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "365157",
"author": "joe hosman",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T20:06:08",
"content": "lol, looks like the dog is walking the robot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365159",
"author": "QWERTY",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T20:11:0... | 1,760,377,236.777552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/high-voltage-how-to-cook-your-goose-in-62-easy-steps/ | High Voltage: How To Cook Your Goose In 62 Easy Steps | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ac",
"danger"
] | Prepare to learn. [Grenadier] has put together
a collection of information about AC electricity
that can safely be called a super-post. In 62 parts he covers a myriad of topics, some of them safe, many of them not so much. You may want to spend time reading through everything that he has to offer, but just in case you don’t, step one is a table of contents. In it you’ll find a listing of major points including transformers of every kind imaginable; from microwave ovens, neon signs, bug zappers, x-rays, and televisions. [Grenadier] covers the type of transformers that these items use, where to find them, and how to set up your own experiments. There’s plenty of pictures and several videos where the high-powered sparks fly. We feel like there’s enough here that we can be satisfied with vicarious AC interactions while safely in front of our monitor and far away from the heart-stopping action.
[Thanks Marcus] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "365120",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T19:13:53",
"content": "i have never seen so many illegally used copyrighted images on a single instructable ever XDi prefer AC flybacks ZVS driven and MOTs my self but i love any hv!if you have any hv transformers laying about you... | 1,760,377,236.665459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/roll-away-clock-becomes-a-programmable-rover/ | Roll Away Clock Becomes A Programmable Rover | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"ardweeny",
"atmega328",
"gearhead",
"h-bridge",
"l293",
"rover",
"wii nunchuck"
] | The parts laid bare in the picture above all make up a roll away alarm clock that flees when you don’t get out of bed. It’s an interesting idea, but considering most folks don’t sleep on hardwood floors we can understand why [TheRafMan] was able to pick this gem up for under $5. That’s quite a deal because there’s a very usable LCD module at the top. But for this hack, he focused on
using the gearhead motors to make a programmable rover
.
In order to make this programmable [TheRafMan] had to add a microcontroller. He chose an Arduino variant, called the Ardweeny. It’s
a board that piggy-backs the ATmega328
. But he didn’t use a stock Ardweeny;
he’s altered it
to play nicely with jumper wire. The uC is able to interface with the gearhead motors thanks to an L293D h-bridge motor driver chip. As you can see in the clip after the jump, the rover can now be driven around using a Wii Nunchuck or via a USB connection. If you’ve got a Bluetooth module lying around it wouldn’t be hard to make this a wireless solution that can be controlled with the accelerometers in a Wii remote.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/21343780] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "365092",
"author": "jensma",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T18:37:15",
"content": "This video does not exist.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365119",
"author": "Adrian",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T19:12:30",
"content": "Its... | 1,760,377,236.898384 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/rc-override-for-autonomous-hardware/ | RC Override For Autonomous Hardware | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"override",
"servo"
] | [Simon Inns] developed this board to act as
a radio controlled override for autonomous hardware
. It sits between some servo motors and two different sets of controllers for those motors. One set of hardware that can control the motors is a microcontroller programmed for autonomous tasks. In [Simon’s] case this enables a sailboat to navigate open water with out human intervention. But if that board fails, or if you just need to call the boat back to port, this module allows for a traditional RF vehicle controller to take command.
The board seen above, dubbed the Servo Switcher, uses a PIC 12F683 to monitor the incoming signal from the RF receiver. If that signal is not present it switches control of the motors over to a separate microcontroller board. This means that the override control is established simply by turning the handheld controller on. This will save you a swim to retrieve your boat, which is a nice convenience. But if you modify this for a plane or helicopter, it can save your aircraft from certain destruction. Check out the video walk through after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sm1w1PV5mw&w=470] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "365031",
"author": "alan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T17:36:56",
"content": "interesting concept, love it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365035",
"author": "addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T17:39:37",
"content": "l... | 1,760,377,236.944445 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/terapixel-images-and-see-through-cameras-real-or-fake/ | Terapixel Images And See-through Cameras: Real Or Fake? | Mike Nathan | [
"News"
] | [
"camera",
"invisible",
"real or fake"
] | Once again it’s time for you, the sharp-eyed readers of Hack a Day, to decide whether the following video demonstrates technology at its finest, or if it is complete hogwash. This edition of
Real or Fake?
is brought to us by Hack a Day reader [Wizzard] who sent us a link to “
The Invisible Camera
”
Watch the video embedded below to see the unveiling of this camera as well as a discussion of its new, revolutionary technology by its creator – photographer
Chris Marquardt
. The camera is composed of a simple, non-moving lens mounted in a completely transparent box made of specially polarized glass. This glass is supposed to align the ambient lighting, which amplifies the energy coming through the lens, in order to expose the special film they created for the camera.
The film was developed using standard film “combined with innovations in chemistry” to produce ultra-low sensitivity image media, which the creators are calling “Directionally Desensitized” film. This film can be handled in full light, as it is only sensitive to the high-energy light directed on its surface by the aforementioned lens. It is claimed that due to this special film, the camera goes beyond the Megapixel, past the Gigapixel, and captures images in Terapixels.
Now, call us skeptical, but isn’t it a bit early for April Fools jokes? We just can’t imagine any scenario where holding a piece of film in the sun as shown in the video would not cause it to be exposed in at least some areas due to the massive amounts of reflected light in the environment.
What’s your take?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWU3-gA3ueo&w=470] | 125 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "364974",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T16:48:58",
"content": "Fake – no filter is 100% effective and even the slightest leakage would lead to overexposure over time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364975",
"au... | 1,760,377,237.207082 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/pc-case-using-cnc-router-and-home-building-products/ | PC Case Using CNC Router And Home Building Products | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"computer hacks"
] | [
"acrylic",
"case",
"cnc",
"lumber",
"PVC",
"router"
] | [Reinventing Science] needed a project that he could use to test out his skills on a new CNC routing machine he recently acquire. He settled on
building a PC case using easily obtained materials
. What he ended up with is the clean-looking case seen above that was machined from materials you can pick up at the home store.
The bulk of the case is made from extruded PVC which is designed to perform like solid wood trim. He picked up one piece of the ‘lumber’ and cut out the front, back, top, bottom, and drive bay bezel. We expected the joints between the horizontal and vertical pieces to either be butt joints, or rabbits. But [Reinventing Science] wanted a cleaner look and managed to mill mortise and tenon joints. These are strong joints that leave a very nice finished look. Since the material is designed as a lumber replacement it shouldn’t be too surprising to see drywall screws used as the fasteners.
In addition to joinery, some other CNC tricks were used. The sides of the case were cut from clear acrylic, with a decorative bead milled in the surface. There’s also fan ports cut in the top and vents on the bottom, as well as some engraving with the name of the project just above the optical drive. The wood-grain embossing makes for an interesting final look; we’d like to see how this takes a few careful coats of paint.
If you’re interested in the CNC hardware used, take a look at
the unboxing post
that shares a few details. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "364961",
"author": "fotoflojoe",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T16:23:36",
"content": "I applaud the skill, but I’m not feeling the design.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364964",
"author": "f8l_0e",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T... | 1,760,377,237.268328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/22/autonomous-paintball-sentry-gun-2/ | Autonomous Paintball Sentry Gun | Kevin Dady | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"hardware",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"paintball"
] | What is the best thing about making a computer program that targets and kills anything that enters its sight? Why giving it a weapon, of course! No, we are not talking for real, but the next best thing, an
Autonomous Paintball Sentry Gun
.
The autonomous part of the device comes from a pc on the sideline and is fed input though a standard webcam. The feed is ran though a
processing
script where, once accustomed to the background has the option to fire at anything it sees moving, or a nice point n click manual mode.
The Arduino part is in a the role of driving the servo motors for X/Y movement and a trigger and is powered by a fist full of D cell batteries to give plenty of time for fun. Also, be sure to check out our other sentry guns, one using
Microchip PIC
, and another sporting a super compact
computer running Ubuntu | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "364935",
"author": "Avaviel",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T15:27:59",
"content": "So if you want to live, find some portable trees.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364941",
"author": "Khai",
"timestamp": "2011-03-22T15:39:05... | 1,760,377,237.325018 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/learn-the-geometry-to-draw-an-analog-clock-on-a-graphic-lcd-screen/ | Learn The Geometry To Draw An Analog Clock On A Graphic LCD Screen | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"analog clock",
"atmega16",
"bascom",
"geometry",
"graphic lcd"
] | Does the image of the clock above make you shutter with fear because of the math you’d need to use to recreate your own version of the project? We certainly understand that High School geometry is becoming a very distant memory, but it’s really not as hard as you think. [Janw]
built this analog clock using a graphic LCD
and he’s done a great job of explaining the concepts behind it.
The hardware he’s using is pretty standard for an electronic hobby clock; an ATmega16, graphic LCD, DS1307 real-time clock, and supporting hardware like a potentiometer, resistors, and buttons. The code is written in Bascom, but like we said, [Janw] explains the concepts behind drawing the hands on the clock so you can recreate this with any microcontroller or software language you prefer. We recommend grabbing a calculator and some blank paper. It took us a few tries to brush the cobwebs out and really grasp what he’s doing with each equation. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "365820",
"author": "David Rysdam",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T18:47:00",
"content": "Trigonometry.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365826",
"author": "Dr. Spelgud",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T18:52:24",
"content": "camer... | 1,760,377,237.382211 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/vote-for-the-open-source-hardware-logo/ | Vote For The Open Source Hardware Logo | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"logo",
"open source hardware",
"oshw",
"vote"
] | The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) initiative is rolling right along. But now it’s time for you to share your input. The movement is choosing a logo and
you get to decide which one it will be
. The ten finalists shown above were narrowed down from the
129 submissions
received during the public call for logos. The thought is that any time you have a new project which fits
the OSHW definition
you can slap this on the project page, or silk screen it right on the PCB (although OSHW applies to more than just electronic projects). A picture says a thousand words you know.
Voting ends April 5.
[via
Evil Mad Scientist
] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "365762",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T17:17:04",
"content": "i like the red one on top",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365766",
"author": "pman",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T17:22:25",
"content": "You hav... | 1,760,377,237.445145 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/real-life-super-mario-coin-block/ | Real Life Super Mario Coin Block | Mike Nathan | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"555 timer",
"mario",
"nintendo",
"servo"
] | Instructables user [Bruno] recently constructed a fun little toy that brings a bit of the Mario nostalgia out of the video game universe and into ours.
His Super Mario coin block
is instantly recognizable from the first Mario game and performs just as you would expect it to. Punching or tapping the bottom of the block releases coins one at a time, complete with sounds straight from the game.
The coin block is constructed from thick cardboard and wrapped in color mock ups of the in-game block. Inside, a spring-loaded tube of coins is placed above a launch arm which is also connected to a spring. A servo actuated arm pulls the launch arm down, dropping a coin from its tube on to the launch arm which is then flung from the top of the box once the servo arm rotates far enough. When this occurs, the built-in MP3 player is triggered to play the “coin sound” from the game. A 555 timer is used to ensure the servo actuated arm rotates once per activation, and a LM386-based amplifier is used to increase the output volume of the MP3 player, both of which operate using rechargeable batteries.
Be sure to check out some of the inner workings as well as the final product in the videos embedded below.
[Thanks, Samjc3]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5yEQWhpZiI&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXYyJfUzODM&w=470] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "365739",
"author": "Arthur Grumbine",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T16:53:04",
"content": "The amount of win in this build is beyond measure. The mind, it boggles.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365742",
"author": "fungus",
... | 1,760,377,237.544534 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/photographing-stuff-thats-not-there-by-using-stencils/ | Photographing Stuff That’s Not There By Using Stencils | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"cardboard box",
"flash",
"jig",
"stencil"
] | This image was not made in post production, but captured during a long camera exposure.
The method uses stencils to add components
to a picture. [Alex] built a jig for his camera from a cardboard box. This jig positions a large frame in front of the camera lens where a printed stencil can be inserted. He printed two identical sheets of paper with black covering the area all around the 8-bit joggers. When properly aligned and inserted in the jig, the black parts of the stencil will act to mask the areas where he wants to capture the natural surroundings of the image. Once the camera shutter is triggered, he uses a flash to illuminated the stencil, then removes the the paper image from the jig and ambient light from the dark surrounding is captured during the remainder of the 20-30 second exposure time. The real trick is getting the light levels between the flash and the ambient light to balance and produce a result like the one seen above.
Is anyone else hearing the Punch Out cut-scene music in their heads right about now? | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "365690",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T15:31:31",
"content": "Wow, this takes “light drawings” to a new level! You could use the screen of a mobile device to get the characters and just mask the rest of the screen with modeling clay or blu-tack, and use a box with a sc... | 1,760,377,237.49297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/convert-an-old-busted-phone-into-a-voice-altering-prank-machine/ | Convert An Old Busted Phone Into A Voice-altering Prank Machine | Mike Nathan | [
"News",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"mixer",
"phone",
"prank"
] | Have you ever wanted to be someone else, at least over the phone? Do you dream of turning the tables on telemarketers, making them hurry to get off the line instead of you? If so, [Brad] over at LucidScience
has the project for you
.
A bit of a prankster at heart, he walks through the conversion of a normal telephone into a Data Access Arrangement device (DAA), allowing you to interface it with either hardware or software-based audio mixers.
The process can be completed in a relatively short time period, and doesn’t require much more than an old telephone, a handful of tools, and some miscellaneous switches and jacks. He disassembled a telephone and trimmed off all of the unnecessary circuitry while retaining most of the original functionality. Line in and out jacks were then installed in place of the handset microphone and speakers, respectively. The final result is a compact box that relays altered audio from any kind of mixing device to person at the other end of the call. Since the majority of the phone remains intact, your calls still sound natural as they pass through the phone’s existing voice filter and preamp circuitry.
Once the DAA is complete, you can use any number of effects on your voice, limited only by your audio mixer. [Brad] says he has long-time friends that don’t even recognize his voice after he has run it through his effects machine, so get started on yours before April Fool’s day arrives! | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "365525",
"author": "fred",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T13:13:17",
"content": "“and doesn’t require much more than an old telephone, a handful of tools, and some miscellaneous switches and jacks”. I guess the voice transformer effects box counts as “miscellaneous”.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,237.645577 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/surplus-military-gear-keeps-your-hands-free-calls-private/ | Surplus Military Gear Keeps Your Hands Free, Calls Private | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"RF",
"surplus"
] | [Julian] was rummaging through a military surplus store when he spotted a pair of old helicopter pilot helmets that
he absolutely had to have
. At $25 they were a steal, but pretty useless in their current state. He decided to modify one of the helmets for use while playing video games, but he didn’t stop there.
The helmet had two decent speakers built-in so he kept them, but tweaked the wiring from a mono-only configuration to accept stereo input. A RF wireless headset was disassembled and wired into the helmet so he could use it for playing video games while his wife is asleep. As an added bonus, the headset he used happened to have an AM/FM receiver built in, so he can enjoy music while sitting around with his helmet on as well. A Bluetooth cell phone headset was also torn down and wired into the helmet for gaming and handling phone calls. The Bluetooth mic was extended into the original mic stem built into the helmet, keeping things authentic-looking.
Overall it’s a quite a useful recycling of some old military junk. It’s a great idea though the helmet looks like it could be a touch cumbersome after awhile. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "365487",
"author": "HanSolo",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T12:14:19",
"content": "two words,AWESOME!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365536",
"author": "Moonmonster",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T13:32:38",
"content": "Yea... | 1,760,377,237.601892 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/23/real-time-wireframe-video-effect-overlay-with-kinect/ | Real-time Wireframe Video Effect Overlay With Kinect | Mike Nathan | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Video Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"video",
"wireframe"
] | [Francois] over at 1024 Architecture
has been working on a project
we think you’ll be likely to see in a professional music video before too long. Using his Kinect sensor, ha has been tracking skeletal movements, adding special effects to the resulting wire frame with Quartz Composer. While this idea isn’t new, the next part is. He takes the QC tweaked video stream and then projects it back over the performer using MadMapper to match the video to the body movements, recording the resultant display.
The project started out with a few hiccups, including a noticeable delay between the body tracking and the display. It caused the performer to have to move more slowly than he would like, so things had to be tweaked. [Francois] first tested the latency between his computer and the projector by displaying a timecode representation on the screen as well as via the projector. He found the projector to have a latency of 1 frame at 60 fps, which wasn’t too bad. This led him to believe the culprit was his Kinect, and he was right. There was a 6 frame delay, so he locked the video output to 30 fps in hopes of cutting that delay in half.
The effect is slightly reminiscent of Tron, but with more distortion. We can’t wait to see more projects similar to this one in the future.
The resulting video embedded below is pretty cool in our opinion, but you can judge for yourself.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/21308228 w=470%5D | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "365467",
"author": "Solidacid",
"timestamp": "2011-03-23T11:11:05",
"content": "That looks amazing, it’s a shame kinect is so expensive..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "365478",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2011-03-... | 1,760,377,237.916128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/pov-business-card-is-guaranteed-to-get-you-noticed/ | POV Business Card Is Guaranteed To Get You Noticed | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"business card",
"led",
"pic"
] | Some say that handing out business cards is an antiquated practice due to the ubiquity of smart phones which can be used to trade or record contact information in mere moments. Instructables user [sponges] however, doesn’t agree and is pushing a “business card renaissance” of sorts with
his POV business card
.
Hand-built in his basement, the cards feature a handful of SMD LEDs that display his name, followed by his phone number when waved back and forth. Constructed to be nearly the same size as a standard business card, his verison uses a PIC to manage the display as well as a tilt sensor to monitor the card’s motion. His walkthrough is quite thorough, and includes tutorials for each of the steps required to build the card. He discusses constructing your own etching tank, converting a laminator for PCB transfer purposes, building a solder reflow oven controller, as well as hacking an aquarium pump for use as a vacuum-powered pick and place.
The end result is a sharp looking business card that ensures you won’t forget meeting him. Keep reading to see a video of the card in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7QIuD4lUM&w=470] | 17 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "364337",
"author": "bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T19:41:14",
"content": "The idea is great, but i want to see pictures or movies of it.I do find it rather unpractical because is quite hard to get the name out of it…but then, the impression might be great enough to remember him/h... | 1,760,377,237.857151 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/herf-gun-zaps-more-than-your-dinner/ | HERF Gun Zaps More Than Your Dinner | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"dangerous",
"HERF",
"microwave",
"radiation"
] | Instructables user [Jimmy Neutron] had an old microwave sitting around and figured he might as well gut it to build a
high-energy radio frequency (HERF) gun
.
The concept of a HERF gun is not incredibly complex. Much like your microwave at home functions, a high voltage power source is used to drive a magnetron, which produces micro wave radiation at 2.45GHz. These waves are then guided away from the magnetron using a waveguide, towards whatever the target might be. These waves then energize the target in a similar fashion as the water molecules in your food are energized during cooking.
[Jimmy] has not quite finished his HERF gun as he still needs to build a waveguide for it and then safely mount it for use. In the meantime, check out the pair of HERF guns we found in the videos below.
As a parting note, we must stress that building a similar device is dangerous, very dangerous – especially if you do not know what you are doing. Microwaves contain high voltage components, and exposure to microwave radiation can be deadly under certain circumstances. Stay safe!
Looking for more microwave fun? Check
these
out
!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoOT2_Z-GIE&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY8s5lzd3_Q&w=470] | 76 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "364271",
"author": "Jordan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T18:11:50",
"content": "typo heaven.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364272",
"author": "HackerK",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T18:13:03",
"content": "This is just stu... | 1,760,377,238.005022 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/clever-hack-tethers-a-kinect-sensor-to-the-ps3/ | Clever Hack Tethers A Kinect Sensor To The PS3 | Mike Nathan | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"openni",
"ps3"
] | Now that Kinect has been hacked to work with just about everything from robots to toaster ovens, someone finally got around to tweaking it for use on the PS3.
[Shantanu] has been hard at work writing code and experimenting with some preexisting Kinect software to
get the sensor to talk to his PS3
. The Kinect is hooked up to a PC, which captures all of his movements with
OpenNI
. Those movements are mapped to PS3 controls via
NITE
, a piece of middleware used for interpreting gestures into commands. All of the captured button presses are then relayed to the PS3 over a Bluetooth connection using
DIYPS3Controller
.
As you can see in the video below, the solution works pretty well for what should be considered pre-alpha code. He has been able to map several custom gestures to button presses, and the Kinect does an overall decent job tracking his limbs and translating their movements to on-screen actions. The actual in-game use is a bit rough at the moment, but aside from the infancy of the code, you have to remember that these games were never meant to be played with the Kinect.
It’s a job well done, and we can’t wait to see where this project goes.
Looking for more Kinect fun? Look
no further
than
right here
.
[via
Kinect-Hacks
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QnWDRF9w7k&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "364182",
"author": "regaladys",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T17:06:11",
"content": "O_O wow… surprise after surprise since reading about these kinect hacks 2 weeks ago.can’t afford them though, not from this part of the world. lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,377,238.050085 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/03/21/freedombot-explores-your-fridge/ | Freedombot Explores Your Fridge | Chris Nelson | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"freedombot",
"servo"
] | Freedombot
is a neat little robot designed for exploring magnetic surfaces. It has two whiskers for detecting objects in its path and two rare earth magnets which allow it to stick to your fridge.
Overall Freedombot may not be anything revolutionary but its builder [skater_j10] does a good job of covering topics which my be interesting to robotics beginners. For example he goes through the process of modifying some HiTec HS- 55 Micro Servos for continuous rotation which allows them to act as the wheels. To control the bot he uses two 555 timers wired up in astable mode to generate the needed PWM for the servos. The proximity sensors are simple limit switches with some wire soldered on to the end. The end result is a neat little robot for roaming the front of your fridge. See a video of it in action after the break.
This happens to be [skater_j10]’s entry into the
555 timer contest
. Unfortunately the deadline has passed for new entries but be sure to swing by and check out some more awesome 555 hacking.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KOiFB3wayHQ&w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "364171",
"author": "alan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T16:57:51",
"content": "I am unaware what a rare earth magnate is. :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "364172",
"author": "alan",
"timestamp": "2011-03-21T16:57:51",
... | 1,760,377,238.096979 |
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