Here are some of the events scheduled for Saturday at Maker Faire Detroit at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI. Saturday's hours are 9:30 am to 8pm. For a complete schedule and links for more information, see the full event schedule.
ANDERSON THEATER (IN MUSEUM)
CAR TALKS - 10:30AM-12:00PM
• Moving Toward a New Era in Transportation Safety, Dr. Robert Bertini, DOT
• Detroit 2.0, K. Venkatesh Prasad, Ford
• Digital License Plate, Johnnie Carter
• 12:30PM MacGyver: The Making of a Cultural Icon, Lee Zlotoff
• 1:00PM Innovation in Young Minds, Major General Nick Justice, Commanding General, RDECOM & Dr. Jim Overholt, Director of Advanced Robotics
• 3:00PM-4:00PM Artology: Music and the Science of Sound, James Kurleto, Cranbrook Institute of Science
• 5:00PM Hands-on Minds, Elliot Washor of Big Picture Learning & Frank R. Wilson & Charles Mojkowski
DIY THEATER (AUTO HALL OF FAME)
• 11:00AM Citizen Commerce: Jules Pieri, Daily Grommet
• 12PM Building a Business from Junk Drawer Common Sense, Sarah Hodsdon,
• 1PM Hackerspaces Panel, Mitch Altman
• 2PM Paper Action Heroes, Austin Shyu
• 2:30PM Fusing Plastic,Tracie Lampe
• 3:00PM DIY Diversions: Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred, David Erik Nelson
• 3:30PM DIY Garden Irrigation, Jaime Wolfe
• 4:30PM Crafting with Xyron's Creatopia, Brookelynn Morris
• 5:00PM Pinata Carving Tips, Lish Dorset & Nick Brisky
• 5:30PM How-To Knit Lace, Jeannine Gruska
**Additional Performances**
Illuminatus 2.1 Laser Lightshow (Anderson Theater) - 10, 12, 4:30 & 6PM
Power Racing Series events - 10, 1 & 3:30PM
COKE ZERO & MENTOS -- 4PM (outside)
METALWORKING AREA
• 10 am & 2pm Metal Casting Demo, Rick Chownyk
MAKE DEMO Stage (near Maker Shed)
• 10:00AM SteamPunked RFID Globe,John Knight
• 11:00AM Make Cool Things With Microcontrollers, Mitch Altman
• 12PM Gyrocar and Hydraulic Ram, Matt Gryczan
• 1:00PM Foam Dart Shooting Range, DIY Skeeball, Matthew Switlik, i3Detroit
• 2:00PM 3D Printing with MakerBot, Bre Pettis, MakerBot Industries
• 3:00PM Cigar Box Guitars, Mark Frauenfelder, MAKE magazine
• 5:00PM Make and Fix Anything with iFixit and Make:Projects, Kyle Wiens, iFixit
Also, please join us for a special Maker Faire edition of IGNITE starting at 6pm in Anderson Theater. IGNITE features fun and informative 5-minute talks. This 90 minute program will start with the Illuminatus Laser Lightshow.
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Uh-oh, better get Maaco. The Life-Size Mousetrap mice warm up on the family minivan.
The head mouse tells us that the official show schedule for the weekend will be:
Sat: 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, 5:30, 7:30
Sun: 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30
Bring the family to see this!
BTW: If you're coming to the Faire, or just wanna follow the action as it happens, don't forget our Maker Faire Detroit Facebook page and our Maker Faire Twitter channel.
[Photos by Marc de Vinck]
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We're thrilled with the response that we've been getting to our new Make: Projects platform. We're building up a nice library of projects, technique, and primer articles from us and user-submitted projects from the maker community. Thanks to everyone who's checked us out and chipped in.
Here are just a few items from the site. Please come and see what we're up to, roll up your sleeves, and get involved. It's a wiki, so it's thirsty for content. If you have an area of expertise, share it with us by fleshing out a topic area. If you have a project, please share that. And if you build one of the projects, hit the "I did it! Success!" button, and let us know what you learned via the Notes feature. And remember, you can amend projects, so if you've figured out a better way to do a step, have better pictures, have variations on the project, submit them. We want this site to feel like your virtual Maker's Notebook. Don't be afraid to jump in.
The mysterious machine from the current issue of MAKE that almost drove a fake news pundit crazy. Few people have looked at this project and not said: "I wanna build one of those!" *I* wanna build one of those!
Via Gadget Lab:
Martin Magnusson of Linköping, Sweden, created this excellent wearable computer. It consists of the foliowing components:
a pair of Myvu Crystal video glasses hacked into a monocular head-mounted display,
the Beagleboard single-board computer running Angstrom Linux,
a Plexgear mini USB hub driving a bluetooth adapter and powering the Beagleboard and the display,
four 2700 mAh AA batteries powering the USB hub,
a foldable Nokia SU-8W bluetooth keyboard for input,
and Internet connectivity through bluetooth tethering to an iPhone in my pocket.
Martin's blog Becoming Cyborg describes every step of creating the glasses, check it out!
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Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
We're happy to announce that Make: Online's very own editor-in-chief, Gareth Branwyn, was recently interviewed by SyFy for their Eureka Idea Lab. Here's a snippet:
Pick one: personal jetpack, warp drive, or Lee Majors-level bionic implants?Gareth also discusses what it truly means to be a maker, how to get started on the way to becoming a maker (open stuff up!), and some of the most inspiring scientific advancements of his lifetime. He also mentions Jimi Hendrix and quotes both Steven Roberts and Arthur Koestler. And if you know Gareth, you'll notice a surprising lack of quotes from William Blake.Well, I already have an artificial hip, a rebuilt heart, and get shot up six times a year with tweaked mice proteins (Infliximab) for my arthritic disease. I'm a human/machine/mouse hybrid! So, the whole Lee Majors thing? Old news for me. As William Gibson said: "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." I get the Joint Journal from my orthopedic clinic and I lust after the new hardware. Time for an upgrade.
If I had to choose, it'd be warp drive, without question. It's not that I don't love my Mother Earth, but if I had a choice, I would leave her in a smear of light in my rear-view mirror in a (bionic) heartbeat.
To sum up, this SyFy interview is a must read!
Read the whole thing here.
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Jonathan Johns, a coworker of ours over at O'Reilly Media and a frequent volunteer at Maker events, sent us a great little maker story that we think everyone will enjoy.
My son, Christian, and his two roommates were on spring break in Arizona. As they were climbing up and around the hills, Christian's cargo shorts tore out at the knee, and at the pockets. They all proceeded to put their heads together and decided to fix them up.
Using a multi-tool and some Agave, they stitched up the shorts and pocket, and solved the problem. This may or may not be Makezine's cup of tea, but in my circle of friends, it was pretty exciting to see 19- and 20-year-olds having a MacGyver moment.
 |  |
Thanks, for sharing the story, Jon. It's great to hear about inspiration when faced with adversity of any kind, at any age!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in hacks | Digg this!From a series of videotaped experiments by astronaut Don Pettit performed aboard the ISS in 2003.
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Chemistry | Digg this!Nick Britsky of i3 Detroit has a piece on Detroit Blog/Time.com about some of the awesome things he and his fellow i3ers are showing off at this weekend's Maker Faire Detroit. You had me at Twinkie Cannon:
Beer Growler Pneumatic Organ: Recycling is the way to go with our Beer Growler Pneumatic Organ. This set of 13 water-filled, tuned beer growlers - built by Matt Switlik - is a chromatic scale for eerie music. The power comes from 13 custom-built bellows and tubing.
Giant Twinkie Car with Pneumatic Twinkie Launcher: Nothing is more fun than the all-American food of the Twinkie...unless you are launching them at 30 MPH into crowds from a giant Twinkie car. Built by Russ Wolfe, this project is the next evolution of the famous i3 Detroit Cupcake Car.Arduino Quadcopter: Take to the skies with a custom built four-rotor quadcopter. Controlled by the popular Arduino platform, this creation continues to push the boundaries of our space flying, both indoors and out. It's fast, maneuverable, fun and built by Eric Merrill.
Giant Statue of "Red Green," Made of Duct Tape: Red Green visited i3 Detroit July 17, so I told him I would build a giant statue in his honor out of duct tape if he visited. He agreed and kept his word. This massive monument is almost the full height of our shop and has controls for his arms and mouth along with fire breathing.
After outlining a bunch more projects, he concludes:
This is less than 5 percent of the total makers you'll see at Maker Faire Detroit - so one can only imagine the diversity and creativity of 300+ more individuals just like these. Bring your family and friends to this unique event that will hopefully be an annual gathering of knowledge, fun and ingenuity. Tickets are still available at The Henry Ford or at the door.
Back downtown, i3 Detroit will have the official after-party following the first night of Maker Faire Detroit tomorrow (July 31). Take a tour of our shop, relax with a drink and meet the members that will help extend Maker Faire Detroit and the spirit of Henry Ford year-round. More details can be found at our Web site.
Unfiltered: Nick Britsky on Must-Sees at Maker Faire
More:
See more Faire and Detroit coverage in our Making Detroit series.
[Kenneth] built this scoreboard for use at a ballpark that lacks such luxuries. We think this a phenomenal application for his skill and his pocketbook. He laid out PCBs for each digit in Eagle and etched them himself, then installed the indicators for home score, visitor score, inning, balls, strikes, and outs in a laser cut case. A pretty beefy battery along with the folding stand make this quite portable.
In the demo video after the break he’s connected to the scoreboard via telnet to update the score. This trick is accomplished using SparkFun’s WiFly GSX breakout board to set up an adhoc wireless network. The goal is to write an iPhone app that will be used to control the board in the field (or the outfield as it were).
This could definitely be used for different types of scoring during the off season.
If you're in the San Antonio area and want to help found a hackerspace, get in touch with 10bitworks. So far it looks very preliminary -- the unofficial logo above is merely one the group has brainstormed on their forums. However, it sounds like they've found a space. Good luck guys and be sure to keep us in the loop!
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There's about one month left to submit a solution for the MakeShift featured in MAKE Volume 22. Here is the challenge:
The Scenario: You're an avid and experienced snowmobiler off to meet up with a friend at a remote cabin some 60 miles back in a rocky and forested wilderness. You know the terrain can be rough in spots and there's a storm on its way, so you elect to use your older but reliable snowmobile rather than the newer one you bought just before this winter season.
Even though you get started somewhat later than you planned, and the storm seems to be approaching faster than expected, you're still making good progress. You're nearly halfway there when you crest a rise and notice -- a split second too late -- a sapling jutting up in the trail. Before you can react, one of the front ski tips catches on the sapling and sends you flying off into a snowdrift while your snowmobile crashes into a tree!
The good news is that you emerge unhurt. The bad news is your vehicle is sufficiently damaged that, even though the engine will still start and the gas tank's intact, it's no longer functional for transportation. What's more, in your haste to get on the road you neglected to move the emergency survival kit from your new snowmobile to this one -- and your cellphone has never found a signal this far out. No doubt, when you fail to arrive as expected, your friend will come looking for you. But with this wicked snowstorm already starting to pound the area, that might not happen for another 48 hours at best. So, like it or not, you're in for an adventure. And it's up to you to decide what form that will take ...
What You've Got: In addition to the winter clothing you're wearing, you've got two protein bars, a bottle of water, the snowmobile's cover, a basic repair kit consisting of some wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers, the Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool you always carry, and the bottle of single malt scotch you were planning to share with your friend at the cabin. What you don't have are any matches, lighters, or time -- because the wind is howling, the snow is flying, and the visibility is dropping fast. Are we having fun yet?
To enter: Send a detailed description of your MakeShift solution with sketches and/or photos to makeshift@makezine.com by Aug. 27, 2010. If duplicate solutions are submitted, the winner will be determined by the quality of the explanation and presentation. The most plausible and most creative solutions will each win a MAKE T-shirt and a MAKE Pocket Ref. Think positive and include your shirt size and contact information with your solution. Good luck! For readers' solutions to previous MakeShift challenges, visit makezine.com/makeshift.
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School will be starting again in a few weeks but it’s not too late to enjoy a little time with your kids. This water rocket launcher lets you do just that. Built using the frame from an old grill, a soda bottle takes its place on the upturned PVC pipe. There’s a connection for your garden hose that allows you to inject water into the bottle. From there, a compressor connection pressurizes the bottle in preparation for launch. Watch it happen in the video after the break. That bottle could use some fins and a nose cone but there’s no denying the delight the kids are enjoying when they chase after the downed craft.
If you’ve already got a compressor and some empty 2-liter bottles you might also pick up some extra PVC to make this pressurized water cannon.
Instructables user duesentrieb writes:
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Electronics | Digg this!I like LEDs. And I like torches (flashlights). I have always been looking for a torch that combines all LED colours that I want, including infrared and ultraviolet. As this combination is hard to come by, or extremely sumptuous, I chose to build one myself using a cheap torch bought on eBay and some inexpensive parts.
Do not underestimate the effort of desoldering and soldering, though. It took me about a day altogether to finish the project.
Nice, a no-weld bike trailer! Instructables user Frenzy shows us how to make one from scavenged parts.
More:
Hispabrick Magazine 008 is out now! The Mindstorms NXT is featured quite a bit in this issue.
Some of the highlights:
Other highlights include:
Go download your copy today here: [LINK].
This project is one I have been working on for a couple of years. First inspired by the Hektor painting robot I decided to create the project in my own way. The system is two distinct parts. One that controls the positioning of the pen and the other that interprets an image and sends coordinates to draw. The computer draws based on a pre-decided image but is programed to draw differently every time creating a unique drawing.
The process is long, sometimes taking multiple weeks nonstop to finish a drawing. In a sense the machine is the artist, abiding to a specific set of rules as it decides how to draw.
More:
Prolific, anonymous YouTube DIY science guru NurdRage, who in the past has brought us instructions for synthesizing trichlorophenyl oxalate (TCPO) and instructions for using it to make homemade glowsticks, presents this cool video and corresponding Instructable showing how to observe diamagnetic levitation using common pencil lead instead of the expensive pyrolytic graphite usually employed in this demonstration.
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Replace the broken glass of an iPhone 3G.
Thanks go to Morten Skogly for the original article in MAKE, Volume 22.
To download The iPhone Screen Repair video click here and subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete iPhone Screen Repair article in MAKE Volume 22 or you can see it in our Digital Edition.
This Weekend Project is sponsored by Livescribe.
Replace the broken glass of an iPhone 3G.
Thanks go to Morten Skogly for the original article in MAKE, Volume 22.
View the PDF of this project. and then subscribe to MAKE magazine for other great projects
you can do over the weekend.
Check out this rockin' pair of LEGO headphones from Instructables user =D. [via ubergizmo]
I decided to combine the two things that I love most: music and LEGO. This whole project took me about a month and a half, very on and off. I'm quite pleased with how the headphones turned out in the end, as they are sturdy enough to be tossed around in a bag. My favourite part is that I can take it apart any time to make repairs that may be needed on the go. No tools necessary!
I love miniball bots and other types of ballbots where the electronics and mechanics are housed inside and the vehicle "navigates" by rolling around and bouncing off of stuff. Here's the same basic idea, inside a cylinder (a clear paint can). It's the Barreller, by Randy Sarafan.
The way the continuous rotation servo is used and the use of the paintbrush handles as the "eccentric" weight are innovative. This is just one step up from a basic vibrobot, in terms of build complexity. And like a vibrobot, this would be a fun project to do with kids. It's just complicated enough for them to feel like they've really accomplished something, while being quick enough to maintain their attention.
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Robotics | Digg this!MAKE subscriber Hans writes in to tell us about the gigantic LED Wall project by Kenny, Cat, Sevan, Jeff, Ginger, and Norm of elnormo.net. They used an ioBridge module connected to an Arduino to create a 20x7 LED array that you can control over the web. And why? Apparently, just for fun of it! [thanks, Hans!]
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Competitive lockpicking growing in US popularity @ Boston.com. Based on what I've seen it's true, more people want to learn how to pick locks just for fun and more events have lock picking sessions and workshops -
While lockpickers thrive on the intellectual thrill of beating all sorts of locks, they oppose attempts to use the skill for mischievous purposes and have laid down universal ethical guidelines: "You never pick a lock you don't own and you never pick a lock that's in regular use," Towne said.Some lockpickers observe a code of responsible disclosure by providing manufacturers information on weaknesses they discover in locks they defeat -- just like responsible computer hackers do when they detect security flaws in software.
Good news for London makers/hackers- the London Hackspace just relocated to a newer, bigger venue, and is having a spacewarming party to celebrate the move! Here's the details:
The London Hackspace is a non-profit, community-run hacker space in central London. We provide a space where people who make things can come to share tools and knowledge. We've just signed the lease on our new workshop - "Laboratory 24" - in Shoreditch. This larger venue will enable us to provide many more facilities than were possible in our previous space.To celebrate our move we're having a party/open evening on the 1st of August. This is a great chance for interested non-members to have a look at the space, but also for everybody to get to know like-minded hackers with similar or completely different interests, discuss projects and techniques, and generally just hang out and have a beer.
Spacewarming party @London Hackspace
Sunday, Aug 1, 2010, 2:00pm +
Laboratory 24
Unit 24, Cremer Business Centre, 37 Cremer Street, London E2 8HD
I moved to Detroit eleven years ago, in what I thought was a short stay exclusively to attend graduate school. After witnessing the potential to work, educate, and maintain a studio practice here, I never used my ticket home to the East Coast.
In just a few years after founding my neckwear design company, The Cyberoptix Tie Lab, I was able to quit the proverbial "day job" and work full-time in my studio without having to worry about the outrageous overhead costs that plague start-ups in many other major cities.
This freedom allowed me to quickly grow my business to a level where my work is now
represented by over 200 boutique and museum shops across the country and on five continents. I don't know if I could have done this anywhere else.
Detroit is the freedom to make things, to incubate ideas, and to act as a means of catalyzing social change.
Emperor be praised! Holy Machine God! Priests of Mars, eat your steam-powered hearts out! Via Kotaku (by way of DudeCraft) comes this unreal Warhammer 40,000 Dreadnought casemod -- yes, there's a PC in there somewhere. I love the way the assault cannon actually spins up.
In the future there are only incredible case mods
Tristan Shone rolled out the 'big guns' for Maker Faire Bay Area 2010. His Industrial Sound Controllers are a musical force to be reckoned with and their sheer size and weight demand considerable attention upon seeing them firsthand.
Tristan took a few moments out from setting up to speak with Becky Stern and myself before performing, explaining some of the functionality of his custom gear. Fore more on his unique brand of 'heavy metal', be sure to check out the interview in MAKE, Volume 22 and the how-to on building your own 8-mic MIDI controller.
Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.
Born in Ohio in 1885, Ernest "Mooney" Warther took work in a steel mill at age 14. In his spare time, he whittled, and developed great skill. At 28, he built a modest workshop in the backyard of the family home and undertook what would come to be regarded as his masterpiece: A series of 64 carvings, starting with Hero's Engine and ending with the Union Pacific "Big Boy" locomotive, depicting the history and evolution of the steam engine. He was "discovered" in 1923, quit his job at the steel mill and, after touring the country for six months, devoted himself entirely to carving and handiwork.
During the Second World War, Mr. Warther put aside his personal projects to make commando-style fighting knives for American servicemen. He was not a government contractor and therefore had to scrounge for materials; even so, with the help of the community, he was able to deliver more than 1,100 knives. He was a pacifist, but wanted American servicemen to have access to the best equipment. He was working on the knife pictured above when, in 1945, news reached him that the war had ended. He put the knife down, unfinished, and never picked it up again. The Warther family treasures it to this day.
You can read more about Ernest Warther and see his remarkable wood carvings online at the Internet Craftsmanship Museum, or in person at the Warther Family Museum in Dover, Ohio.
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Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:
Flick user Arms22 built this 7 Segment LED FAN Revolution Display to monitor the speed of a PC case fan. It's a pretty simple project, but a good introduction to sensing pulse durations and driving multiple seven segment displays. The write-up is in Japanese, or you can find a machine translated version here.
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Detroit is my hometown. I grew up here during the 50s and 60s, lived in a neat and homogeneous white, largely Jewish, neighborhood in Northwest Detroit, and walked to the tiny Arthur H. Vandenberg Elementary School every day from kindergarten through eighth grade, coming home for lunch at noon. My world changed when I (along with four 8th grade boys) was invited to attend Cass Technical High School downtown, near Tiger Stadium. Dating back to 1904, Cass Tech in the 60s was a huge place, occupying an entire city block; nine floors high; drawing about 4,000 students from all over the city, who majored in any number of subjects—from science and arts (like me) to design and drafting, chemistry, music, performing arts, and electrical engineering.
My inclination was to opt out of the offer. The prospect of being the only girl in the group (and being labeled "smart" to boot) was not appealing. In fact, it was frightening. But in this case, my mother really 'knew best." She insisted that I give Cass a try, and taking that opportunity changed my life. The world I entered was diverse in every way and full of intellectual and social challenges. My teachers and peers stretched my mind, piqued my curiosity for learning, and set the academic bar high. I was a cub reporter on the Cass Technician, the school rag, interviewed visiting luminaries like Charlton Heston and homegrown talent like The Supremes (Diana Ross went to Cass), and I eventually became editor-in-chief. As a fine arts minor, I made jewelry, tried watercolor and calligraphy, and took my first art history course.
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Thingiverse user Chooch decided to print his own frostruder rather than pay $150 for Makerbot's official kit. Called the Pfiercestruder, Chooch's variant looks kinda badass!
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in 3D printing | Digg this!Behold, the primo barrel waves of tarp surfing. Ruse Entertainment shows us how it's done. It's the little touches like the rash guard and dog tow-in that made me laugh extra hard!
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Live in or near Provo, UT, and want to test your project skills in an online competition? TheTransistor hackerspace is competing in a hackerspace build-off, and is looking for a few good makers to help with an upcoming mystery project. The competition is open to the public:
Full details have not been release yet; but this will be open to the public (as long as you fill out the release form). Here are the details so far:Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Events | Digg this!
- 5 Hackerspaces will compete in a professionally recorded web-only event.
- theTransistor has already been selected as one of these groups.
- The build-off should start the first week of August, the exact dates are still unknown.
- The build-off will last 2-3 Weeks.
- Participants won't be required to be there every day.
- The build-off will revolve around a task that will be announced on day 1 to all participants.
- Each space will be given a budget to complete the task.
- As far as I know there are no prizes / etc for 'winning'. This will be more about learning and doing.
- Participants will not be required to be a member of the hackerspace or pay any entry fees to help.
- Participants appearing on camera will need to sign a basic agreement with the producing company. ( Very basic: you aren't allowed to talk about the results / etc. until after it 'airs', they aren't responsibly if you blow up / melt / etc.)
- You DON'T need any special skills as I understand it; this should be about the community. Anyone who would like to can participate.
If this interests you please stop by this weekend (2010.07.31, 6:00pm)
for more details and to sign up. This will be a great opportunity to
get together and help with a project.
Great storage idea from user tluwelyn of survivalist community Alpha Disaster Contingencies. Dimensional lumber is bolted together to make Ts and Ls that, in turn, are bolted to the ceiling joists. Heavy-duty storage totes are then slid in and suspended by their molded-in rims. Looks like there's still plenty of room to park cars underneath.
MAKE Volume 23 is on newsstands now!
In this special GADGETS issue, we show you how to make a menagerie of delightful machines: a miniature electronic Whac-a-Mole arcade game, a tiny but mighty see-through audio amplifier, a magic mirror that contains an interactive animated soothsayer, a self-balancing one-wheeled Gyrocar, and the Most Useless Machine — the creepy mechanical box whose only purpose is to turn itself off (as seen on The Colbert Report!). Plus: how Intellectual Ventures made their incredible laser targeting mosquito zapper, how to use the industrial-strength microcontrollers called PLCs, and a lot more.
Project highlights in MAKE Volume 23 include:
and much more, of course!
Don't forget - subscribers can always read the digital edition here.
Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.
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John Harris of Willows, CA, build TOBI the ToolBot, a robot that packs a Propeller, a TPA81 Devantech 8 Pixel thermal sensor array, Parallax HB-25 motor controllers, and 3 Ping))) ultrasonic sensors. It can carry a full toolbox and a laptop up a ramp.
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Mike Senese, cohost of the Science Channel's Punkin' Chunkin' and Catch It Keep It, rescued this tutorial about how to "pirate" a vinyl record from Internet oblivion and posted it on his personal site for posterity. [Thanks, Sam!]
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Swapping out Palm Pixi Wi-Fi modules in this video from gitit20 is pretty straight-forward. Just pop out the old and plug in the new. No pesky serial numbers or setting required. [via intoMobile]
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Mobile | Digg this!You may have seen this little beauty floating through the interwebs. It's an Altoids Tin-based COSMAC Elf, built around the classic RCA COSMAC 1802 microprocessor. It's the prototype to a kit that Lee Hart has been developing. P. Todd Decker (Overland Park, KS) sent us a link to this video of his build of the kit prototype. He writes:
I have completed a build of Lee Hart's "COSMAC Elf Membership Card." The idea behind Lee's design was to create an interesting kit to introduce new people to the classic RCA COSMAC 1802 historic microprocessor. This processor has a long, interesting history and is even still used, due to its unique properties when it comes to power and durability. It was the basis for the famous "Elf" home-built computers from the late 1970s. It still has a strong following. Lee's twist on the old reliable was to rework it into an Arduino-style platform that—best of all for makers—fits into an Altoids can. His design doesn't require any surface-mount or complicated build techniques. Herb Johnston has done an excellent job of documenting Lee's efforts to create this kit (see link below).
Lee Hart's 1802 "Membership Card"
Mike "walks across America" from New York to San Francisco, part of some ad or something. Here's a Google Map of his journey... He didn't walk the entire distance but that's not the interesting part, the behind the scenes video (above) has some neat tidbits on how you can make something like this too.
O'Reilly Media (the publisher of MAKE), in partnership with creativeLIVE, has just announced a new online course, Processing and Arduino in Tandem: Creating Your Own Digital Art Tools:
Create your own drawing and animation software-and learn basic programming and electronics skills at the same time. This engaging 5-week online course introduces you to two simple tools: Processing, a programming language for visual thinkers, and Arduino, a hardware platform for working with electronics. You'll learn how to use these tools together to build something useful right away.
You don't need programming or electronics experience to get started. Processing is easy to learn, and you'll get to know Arduino with a starter kit. You'll also have direct access to the instructor via online Q&A during the workshop. And here's the best part: the courses are free. It's a fun and inspiring way for designers, artists, and beginning programmers to learn basic graphics programming.
The course is free if you watch it live, and the video of the course is available for purchase ($89 for all five sessions, but the price is reduced to $49 until September 28, 2010). There is a project kit available for sale as well.
Schedule: Tuesdays @ 3 p.m. Pacific Time
August 31 - September 28, 2010
Each session is 90-120 minutes
Online Course: Processing and Arduino in Tandem
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I am an Industrial Designer living in Southfield where I share my life with two beautiful children. I'm not originally from Michigan. I moved here after graduating from Pratt in 1990 to work as an Industrial Designer in the automotive industry.
For my first job, I interned at Ford, in the "Color and Trim" department, and then went on to work as a clay modeler for Ford for a bit before being laid off for the first time. I then started my own design studio in the Old Packard Plant in Detroit, designing and building anything I could. I built exhibits and small-run prototypes for all kinds of customers. Unfortunately, with the deterioration of the Packard Plant, the City of Detroit kicked out all occupants from the building and that pretty much killed my business. From there, I went to work for an exhibit house for a short period until I was eventually laid off for a second time. I continued to do freelance work and then went to work as a designer for a Japanese automotive supplier in Auburn Hills. In 2007, I was laid off for a third time, due to the economy and downsizing of the company.
I now have a home-based design studio and teach Industrial Design at Wayne State University. When I was laid off from my last job in 2007, I told myself: "That's it, I will never work in the automotive industry ever again." I started an equipment recycling business. I go into companies and remove excess equipment that's no longer needed or that is obsolete. I research and resell the equipment. Depending on the company and the equipment they have, I either accept the goods on consignment and they receive a percentage of the sale, or I remove and dispose of the equipment for them. When I ship/package an item that I'm sending out, I use recycled materials that I shred, e.g. junk mail, envelopes, advertisements, or the kids' old school work. I'm definitely into doing my part to save the planet. We just cannot keep on trashing it and expect our children's children to have a nice place to live.
Since I am and always will be a product designer, I recently started working on designing a solar charger that I call the "Solar Vox." I was inspired to design this product when I saw media coverage of the dangerous makeshift charging stations from the recent devastating earthquakes in Haiti/Chile. Solar Vox makes this world a "greener" planet by using solar power. It is your solar lifeline. This charger is very versatile as it will charge cell phones, iPods, DS's, and other devices. It also has the capability to charge two standard "AA" rechargeable batteries and is USB-compliant. The unit is light, compact, and rugged. and will be able to be used in any area of the world. It can be set at four different angles to capture the sun in any position. Solar Vox is built for today's global citizens with demanding mobile power needs, environmentally conscious individuals, techies. and people interested in a functional product with some character.
If you would like to contact me, please do so at eric@botzen.com or visit my website. And if you're going to be at Maker Faire Detroit, come find me. I'll be showing off the Solar Vox.
More:
Remember Tomas Henriques' Double Slide Controller? The Meta-EWI is a sort of ancestor to that device. Based around an Akai EWI breath controller, the Meta adds four force-sensitive resistors, an accelerometer, joystick and 16 tactile switches. The add-on structure is also removable and can be used as a standalone interface. More pics and a deeper explanation can be found over at the Electrotap blog.
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Electronics | Digg this!My friend, experimental musician, media artist, and director of the Culture Lab at Newscastle University, Atau Tanaka, has tweaked up some iPhones to transform them into gestural musical devices. Here he performs with Adam Parkinson:
In a duo, with one in each hand, they create a chamber music, 4-hands iPhone. The accelerometers which typically serve as tilt sensors to rotate photos in fact allow high precision capture of the performer's free space gestures. The multitouch screen, otherwise used for scrolling and pinch-zooming text, becomes a reconfigurable graphic user interface akin to the JazzMutant Lemur, with programmable faders, buttons, and 2D controllers that control synthesis parameters in real time. All this drives open source Pure Data (PD) patches running out of the free RJDJ iPhone app. A single advanced granular synthesis patch becomes the process by which a battery of sounds from the natural world are stretched, frozen, scattered, and restitched. The fact that all system components - sensor input, signal processing and sound synthesis, and audio output, are embodied in a single device make it very different than the typical controller + laptop model for digital music performance.Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in iPhone | Digg this!
Michigan machinist GarE Maxton makes many different interlocking solid puzzles of this type, but this one, which he calls The Intimidator, is his masterpiece. Starting the disassembly process requires a special key. Once diassembled, about 20 of the pieces can be recombined to make a functioning single-shot pistol. Other parts of the puzzle separately and securely store "a customized set of tools, all necessary hardware, 45 caliber bullets, a standard sight, a laser sight, a cannister containing black powder pellets, a secure storage area for 209 shotgun primers, a spent primer removal tool and a ramrod for loading the bullets."
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My friend Paul Marlier has a pretty fun gig at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. His job as a workshop specialist is to come up with new ways to teach science to children (and their parents!). Recently, he took a few minutes to explain his latest prototype, which is a set of wooden blocks with electronics on them that museum visitors can connect up in any way they like. The idea is that they can learn by trying out different things to see what happens. The blocks themselves are nothing more than squares of plywood with different components stuck to them, and finishing nails for binding posts that can be connected to using alligator clips. To run the activity, he sets them out on the table without instructions, and participants are invited to hook things up and see what happens.
Paul explained that he chose this simple design over commercial products because he wanted to emphasize that these are just parts that anyone could find and put together. So far, the blocks have met with great success, with some interesting results. His favorite moment of discovery was when an inquisitive child hooked a motor up to a battery, through a speaker- the result was an amplified version of the noise that the motor makes when running!
He's certainly not the first person to construct a setup like this, however I like the homebrew way in which it is made. I'm also a huge fan of the radically different switches that all do basically the same thing.
Have you ever built something similar? Have any tips for how to improve the design, or suggestions for cool components to include? There are more photos of the setup in my Flickr stream.
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The CMU Robotics Institute, with the help of a seven million dollar DARPA grant, has announced the launch of a four year educational initiative called Fostering Innovation through Robotics Exploration (FIRE). The goal is to use student interest in robotics to encourage computer science education, and to steer students toward science and engineering careers. In addition to embracing existing educational robotics competitions such as FIRST and VEX, CMU will also be creating new competitions.
The initiative will ... create new competitions for autonomous, multi-robot teams and for computer animations that will attract a broader array of students and offer new challenges.
To help, CMU is tapping robot expertise from Dallas, TX, hiring none other than Ed Paradis, current president of the Dallas Personal Robotics Group. When asked about the propsect of leaving one of the nation's top Hobby Robot Groups for CMU, he replied, "although I'm sad to leave the Dallas robotics community, this is a hobby roboticists dream job!".
This mindstorms robot checkers can play checkers against itself, with a person, another robot, or with a computer.
Language: Matlab (robot vision), C (checkers engine), NXC (inverse kinetic done here, could have done in Matlab)
Hardware:
Microsoft webcam
2 motors for x and y (inverse kinetic)
1 motor for linear actuator (low or raise the piece)
1 motor to switch the pneumatics (grab the piece)
1 motor to provide air pressure to the tank
1 NXTMMX mux to control 2 additional motors.
Even the yellow ones…
Cool looking robot. Called the HoverBot 3K.
Full building instructions included.
About two years after Sandro built the HoverBot 3K instructions are now available. Feel free to use them. We would be happy if you
posted a picture of your own HoverBot 3K.
Apparently, it was originally built by his 8 year old son, with no help from Dad. Impressive!
It uses some neat building ideas, without using any headlight bricks too.
Planet Robotics is a permanently updated aggregation of weblogs' contents. All these summaries are focused on matters related to robotics and all the contents are new, fresh and written by the best and most experienced authors. Every time you come back to our site, you can find new things, new ideas and the latest news in the robotics field.
Updated on July 31, 2010 09:08 AM UTC. Entries are normalised to UTC time.
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