Tubby Paws at Deviant Art has created a paper model of that Lolcat icon, Ceiling Cat - download here.
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Tubby Paws at Deviant Art has created a paper model of that Lolcat icon, Ceiling Cat - download here.
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When you are driving, you've probably had a few mishaps with the "blindspot" where you barely avoid hitting someone when changing lanes. This maker decided that this was an easy problem to fix so they created a custom BlindSpot Detection System using an ATmega169 and a high intensity infrared light to detect approaching cars. Does it work? Well he says you probably shouldn't rely on it over your instincts, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
In-Vehicle Blind Spot Detection System
This "pencil pusher" autonomous sumo robot uses pencil erasers as bumpers when it hits obstacles. We think it might be more effective in "robot wars" if the pencils were sharpened and their orientation was reversed on this bot.
Sensors of No.2 Champion Autonomous Mini-Sumo Robot
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For most circumstances, an old battery exhibiting 'voltage sag' is a bad thing - but many fuzz pedal aficionados take interest in an aging 9-volt's effect on a circuit's tone and behavior. The very excellent Geofex guitar-DIY site shows you how to make a pedal board supply that allows the user to dial in that sweet spot. - A Super Pedalboard Power Supply
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this!This video shows an incredible 6 tire mod to a standard Segway, which turns it into a cousin of "BigFoot", the original monster truck. This might even scare away the cops who ride Segways.
via Street Use
Frank from TheWorkshop sent in this electric conversion of an old International Harvester Cub-Cadet tractor. He was able to scavenge the electrical system from a 1950's industrial personal transport unit. Sounds like a Segway doesn't it?
Read more about the Electric Cub Cadet Tractor
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This is a great project for anyone who rides his or her bicycle to work. The version on the website is customized with a monogram, but it could be as simple as a small piece of black leather or rubber.
Learn how to make your own Leather mudguards for your bicycle
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Although this is a bit dangerous, it looks like a lot of fun. This instructable is very well documented and the final ramp looks nice and sturdy. It's a lot safer than my milk-crate version when I was a kid!
Learn how to make a Bicycle Ramp
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Power tool drag races in the Times, great week in the DIY world!
TEN feet short of the finish line, Barbie Airplane was stranded. A screaming speedster powered by a whirling circular saw flew from a wooden ramp at the recent Power Tool Drag Racing competition in Seattle.The cheerful contraption — a Craftsman belt sander crowned with a powder-blue toy plane — had been careening down the 75-foot racetrack moments earlier. Then the sander’s rotating belt came undone, stopping it dead.
In the neighboring lane, Heavy Metal Waste, a circular saw souped up with skateboard wheels and flaming antennas, had already rocketed past. Cheers of victory rang from the bleachers.
“Time waits for no one!” heckled the announcer. So Randy Lisbona, a 47-year-old air-conditioning engineer from Dallas, hauled his broken-down belt sander off the track to make way for the next heat.
That’s how it goes at power tool drag races. The premise is simple: Take a hand-held power tool. Rebuild it into a racing machine.
Filed under: Robots
There are some hidden parts of the FLL Climate Connections mat! Can you find them? I’ll give you a hint - there is one secret message and one easter egg!
Josh
Instructables user trebuchet03 (San Francisco, CA) made a detailed tutorial on converting a messenger bag into a bike pannier complete with a hard backplate, rack hooks, and bungee cord.
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Custom audio interfaces and handmade amps are great, but I've always found regular knobs to be quite boring and impersonal, so I made these felt knobs to enhance the fuzziness factor a bit, and embellished them with embroidery floss indicator lines. They're just wool around regular knobs, so there's no sacrifice in performance, just festive colors and a soft touch.
At ladyada's tea party, user mtbf0 has posted details of his RGB brain machine powered by a Boarduino.
...it generates a base frequency at 200Hz. Offset frequencies of 201Hz-217Hz in 1Hz increments can be selected giving binaural beats in the range of 1Hz-17Hz. The LEDs are controlled by comparing the phases of the base and offset waveforms, so although the code's a little hairier than Mitch's, adding new frequencies is easy.Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!
The WolframTones algorithmic composition generator creates a new multi-instrument sequence with every click -
WolframTones works by taking simple programs from Wolfram's computational universe, and using music theory and Mathematica algorithms to render them as music.Includes options for style, instrumentation, pitch and time controls - you can even email each piece as a MIDI file
Filed under: cons, security hacks
From the MAKE Flickr photo pool
Eric's “Big Box o’ Techno” packs a whole lotta audio ciruitry into a wooden box "about the size of a medium pizza", including 2 synthesizers, a drum machine and sequencer -
Everything in the box plays in synchronized rhythm. A whole-note tempo clock input drives it all. This works because its based on phase-locked loop (PLL) technology that multiplies an incoming tempo clock up to faster rhythmic divisions. Its not MIDI, and there are no microcontrollers, Arduinos, yadda yadda. (Does anybody else find the word Arduino annoying?) Someday I’ll figure that stuff out but for now I’m using the good old CD4046 phase-lock loop chip. The chief limitation of this method is that the system takes time to stabilize (lock) when the incoming tempo changes, and the results can be pretty cacophonous as the PLLs hunt for the new tempo… about 30 seconds in the worst case. Its analog technology, folks. Once they stabilize though, it is rock solid.No worries, the built-in light matrix synthesizer more than makes up for any sync issues … i think. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Music | Digg this!
Filed under: Robots
If you're interested in building an analog synthesizer then the VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) circuit is the best place to start. Oscillators form the core of the instrument, generating basic waveforms which are then shaped and shifted by accompanying components like LFOs, VCAs, and filters and then delivered to our ears as tasty electronic audio candy.
I recently picked up a copy of synth-designer Thomas Henry's VCO Chip cookbook from SMS Electronics. The 100+ page book covers three chips - the 566, 8038, and XR-2206 function generator. The cookbook covers several recipes for attaining sine, triangle, and square waves from each chip with difficulties ranging from beginner-friendly to advanced-worthy. As a bonus, instructions for some unusual wave-shapers (rampoid, anyone?) and basic test devices are drawn out as well. Most of the plans included are intended for use with a +/-15V power supply. It's also worth mentioning that the 566 and 8038 IC's are no longer manufactured but can be purchased via ebay, and several rare/surplus electronics dealers.
I sat down and assembled one of the XR circuits on a breadboard in about an hour. Once I had things powered up and oscillating, I removed the pitch control potentiometer and replaced it with a couple force-sensing resistors which I'd been waiting to put to good use. You can see the scratchtastic results below -
It's refreshing to have a nice spiral bound manual at the workbench instead of referring to the multitude of webpages and printouts I'd begrudgingly grown used to. I found Henry's explanations and schematics easy to follow and I plan on using that XR-2206 circuit for a few upcoming projects.
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The incomparable ladyada tells us:
The next version of the Mintyboost is done and documented. This time it's based on the LT1302 chip instead of the MAX756, which can provide up to 600mA (although I've found that with 2xAA's it doesn't really go past 450mA). The layout was also improved for better efficiency. The upgrade was necessary as the latest Apple products really need a lot of current to charge and hopefully they will work better now!
Kit Upgrade! Mintyboost v2.0 is 2x better
Bob Dullam made his own Batman tumbler vehicle - you can check out the progress on Superherohype but the photos are now down, so visit DeviceDaily and Gizmodo.
This week, EMS Labs has a nifty piece on Lissajous figures which Windell was able to generate using an LED display on one of the EMS Labs' breakout board business cards suspended from an oscillation rig built from a file folder frame, wooden dowels, and BBQ skewers.
Lissajous figures are interesting curves that occur in systems where oscillation happens in more than one direction, for example when a pendulum hanging from a string moves in its plane. The "standard" way to play with Lissajous figures is on an oscilloscope, and the easy way is of course in a web app, but there is also something to be said for a demo that you can hold in your hands. In what follows, we build a simple apparatus that takes a persistence of vision approach to displaying Lissajous figures.
A simple persistence of vision approach to Lissajous figures
Filed under: transportation hacks, cons, security hacks
Interesting look at how some mannequins are made and maybe more important, a look at why...
A documentary about mannequins, perfection, and religion. 34x25x36 is the 3rd segment in a project about physical perfection being made into a feature film - by Jess Epstein.
Sharon Stiteler blogs as Birdchick - she's an avid birder and beekeeper, and is raising black swallowtail butterflies. She has some great videos of caterpillar activity - the top video is a caterpillar shedding its skin, the next one is a caterpillar sticking out its stink horns, a defense mechanism.
Apparently raising black swallowtail butterflies is not a walk in the park - Naturespeak has a post about a parasitic wasp that will lay eggs in the caterpillars - the caterpillars go about their business making chrysalids, but the wasp maggots eat the caterpillar and eventually emerge from the chrysalids as adult wasps.
If you'd like to try your hand at butterfly ranching, you can go to Butterfly School - virtually - they have an online guide that covers several different species.
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This project takes 3 mirrors positioned at right angles so that it looks like there are eight of anything placed in front of it. This happens because "each mirror doubles things (the thing itself plus its reflection) so you get 2 × 2 × 2 of everything, which is eight". Check out the build photos of this creation at the link below.
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Owen of Critter and Guitari shares tips on building a keyboard/case for the Arduino Pocket Piano synthesizer shield. Using the described button-dowel approach allows one to raise the key inputs without any soldering or expensive panel mount replacement parts - good stuff. - Felt Button Enclosure for the Pocket Piano
Arduino Pocket Piano Synth Kit
This project shows you how to build a compact DIY router table using a large piece of MDF at the top. Pretty nice construction set at the link below on building this structure to enable lots of potential future makes.
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In addition to his roles as composer, musician and recording engineer, Brooklyn instrument inventor Paul Rubenstein teaches high school students to build their own electric guitars and amplifiers. Building a functional stringed instrument can be a rich learning experience, involving a variety of skills - Paul's classes even wind their own magnetic pickups!
Head over to the site for video, audio and tons of great pics of student work- Paul Rubenstein kids
Here's some info on a custom built "Carbon Dioxide Aquarium Reactor" that combines baking yeast, sugar, water, and tubing. Pretty interesting documentation of the build at the link below.
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This time we are going to be making a Zoetrope from a bunch of junk. What is a Zoetrope? Here is what I found on Wikipedia:
The earliest elementary zoetrope was created in China around 180 AD by the prolific inventor Ting Huan.
It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Beneath the slits on the inner surface of the cylinder is a band which has either individual frames from a video/film or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. As the cylinder spins the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinders' interior.
You should be able to make the Zoetrope from found or recycled parts. If you can't salvage parts like a motor or potentiometer, you local electronics shop should have them in stock.
Finding parts:
Remember all those toys the kids have outgrown, or the VCR your neighbor threw out. They all contain switches, motors and wires. It can be a lot of fun scavenging for parts. Just be careful, things like TV's and computers can have high voltages even when they are unplugged. Only scavenge for parts if you know what you are doing. In general, kids toys that are battery operated are fairly safe to rip apart.
This build is a general guide to making a Zoetrope. Make adjustments depending on what parts you find, or purchase. If you make your own Zoetrope, post it in the MAKE Flickr photo pool and send me an email. Thanks!
Supplies you need:
Tools you need:
Part 1: Finding the parts
The first thing you do is acquire some old or broken electronics to scavenge for parts. You can find a motor in many kids toys. If you don't have kids, or know any kids, then just go to the dollar store and buy something with a small electric motor. Hopefully it will have a few switches and batteries too. I bough a small orange fan for $1, and it didn't work at all. Technically the fan would spin, but there wasn't any air movement. It's a perfect candidate for ripping apart.
Disassemble the fan, or what ever recycled toy you have. A lot of times the screws are hidden under stickers so check there if it doesn't open easily.
When I was done I was able to salvage (2) AA batteries, (1) small light bulb, a nice motor, some wire and a lanyard. I'll keep whatever I don't use for another project.
In my bin-parts I had a battery holder, which was scavenged a long time ago. It holds (4) AA batteries. I thought this would be perfect, but I had to cut it in 1/2 so it held (2) AA batteries.
A quick score with a razor blade, and I could snap it in half.
iRobot Corp. has launched a new, 34-pound "iRobot Negotiator" robot intended for law enforcement. The name and the robot chassis appears to be nearly identical to the Negotiator product sold by the now defunct company Robotic FX. Robotic FX sold robots patterned on iRobot's PackBot under the Negotiator name to law enforcement before its assets were acquired by iRobot last year as part of a lawsuit settlement. The new robot is billed as a more affordable alternative than iRobot's military grade PackBot 510 hardware, and the company is offering grant programs to local and state law enforcement agencies to get them on board.Press Release Source: iRobot Corp.Tags: iRobot, robot
iRobot Launches New Robot to Address Growing Public Safety Market
Wednesday August 6, 8:00 am ET
iRobot Negotiator Provides a Cost-Effective, Basic Reconnaissance Robot to Public Safety Organizations
BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT - News) today announced the introduction of the iRobot Negotiator, a low-cost tactical robot designed to meet the basic reconnaissance needs of public safety professionals.
After the success of the company’s iRobot PackBot 510, iRobot heard from public safety organizations throughout the country asking for a basic reconnaissance robot that fit within their budget needs. It is in response to these inquiries that iRobot is offering Negotiator.
While the PackBot 510 with First Responder Kit focuses on missions requiring a larger robot with more advanced capabilities, Negotiator will provide basic reconnaissance to a much broader group of public safety professionals, including police departments, fire departments and domestic security experts. The iRobot Negotiator is highly mobile, able to climb stairs and easy to operate. Depending on the customers’ needs, the robot may also be outfitted with a civil response kit and a range of add-on accessories, enhancing its reconnaissance and chemical detection capabilities.
“We are excited about the potential of iRobot Negotiator for a range of public safety professionals, including law enforcement personnel, domestic security officers and counter-terrorism forces,” said Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots. “There is growing support and demand for unmanned ground robots as people recognize the difference they make by offering life saving ‘eyes on’ benefits to teams in the field. We believe that the low entry price point for iRobot Negotiator will help make it accessible to local, state and federal agencies that would not have been able to afford a robot otherwise.”
Designed for different scenarios than the company’s current PackBot line, the first production units of iRobot Negotiator will be available for purchase in the fourth quarter of 2008. iRobot is committed to Negotiator, which will be backed by iRobot’s world-class quality and customer support.
“We are putting the full weight of iRobot behind this product, offering excellent production, quality and service,” continued Dyer. “Negotiator will play a significant role in helping to resolve situations successfully, while keeping public safety professionals at safe distances.”
iRobot has delivered more than 1,600 PackBot robots that make a difference everyday by conducting dangerous missions that keep first responders and warfighters out of harm's way.
Future aviators made at Maker Faire!
There are a lot of first-timers to AirVenture this year, and one couple in particular is here because of a simple invite from an EAA staff member.
In early May, a day that started off ordinary turned extraordinary for Will Crane and Emily Albinski, a young couple in their twenties. They decided to attend the 3rd annual Maker Faire at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds south of San Francisco. The Maker Faire had several central California EAAers, from Chapters 20, 62, 338, and 393, displaying the things that EAA homebuilders "make." The EAA chapter members offered hands-on interaction and the opportunity to discuss "making" your own airplane with builders who did just that.
and...
Now that they both have their student certificates, Emily and Will are going to find a chapter in New York City and talk to them to see if they have a plane and can recommend an instructor. Will also wants to get his instrument rating."We are so glad we went to the Maker Faire. We both talked about flying off and on but didn’t really take it seriously until the Faire. We had the impression that flying was just for millionaires, and now we feel that that’s not true."
Apparently even kidney dialysis machines designed for children were too big for Millie Kelly's 6-pound newborn body, so Dr. Malcom Coulthard (UK) made her a miniature dialysis machine - in his garage. It just goes to show that innovation can still happen at the individual level, even in the medical field.
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I recognize the conductive stretch fabric used in this project from the Less EMF sample pack; it's luxurious and lovely to touch. Adrian Freed at the Center for New Music & Audio Technologies at UC Berkeley made this multitouch gesture controller:
The fabric is stretched in an embroidery hoop and draped over an inverted circular bowl. A piece of conductive plastic cut in a special shape forms a corolla on the surface of the bowl. The tips of each petal are folded inside the bowl and taped with conducting adhesive copper tape. The microcontroller board measures the electrical resistances of these petals from their tip to a common center established with a conductor at the flat of the bowl. As the conductive stretchable fabric (the “calyx” to complete the flower analogy) is displaced towards the bowl it shorts out different lengths of each conductive plastic petal. The result is a circular array of nearly mass-less displacement sensors. The gesture-to-displacement relationship changes according to distance from the center of the bowl (variable “gearing)”. This allows for several different playing styles.
I can't wait to see learn more about this, particularly a video of it in action. Via Hackaday.
More:
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What happens when you send yellow marshmallow treats into near space? And what would happen when they land in the hot Nevada desert? That’s what some 4th grade students from Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA wished to investigate as part of the High Altitude LEGO Extravaganza (H.A.L.E.) project last week in Reno, Nevada.
MAKE Editor-in-Chief Mark Frauenfelder has a piece on Dinosaurs and Robots about sea glass hunting, inspired by Kevin Kelly's piece we blogged about last week.
We had a wonderful time searching for the sea glass. Sea glass is rare enough to make you excited when you find a piece, but not so rare as to cause discouragement. It's a perfect sweet-spot for putting you in a flow state. The only thing I can compare it to is hunting for mushrooms.
[Pictured above: CRAFT Projects Editor Carla Sinclair and Lady Jane Frauenfelder on the hunt for sea glass.]
More:
Jason Nicholls of Endelss Knobbing recreates knobs, fader caps and other musical equipment hardware using precious metals - because, let's face it, nothing's too good for your audio interface - Endless Knobbing
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From the MAKE Flickr photo pool
Rob sends word of an event this weekend for synth-makers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area -
The plan is to have a regular meet up (maybe monthly) where we can share ideas, play with circuits and maybe show off our latest creations. DIYers of ALL LEVELS are welcome. If you have never even held a soldering iron, you might learn about an easy project to start with. Maybe you know how to make abrasive noises using an old television and a garden hose....but need a little inspiration on how to apply it. Have you ever J-B welded a window break sensor to a ball ping hammer and directed it straight to your guitar amp? * (btw..its like firecrackers!) Have you ever wanted too? Can you repair guitar amps? Can you program VSTi plugins? Wanna impress somebody with your new Tenori-on. (dude..if you have one....BRING IT!!!!!). Its all something we want to talk about and share.Saturday August 9th
Fig. 1 (a) Architecture of the optofluidic microscope (OFM); set of three arrows: illumination; single arrow: flow direction. (b) Photograph of the OFM prototype compared with a U.S. quarter. The actual nanoaperture array is 600 µm long. (c) The top view of the OFM; denotes the isolated aperture; denotes the corresponding aperture, as explained in the text. (d) Photograph of the orientation of the aperture array with respect to the channel. (e) Experimental scheme for the OFM prototype. (f) Transmission time traces from aperture and associated with the transition of a C. elegans.
DC artist, programmer, and Dorkbot DC co-overlord Alberto Gaitán tells MAKE:
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently published research inspired by eye floaters in "Lensless high-resolution on-chip optofluidic microscopes for Caenorhabditis elegans and cell imaging" by CalTech's Xiquan Cui, Lap Man Lee, et al. And as if cheap (~$10), portable, on-chip, lensless, hi-res microscopy for developing countries' infectious disease management wasn't promising enough, it also holds promise for backyard microscopists and mobile-device-mounted passive sensorwebs for biohazard detection. No telling what cool hacks await if it becomes available through Digikey!
Lensless high-resolution on-chip optofluidic microscopes for Caenorhabditis elegans and cell imaging
New Micro-Microscope Is Portable And Cheap [NPR piece on the technology]
Interesting background about a ball that bounces on water, and its maker... via Land-o-links.
The Waboba ball, which is about the size of a golf ball, has taken off around the world after videos were posted on YouTube.Made of a combination of plastics with a lycra coating, it is described as having the consistency of a breast implant.
The ball is about the same density as water and floats when at rest, but bounces high and true when thrown. It continues to bounce until it is caught or runs out of steam.
Simple idea, but I like it -- the LCD CLOCK ZER00:00 BUTTERFLY uses the battery as its stand, plugs right in to the PCB via Book of Joe.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute has an annual Buckminster Fuller Challenge, a $100,000 prize for "comprehensive solutions that radically advance human wel