Robot gossip has a neat robot art project from Thomas Edwards – “Sycophant explores the relationship between viewers and a human-like robot. The human head is mounted on a motorized base which moves along a track. As a viewer walks by, the head follows on the track, while plying him or her with a cornucopia of compliments such as “I really like your hair” and “You look really hot!” – [via] – Link.
“YOU LOOK HOT”…zeep… thanks baby head robot!
Previous:
Interactive, kinetic sculpture “Blame” – how it was made – Link.
Join Jess Hutch for her “Knit a Toy” workshop at the Maker Faire and learn how you can make your own version of George shown here. Jess will be teaching her workshop on Saturday, April 22 from 12:30 – 1:30pm and will also be around at our Craft Corner later on that afternoon to meet and greet. More info on George is here on Jess’ blog. Thank you Jess for making an exclusive pattern for us crafters at the Maker Faire!
Here’s the supplies you’ll need to make this:
- size 7 circular needles
- 1 skein each of Lamb’s Pride Worsted Yarn (or similar weight) in 3 colors of your choosing. Jess used these colors: Seafoam (light blue-green), Blue Blood Red (red), and Pine Tree (dark blue-green)
- Polyster fiberfill for stuffing the toy (when you’ve finished knitting)
If you don’t have time to get supplies now, you will also be able to get yarn for this workshop at the Maker Faire from our wonderful vendor (and my favorite yarn store ever), Imagiknit! See you at the Maker Faire!
Tea Vui Huang writes – “The objective here is to create a low-cost introductory & disposable graphing calculator for the educational use of schools and students who may have difficulty, are unable or may not wish to acquire a stand-alone feature-laden graphing calculator.
The TVH-72g Graphing Calculator is a small 14 Kbytes Mobile Java program that can be installed over-the-air (OTA) or locally via infra-red or data cable from a PC or notebook. For the latter, the student’s phone may be equipped with the software using a school computer hosting a copy of the license-free TVH-72g Graphing Calculator. The TVH-72g occupies barely 0.1% of the J300i’s 12 Mbyte phone memory; it can also be easily deleted by the student when it’s no longer needed. “ – Link.
A MAKE reader writes in – “[Here's] an ongoing series of articles in the German computer magazine ct describes how to build and program a robot. The first website gives you information to get and produce all necessary parts. All magazine articles are for sale as pdf. Furthermore segor electronics sells a complete ct-bot kit.“ The site is in German, but there seems to be enough to get going… – Link.
LEDs to replace NEON? I want to tinker with these no matter what – “The ideal lighting solution for any architectural, decorative or signage application. LED-FLEX incorporates light emitting diode (LED) technology in a flexible, durable tube that uses a proprietary maximization technique to achieve the appearance and brightness of traditional neon. Completely sealed and impervious to shock and vibration. LED-FLEX can be used indoors or out, in wet and extreme conditions. Best yet, LED-FLEX is up to 70% more efficient than neon, provides long years of continuous use, yet is cool enough for contact with people and delicate materials.” [via] – Link.
Wow, here’s another Mac creation from Calhoun, he writes – “This machine was built around a 12-inch Powerbook. The name Media Mac refers to my intent to make this a sort of MP3 jukebox and perhaps DVD-player, TV-recorder, iChat AV machine, etc.” – Link.
Here’s an interesting idea, a synth module a month to build your own modular synthesizers – “You begin your plan by purchasing the “ENTRY-22-1″ on the order form for $120. The next month, order the second installment of $120 and we’ll begin building your cabinet/Power Supply/Cable Harness and ship them to you. This normally takes 2-3 weeks. Each month thereafter you will receive the items listed in the plan above once your payment is received. Each module is calibrated and tested, ready to install into your system. It only takes a screwdriver.” [via] – Link.
John writes – This podcast is drawn from the “UVA Virtual Lab” (www.virlab.virginia.edu) which uses 3D virtual reality animations to explain electronics, microelectronics and nanotechnology. This podcast explains how the transistors of an integrated circuit are made – Link. This complements our earlier podcast on “How Semiconductors and Transistors Work.” (here).
Vurdlak from the Mighty Optical Illusions blog writes – “In this week edition I’ve concentrated more on real-life optical illusions, posted in my “outdoors” section. Now you can see some really amazing pictures of Merging Planes, Salvador Dali, Einstein’s ever-glazing eye .. etc!” – Link.
Wow, I’m on a Flash developer list and one of the members sent out this amazing “game” that uses your web camera (iSight or whatever) to play basketball – the motion is used to smack the ball around, like the PS2 Eyetoy, it’s a lot of fun! Great use of Director! – Link.
Amal writes – “With RFID being impervious to dust and dirt, and being totally contactless, it’s a perfect candidate for desktop authentication. In this feature, you’re going to build a covert RFID enabled USB keyboard that keeps its enhanced functionality a secret from the general public. You’ll be using open source software to enable the login process on your Windows based computer.” – Link.
Related:
MAKE VIDEO PODCAST – Getting “Chipped” – Interviews – Link.
HOW TO: Create RFID Access for Your Front Door – Link.
Cats are Star Wars fans too! Make your kitty happy by making some cool Star Wars themed catnip toys. Bonnie says,”Make your own Star Wars catnip toys that look like a mouse droid, Gonk the Power Droid and Darth Vader’s glorious helmet. Meow. Complete with cute photos of a rather happy cat at the end!” Link.
