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Archives: February 2008

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February 28, 2008

DIY K-9

Here's an excellent recreation of the K-9 (Mk II, I believe) from the BBC's classic Doctor Who series. The maker did a very thorough job on the panelling and used an RC tank for locomotion - unfortunately no design measurements are supplied in the build documentation. - Link

Of course that's not the only K-9 in service, here's one built around a Linux PC to promote a school's robotics class -

The first robot to roam the halls of GHCA is K9, a robot dog based on the British sci-fi show, Doctor Who. I created K9 myself as a way to jump-start our Robotics program. K9's main purpose is to "ooh and ahh" students, hopefully encouraging an interest in the field of robotics. I used common angle iron and 1/4 nuts and bolts to assemble K9's "skeleton", much like an Erector Set from years gone by. In fact, K9's head was built using an Erector Set from 1971! Sheet metal provides the finished look for our class mascot.

Now where's that Gentoo-based Sarah Jane? - Link

Related:

HOW TO - make a Dalek - Link

How to build your first PICAXE robot

This is a nice tutorial on building your first PICAXE robot. These aren't as easy to build as a BEAMbot, but they can do a whole lot more. The site contains links to suppliers and lots of photos of the build process. - Link

Stair climbing robot

This robot is small, purpose-built, and can easily climb stairs. The website has a lot of photos and is a great source of technical information for stair climbing robots. If you are thinking of building something similar, this is a must-read.

StairBOT is a small robot for indoor environments. On even floor it drives like many other small robots with a differential-drive. In addition it can change its length with linear guides mechanism with a spindle-drive. By this mechanism it can - together with its omniwheels (with brakes) and a support - reliably climb up and down regular sized stairs. It was one of the objectives for the design to use as few actuators and sensors as possible.

The StairBot - Link

Robot ant with mandibles

Ants are cool, but robots ants with mandibles are really cool. The site has several videos of the robot in action that you might want to check out. You are going to need a really big magnifying glass to burn this one!

The Biologically-Inspired Legged Locomotion Ant (BILL-Ant) is an 18-DOF hexapod with six passive DOF feet for force sensing, a 3-DOF neck and actuated mandibles with force sensing pincer plates (28-DOF total). The robot uses force sensors in the feet and pincers to actively comply with its environment and respond to external perturbations.

Robotic ant - Link

February 27, 2008

Origami Rubik's Cube greeting card

Jenny @ CRAFT writes:

Craftster user Jehnaier and her boyfriend created this intricate origami Rubik's Cube card for their math teacher. The card took 936 paper folds to create and opens up to reveal their message.

Rubik's Cube card - [via] Link.

Wiindow curtain control

Hackszine reader clickthegoogleads wrote to us about a set of Wiimote controlled curtains:

The curtain control system is an existing system from Goelst and is called "G-Rail 6200". Normally it is controlled by infrared or wallswitches. However, it can also be controlled with a CAN bus. I used this CAN bus to interface with an old PC. ... GlovePIE has no function to send messages to a CAN bus. So I started up my good old visual basic and made a little program that handles the CAN messaging. In the first version I used the keypressed event. I made a GlovePIE script that sends out keyboard keys when the Wiimote has a certain orientation and voila... L is for left, R is for Right and S is for Stop.

Is there anything that Wiimote can't do?

Wiindow Curtain Control - Link
GlovePIE - Link

Robotic security officer is menacing, sprays water

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a piece on a local bar owner who took fending off bums into his own hands:

Rufus Terrill, who owns a bar in downtown Atlanta called O'Terrill's, has grown weary of the drug dealers and vagrants he says frequent the neighborhood. Rather than put the police on speed dial or hire private security guards, Terrill has created his own private one robot security squad to keep the undesirable elements away.

The unnamed robot, affectionately referred to as either Robo-Cop or Bum-Bot by those who have seen it in action, is a hodge podge of off-the-shelf parts controlled by Terrill and a remote control. The four-foot tall, 300-pound body consists of an old smoker mounted atop an electric scooter. He's mounted a spot light, infrared camera, loud speaker, and water cannon inside the chassis, then wrapped the whole thing in rubber and painted it a menacing black.

Terrill sends the bot to the neighboring daycare center while he remains safely positioned up the block. Using a walkie-talkie, he instructs "suspects" to leave and informs them they are trespassing. If they refuse to leave, the bot then lets loose with the water cannon.

Remember, kids, unprovoked water cannon use can be considered assault - [via] Link.

Robotics

The Furby Gurdy

Ran across this circuit bent Furby sequencer over at the Matrixsynth blog -

Each furby has 4 controls: mute, crash, loop and reset. The handle turns 8 cams which operate corresponding microswitches to create interesting rhythmic patterns. Part of the 'setting up' section at the beginning has been fast forwarded. Please commission me to make lots more of these machines!

The video starts off a bit slow but gets pretty interesting around the halfway mark. Interesting to see a mechanical/electronic hybrid instrument! - [via]Link

Related:

Circuit Bent Furby - Link

New Furby Hacking : Part 1 : Skinning... - Link

Sax-a-ma-phoooone

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Check out Ranjit's homemade reed instrument, the Saxamaphone -

I cut the stick in half the long way and chiseled out a rectangular trench in one half. I clamped the two halves together while I made the mouthpiece (which is coated with lemon oil and olive oil to protect it from spit) and tested the first reed. Then I glued the halves together and drilled the finger holes, and made a bunch more reeds.

In this sound sample, he tries out a number of different reeds. Impressive sound - especially for a stick! - Link

Peggy Planner

Mike Biel wrote this handy web app for planning out LED projects using the EMS "Peggy" board. Great for preparing your next big marketing campaign! - Link

Related:
Peggy
"Peggy," - A Light emitting pegboard display - Link

Sensor squids in the news

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Our very own Becky Stern was in the news yesterday, in the ASU State Press, talking about Archie, the sensor squid, a project of ASU's Reflective Living Group in the Arts and Media Engineering program:

The way the squid is set up makes it ideal for group collaboration, Stern added. In most office or research settings, working groups meet hunched over their laptops. Using the squid, which is fun and allows more than one person to work the controls, opens up communication and moves the work along, Stern said.

I don't know about you, but the image of, say Intel executives, sitting around in a meeting manipulating a plushie squid tentacle interface is almost too joyful to bear.

Science, technology and a stuffed squid named Archie - [Thanks, Patti!] Link

Related:

Sensor squid relation game - Link

Speaker cans

An anonymous reader sent us a link to these neat speakers made from used cans. Oddly enough they convey a rather chic sense of style. The instructions are written in german - but you can pretty much infer the necessary steps from the supplied images. I'm guessing they may sound a bit "tinny"? - Link

Related:
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Fold-Up Speakers - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:
Make Pt0258

Make - Volume 12 - Styrofoam Plate Speaker (DIY: Music) (Page 131) - Link.

Excel Hacks: Display negative time values

Excel Hacks, 2nd Edition Cover

Here's Hack #87, Display Negative Time Values, from David and Raina Hawley's Excel Hacks, 2nd Edition. Millions of users create and share Excel spreadsheets every day, but few go deeply enough to learn the techniques that will make their work much easier. Yet there are many ways to take advantage of Excel's sophisticated capabilities without spending hours on advanced study. In Excel Hacks, you'll learn how to:

Reduce workbook and worksheet frustration--manage how users interact with worksheets, find and highlight information, and deal with debris and corruption.
Analyze and manage data--extend and automate these features, moving beyond the limited tasks they were designed to perform.
Hack names--learn not only how to name cells and ranges, but also how to create names that adapt to the data in your spreadsheet.
Get the most out of PivotTables--avoid the problems that make them frustrating and learn how to extend them.
Create customized charts--tweak and combine Excel's built-in charting capabilities.
Hack formulas and functions--subjects range from moving formulas around to dealing with datatype issues to improving recalculation time.
Make the most of macros--including ways to manage them and use them to extend other features.
Use the enhanced capabilities of Microsoft Office 2007 to combine Excel with Word, Access, and Outlook.

Hack #87: Display Negative Time Values - Link

Related:

Excel Hacks, 2nd Edition @ the Maker Store - Buy now
Excel Hacks, Second Edition--New from O'Reilly: Hook Up with Excel Expert Hackers - Press Release

Steam-powered time machine

Here's a strange steam-powered kinetic sculpture by Alan Rorie, who works under the name Almost Scientific. He explains:

The Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator is a kinetic, "steampunk" sculpture of a "time machine" that is powered by a real steam boiler and steam engine. It was built in collaboration with my good friends at Kinetic Steam Works. It was original displayed at the Edwardian Ball in 2008 and will be displayed again this spring as part of the the Steampunk Treehouse instillation at the Coachella music festival.

The Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator - Link

Low-tech plant watering indicator

Imgp0097
Here's a twitter-free version of how to get plants to indicate they need water using about $1.50 in parts, thanks Ben! Link.

Related:
Twitter Graphics Bcalls Twitter Setup Cellphone 2Medium-1
HOW TO - Make plants talk! They'll Twitter you when they need to be watered (and more)... - Link.

Make:SF - the Bay Makers March meeting

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Details on the Make:SF - the Bay Makers March meeting!

When
Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 2:00 PM

Where
TechShop
120 Independence Dr.
Menlo Park , CA 94025
8006401975

Who should come
People who like to build, take apart, do-it-yourself, hack, create, make or otherwise control the world around them.

Make:SF - the Bay Makers March meeting - Link & more.

Create a custom bookcase for your books

The "Book and Shelf" is a bookcase project that fits specific books into custom measured compartments, giving its owner the feeling of having a tailored piece of furniture for their specific collection. Pretty cool idea that gets rid of the need for book ends forever.

Nendo works book & shelf - Link

Amuse Friends with chemical stunts

Make Pt0457
Modern Mechanix 1934

DO YOU like to dabble with chemicals? It was a hobby with Thomas A. Edison during his youth and formed the basis of an education that later brought thousands of new inventions into the world. Far from being a "dry" science, chemistry can be very amusing and entertaining. How many people would believe that you could pour a little drinking water into a china bowl and cause it to burst forth with flames several feet high--without the use of matches?

Amuse Friends with chemical stunts - Link.

Related:
Make 536
Thrilling stunts with a glass-eating chemical - Link.

Sniff wireless video cameras with 2.4Ghz

Although there have been a lot of projects that have used the 2.4 GHz signal to snoop on wireless cameras (such as Life a User's Manual and the Radical Software Group's "X-10-1", Ben Gaulon's (aka. Recyclism) "2.4GHz Project" is a nicely designed way of surveilling surveillance cameras. Check out more pics at the link below.

2.4 Ghz - [via], Link

Public domain donor

Pd Donar 800Px
Licence Scan
Interesting take on the organ donor card...

Why let all of your ideas die with you? Current Copyright law prevents anyone from building upon your creativity for 70 years after your death. Live on in collaboration with others. Make an intellectual property donation. By donating your IP into the public domain you will "promote the progress of science and useful arts" (U.S. Constitution). Ensure that your creativity will live on after you are gone, make a donation today.

Public domain donor - [via] Link.

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