Made in Japan – 1/9/09

This week:
Ardunio-based Anime Sound Glove, World’s Smallest Flapping Wing Flyer?, Rubber Band Gatling Gun, IAMAS Gangu Project, A Picture That Changes Depending on the Source of Light, VR Panorama Shots of Make Tokyo Meeting 02, Arduino PS2 Command Sequencer, Arduino Wrist Watch, Carving a QR Code Into Stone, Art Made w/ 5-Yen Coins, After Hours Magazine’s Cross-Stitched Cover

Ardunio-based Anime Sound Glove
Here’s a video of a glove that a father made for his daughter’s birthday that lights up and makes different anime-inspired sounds according to its movement. It uses an Arduino, a WaveShield loaded with the sounds, and a Lilypad accelerometer. What a lovely present! [via]

World’s Smallest Flapping Wing Flyer?
With a wingspan of 8cm, total length of 8cm, and weighing in at just 1.52g, this RC X-wing type flyer whirs around this gymnasium like a dragonfly for a surprisingly lengthy amount of time, despite what must be a lilliputian battery. Inspiring work. (http://blog.goo.ne.jp/flappingwing/)

Rubber Band Gatling Gun
This rubber band Gatling fires at a speed of 1,000 rounds per minute. The gun uses a planetary gear mechanism for its 8 barrels made of chopsticks and is capable of loading 200 rubber bands at a time. Watch out!

IAMAS Gangu Project
This video demonstrates “Jamming Gear,” one of the projects demonstrated at the IAMAS Gangu Project, which ran in at the AXIS Gallery in Roppongi, Tokyo from Dec. 25th-27th.

Having started in 2005, the aim of the Gangu project was to establish a creative learning & rapid prototyping environment, where teachers & students working together could turn ideas into reality. In collaboration with T2lab co.,ltd (formerly, Takara index eR Lab), we have been developing new electronic toys that will encourage & challenge the children of today.

This exhibition entitled “IAMAS Gangu Project – Work In Progress” aims to illustrate just that. On display will be a number of toy concepts in all stages of their development, from idea sketches to standalone prototypes. We will additionally hold two physical computing workshops, so please join us in the play and discussion of new ideas.

The research progress of the “Ubicomp+Contents Project” will also be shown for the first time. This project focuses on the realization of ubiquitous environments utilising physical computing and wireless communications modules.

A Picture That Changes Depending on the Source of Light

VR Panorama Shots of Make Tokyo Meeting 02
Here’s a link to some VR panoramic shots of Make: Tokyo Meeting 02 (Flash required). There’s a lot of detail to the photographs even at significant zoom, so it’s quite a bit of fun to see what you can find in these shots. [via]

Arduino PS2 Command Sequencer
Instead of pressing the buttons by hand, this hack uses an Arduino to manipulate the PlayStation 2 controller. By syncing up to the PS2’s vertical sync video output, it sends out sequence patterns back to the PS2. How about hooking up two Arduinos and have them go against each other, eh? (http://moyashi.air-nifty.com/hitori/)

Arduino Wrist Watch
This cutely assembled Arduino-based wrist watch uses an Arduino Pro Mini, a Nokia LCD, and a coin-sized lithium-ion battery. Is that a Tamagotchi living inside that watch?

Carving a QR Code Into Stone
From new back to old again:

Seal Cutting(篆刻) is a Chinese traditional art. You cut a stone block to make a stamp with, usually, Chinese letters like name, poet, etc.

Blogger Masayuki GT tried to combine this Song Dynasty originated stone art with the latest technology, QR Code, Japanese 2D barcode now widely used with cellphone camera to guide mobile website URL-s.

[via]

Art Made w/ 5-Yen Coins
Japan’s 5-yen coin has a hole in the middle, and it turns out this makes it great for crafts. In this video from the popular Tamori Club TV program, the action starts at 1:20, where we see all sorts of crafty 5-yen coin creations. The “5-yen coin idol” they introduce is Noriko Yamaguchi, and she continues to this day teaching craft seminars in Japan. [via]

AfterHours Cross-Stitched Cover by The Mint House
After Hours is one of my favorite music magazines of all time, and I was delighted to see that their latest cover features the cross stitch work of Made in Japan fave The Mint House. The most current issue of After Hours comes with two CD’s and one DVD, and if the past is any indication, the included discs alone (plus the sweet cover!) are worth the price of the magazine, even if you can’t read the great Japanese articles inside.