Just like the garage computer explosion of the 70’s through the 80’s, which brought us such things as Apple, pong, Bill Gate’s hair, and the proliferation of personal computers, the maker movement is the new garage hardware explosion. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement.
Enthusiasts who want to build the products they want, from shortwave radios to personal computers, and to tweak products they’ve bought to make them even better, have long been a part of the electronics industry. By all measures, garage-style innovation remains alive and well today, as “makers” as they are called continue to turn out contemporary gadgets, including 3D printers, drones, and embedded electronics devices.
Making is about individual Do-It-Yourselfers being able to design and create with tools that were, as of a decade or two ago, only available to large, cash-rich corporations: CAD tools, CNC mills, 3D printers, low-quantity PCB manufacturing, open hardware such as Arduinos and similar inexpensive development boards – all items that have made it easier and relatively cheap to make whatever we imagine. For individuals, maker tools can change how someone views their home or their hobbies. The world is ours to make. Humans are genetically wired to be makers. The maker movement is simply the result of making powerful building and communication tools accessible to the masses. There are plenty of projects from makers that show good engineering: Take this Arduino board with tremendous potential, developed by a young maker, as example.
The maker movement is a catalyst to democratize entrepreneurship as these do-it-yourself electronics are proving to be hot sellers: In the past year, unit sales for 3D printing related products; Arduino units, parts and supplies; Raspberry Pi boards; drones and quadcopters; and robotics goods are all on a growth curve in terms of eBay sales. There are many Kickstarter maker projects going on. The Pebble E-Paper Watch raises $10 million. The LIFX smartphone-controlled LED bulb raises $1.3 million. What do these products have in common? They both secured funding through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that is changing the game for entrepreneurs. Both products were created by makers who seek to commercialize their inventions. These “startup makers” iterate on prototypes with high-end tools at professional makerspaces.
For companies to remain competitive, they need to embrace the maker movement or leave themselves open for disruption. Researchers found that 96 percent of business leaders believe new technologies have forever changed the rules of business by democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations. - You’ve got to figure out agile innovation. Maybe history is repeating itself as the types of products being sold reminded us of the computer tinkering that used to be happening in the 1970s to 1990s – similar in terms of demographics, tending to be young people, and low budget. Now the do-it-yourself category is deeply intertwined with the electronics industry. Open hardware is in the center in maker movement – we need open hardware designs! How can you publish your designs and still do business with it? Open source ecosystem markets behave differently and therefore require a very different playbook than traditional tech company: the differentiation is not in the technology you build; it is in the process and expertise that you slowly amass over an extended period of time.
By democratizing the product development process, helping these developments get to market, and transforming the way we educate the next generation of innovators, we will usher in the next industrial revolution. The world is ours to make. Earlier the PC created a new generation of software developers who could innovate in the digital world without the limitations of the physical world (virtually no marginal cost, software has become the great equalizer for innovation. Now advances in 3D printing and low-cost microcontrollers as well as the ubiquity of advanced sensors are enabling makers to bridge software with the physical world. Furthermore, the proliferation of wireless connectivity and cloud computing is helping makers contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re even beginning to see maker designs and devices entering those markets once thought to be off-limits, like medical.
Image source: The world is ours to make: The impact of the maker movement – EDN Magazine
In fact, many parents have engaged in the maker movement with their kids because they know that the education system is not adequately preparing their children for the 21st century. There is a strong movement to spread this DIY idea widely. The Maker Faire, which launched in the Bay Area in California in 2006, underlined the popularity of the movement by drawing a record 215,000 people combined in the Bay Area and New York events in 2014. There’s Maker Media, MakerCon, MakerShed, Make: magazine and 131 Maker Faire events that take place throughout the world. Now the founders of all these Makers want a way to connect what they refer to as the “maker movement” online. So Maker Media created a social network called MakerSpace, a Facebook-like social network that connects participants of Maker Faire in one online community. The new site will allow participants of the event to display their work online. There are many other similar sites that allow yout to present yout work fron Hackaday to your own blog. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement—although makers can be found everywhere in the world.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Show Us Your Internet of Useful Things by Monday
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/show-us-your-internet-of-useful-things-by-monday/
Don’t forget to get your connected device entered in the Hackaday Prize by Monday morning. The current challenge is IuT ! IoT, a clever tilt at the Internet of Things, which is so hot right now. We don’t just want things to connect, we want that connection to be useful, so save your Internet Toasters and Twittering Toilets for another round.
So what are we looking for here? Any device that communicates with something else and thereby performs a service that has meaningful value. The Hackaday Prize is about building something that matters.
IUT ! IoT (Internet of Useful Things)
https://hackaday.io/prize/details#two
Let’s take the Internet of Things and make it practical for everyday life. The Internet of Useful Things showcases a way to build a better tomorrow with the data you track and analyze. Prevent sick cattle and livestock with an IoT Farm, create a way for denizens to find clean well water in rural villages, or reduce energy waste in a smart home. Make for the greater good of your home, your city, your nation.
Minimum entry requirements:
Idea + image + documentation + 4 build logs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY LCD based SLA 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/hackaday-prize-entry-diy-lcd-based-sla-3d-printer/
Resin-based SLA 3D printers are seen more and more nowadays but remain relatively uncommon. This Low Cost, Open Source, LCD based SLA 3D Printer design by [Dylan Reynolds] is a concept that aims to make DIY SLA 3D printing more accessible. The idea is to use hardware and manufacturing methods that are more readily available to hobbyists to create a reliable and consistent DIY platform.
[Dylan]’s goal isn’t really to compete with any of the hobbyist or prosumer options on the market; it’s more a test bed for himself and others
Low Cost, Open Source, LCD based SLA 3D Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/21461-low-cost-open-source-lcd-based-sla-3d-printer
An open, superior, low cost alternative to FDM 3D printing that takes advantage of high res LCD technology and modern curable resins.
SLA 3D printing is the big brother to FDM 3D printing; its faster, more accurate and enables printing of more complexed geometries. One of the draw backs to desktop SLA 3D printing is time spent printing. Like FDM, compact desktop machines trace out every contour (inner and outer) of ever layer and we all know what that is like – its fascinating to to see a machine in action the first time but it gets pretty old when you hit the 13th hour of the print! One might argue that DLP projector based SLA printers are the superior technology to rule the FDM machine but DLP projectors are expensive, have to be modified to remove the UV filter and the bulbs have limited life span. Not to mention they are pretty big.
Enter this project… Unlike FDM, using an LCD screen allows one to project a complete profile of a layer. This saves an enormous amount of time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Improving Mister Screamer; an 80 Decibel Filament Alarm
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/improving-mister-screamer-an-80-decibel-filament-alarm/
The Basic Concept
The idea is that if a 3D printer is attended (but not under constant supervision) and the operator is prepared to swap filament rolls when needed, then there is no need for the printer to perform any “smart” duties such as pausing the print. As long as there is a means of triggering an alarm when filament has run out, the operator can do everything needed to keep the machine printing uninterrupted, and the printer itself doesn’t even need to know
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open source underwater glider
A versatile autonomous environmental drone using a buoyancy engine
https://hackaday.io/project/20458-open-source-underwater-glider
There has been a breakthrough with low cost autonomous drones and as this capability has matured a wide range of hobby and commercial applications have developed. There are no affordable extended duration underwater exploration platforms and this project aims to address this need.
Utilising commodity hardware, 3D printed parts and an open-source autopilot, I aim to produce a low cost and versatile underwater glider capable of extended missions of up to weeks at a time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TORLO is a Beautiful 3D Printed Clock
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/08/torlo-is-a-beautiful-3d-printed-clock/
What if you could build a clock that displays time in the usual analog format, but with the hands moving around the outside of the dial instead of rotating from a central point? This is the idea behind TORLO, a beautiful clock built from 3D printed parts.
TORLO
a 3d printed electromechanical clock
https://hackaday.io/project/25309-torlo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seeedstudio RePhone: Fun & creative modular DIY sm
World’s first open source and modular phone kit
https://hackaday.io/project/10430-seeedstudio-rephone-fun-creative-modular-diy-sm
The open source hardware manufacturer (SeeedStudio) published the world’s first open source, modular Smartphone (RePhone) in Kickstarter on September 23, 2015. RePhone is a GSM +BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) phone, future version will support 4G LTE. I own a RePhone DIY Kit from Gearbest.
http://www.gearbest.com/diy-parts-components/pp_275693.html?wid=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drop-in Controller for eBay K40 Laser Engraver Gets Results
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/10/drop-in-controller-for-ebay-k40-laser-engraver-gets-results/
[Paul de Groot] wrote in to let us know about a drop-in controller replacement he designed for those economical K40 laser engravers that are everywhere on eBay. With the replacement controller, greatly improved engraving results are possible along with a simplified toolchain. Trade in the proprietary software and that clunky security dongle for Inkscape and a couple of plugins! [Paul] felt that the work he accomplished was too good to keep to himself, and is considering a small production run.
Designing in Inkscape, exporting to DXF, importing the DXF to proprietary software (which requires a USB security dongle to run), cleaning up any DXF import glitches, then finally cutting the job isn’t unusual. And engraving an image with varying shades and complex dithering? The hardware may be capable, but the stock software and controller? Not so much. It’s easy to see why projects to replace the proprietary controllers and software with open-source solutions have grown.
The Story of the cheap Chinese K40 eBay laser cutter/engraver
http://awesome.tech/cheap-chinese-k40-ebay-laser/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open-Source Laser Cutter Software gets Major Update, New Features
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/17/open-source-laser-cutter-software-gets-major-update-new-features/
The LaserWeb project recently released version 3, with many new features and improvements ready to give your laser cutter or engraver a serious boost in capabilities! On top of that, new 3-axis CNC support means that the door is open to having LaserWeb do for other CNC tools what it has already done for laser cutting and engraving.
LaserWeb3 supports different controllers and the machines they might be connected to – whether they are home-made systems, CNC frames equipped with laser diode emitters (such as retrofitted 3D printers), or one of those affordable blue-box 40W Chinese lasers with the proprietary controller replaced by something like a SmoothieBoard.
Open Source Laser Cutter / Engraver software. Supports gcode, svg, dxf, stl, png, jpg, bmp
https://github.com/LaserWeb/deprecated-LaserWeb3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scanning Electron Microscope Adds to Already Impressive Garage Lab
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/11/scanning-electron-microscope-adds-to-already-impressive-garage-lab/
When you’re a high schooler who built a semiconductor fab in your garage, what’s next on your agenda? Why, adding a scanning electron microscope to your lab, naturally. How silly of you to ask.
http://sam.zeloof.xyz/category/electron-microscope/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry : Cosmic Particle Detector Is Citizen Science Disguised As Art
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/09/hackaday-prize-entry-cosmic-particle-detector-is-citizen-science-disguised-as-art/
Thanks to CERN and their work in detecting the Higgs Boson using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), there has been a surge of interest among many to learn more about the basic building blocks of the Universe. CERN could do it due to the immense power of the LHC — capable of reaching a beam energy of almost 14TeV. Compared to this, some cosmic rays have energies as high as 3 × 1020 eV. And these cosmic rays keep raining down on Earth continuously, creating a chain reaction of particles when they interact with atmospheric molecules. By the time many of these particles reach the surface of the earth, they have mutated into “muons”, which can be detected using Geiger–Müller Tubes (GMT).
The heart of each individual device will be a set of three Russian Geiger–Müller Tubes to detect the particles, and an RGB LED that lights up depending on the type of particle detected. There will also be an audio amplifier driving a small 1W speaker to provide some sound effects.
Cosmic Array
https://hackaday.io/project/16568-cosmic-array
An array of individual cosmic ray detectors distributed across a landscape to display how cosmic rays arrive as showers of muons.
The aim of this detector project is to deploy many detectors across a park or landscape. So that an observer from a distance or walking amongst them will experience how cosmic rays are all around us and arrive in showers of particles. Each detector will seem to randomly twinkle with colours and sounds that are triggered by cosmic rays.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paper Circuit Does Binary Math with Compressed Air
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/12/paper-circuit-does-binary-math-with-compressed-air/
Most of us can do simple math in our heads, but some people just can’t seem to add two numbers between 0 and 3 without using paper, like [Aliaksei Zholner] does with his fluidic adder circuit built completely of paper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvANcR4mQ7M
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compact Braille Printing Press
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/12/hackaday-prize-entry-compact-braille-printing-press/
For the last few years of the Hackaday Prize, we’ve seen a few projects that aim to bring Braille to the masses in a cheap, easy to use electronic device. Aside from the interesting technology that would go into such a device like tiny motors moving even tinier bumps, these projects are a great example of an enabling technology.
For his Hackaday Prize project, [haydn jones] is building something that makes Braille more accessible, but without all that messy technology. It’s 3D printed movable type for Braille. It’s a Braille printing press for nurses, teachers, and anyone else who would like to leave small notes for people who read Braille.
Braille Compact Printing Press
https://hackaday.io/project/19943-braille-compact-printing-press
Compact printing press for nurses, helpers, teachers and anyone else who needs to leave small notes for people who read braille.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forging a New Distribution Model for Innovators—from Hobbyists to Manufacturers
http://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/forging-new-distribution-model-innovators-hobbyists-manufacturers
As new types of customers enter the market, electronics equipment distributors are reaching a crossroads on how to meet demands in this fast-evolving industry.
By providing essential supplies and support, distributors of technology components and services are the engines that keep business moving for electronics innovators. However, in the past five years, these distributors have not only seen their customers’ needs change, but also experienced an expansion of their market to include new types of buyers. These two factors prompted a shift in buying behavior, which has ricocheted up and down the electronics-component supply chain.
Professional developers and designers are more dialed in than ever before and not afraid to shop around, while at the same time a new generation of makers and hobbyists are demanding more specialized parts and services. In such a competitive marketplace, distributors need to find new ways to serve customers that best suit their needs—a tall order in fast changing times.
A Changing Customer Landscape
Consumer demand for connected devices and miniaturized wearables has driven rapid growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, with professional makers and hobbyists at the cutting edge of this burgeoning market. That’s because IoT is one of the most exciting and accessible opportunities for a broad range of solution designers, opening the possibility to bring profitable new products to the consumer market than ever before.
However, each IoT or wearable designer may approach the market with different needs. In addition to traditional market incumbents and smaller design houses with previous experience in bringing products to market, new customer groups—professional makers and entrepreneurial hobbyists—may be bringing a product to market for the first time.
Professional designers expect backing from their distributors for high-volume production, which requires careful management of inventory and obsolescence. This sets them apart from traditional hobbyists who find value in broader product lines and have a greater need for technical support. With so many opportunities in these new markets, distributors need to develop a new business model that anticipates the complexity of these differing customers’ needs, with the assurance that meeting these demands will have its rewards.
As developers and designers with differing levels of experience tackle new challenges such as IoT and wearables, they may be entering new markets and applying technologies in new ways. This may mean negotiating compliance challenges within heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and automotive, or developing a deeper knowledge of existing technology as it’s applied in different environments, such as in harsh climates or within flexible applications like clothing.
Traditionally, distributors provide competitive advantages by ensuring components are in stock in high volume and at a competitive price.
The growth of the professional maker and hobbyist sector puts traditional distributors in a bind. For these customer groups, technical support is the biggest area in which a distributor can provide added value. The IoT boom has meant that more makers and hobbyists, many of which may have limited production knowledge, are getting involved with development projects that demand greater levels of connectivity, flexibility, and customization.
Despite the number of plug-and-play modules now available, makers and hobbyists still require higher levels of technical and product support.
Nevertheless, serving the maker and hobbyist market is still demanding. These customers often favor a distributor that carries a broad number of lines, has items in stock, and offers excellent delivery options, technical support, and customer service.
It’s clear that today’s innovators, whether they are professional designers or hobbyists, need the best of both worlds: To work with companies at the scale, size, and global reach of a broad-line distributor, while still having access to the technical support and specialized capabilities to serve makers and hobbyists through all stages of the product lifecycle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cardboard and Paper Gun Shows Off Clever Construction
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/14/cardboard-and-paper-gun-shows-off-clever-construction/
This project by [blackfish] shows off a cardboard lookalike of an MP5 that loads from a working magazine, has a functional charging handle, and flings paper projectiles with at least enough accuracy to plink some red party cups. It was made entirely from corrugated cardboard, paper, rubber bands, and toothpicks.
How To Make Mp5 That Shoots Bullets – (Cardboard Gun with Magazine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXCiSmlWomU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Purdue ExoMIND Glove
https://hackaday.io/project/25455-purdue-exomind-glove
The ExoMIND Glove is a stroke rehabilitation device used to to generate biofeedback for physicians and patients.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Early and low cost detection of Heart Failure
https://hackaday.io/project/19685-early-and-low-cost-detection-of-heart-failure
Heart Failure is a debilitating condition that most old people encounters. A PoC uses coded signals, Doppler and a sound ML classifier.
Heart failure (HF) is a complex heart syndrome. It prevents the heart from fulfilling the circulatory demands of the body. A patient is characterized by breathlessness, ankle swelling and fatigue. Medicine doctors formulated several criteria to determine the presence of HF, however there is no remedy.
We propose to use a point of care device, composed of a low cost Doppler device with a trained classifier ,to detect suspicion of HF in primary care.
In order to detect HF with a ML classifier, we train it to recognize features in sounds from the Physionet Cinc or similar competitions.
In our case, signals acquired with a low cost fetal Doppler, are connected to a Linux box hosting the classifier and user GUI. It records heart beats without needs of any gel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Need to Hold Something? Build a Custom Vise
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/15/need-to-hold-something-build-a-custom-vise/
The only thing better than making a cool project is making a cool project that helps make more projects! Case in point, [Greg Stephens] and [Alex] wanted to colorize steel bearings for use in a Newton’s Cradle desk toy. After trying out a torch and not liking it, [Greg] and [Alex] decided to build custom aluminum vise to hold the sphere while it sits in the magnetic induction forge.
Their vise–they call it the Maker’s Vise0–isn’t just a one-off project to help make the cradle. [Alex] and [Greg] aspire to create a tool useable for a wide variety of projects. They wanted it to be oil-less and it had to be customizable. Ideally it would also have an acceptable grip strength, be easy to use, and look good on the bench.
Maker’s Vise
We are designing a vise specifically for the maker community!
https://hackaday.io/project/21947-makers-vise
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steve Wozniak Praises Makers and Open Source
https://www.designnews.com/content/steve-wozniak-praises-makers-and-open-source/68903081256976?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170615.tst004t
During a keynote at Atlantic Design & Manufacturing 2017, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shared his thoughts on open source, the Maker movement, and why engineers should build for themselves.
“In recent years the software has meant a lot more to me than the hardware advancements in terms in how we live our life,” he said, adding sobering remarks as to the latest hardware offerings from the company he co-founded. “I don’t remember anything catching my attention particularly,” Wozniak said.
What does catch Wozniak’s attention these days are trends like open source and the maker movement – both of which have grown from ideas and a spirit that he told the audience get right to the heart of why he helped start Apple in the first place. “In our first manual for the Apple II we put in every bit of my designs, software, and examples of other programs,” he said. “And everybody could pick it up and see how they could develop their own plug-in boards and software. It was very open source, and very favorable. A thousand companies started making accessories for the Apple II computer.”
Wozniak continued, “I love the maker movement because we started [Apple] with a demonstrable product,with a prototype that was working. I was not just an engineer, I did the whole thing – I brought up ideas, drafted them on paper, I sat down and plugged chips into boards, tested every single wire..”
A big thing Wozniak stressed to the audience was the importance of doing things for fun and for building things with yourself in mind rather than potential profits.
“You might go to Maker Faire and you see these things and you might think. ‘Who would want to buy that?’ But the people making it are getting the skills that could change their job in the future.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Oscilloscope for the Masses
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/15/hackaday-prize-entry-oscilloscope-for-the-masses/
If you head down to your local electronics supply shop (the Internet), you can pick up a quality true-RMS multimeter for about $100 that will do almost everything you will ever need. It won’t be able to view waveforms, though; this is the realm of the oscilloscope. Unlike the multimeter’s realistic price point, however, a decent oscilloscope is easily many hundreds, and often thousands, of dollars. While this is prohibitively expensive for most, the next entry into the Hackaday Prize seeks to bring an inexpensive oscilloscope to the masses.
The multiScope is built by [Vítor] and is based on the STM32-O-Scope which is built around a STM32F103C8T6 microcontroller.
multiScope
Fast, Portable and Affordable Oscilloscope and Inductance Meter
https://hackaday.io/project/20821-multiscope
Don’t be deceived by its small size. This little beast has an inductance meter and a oscilloscope with sampling rate of 1.7 MS/s, based on a STM32 running at 72MHz. Frequency, voltage and duty cycle information are included. As a bonus, you get temperature and pressure sensing.
The STM32F103C8T6 is a 32bit ARM microcontroller (with a quite long name) that has higher clock and ADC resolution than any AVR based Arduino, but is still cheaper than them. Another great thing is that you may program it using the good old Arduino IDE.
I’ve chosen a touch screen dispay for multiScope to keep user interaction simple and flexible.
Our inductance meter is based on LM339 and a simple LC circuit whose resonant frequency we measure to get the unknown L value.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DAV5 V3.01 Raman Spectrometer
The only thing worth doing, is the thing worth doing right!
https://hackaday.io/project/18126-dav5-v301-raman-spectrometer
The DAV5 V3.01 Spectrometer will be the only project build here on Hackaday in its category, with ongoing, full performance and specifications documentation, this project will also be at least 85-90% 3D printed!
This project has 4 major ;
a. To build a rugged and reliable low cost spectrometer with at least 85 to 90% 3D printable parts.
b. A spectrometer capable of producing consistent and professional quality results in the field, home or Lab
c. A device with upgradeable capabilities
d. An open source instrumentation device W/CAD(CNC .stl files)/schematic/technology files with NO copyright and/or licensing agreements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make a Plotter Out of Rulers
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/16/make-a-plotter-out-of-rulers/
Instructables user [lingib] made a clever and inexpensive pen arm plotter that uses plastic rulers for arms. An inspiring sight for anyone without a bunch of robot parts lying around,
The electronics are straightforward, with an Arduino UNO and a pair of Easy Drivers to control NEMA17 stepper motors connected to robot wheels, which serve as hubs for the rulers. At the end of the arms, an SG90 micro servo raises and lowers the pen as commanded
CNC Dual Arm Plotter
http://www.instructables.com/id/CNC-Dual-Arm-Plotter/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Graphene from Graphite by Electrochemical Exfoliation
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/graphene-from-graphite-by-electrochemical-exfoliation/
Graphene is an interesting material, but making enough of the stuff to do something useful can be a little tough. That’s why we’re always on the lookout for new methods, like this electrochemical process for producing graphene in bulk.
Making Graphene in Bulk the Easy Way: Electrochemical Exfoliation of Graphite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51l6KySFU8
Tomi Engdahl says:
FabricKeyboard Is Piano, Theremin And More
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/fabrickeyboard-is-piano-theremin-and-more/
Two researchers of Responsive Environments, MIT Media Lab, have put to together a device that is an amazing array of musical instruments squeezed into one flexible package. Made using seven layers of fabrics with different electrical properties, the result can be played using touch, proximity, pressure, stretch, or with combinations of them. Using a fabric-based keyboard, ribbon-controller, and trackpad, it can be played as a one-octave keyboard, a theremin, and in ways that have no words, such as stretching while pressing keys. It can also be folded up and stuffed into a case along with your laptop, and care has even been taken to make it washable.
FabricKeyboard: Multimodal Textile Sensate Media as an
Expressive and Deformable Musical Interface
http://homes.create.aau.dk/dano/nime17/papers/0066/paper0066.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Digital Cinema
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/open-source-digital-cinema/
Years in the making, Apertus has released 25 beta developer kits for AXIOM–their open source digital cinema camera. This isn’t your point-and-shoot digital camera. The original proof of concept from 2013 had a Zynq processor (a Zedboard), a super 35 4K image sensor, and a Nikon F-Mount.
The device today is modular with several options. For example, there is an HDMI output module, but DisplayPort, 4K HDMI, and USB 3.0 options are in development. You can see several sample videos taken with the device, below.
The current device uses a Cmosis CMV12000 image module, although a Kodak KAC12040 and Cmosis CMV2000 module are in the works. You can find the complete specs online, but be aware that some of these specifications are forward-looking. On the other hand, the videos clearly show it is in a working state.
If you’ve been looking for an open source FPGA or microcontroller project to hook up with, this might be it. Like a lot of open source companies, they are trying to commercialize to keep the project healthy
Building a new camera prototype from scratch: AXIOM Alpha
https://www.apertus.org/history
Tomi Engdahl says:
Towards DIY Flip Digit Clocks
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/18/towards-diy-flip-digit-clocks/
Seven segment displays and Nixies are one thing, but the king of all antique display technologies must be electromechanical flip dots.
While flip dot displays can be bought new if you know where to look, [sjm4306] had the idea to build his own out of inexpensive materials. It might just be a prototype, but we’re saying he’s succeeded. He has the workings of a seven flip-segment display, and the techniques he’s using mean it shouldn’t be too expensive to build your own.
Instead of building a matrix of flip dots, [sjm] is building a mechanical seven-segment display. Each of the segments are 3D printed in black PLA, and mounted to a piece of cardboard via a thin wire ‘axel’ going through the length of the segment.
DIY Digital Electromechanical Flip Clock Prototype Part 1 (Parts Provided by ICStation!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57SxC-MEEaY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mixed Mode Bench PSU Delivers High Performance
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/18/mixed-mode-bench-psu-delivers-high-performance/
If you have an electronics bench, it follows that you will need some form of bench power supply. While many make do with fixed-voltage supplies it’s safe to say that the most useful bench power supplies have variable voltage and a variable current limiter. These are available in a range of sizes and qualities, and can be had from the usual online suppliers starting with a surprisingly small outlay.
There is however a problem with inexpensive bench power supplies. They are invariably switch-mode designs, and their output will often be noisy. Expensive linear supplies provide a much more noise-free output, but do so at the expense of excessive heat loss when regulating a high voltage drop.
One solution is a mixed-mode design
High Performance Adjustable Power Supply (~£50) With Optional Digital Control
http://www.instructables.com/id/High-Performance-Adjustable-Power-Supply-50-With-O/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Very, Very Powerful Servos
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/18/hackaday-prize-entry-very-very-powerful-servos/
A few years ago, [patchartrand] decided to build a robot arm. The specs were simple: he needed a drive system that would be at least as strong as a human arm. After looking at motors, [patch] couldn’t find a solution for under $3,000. This led to the creation of the Ultra Servo, an embiggened version of the standard hobby servo that provides more than ten thousand oz-in of torque.
Your typical hobby servo has three main components. The electronics board reads some sort of signal to control a motor. This motor is strapped into a gear train of some sort, and a potentiometer reads the absolute position of a shaft. This is basically what the Ultra Servo is doing, although everything is much, much bigger.
Ultra Servo
https://hackaday.io/project/21332-ultra-servo
An ultra strong and fast servo that is reasonably priced. The goal is to generate 60ft*lbs (11 520oz*in) with 60 rpm no load rpm speed.
Description
Building anything that can interact with everyday life objects require high powered servos. This servo is intended to serve the maker ecosystem as to facilitate macro projects that interact with the world.
Specs:
60ft*lbs stall
60 rpm no load speed
Programmable angle range
6″ x 5″ x 3″ overall dimentions
12V or 24V operational voltage
TTL, SPI and Standard RC communications
The servo will be have a custom motor controller that will be Arduino based so anyone that needs to modify the parameters or so simply add functionality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fail of the Week: Museum Buttons
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/16/fail-of-the-week-museum-buttons/
Museum exhibits are difficult to make, and they’re always breaking down; especially the interactive ones. This is a combination of budget, building a one-off, and the incredibly harsh abuse they take from children.
There are three paths I can go down now:
Find the problem and solve it
Switch to a photoresistor
Petition Hackaday for a better solution
Finding the problem and solving it will be a long and difficult path, especially since the museum environment is somehow and inexplicably different from the test environment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Yet Another Unmanned Vehicle Controller
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/hackaday-prize-entry-yet-another-unmanned-vehicle-controller/
To build any sort of autonomous vehicle, you need a controller. This has to handle all sorts of jobs – reading sensor outputs, controlling motors and actuators, managing power sources – controlling a vehicle of even moderate complexity requires significant resources. Modern cars are a great example of this – even non-autonomous vehicles can have separate computers to control the engine, interior electronics, and safety systems. In this vein, [E.N. Hering] is developing a modular autonomous vehicle controller, known as YAUVC.
YAUVC – Yet Another Unmanned Vehicle Controller
A modular, distributed processing, unmanned vehicle controller.
https://hackaday.io/project/11724-yauvc-yet-another-unmanned-vehicle-controller
Unmanned vehicles have common needs: energy to think and move around, sensors to interact with their environment, communication skills and servo control. It really doesn’t matter if the vehicle is going to fly, float, dive or crawl. In most cases all of the above requirements are present in one form or another.
This project is about a modular flight controller. It was made modular so I could work on one module without worrying about breaking down the rest of the system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Controlling a Robot Over the Internet Grows Up
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/controlling-a-robot-over-the-internet-grows-up/
Since the beginning of the Internet people have been controlling robots over it, peering at grainy gifs of faraway rec rooms as the robot trundles around. RunMyRobot.com has taken that idea and brought it fully into the teens. These robots use wifi or mobile connections, are 3D printed, and run Python.
The site aims to provide everything to anyone who wants to participate. If you’re just an anonymous visitor, you can still play with the robots, but anyone can also play with the same one, and sometimes a whole bunch of visitors create a cacophony of commands that makes it not fun—but you can always move to a different robot. Logged-in members of the site have the option to take over a robot and not allow anyone else to use it.
http://runmyrobot.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PaperBack: Desktop E-Paper Monitor
https://hackaday.io/project/21607-paperback-desktop-e-paper-monitor
A secondary E-Paper desktop monitor driven by a standard monitor interface.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twenty IoT Builds That Just Won $1000 in the Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/19/twenty-iot-builds-that-just-won-1000-in-the-hackaday-prize/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: 3D Printed Linear Actuator Does 2kg+
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/20/hackaday-prize-entry-3d-printed-linear-actuator-does-2kg/
The rabbit hole of features and clever hacks in [chiprobot]’s NEMA17 3D Printed Linear Actuator is pretty deep. Not only can it lift 2kg+ of mass easily, it is mostly 3D printed, and uses commonplace hardware like a NEMA 17 stepper motor and a RAMPS board for motion control.
Nema17 3D printed Linear Actuator & ESP32 WebGui
https://hackaday.io/project/21883-nema17-3d-printed-linear-actuator-esp32-webgui
Nema17 Stepper motor 3D printed Linear Actuator (250mm+ stroke 2Kg+ dead weight lift) with Ramps driver & ESP32/ESP8266 WebGui.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MappyDot
Micro Auto-Addressable Optical Time of Flight Ranging Sensor
https://hackaday.io/project/25571-mappydot
Each MappyDot provides distance measurements up to 2 meters at a rate of 30Hz with a typical worst case accuracy of +-2.5cm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is It A Stupid Project If You Learn Something From The Process?
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/01/is-it-a-stupid-project-if-you-learn-something-from-the-process/
Fidget spinners — so hot right now!
[Ben Parnas], and co-conspirator in engineering inanity [Greg Daneault], brought to the recent Boston Stupid Hackathon in Cambridge, MA, their IoT-enabled Fidget Spinner…. spinner. A Spidget Finner. Yep, that’s correct: spin the smartphone, and the spinner follows suit. Stupid? Maybe, but for good reason.
Part satire on cloud tech, part learning experience, a curt eight hours of tinkering brought this grotesque, ESP32-based device to life. The ESP can the Arduino boot-loader, but you’ll want to use the ESP-IDF sdk, enabling broader use of the chip.
Creating an app that pulls data from the phone’s gyroscope, the duo set up the spinner-bot to access the WiFi and request packets of rotational data from the smartphone via a cloud-based server — the ‘spincloud.’ Both devices were enabled as clients to circumvent existing IoT services.
Ridiculous or not — if you learn something, then it’s probably worthwhile! So keep hacking away at those ideas and you might be able to justify it to all the people with concerned stares.
The Spidget finner demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJj4xgd7W4
Tomi Engdahl says:
70 Brilliant Ways To Reuse Plastic Bottles. You Got To Try These Before You Trash One More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWTKBGnndrg
Tomi Engdahl says:
Launch Pad for Air-Water Rockets is Good Clean Fun for STEM Students
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/01/launch-pad-for-air-water-rockets-is-good-clean-fun-for-stem-students/
memories of air-water rockets, which were always a dime store purchase for summertime
But now a teacher has gone and ruined all that by making an air-water rocket launching pad for his STEM students. Just kidding — [Robert Hart] must be the coolest teacher in Australia when Friday launch days roll around.
Air-Water Rocket Launcher
A quick, safe, reusable and easy to launch Air-Water Rockets
https://hackaday.io/project/25609-air-water-rocket-launcher
Tomi Engdahl says:
How To MIDI Interface Your Toys
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/30/how-to-midi-interface-your-toys/
There’s a great number toys in the world, many of which make all manner of pleasant or annoying noises for the entertainment of children. If you’re a musician, these toys may be of interest due to their unique or interesting sounds. However, due to their design being aimed at play rather than performance, it may be difficult to actually use the toy as a musical instrument. One way around this is to record the sounds of the toy into a sampler, but it’s not the only way. [little-scale] is here to demonstrate how to MIDI interface your toys.
Interfacing with a Toy – Process and Example
There are many ways in which to interface a toy with an electronic system.
http://little-scale.blogspot.fi/2017/06/interfacing-with-toy.html
For example, take a simple button on a toy. This can be replaced with a relay, 40106-based oscillator, 4066 switch IC, 4051 multiplexer IC, digital switching mechanism, mercury tilt switch, magnetic switch, mechanical switch. This can be mapped from the physical world (tilting, magnetism), analog electronics (using the resistance of a pot of a 40106 oscillator to set the triggering speed), MIDI (note on, note off, CC, pitch bend etc), serial (on / off), ethernet etc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powerful, Professional Brushless Motor from 3D-Printed Parts
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/08/powerful-professional-brushless-motor-from-3d-printed-parts/
Not satisfied with the specs of off-the-shelf brushless DC motors? Looking to up the difficulty level on your next quadcopter build? Or perhaps you just define “DIY” as rigorously as possible? If any of those are true, you might want to check out this hand-wound, 3D-printed brushless DC motor.
3D-Printed Halbach Motor Part Two: Tuning, Testing
http://hackaday.com/2017/06/30/3d-printed-halbach-motor-part-deux-tuning-testing/
Building your own Halbach-effect brushless DC motor is one thing. Making sure it won’t blow up in your face another matter, and watching how [Christoph Laimer] puts his motor to the test is instructive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Go Go Camera Slider
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/01/go-go-camera-slider/
Are your arms getting tired from pushing your camera back and forth across your camera slider? That must be the case with [Max Maker], which led him to convert his manual slider into a motorized one.
The electronics are minimal — an Arduino Micro, a few toggle switches, A4988 Stepper Driver, 12V battery pack, and the ever popular NEMA 17 stepper motor. If you’re wondering why we said ‘switches’ instead of ‘switch’, it’s because 4 of the switches are used to select a time frame. The time frame being how long it takes for the slider to move from one end to the other.
Make an Arduino Controlled Motorized Camera Slider!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Motorized-Camera-Slider/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY DLP
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/01/hackaday-prize-entry-diy-dlp/
The 3D printing revolution is upon us and the technologies associated with these machines is evolving every day. Stereolithography or SLA printers are becoming the go-to printer for high-resolution prints that just can’t be fabricated on a filament-based machine.
[adambrx]’s current iteration employs a Raspberry Pi 3 and a UV DLP Projector, all enclosed in a custom frame assembly. The logs show the evolution of the printer from an Acer DLP to the current UV DLP Light Engine.
It is safe to say that [adambrax] has outspent the average entry to the Hackaday Prize with over €5000 spent in around 3 years.
ADAM DLP 3D Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/16701-adam-dlp-3d-printer
DIY DLP 3D Printer based on NanoDLP Software using Raspberry Pi 3 and Trinamic Motor Controller
Tomi Engdahl says:
Floor Cleaning Machine – Remote Controlled
https://www.eeweb.com/project/floor-cleaning-machine-remote-controlled
This project is fully unified for cleaning applications. It features the requirements needed for floor cleaning such as water supply, scrub, and fan. It is a wheeled type machine with a movement control.
This floor cleaning machine is comprised of several DC motors that drives the wheels and rotating objects for the scrub. Wiring of the motors are properly designed that the wheels are set up considering the control is from two dual two way switches.
How to Make a Floor Cleaning Machine – Remote Controlled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAVKLUAV7-E
DIY: Learn how to make a coded wire remote controlled floor cleaner machine or floor washing machine using materials like plastic container, plastic bottle, 12 volt DC gear motors and PC cabinet fan. Almost materials you can find from home or junkyard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Flashing Light Prize 2017
https://www.flashinglightprize.com/
The Flashing Light Prize is an informal & fun contest to find the most unusual way of flashing an incandescent light bulb.
Your creation could be something ridiculous and zany using bits of string and magnets or it could be a brilliantly elegant circuit topology that’s never been tried before. It could be electronic, electromechanical, electrochemical, anything legal. All it’s got to do is flash an incandescent bulb at between 0.5Hz and 2Hz. You even get to choose what kind of incandescent bulb to use.
Entry criteria:
You can use any size and voltage of incandescent bulb.
The flash rate must be between 0.5Hz and 2Hz. The mark-space ratio is unimportant but the difference between the bulb being on and off must be clearly visible.
The flashing must be done electrically (i.e. causing the filament in the bulb to glow on and off). A bulb that is on continuously but has shutters, lenses etc. moving in front of it is not an eligible entry.
Your system doesn’t have to have amazing longevity but it must be able to run for at least 5 minutes without breaking down, exploding etc.
How to enter:
Build your unusual system for flashing a light bulb and make a video of it in action
The contest is open until the 1st of August 2017 whereupon the judges will review all the YouTube clips and decide the winner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny Light Bulb Flasher Vies for World’s Record
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/03/tiny-light-bulb-flasher-vies-for-worlds-record/
World’s smallest lightbulb flasher? Flashing Light Prize 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyL0kIhAOzY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fidget Spinner Gigantor
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/03/fidget-spinner-gigantor/
Had enough of fidget spinners yet? If you haven’t heard, a toy that consists of a bearing in the center of a multi-lobed flat structure that’s designed to spin around the bearing’s axis with little force has taken the world by storm. Usually, these devices are about 10cm in diameter or less. But, everything is bigger in Texas. So, naturally, students from the University of Texas at Dallas got to work making the largest fidget spinner in the world.
WORLD’S BIGGEST LARGEST ALPHA MOST MASSIVE FIDGET SPINNER GIGANTOR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAXrq47l_U0
Guinness World Record Application Pending
Livestream coming soon!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Record Broken Spinning time – World Longest Spinning Home Made Fidget Spinner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ihE_pHDbfw
Tomi Engdahl says:
Download and Laser Your Own Pulleys
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/03/download-and-laser-your-own-pulleys/
[Scott Swaaley] needed a bunch of timing pulleys for the clock he was building. He had already decided on the MXL profile, but he needed so many of these toothed pulleys in so many configurations (hex-bored, hubless) that it would blow out his budget. Plus, he wanted them transparent as well. So why not just laser them out of acrylic?
Not finding anything useful on the manufacturers’ sites, [Scott] decided to create his own web application to generate the shapes and download them as SVGs, dreaming of a resource like Gear Generator except for timing pulleys instead of involute spur gears. [Scott] has the application running on his GitHub. You can create MXL, XL, and L pulleys with any number of teeth and any hole size. From there you can output as an SVG and laser or mill the pulley.
Timing Pulley Generator
http://gritlab.org/timing-pulley-generator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny Light Bulb Flasher Vies for World’s Record
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/03/tiny-light-bulb-flasher-vies-for-worlds-record/
We’re going to go out on a limb here and declare this minuscule incandescent light flasher the smallest such circuit in the world. After all, when you need a microscope to see it work, you’ve probably succeeded in making the world’s smallest something.
Even if it’s not record breaking, [Ben Krasnow]’s diminutive entry in the 2017 Flashing Light Contest,
World’s smallest lightbulb flasher? Flashing Light Prize 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyL0kIhAOzY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: DIY 6-Axis Micro Manipulator
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/04/hackaday-prize-entry-diy-6-axis-micro-manipulator/
[David Brown]’s entry for The Hackaday Prize is a design for a tool that normally exists only as an expensive piece of industrial equipment; out of the reach of normal experimenters, in other words. That tool is a 6-axis micro manipulator and is essentially a small robotic actuator that is capable of very small, very precise movements. It uses 3D printed parts and low-cost components.
The manipulator consists of six identical actuators, each consisting of a single piece of SLS 3D printed nylon with a custom PCB to control a motor and read positional feedback.
6-Axis Micro Manipulator
Micron level manipulator, using printed and low cost components
https://hackaday.io/project/25307-6-axis-micro-manipulator
The initial design work indicates this to be in the region of 40mm cube, with maximum translation of 2.8mm and rotation of 20degrees.
The aim is to use this manipulator to position an optic fiber in front of a laser diode (when the maximum output is passing down the fiber), the fiber is then glued in position. This is how pig-tailed laser diode modules are created.
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Daito Manabe] Interview: Shocking!
http://hackaday.com/2017/07/05/daito-manabe-interview-shocking/
Is he a hacker’s artist, or an artist’s hacker?
Daito Manabe on choreographing equations and making use of deep brain data
The polymath works at the intersection of art, media, and technology, Tokyo
http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/interviews/daito-manabe-on-choreographing-equations-and-making-use-of-deep-brain-data/