Jun 03

Simple DIY cellbot ditches Arduino, jousts poorly (video)

Posted in: Android, arduino, diy, robot, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili, video




Want an adorable little Android cellbot to call your own, but aren’t quite ready to tackle Arduino code? Darrell Taylor’s got you covered with an audio-controlled, jousting cellbot: no muss, no fuss, no microcontroller. The Make project, called TRRSTAN, accepts commands via Google chat, web browser, or Wii remote piped through the headphone jack of your Android phone — the robot’s brain, of course. Tack on a few makeshift weapons procured at the local dollar store, and you’ve got a homemade warrior you can be proud of. Want one? Taylor has a ready-made kit available for just shy of $50, and offers a ‘fully assembled’ option for the extra-lazy robot enthusiast. Of course, you could always go back to playing Android-bots with your Legos if you aren’t quite ready to big-boy world of DIY. Just sayin’.

Simple DIY cellbot ditches Arduino, jousts poorly (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 31

DIY iPad music breakout gives pro-grade stage presence, mixes circuitry with art (video)

Posted in: audio, diy, ipad, ipad 2, Ipad2, mod, Music, Today's Chili, video

If you’re thinking this iPad audio breakout dock looks remarkably good considering its DIY origins, then you should know it wasn’t put together by any old screwball with a soldering iron. Nope, this was made by Qubais “Reed” Ghazala, a very particular old screwball who’s been blurring the lines between circuitry, music and art since the Summer of Love (that’s 1967 on a normal calendar). His latest invention is all about getting pro-grade sound connections into and out of an iPad 2 — much like an Alesis dock or Akai SynthStation, but with that special “I made this” charm and minimal price tag. Key ingredients include a Macally aluminium iPad stand and a 30-pin PodBreakout board. Hit the video after the break to get further instructions and hear Ghazala’s “bottomless well of chance music” — both come at your own risk.

Continue reading DIY iPad music breakout gives pro-grade stage presence, mixes circuitry with art (video)

DIY iPad music breakout gives pro-grade stage presence, mixes circuitry with art (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Create Digital Music  |  sourceqrghazala (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

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May 31

MTM Snap project lets you build your own CNC machine so you can build more stuff

Posted in: diy, Today's Chili, video

It may not be quite capable enough to let you build your own Weighted Companion Cube, but those looking to try their hand at a DIY CNC milling machine won’t likely find many more straightforward options than the MTM Snap. Built by Jonathan Ward of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, the machine itself is constructed from some high-density polyethylene parts milled on a ShopBot (which simply snap together as the name suggests), and it’s controlled by an Arduino board that lets you operate it from any Mac, Windows or Linux computer. Unfortunately, you can’t simply buy a kit and piece it all together, but Jonathan’s made all of the plans for building your own available, and says it shouldn’t cost you any more than $700 from start to finish. Head on past the break for a video of the finished product in action.

Continue reading MTM Snap project lets you build your own CNC machine so you can build more stuff

MTM Snap project lets you build your own CNC machine so you can build more stuff originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Make  |  sourceArduino Blog, MTM Snap  | Email this | Comments

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May 30

CNC mill and Sixaxis controller make beautiful DIY music together (video)

Posted in: controller, diy, hack, Hacks, mod, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, Today's Chili, video
CNC controlled by Sixaxis

Have you ever thought to yourself, “my CNC mill is pretty cool, but I really want to make it more awesomer”? Well, first, “awesomer” totally isn’t word, and second, have we got a hack for you! A reader wrote in to the DIY hub Adafruit to show off his CNC being operated by a PS3 Sixaxis controller — mimicking features found on high-end machines that allow you to trigger jobs from a distance and manually control the mill. Best of all, it’s a pretty simple mod that uses a program called QtsixA to map the gamepad as a keyboard and mouse, allowing you to interact with a Linux box running EMC2, which is used for controlling the mill, lathe, plasma torch, or a number of other fun and dangerous tools. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading CNC mill and Sixaxis controller make beautiful DIY music together (video)

CNC mill and Sixaxis controller make beautiful DIY music together (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Adafruit  |  sourcedammitdarrell (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

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May 30

Modder turns candy canisters into gaming console, retro Pong paddles (video)

Posted in: arduino, console, diy, game, hack, Hacks, mod, mods, Retro, Today's Chili, video
This is the second time this week we’ve covered a modder getting an old-school game to run with the help of some unexpected hardware. And arguably, it’s the simpler of the two tales. A fellow named John Graham-Cumming fashioned a game console out of little more than a pair of metal canisters, an Arduino Pro board, and a potentiometer — all so he could play Pong on his TV. The rig (cutely dubbed the Cansole) actually consists of two controllers, with the secondary one housing just a potentiometer. The first has one, too, but also houses the Arduino Pro, along with a battery, A/V controls, and a button for selecting and firing in the game. Et voilà! 1970s arcade-style tennis for two. For a 90-second nostalgia break, head on past the break to see these vintage-looking paddles in action.

Continue reading Modder turns candy canisters into gaming console, retro Pong paddles (video)

Modder turns candy canisters into gaming console, retro Pong paddles (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceJohn Graham-Cumming  | Email this | Comments

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May 29

Water-cooled, luggable PS3 offers semi-convenient gaming for your on-the-go lifestyle

Posted in: console, diy, hack, Hacks, mod, mods, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, Today's Chili, video
We’ve seen plenty of handheld console mods, but only a few laptops — most impressively, Ben Heck’s sleek PlayStation 3 — and PS3Hax admin Pirate recently finished his water-cooled take on the notebook PS3. The cooling system replaces the stock heatsinks, allowing for a slimmer design, and one much more polished than the last water-cooled version we saw. Weighing in at 15 pounds, it’s also got a built-in keyboard and speakers, a 500GB hard drive, and a 720p / 1080i screen. If this sounds like your type of machine, Pirate’s put it on eBay, where it’s currently heading north of $1,500. He’s not looking to make a profit, promising that after costs a portion of the selling price will go to server expenses at PS3Hax, with another portion dedicated to tornado relief efforts in Joplin, Missouri. Check out the video after the break to see this beast in action.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Water-cooled, luggable PS3 offers semi-convenient gaming for your on-the-go lifestyle

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Water-cooled, luggable PS3 offers semi-convenient gaming for your on-the-go lifestyle originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Light Up Your Life With LEDs, Sewable Circuitry

Posted in: arduino, diy, Hacks, Mods and DIY, Today's Chili

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Cool Neon


In the future, we’ll all be wearing glowing, light-up, circuit-laden fashions.

Wait, the future? You can do that now!

If you’ve always dreamed of colorful, glowing accoutrements, or just have some ideas for an upcoming Halloween costume, grab your soldering iron and a sewing needle: Here are a couple of products you can use to get a real 21st-century look.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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May 28

Microsoft manager teams up with teens to build a fusion reactor in his garage (video)

Posted in: diy, science, Today's Chili, video
Fusion Reactor

Normally, if a grown man talks about building a fusion reactor and wants your 13-year-old to hang out in his garage, we’d expect you to smile, back away slowly, and perhaps alert the authorities. But, if that man is Microsoft program manager Carl Greninger there’s no need to run. The science fanatic recruited a team of teens, as young as 13, and worked with them to build a Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor — a (comparatively) simple nuclear reactor that smashes together atoms and produces neutrons. Check out the nearly 20-min video after the break to watch a bunch of high school kids generate ball of ionized plasma. And to think, all that’s in your garage is that ’65 Mustang you swear you’re gonna restore one day.

Continue reading Microsoft manager teams up with teens to build a fusion reactor in his garage (video)

Microsoft manager teams up with teens to build a fusion reactor in his garage (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceChannel 9  | Email this | Comments

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May 27

Arduino, magnet wire, and Android combine to create poor man’s NFC (video)

Posted in: Android, arduino, diy, Google, hack, Hacks, mod, nfc, Today's Chili, video
Poor Man's NFC

Jealous of your Nexus S-owning friends and their fancy NFC chips after yesterday’s Google Wallet announcement? Well tech tinkerer Joe Desbonnet has whipped up what he dubs “poor man’s NFC” using an Arduino, some magnet wire, and any compass-equipped Android smartphone (which is almost all of them). By placing a coil of wire on the phone and connecting it to the DIYer’s favorite microcontroller, Desbonnet was able to send data, albeit very slowly, to his HTC Desire running a special app to decode the signals. Granted, you’re probably not going to see American Eagle mod their point of sale systems to talk to your phone’s magnetometer, but it’s still a neat trick. In fact, we’d break out our Arduino right now to give it a try, but our secret lair is strangely devoid of enameled copper wire. Check out the source link for instructions, and don’t miss the video after the break.

Continue reading Arduino, magnet wire, and Android combine to create poor man’s NFC (video)

Arduino, magnet wire, and Android combine to create poor man’s NFC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 27

Telecommunications device for the deaf gets hitched to a rotary phone, hacked to run Zork

Posted in: arduino, diy, game, hack, mod, Retro, Today's Chili

In today’s episode of “But will it run Zork?” a chap named Ulysses got the vintage game to run on a TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) — a project he built to show off at the Bay Area Maker Faire last weekend. In a move we truly respect, he hunted down a rotary phone lifted straight out of the era when Zork was conceived (that would be the late ’70s / early ’80s). Then, he modified a modem so that the acoustically coupled TDD could be interfaced — transmitting at a slow 45.5 baud to make it easy for even ponderous readers to keep up, one line at a time on the TDD’s narrow display. Once this was sorted, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing when Ulysses started fitting the compressed Zork story file into the system. At first, he tried using an Arduino Pro and an Arduino Mega, but found that neither had enough memory to accommodate the compressed Zork story file. Ultimately, he took a different tack and settled on an embeddable FitPC. We’d love nothing more than to see this thing in action, but in lieu of a video we highly suggest carving out a few minutes and perusing Ulysses’ photo blog at the source link.

Telecommunications device for the deaf gets hitched to a rotary phone, hacked to run Zork originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack A Day  |  sourceDial-A-Grue  | Email this | Comments

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