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April 18 2012
How-To: Indestructible, Floating LED Lanterns
Steve Hoefer likes to wander the aisles of the hardware store in his spare time, always on the lookout for that something something that strikes his fancy. He may not need it for a current project, but it’s bound to come in handy sometime. When he spotted some curious PVC caps and plugs that fit together into little airtight pods, he didn’t know they’d end up on the pages of MAKE Volume 30 as the basis for his Indestructible LED Lanterns project.
From his intro:
The result: simple, rugged, floating LED lanterns that glow for days. They’ve survived being submerged for a week, frozen, and laundered in the washing machine. I even hit one with the lawn mower, and it still works. When they get dirty, just hose them off.
Just in time for summer gatherings (and mischief), you can whip up a set of these lanterns in no time. Check out Steve’s how-to on page 132 of Volume 30, and right here on Make: Projects.
Look for Volume 30, hitting newsstands on April 24. Or, if you’re a subscriber (thanks! we love you!), it’s likely in your hands as we speak.
From the pages of MAKE Volume 30:
Until recently, home automation was gimmicky, finicky, and user-hostile. But today, thanks to a new crop of devices and technology standards, home automation is useful, fun, and maker-friendly. In the special section of MAKE Volume 30, we’ll show you: how to flip any switch in your home with a smartphone, home automation without programming, controlling your HVAC with an Arduino, a webcam security system, and a wall-mounted Notification Alert Generator (NAG) that plays timely reminders as you walk by. Plus, you’ll build a Yakitori Grill, a robust R/C flying-wing airplane, sturdy furnishings from PVC, and more!
Solar Dune Buggy
By Laura Kiniry
Photograph by Lissie Ham
Brothers Michael and Kenny Ham have a goal: to create cheap electric vehicles that get people interested in renewable energy. In 2009, they built Three-Wheeled Electric Alternative by KinAestheticWind (TWEAK), a solar-powered three-wheeler. “We wanted a vehicle that could recharge itself,” says Kenny.
For help with their project, they offered an extended learning course at the University of New Mexico’s Los Alamos campus. “Our students (eight men and two women) turned out to be the perfect blend of age and experience,” says Michael, 30, a Ph.D. physicist in computer vision research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. “They were solving problems in ways we’d never dreamed.”
The group took a heap of parts — including an old classroom seat, the steering and suspension components from a VW Beetle, a sealed lead-acid battery, a solar battery charger, and three motorcycle tires — and turned them into a dune buggy-like ride, all for about $1,000. Two cordless drills supplied power to the rear wheel through a series of old bicycle parts and a motorcycle chain.
“One mistake we made was buying a 12V solar panel to charge a 36V battery pack,” explains Kenny, 24, a mechanical engineering technology student at Kansas State University. “We fixed it by creating a circuit that allowed the pack to run at 36V and switch to 12V for recharging.”
Though heavy and slow (it had a combined horsepower of 2), it ran. “We always called TWEAK ‘Prototype Zero’ because we knew it was going to be more of a learning experience than anything else,” Michael admits.
Next up: ApocalypsEV-1, a compact, street-legal electric ATV.
Above is an excerpt from MAKE Volume 29.
More about the issue:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
Brooklyn Aerodrome video on their R/C stunt plane on the cover of MAKE vol. 30
Splinter and Breck of Brooklyn Aerodrome posted a video appreciation/critique of our cover for MAKE vol. 30, which features (a version of) their Towel R/C flying wing. The Towel is one of the featured projects in the magazine, and Breck did a fantastic job writing and photographing the how-to article.
The video notes some liberties that we took with the wing shown on the cover. Here is our official response:
Thanks guys– you rule! It was fun working on this.
On the safety issue, note that the all-Coroplast body version of the wing that we built and shot for the cover of MAKE vol. 30 is a variant of the Brooklyn Aerodrome design that’s detailed in the how-to article inside. Our engineering intern Dan Spangler (that’s him flying it on page 83) built it for fun after building the by-the-book version inside, and we all loved how it looked.
We agree with this video that, all other variables being equal, it would hurt more to be hit by our “cover model” variant than by the original foam-body flying wing described in the actual instructions, and that by sizing the removable deck such that it reaches the leading edges of the airframe rather than stopping back an inch makes it more subject to damage. That’s also a good point about the receiver being backwards on the cover photo version.
The take-away here is, if you want to build the Towel R/C flying wing, follow the instructions, photos, and illustrations in the actual article, not our cover model– which (like other cover models) looks good but might not be as practical.
YouTube: Brooklyn Aerodrome on the cover of Make Magazine!
April 09 2012
Young Maker’s Yarn Pen Inspired by MAKE Article
From Al Westpfal:
My 10 year old son Albert based his school entrepreneurial project on Arvind Gupta’s Touching Slate. He sold his product at the school marketplace event. Albert also got in touch with the Concordia Learning Center at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City N.J. to donate dozens of his product.
Al’s project came from the pages of MAKE volume 28, and is a pen that expels yarn instead of ink. When written onto an adhesive surface, whatever the user writes becomes tactile, serving the blind and visually impaired.
His creation was covered in an article in Wayne Patch in which he says “I’m glad that I could make something that helps other people.”
Cheers to Al for taking another maker’s idea and running with it.
From the Pages of MAKE
MAKE Volume 28, Toys and Games
MAKE Volume 28 hits makers’ passion for play head-on with a 28-page special section devoted to Toys and Games, including a toy “pop-pop” steamboat made from a mint tin, an R/C helicopter eye-in-the-sky, and a classic video game console. You’ll also build a gravity-powered catapult, a plush toy that interacts with objects around it, and a machine that blows giant soap bubbles. Play time is a hallmark of more intelligent species – so go have some fun!
March 29 2012
How-To: Build a HAMP Nerf Blaster
Our “Better Nerf Gun” in MAKE Volume 29 is a beautifully overengineered Nerf dart blaster that’s built by metal lathing, woodworking, thread tapping, and other labors of love. You’d be proud to display it on the coffee table or above your cubicle as a warning to would-be office assailants. But as soon as we published the project, we got blowback from the Nerfer community. Too hard!
Turns out there’s a wide range of easier DIY Nerf guns suitable for beginners, and with potentially longer ranges. The simplest of these is the HAMP (High Airflow Manual Plunger) — no trigger, just a big hand-operated plunger. Nerf nerd Daniel Seyler tipped us to the HAMP and its originator, KaneTheMediocre on nerfhaven.com:
Regarding the HAMP, it is one of THE most basic homemade Nerf guns possible. As it is not my design, I will refer you to the original nerfhaven.com post documenting the build. It is easily built in less than an hour for less than $10 in supplies! The only tools reqired are a drill and a saw.
Follow the link for an easy HAMP tutorial using PVC pipe, duct tape, and yarn, plus more videos and links to more complex guns that use the HAMP for propulsion.
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
How-To: Carve a Stone Bowl
Want to make a gift to eternity? Nothing says forever quite like a handmade stone bowl. Maker extraordinaire Tim Anderson writes our Heirloom Technology column each issue of MAKE, and for Volume 24, he shared his technique for carving a stone bowl. Head over to Make: Projects for the full tutorial. As Anderson notes, “Fortunately, tools with diamond-studded cutters have become cheap and abundant. They make stone carving amazingly fast and easy. The same techniques seen here can of course be used to make any sort of stone objects you desire. My bowl is heavy and shallow because I plan to use it for a mortar to make nut butter. And I want it to last forever.” What kind of bowl will you make?
March 26 2012
A MAKE Reader Builds the Solar Pendulum from Volume 28
Tom Buchanan, a retired teacher, emailed to let us know he successfully built Owen Tanner’s solar pendulum, as seen in MAKE: Volume 28, Page 146. He writes:
I really liked both the look and the function of Owen Tanner’s solar pendulum. My box base was made from 1/4″ poplar and pine (4″x6″x2.5″) with box joints. I milled a 7/8″ depression for the coil done with a Forstner bit, and then stained it cherry.
I put some some ball feet on the bottom with removable screws so that the bottom panel could be removed to access the circuit and internal wiring in case I messed something up. I found an old brass plumbing tube for the upright (9″) and some thinner wall 1/4″ brass tubing for the horizontal beam (7.5″). The solar panels are supported by an angled brass music-stand shaped piece attached to some 9/32″ brass tubing that just slipped over the 1/4″ tube, and I found an old lamp bulb-base for the support base which is bolted to the box. The beam, upright tubes, and solar panel assembly were soldered with a low temperature hard solder and then the solar panel holder and 9/32″ pendulum support rings were super-glued to the horizontal beam.
Mr. Tanner’s pictorial circuit diagram was both clear and easy to follow. And, as he indicated, getting the wiring through the soldered upright and horizontal tubing was a little tricky; I used a length of thin, strong wire bent into a elongated V-shape to fish the wiring through the tubes and then checked the fished wiring with a meter to make sure I hadn’t stripped and shorted the wires when I pulled them through.
After assembling everything, I was getting ready to check the pendulum’s function with a battery when I was happily surprised to see it start swinging all by itself under my shop work-light. We’ll see how long my bearing surfaces hold up (brass rings slightly lubricated).
All in all, I really enjoyed putting this together and was very pleased that everything worked just fine as soon as I finished…thanks to the very clear instructions provided.
Thanks again for this fun project.
March 09 2012
Real Tools for Kids
Recently, while looking online for woodworking tools appropriately sized for my preschool daughter, I came across some construction sets geared toward children. Thinking fondly of the sets I had when I was little, I looked closely to see if I could find one suited for my kids.
I was intrigued by one kit that promised “real” construction play. While the kits that I played with in elementary school typically included glue, nails, and a rough picture of something I could build with a hammer and maybe a saw, this kit included foam “wood,” plastic tools, and plastic nails. The promotional materials stressed that these are “real materials” and “real tools.” Real: yes. Realistic: no.
The really surprising thing was that this toy is labeled for children ages 6+ and, on Amazon, has a manufacturer’s recommended age range of 6–15. Minutes earlier I’d been confidently pricing hand drills and hammers. Now this toy seemed to be telling me I should wait on those tools until my daughter reaches middle school. So how old is old enough to hand kids real tools?
Making objects is similar to making music. We would think it outrageous to wait until a student reaches university to give them their first non-toy musical instrument. However, many students reach their first year of college without much experience with tools. I recently spoke to an engineering professor who mentioned that when he asked a class of 35 first-year engineering students how many had used a drill press before, not a single hand went up. How many had taken apart one of their toys when they were younger? Again, not a single student raised a hand. And that’s in a roomful of future engineers.
The more I research children and tool use, the more I notice how things have changed. Kids were once trusted with real, metal tools.In the early 20th century, it was common for elementary schools to teach manual training. In 1900, Frank Ball, a teacher at the University Elementary School in Chicago, wrote, “At the present time no thoroughly equipped school is complete without its department of manual training or construction work.” A book written in 1964 by John Feirer and John Lindbeck, of the Industrial Education Department at Western Michigan University, talks about outfitting elementary school shops and advises that the tools should be maintained well, since “the sharp, well-cared-for tool is safe, easy and fun to use.” Very rarely these days do we hear “fun,” “sharp,” and “elementary school” in the same conversation.
As a parent and a teacher, I understand the fear of injuries, and suspect it’s one of the reasons behind the decline in kids gaining hands-on skills. When it comes to tools, our risk aversion is causing more harm than good. The promotional video for the abovementioned “real” construction set showed how safe the tools are by having a child saw his hand with no injury. My 16-month-old daughter has plastic tools for now, but I’ll definitely correct her if I see her sawing her arm. We don’t do that with real tools, so I wouldn’t want her to do it with her plastic tools.
Combine an eager child, real tools and materials, appropriate training, and supervision, and you’ll be surprised by the results. More importantly, you’ll see a young maker who is gaining a useful skill and confidence in her ability to bring ideas to life.
AnnMarie Thomas teaches in the engineering and engineering education programs at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. She’s also the mother of two young makers.
This column first appeared in MAKE Volume 29, on page 27.
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
March 08 2012
Simple Shop Vac to Hovercraft Mod
Shop Vacs are essential in the workshop, but sometimes the casters seem to have a mind of their own. How about using the vacuum’s discharge air to make it obediently float behind you? That’s exactly what maker Bill Wells did, and his how-to appears on the pages of MAKE Volume 29. Bill essentially took off the wheels, attached the vacuum to a hover deck made of MDF, installed an additional hover hose to direct the discharge air, and added a hover skirt made from old exercise mat foam. Check out the full mod on Make: Projects. Build one and never be annoyed with those casters again.
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
March 07 2012
Eureka! — Danger
Here is the latest installment of Roy Doty’s comic strip, “Eureka,” from the pages of MAKE Volume 29. To see the whole series, visit the Eureka! archive.
MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
March 03 2012
Propane Nerf Dart Cannon Causes Damage
In MAKE Volume 29 we published the Better Nerf Gun project by Simon Jansen. It’s a lovingly hand-crafted Nerf dart gun made from machined metal, PVC pipe, and wood — the kind of foam dart weapon that you might will to your grandchildren as an heirloom.
Simon Jansen's Better Nerf Gun
While the characteristics of Nerf darts and PVC were being explored for the project’s test-build at Make: Labs, engineering intern Dan Spangler came up with simpler and more powerful (if perhaps less elegant) Nerf dart propulsion device: a 1/2″ ID PVC pipe barrel stuck into a capped 2″ PVC pipe chamber, with a flint igniter from a propane lantern installed in the cap on the back.
Warning: Potentially Dangerous Pyro Ahead. To operate the mini dart cannon, one loads a dart into the detached barrel and fills the chamber with fuel from a BernzOmatic mini torch (with trigger pulled halfway to dispense the fuel without clicking the igniter). Then the barrel is fit onto the adapter fitting on the front chamber, and the lantern igniter knob is turned to fire.
One foam dart fired across spacious Labs hit a whiteboard hard enough to create a sizable dent.
Dan Spangler fires the propane Nerf dart cannon
Dent in whiteboard caused by safe Nerf foam mini-dart fired at high speed
February 24 2012
Build the Eyeboard Open Source Eye-Tracking Project
When 18-year-old Honduran maker Luis Cruz met a quadriplegic high school classmate and learned about the challenges he and other folks with disabilities face in the light of expensive assistive communication technologies, he was inspired to devise a solution. What Luis came up with is the Eyeboard: an inexpensive yet reliable human-computer interface that detects eye movements using electrooculography (EOG), a biomedical technique based on picking up signals from electrodes placed around the eyes, which in this case enables users who can’t manipulate a mouse or trackpad to move a cursor on a screen. Luis wrote about his project in an eye tracking feature on the pages of MAKE Volume 29, alongside Zach Lieberman’s EyeWriter project. Here is Luis’ article on the Eyeboard design and development:
The eyeball generates a voltage of 0.4mV–1.0mV (millivolts) between its cornea in front and retina in back. If you attach electrodes on opposite sides of the eye, they’ll pick up some of this voltage, depending on where the eyeball is pointing. Looking straight ahead, with the cornea and retina equidistant between the electrodes, there will be no voltage. But with the eyeball angled to one side, you can measure a microvolt-level signal between the
electrodes nearer the cornea and the one opposite. EOG can track both horizontal and vertical movements, but horizontal is easier and more useful. My system, like many others, only tracks horizontal using 3 electrodes: one right next to each eye,and the ground electrode centered on the bridge of the nose or forehead.A processor chip or even an oscilloscope cannot detect such small voltages, so the EOG system must amplify them, while also filtering out any noise from nearby electrical devices and wiring. You can see the circuit I built to accomplish this, along with step-by-step instructions for building my EOG system and programming its microcontroller chip, at makeprojects.com.
To amplify the signal initially, I use an INA118 instrumentation amplifier chip configured with a 100Ω resistor between pins 1 and 8, which gives it a gain of 501. The INA118 chip’s high CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio) of 110dB eliminates common signals that go into both inputs, which removes some noise at the start of the signal path.
Noise from electrode circuits tends to come at high frequencies, so mine uses 2 passive low-pass filters in sequence, to reduce this noise above their cutoff frequency of around 16Hz. With the circuit I used, the formula for the cutoff is 1 /2πRC, where R is resistance and C is capacitance, so with a 100kΩ resistor and a 0.1µF cap, this comes out to 15.9Hz, which is fine; eye movements aren’t so fast that filtering cuts out anything important.
Finally, a capacitor zeroes the signal by removing the DC offset added by the resting potential between the eyes, and a voltage follower circuit lets you connect a higher source impedance device than the EOG output’s impedance, which is useful to connect an oscilloscope or multimeter for troubleshooting. To power the system, I use two 7805 voltage regulators wired in a trick way to supply the circuit with +5V, –5V, and ground (0V), eliminating the need for a dual power supply.
To process the amplified signal when the eyes move horizontally, I feed it into the analog-digital converter pin of an AT-mega328P microcontroller that’s programmed to send the data to a computer via serial port. A Python script on the computer then sends the data to a C++ applet I wrote, which lets the user spell out messages. Looking to the left scrolls down through letters, and looking to the right selects them. To make wearing the electrodes more comfortable, I mounted them to some glasses modded with a headband and super glue. I’ve built several prototypes of these EOG glasses with good results.
I’m still improving this EOG system, including looking for ways to make it more comfortable to wear. I’m pleased to have developed a system for less than $200 that enables disabled people, like my classmate, to communicate, when commercial versions of the same cost a minimum of $10,000. I’d also like to create inexpensive EOG-interface systems for other applications, such as controlling a wheelchair or a television. I just graduated from high school, and what I need most of all in order to pursue these ideas is a scholarship, sponsor, or other funding source so that I can study electrical engineering in the United States.
Here’s the Reuters coverage of Luis’ project from December 2011:
Build your own Eyeboard by following the instructions Luis shared on Make: Projects.
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
February 23 2012
Make: Talk 006 – William Gurstelle, Backyard Ballistics
Here’s the 6th episode of MAKE‘s podcast, Make: Talk! In each episode, I’ll interview one of the makers featured in the magazine.
Our maker this week is William Gurstelle. He’s a contributing editor to MAKE and his books include Backyard Ballistics, Adventures from the Technology Underground, and Absinthe and Flamethrowers. In addition, Bill writes frequently on culture and technology for national magazines and blogs including The Atlantic, Wired, and Popular Science.
Here’s are some projects William has done for MAKE:
Two-Can Stirling Engine
Bullwhip
Double Pendulum
Super Tritone Shop Whistle
Rock Out Hands Free with Air Guitar Hero
Biomechanical engineer Robert Armiger and surgical roboticist Carol Reiley, both of Johns Hopkins University, created Air Guitar Hero as a fun rehabilitation exercise for people with amputations. The original version they made was a bit costly, but they wrote up a less expensive DIY version, and shared their build instructions with us on the pages of MAKE Volume 29. Now we’ve shared the full how-to on Make: Projects. Whether you intend to build your own or use the concepts to build something entirely different, the info is freely available for you to play with.
How does it work?
When a muscle contracts or flexes, it produces electrical activity. While faint (in the millivolt range), these signals can be detected by placing electrode sensors on the skin. The technology to measure, evaluate, and process muscular electricity is called electromyography (EMG). Air Guitar Hero uses EMG to send signals to the Wii console to control the game. But since the electrical signal generated by twiddling your fingers is very weak, additional computation must be performed to generate reliably accurate commands. The system uses pattern recognition algorithms to identify patterns in the EMG signals and decide which colored button to activate. The algorithms require training data to provide examples of what signal characteristics to look for. First, you must correctly play on-screen notes with the guitar while the electrodes record your EMG signals. Next, the recorded data is used to train a model for recognition the next time you make those movement patterns. Third, practice makes perfect! Playing this type of video game can be useful for building muscle tone and dexterity.
You play air guitar, moving your (A) 4 fingers corresponding to the first 4 “note” buttons on the Guitar Hero controller. (B) Electrodes on your arm detect tiny electrical signals from the muscles that move your fingers. These (C) EMG signals are boosted by (D) amplifiers, each on their own channel. The amplified signals are gathered by the (E) data acquisition board, which sends them on to the (F) laptop computer. The (G) USB video capture device pulls the Guitar Hero video from the (H) Wii video game console into the computer, for purposes of training the software. The (I) Air Guitar Hero software interprets the mixture of EMG signals as one of the 4 button-pressing motions, then sends the corresponding button command over to the (J) hacked GH controller which relays it to the Wii. It sends the Strum command automatically when you hit the note. You’re rocking out!
Here’s a video of Iraq war veteran amputee and Open Prosthetics Project founder Jon Kuniholm demoing the Air Guitar Hero:
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
February 22 2012
Make: Projects – Tiny Wanderer Bump Sensor and “Moth” Behavior
MAKE magazine Volume 29 and Make: Projects have a great how-to by Doug Paradis on building the Tiny Wanderer, a cute and flexible robot with a $2 Atmel ATtiny85 chip for a brain (for more processing power, you can swap in an Arduino). “Tiny” was developed by the Dallas Personal Robotics Group for their introductory robotics lecture series and has become a hit, both in and out of the classroom.
Doug and the rest of the DPRG gang are always experimenting and coming up with new mods for Tiny, both hardware and software, and he has recently posted two them to Make: Projects. One is modifying Tiny to use a single bump sensor in place of its two homemade IR ranging sensors. This will leave room for two sensors, and the project is a lead-in for some other sensors you can add.
The other mod gives Tiny light-seeking “Moth” behavior, or light-avoiding anti-Moth behavior (“Mole” maybe? Other suggestions?) enabled by swapping two up-pointing CdS photocell sensors onto Tiny’s feelers.
You can buy a Tiny Wanderer Complete Kit or the Tiny Wanderer Parts Pack (without the acrylic body pieces) from the Maker Shed.
Learn how to make the Tiny Wanderer in MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
February 11 2012
Making More Makers (and Why It Matters)
In the lead-up to tomorrow’s Dale Dougherty/MAKE segment on “The Next List” (Sunday, 2pm EST), CNN has posted an article by Dale entitled How to Make More ‘Makers’ – and Why It Matters.
Makers start with that simple idea to do something, which is why we call it DIY – for “do it yourself.” Soon, however, they find out that there are lots of people like you out there. When you find others, you have a community and that community offers a place to show your work, trade tools and swap ideas, and just have fun.
We can find all kinds of makers in our communities. Yet we also want to help create more makers. Through education and community outreach, we can offer the opportunity to make things to more people, but particularly children. They might find these opportunities at school but also at community centers, summer camps and science centers, or even at home. My goal is that all people, young and old, come to see themselves as makers, creators and doers because I know that the people who have the skills and knowledge to make things have the power to make the world a better place.
The article also includes another video excerpt from “The Next List” piece.
Please Note: After the show tomorrow, Dale Dougherty (@dalepd) will be hosting a Q&A on twitter (#make). We hope you’ll join us.
How to Make More ‘Makers’ – and Why It Matters
More:
- White House Celebrates Young Makers Along with Science Fair Winners
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta Of CNN Visits MAKE
February 06 2012
Meet the Makers, MAKE Volume 29: Doug Paradis
Meet Doug Paradis, a member of the Dallas Personal Robotics Group and Dallas Makerspace. In MAKE Vol 29, Doug wrote about making the Tiny Wanderer, a beginner-level robot that autonomously navigates with a $2 microcontroller. Doug is interested in microcontrollers, robots, crafts, and fishing.
What’s your background?
I live in Richardson, TX, a suburb of Dallas with my wife Susan. I am an Electrical Engineer by profession. I backpack, fly fish, build robots, play with microprocessors, do some leather work, and build clocks. All of these activities provide interesting projects.
Why do you like making things?
Making things is fun. I constantly find myself asking “How could this be done differently?” when engaged in almost any activity, I take great pleasure in learning a new technique or skill. With each skill I learn, more possibilities open up.
Tell us about your Tiny Wanderer project, which you wrote about in MAKE.
The Tiny Wanderer was built as a demonstration tool for a series of lectures held by Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) in early 2011. It turned out to be a great training aid and beginner project. The lecture series covered; PCB fabrication using the toner transfer method, Using KiCAD, Programming the ATTiny, Using Inkscape, and State Machines. Videos of all the presentations are available on DPRG’s YouTube channel.
What are your upcoming projects?
I’m currently building an autonomous navigating robot for an inside environment. The next step will be a robot suitable for outdoors roaming. My hope is to be able to allow it to go off into the woods and have it return to its starting point. I am also very interested in designing my version of a homemade CNC router. I have to fight to stay focused, because there are so many interesting projects to build. I attempt to follow a philosophy of having a main project that I drive to completion, while using some real simple projects to help me recharge my ideas on the main project.
Can you tell us about one of your favorite tools?
As a member of Dallas Makerspace and Dallas Personal Robotics Group, I have access to a Full Spectrum laser cutter. This tool, along with Inkscape, has allowed me to quickly explore ideas and design choices with incredible speed and accuracy.
Here are more Tiny Wanderer Videos:
Video of Tiny Wanderer (Make kit) in avoidance sensor configuration
Video of Tiny Wanderer (Make kit) in line following configuration
Video of Tiny Wanderer (not Make kit) doing line following
Video of Tiny Wanderer on table (not Make kit)
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
January 21 2012
Dr. Sanjay Gupta Of CNN Visits MAKE
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, of CNN, came to the MAKE HQ in Sebastopol today. He got to meet our team of interns and see our work at Make: Labs. He and I recorded an interview and we did several demos of making in action for the program. Dr. Gupta, who is a surgeon, said that he was a tinkerer as a kid and wished he had more of it in school. So, safe to say, Sanjay understood what’s happening at MAKE. We did the Squishy Circuits project and the Supercap racer as well as showcasing the MakerBot printer and other tools we use in the lab. Gupta met the students of the Project: Make class, which were in session. He could see how excited students were to be engaged in the process of making.
I showed Dr. Gupta old torn copies of Popular Mechanics and how MAKE is an updated version of what those old magazines once offered. When I said that today’s hackers were much like those tinkerers in the past — wanting to know how things work and taking them apart to do new things with them — he understood what we meant by “hacking.” He said that even as a surgeon, he needs to be able to hack tools. I was especially proud to show Dr. Gupta the current “DIY Superhuman” issue of MAKE, which features surgical roboticist, Carol Reilly and many cool projects that involve science and making.
Click to view slideshow.Dr. Gupta is the host of the The Next List on CNN and an episode of the show about MAKE and me will air on CNN Sunday, February 5th.
January 13 2012
Make: Live 1/11/12 (video)
Last night’s Make: Live marks our season two premiere, and we peeked at projects from the new MAKE Volume 29, learned about an innovative dog toy, and hung out together live in the chat. We’re trying something new with the archive: you can view the entire show in the Make: Live 24 playlist YouTube we’ve created for the episode. You can skip to different segments of the show and share single clips individually.
Show Notes:
- Hamster-powered submarine
- Ask MAKE: Hospital Availability Toggle Switch
- MakerBot Replicator announced
- Maker Shed discount code: 15% off the Mintronics Survival Pack with code MAKELIVE2. Code valid through 1/24/2012
- Becky’s ASCII Heart Necklace
- MAKE Volume 29: DIY Superhuman
- North Paw and HeartSpark
- Josh Billions’ MapBag
- Deek’s Solar Passive Heater
- Maker Shed Giveaway prizes: Mintronics: Survival Pack, Pulse Sensor, LilyPad Beginner’s Kit, MAKE Ultimate Kit Guide
Subscribe to the Make: Live Podcast in iTunes, watch Make: Live episode 23 in its entirety (or download in m4v format). Also check out the chat room transcript!
Want to show us your project? Email live@makezine.com, and your project could be on a future episode.
Episode 24 features a sneak peek at MAKE v29 and more [full episode | chat transcript]
Michael Newman – Amazing Treat Machine Dog Toy
Michael developed this toy for his pup Hustler, who has limited mobility. He wrote in with a special video tour of his Amazing Treat Machine just for Make: Live viewers. Arf!
Bill Gurstelle – DIY Tuning Fork
In his ReMaking History column for MAKE v29, Bill Gurstelle shows you how to make your own tuning fork from a piece of aluminum.
Becky Stern – Beating Heart Headband
Also from the new issue, see how Becky built a pulse-monitoring headband with a heart-shaped LED display.
Make: Live 25
Wednesday January 25th, 9pm ET/6pm PT
Watch at makezine.com/live or on UStream
Please join us in the UStream chat or mark tweets with #makelive to interact live with the show.
January 12 2012
Make a Tuning Fork – ReMaking History
To complement his ReMaking History column in MAKE Volume 29, Bill Gurstelle shows you how to make a tuning fork with some simple tools and a strip of aluminum.
Subscribe to the MAKE Magazine Extras podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube or Vimeo.
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