Thanks to Csaba for sending in this very nice looking display. The frosted blue LEDs have a great effect! Project code (zip). "Motor An old tape recorder motor. With this load it can rotate about 7.4/s. The image is flashing, it should rotate about 25/s. For supply a 7809 IC is used. Supply of the rotor The commutator of another similar motor is used (crw_1511) and a 3 phase
Our friend Sprite_tm has had some time to play a clever prank. Some HP printers have the ability for code to modify what is being displayed on the status screen. This HP Printer Display Hack uses that feature to make a stand alone module that displays some funny comments to the roommate that felt that it was OK to leave a bunch of printers laying around for others to
This drum robot was built for about $50 and a bit of time. I think this is the perfect thing to get kids involved and interested in electronics and robots. "The"body for this bot is from an old toy motor housing. The perfect size for covering all the wires, speaker, and other robot guts. (Since I have small children, this is a necessity for the bot to have any
Seems like there is tremendous amount of information over at LUTEC Australia PTY describing their technology but is any of it real? I have seen lots of claims over the years form companies like this but none of them have turned out to be feasible. "In order to gain an understanding of the operation of a LEA (Lutec Electricity Amplifier) it must be understood that there are actually three
Luke (The Uber Maker) had written a good article that goes through the basics of connecting a Wiimote to a computer so that you can capture the data from the Wiimote buttons and movement so that it can be used as desired on your computer. "Most people don’t know that the Wiimote communicates with the Wii via a Bluetooth wireless link. The Bluetooth controller is a Broadcom 2042 chip,
Mark Csele has built a Laser Light Show Controller based on the dsPIC 30F6012 microcontroller. There is a good operational description that could spark some of your own project ideas. "In a basic light show, a beam from a laser is deflected by two galvanometer scanner heads, each of which moves a mirror to steer the beam in the horizontal and vertical direction independently. Given the high speeds
This is a cool video that goes over the basics of DIY Combat Robot building. Nothing very high tech but there is lots of interesting tips such as using cheap cordless drills as robot motors when you are trying to build on the cheap. "RoboGames founder and SFSU School of Engineering instructor, David Calkins, gives Patrick a primer on building a combat robot. From the wheel and controllers to
