2008

Automatic Turn Signal Control

  This Automatic Turn Signal Control project by Dick Streefland could help add some cool new functionality to your car. Code is provided. "The behavior of the software can be controlled by a push button and a LED on the dashboard. You can change the blink count, blink interval, maximum activation pulse width, and the behavior of the LED. These settings are stored in EEPROM. To inspect one of the

Coil Gun

  Power Labs has put together a nice powerful Coil Gun. The principle behind most of these coil guns are the same however it looks like Sam has some nice tools that make the job a bit easier. "The gun has been completed, and it works! I finalized the design so that I could show it on my presentation on electromagnetic accelerators -which mainly focused on the Rail Gun- for

CNC Machine built using Washing Machine Motors

  Remember the Fisher & Paykel Smart Drive Washing Machine Wind Generator from earlier this month? Well it looks like there is more uses for those motors! How about recycling 3 used washing machines into a huge powerful CNC machine. It takes a bit of work but apparently the 3 phase stepper motor makes for a good and accurate CNC motor. "The motors from a fisher and pykel washing machine

Robotic Self Balancing Table

  I wonder if the self balancing craze will make it into some real products (other than the Segway). I want a robot like this one that follows me around the house with a laptop. That way I will always be ready to get some work done when the urge strikes. What I really want to see is the same idea but built on a Ballbot type system. 🙂 "A

Computer in a Briefcase

  If you are needing to use your computer on the move why not hack it into a briefcase like imp558 has done. "The next step will be to install my device programmer so it just shows a socket and indicator, and some black paint on the monitor brackets. The monitor is safely behind a piece of Lexan but it’s hard to see. The reason for this project is that

Ball-E Color Following Robot - Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontrollers Project

  The Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontrollers Project fall 2008 results are up. This Ball-E colored ball following robot is just one of many cool projects. Cathy Chen and Matt Meister did a great job of documenting the project for us to enjoy! This year Bruce Land gave the students a Altera/Terasic DE2 FPGA development board to let their creative juices flow. "Our project’s goal was to create an

Name the Thing Contest - 71

This contest will run for one week (Dec 13 – Dec 18, 2008) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it. Note that the picture shows the device in a cutaway model so that the inside workings are visible, the actual make and model is not needed this time. Please do