2010

KUKA Robot Disassembly

The Geek Group has acquired a retired KUKA robot. They have made a series of videos about taking it apart to see what makes it tick. Lots of the pieces will be re-purposed into other projects that they have on the go. That is one massive robot, I would have preferred to see it brought back to life but it is also interesting seeing how all the bits and pieces

Microcontroller Temperature Controlled Pipe Heating keeps Pipe from Freezing

If you live in a cold climate freezing pipes is a common concern. A frozen pipe is more than an inconvenience since most pipes are copper and the expanding ice can easily burst the pipe. So even after the pipe is thawed out you have a big job ahead since you now need to repair your plumbing. Viktor from Karosium has come up with a cost effective solution to dealing

Double Resonance Solid State TeslaCoil uses a Capacitor Bank integrated into the Primary Coil

Daniel Eindhoven has designed an interesting new Tesla Coil, this Double Resonance Solid State TeslaCoil has a new coil design which has the capacitor bank integrated into the primary coil.  The new coil configuration has been dubbed the Eindhoven Primary. “A new composition of the primary coil for a Double Resonance Solid State TeslaCoil (DRSSTC). It is a combination of wire and capacitors. By making the coil like this you

Rotary Encoder and Shift Registers Explained

Chris Savage from Savage Circuits goes over the basics of Rotary Encoder and Shift Registers in the second of his new video series called Savage Circuits TV. You can see all three videos here. If you are wondering why there is lots of Parallax gear used in the videos, that is because Chris works for Parallax. 🙂 To read more about Rotary Encoders have a look at the Wikipedia page

LEGO Diffraction Grating Projector

I have never seen a project made with a Diffraction Grating before, but this LEGO Diffraction Grating Projector project has a great looking effect. It’s designed by Carl who was featured here before for his RGV Laser System. Those LEGO universal joints have a very wide working angle (watch the video to see what I am talking about). Thanks for sending it in Carl.

DTMF Decoder Board Project using the MT8870

Victor Youk from Razor Concepts has designed a nice DTMF Decoder Board Project. The project is based around the MT8870 DTMF Decoder chip. With this project you will be able to control something from around the block or around the world using a simple telephone. Nice feature of using the MT8870 is you don’t need to program anything, just purchase all the components, stuff them onto a breadboard and have

Name the Thing Contest - 117

Thanks to Rocky Mountain Tracking for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing a Smart Tracker to the winner. The Smart Tracker is a GPS device that is mounted in your vehicle and can be used to track your vehicle in real time. Great if your car gets stolen or you forget where you parked it. 🙂 You can use the NavIQ mapping software to pull up where