Alan Parekh

Gesture Based Security Lock Project

  Instead of using keys and codes for security this device that Ankur Thakkar, Darshan Shah and Saisrinivasan Mohankumar built as part of their ece4760 Final Project uses gestures to grant access. The system uses IR sensors to determine the movement of a persons hand within the detection area, after you train the unlock pattern you can simply repeat the pattern to activate the device. I think a small miniature

Delta 3D Printer used to Laser Engrave

  Z LeHericy shows us how he used a WickedLasers Spyder Arctic 3 laser to do some laser etching. This hand held laser is very powerful at 2 watts but it isn’t much compared to real laser etching machines such as the one that was used to make the etched orange, this one for example is 60 watts. The result of the leather etching is quite nice but I am

Electric Scooter MK-1 Build Log

  Check out the Electric Scooter MK-1 Build Log, Dane from transistor-man.com has done some cold weather testing and it looks like it works quite well! “The electrical layout for the MK 1 scooter is fairly straightforward. Everything starts from the 12S 4p cylindrical battery module. A Cooper Bussman 120A circuit breaker sits between the battery and the rest of the scooter. Note that, while there are a number of

Infrared Eye-Tracking Computer Mouse

  This Infrared Eye-Tracking Computer Mouse uses some interesting methods of creating a eye controlled computer mouse. The intent is the you would be able to ditch the desk mouse and simply put on a pair of glasses. The system would be a self contained battery operated system that doesn’t have you tethered to your computer with a cable. “We have a pair of 3-D printed glasses with plastic lenses.

Custom Christmas Ornaments with Spherebot

  The Spherebot would be a great way to design some unique Christmas Tree Ornaments. “Our Spherebot is made of two stepper motors and a servomotor; as mentioned, a motor serves to rotate the ball on the axis, while the second motor allows to move the marker around the circumference of the sphere. The servomotor is used to raise and lower the pen. To allow anyone to easily edit the

Open Guitar Pedal

   If you are a guitar player and like tinkering with electronics this Open Guitar Pedal will probably be of interest. “The shield has three parts: The Input Stage or Preamp: Amplifies the guitar input signal and sends it to the Arduino microcontroller to be processed.  Arduino Board: It does all the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) modifying the signal and adding the effect (delay, echo, distortion, volume…). The Output Stage:

Weiser and Kwikset Smart Key Insecurities

  In the average year I need to change 5 or 6 sets of locks. My usual practice is to purchase an inexpensive lock from the local hardware store and simply toss out the original lock and install a new one. This is normally cheaper and faster than having the locks re-keyed. The old lock can also be used in less secure locations if desired. I was thinking it might