It can be challenging to get motivated to keep on a consistent exercise routine. I find it much easier to get into the groove when there is something interesting to keep your mind active. Lior Elazary has developed a great Interactive Punching Bag which is based around an Arduino microcontroller system. The sensor is a great idea and could be made from a few things around the house (assuming you
Hack A Day had a cool contest where the goal was to build a Walking Santa. You can see the entries and winners here. There were lots of cool hacks but I like this one by Adam Outler the best. An Arduino controls the new Santa robot and some transistors are used to power the existing Santa motors. The new and improved Santa looks a bit mad but he has
Gauss Weapons are lots of fun because there is some cool science making them work. At first glance it doesn’t look like anything special would happen with the typical Gauss Gun setup. As each magnet/ball bearing chain is reached the energy and speed increases. The effect is stunning because there is no explosives or electrical energy being used, just some normal magnets and the Gauss Gun setup is all you
Finding a case for your latest project is often a challenge. I am always on the lookout for a non standard case that could be re purposed into an electronic project case. I think my fish tank lights is about the best example I have of what I have done when there wasn’t a proper project case available. For another great example of using what is available for a project
Our friend Carlos from Carlitos’ Contraptions has joined the Aldebaran Developer Program, they make the Nao humanoid platform. Thanks to Carlos we will get a first hand view into how this robot works and what it can do. At $16,000 it isn’t a toy but as a humanoid development platform that is a decent price. It reminds me a bit of the RoboSapien but is much bigger and has a
Johnny Lee from Procrastineering (who we interviewed about 3 years ago) made a great DIY Video Chat Robot project. He is using a Roomba as the movable robotic platform and a netbook as the video conferencing system. Skype is used to do the actual telepresence. We did an article about the Anybot Telepresence Robot recently which is the same idea in a more polished package but essentially provides the same
We recently featured the DIY Electronic Watering System which used technology take care of your plant for you but what if you still want to be involved but just need some reminders to keep your plants alive? Have a look at the Talking Plant Project that jeff-o made called The Plant Whisperer. We have all heard that talking to your plants is good for them but I wonder if having
