There are lots of Nerd Kits project examples available. Josh Davis used the LED Array Sign project and added a cool option for the sign to display voice messages left with the help of a Google voice to text service. Josh has documented the project here and has made the code available. Via: Make "On the software side of things, there are two python scripts that make everything happen.
If you like classic video games and robots you need to have a look at this Roomba Pac-Man system. At a glance it may look like a fun game where the Roomba cleaners are being controlled by a bunch of remote controls that people are controlling. That low tech scenario could not be further from what is actually happening here. There is lots of tech making these Roomba robots
Have a look at this beautiful Mini Acrylic Tesla Coil Project that our friend Daniel Eindhoven from Megavolts.nl put together. The build detail on this project might even rival the MV CoilMaster Mark1 Coil Gun! "A small TeslaCoil fully made of acrylic plastic. The cool thing about this is that every part is transparent. This coil is driven by the power supply of my large DC Teslacoil. Total height
There is some great innovation coming out of the Elevator Space Race. The University of Saskatchewan’s Space Design Team has been in it from the start and has some promising technology. The video describes the monumental task quite well. It goes to show that with some prize money on the line a task as challenging as the space elevator is something that many will choose to pursue. Via: Space
The R1 Radio reminds me of a roller ball mouse without the roller ball. When you move it up and down you control the volume, right and left adjusts the tuning. We have seen some other fun music players that use physical movement to interact with them, I think there is a use for this technology other than just the cool novelty factor. Via: OhGizmo and Dvice "By using
This 5kV Induction Gun can shoot aluminum rings with some intense force. I have seen flying ring toys before which fly nice and straight. I wonder if the ring design is better than the typical bullet shaped projectiles we see on most of these guns. "First portable induction accelerator in Russia. Capacitor energy 500j 5kV voltage, ring speed about 200m/s "
One way to learn lots about a protocol is by implementing a bit banged version. Openschemes shares with us his experimentation with the Arduino and the FT232 chip. "We’ve been considering the synchronous bit bang mode of the FT232R for an upcoming project. The first steps towards something like this are always to build up a little debug board or test bench that can be used for debug and
