Schlagwort: tech
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This illuminated chessboard displays possible moves
Reading Time: 2 minutesChess is a tricky game to learn, even before you get into various strategies and tactics. The simple act of memorizing the different piece’s moves can be overwhelming to people new to the game. To make it easy to determine where pieces can go, Redditor Bakedbananas is building an illuminated chess board…
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Recreating a century-old Argentinian rainmaking machine
Reading Time: 2 minutesYou’ve heard about the many different snake oil concoctions shilled by con men over the centuries, but did you know that inventors created a variety of machines for similar purposes? The most well-known example is probably the belt vibrator, which purported to induce weight loss. In Argentina during the 1930s, Juan Baigorri…
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Self-guided circular saw automates woodworking
Reading Time: 2 minutesA circular saw is a must-have tool for anyone who wants to do even basic woodworking. But getting clean, straight cuts is a skill that takes practice to develop. To automate the process in order to perform clean cuts every time with zero effort, Red Tie Projects created this self-guided circular saw.…
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Time Slider is an interesting spin on clock design
Reading Time: 1 minuteYou can build a simple and accurate clock with any Arduino board, an RTC (real-time clock) module, and a four-digit seven-segment display. But if you want to be inspired by a more unique design, check out Hans Andersson’s Time Slider. This clever clock features four sliders — one for each digit of…
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Controlling a robot arm over the internet
Reading Time: 2 minutesFor those with an interest in robotics, there is little in this world more enticing than a robot arm. A rover may be able to drive around, but so can a cheap RC car. A robot arm, on the other hand, can do real work, like stacking blocks or moving colored balls…
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Digital barometer channels vintage aesthetics
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThere are many reasons why you might want to know the local barometric pressure. Maybe you do long-range target shooting and want to know how it will affect your ballistic trajectory. Or maybe you want to evaluate the performance of an internal combustion engine. To find that information, you’ll need a…
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Controlling a model railroad with a vintage Atari ST
Reading Time: 2 minutesBack in the ’90s, Cyril Rossignol had a dream of controlling his model railroad with his computer. While that was possible at the time, it wasn’t easy and would have required some serious skill with hardware and programming. But today, thanks to development boards like those from Arduino, this is a much…
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A DIY peristaltic pump controlled by an Arduino
Reading Time: 2 minutesThere are many different fluid pumping mechanisms to choose from, but the peristaltic pump is a great choice when you don’t want the liquid to contact any moving parts. That is ideal for beverage dispensers and medical equipment, because the liquid only touches the tube it runs through and that is easy…
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Detecting falls by embedding ML into clothing
Reading Time: 2 minutesBone density, strength, and coordination all decrease as we age, and this fact can lead to some serious consequences in the form of slips, falls, and other accidents. In Finland, falling is the most common type of accidental death among those age 65 and over, amounting to around 1,200 per year. But…
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James Bruton improves his triangle-tracked tank
Reading Time: 2 minutesTanks are already quite maneuverable, because the tracks allow them to rotate in place. But what if they were even more maneuverable and could drive in any direction? About a year ago, James Bruton built a small robot tank that had that capability thanks to a triangle-shaped track system with omniwheel-style rollers.…
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This little robot helps fight fires
Reading Time: 2 minutesFirefighting is a dangerous profession, but it is possible to mitigate some of that danger with good data. When firefighters entered a burning building, their biggest fear is the unknown. They don’t know if they can trust the structural integrity of the building, if there is a pocket of toxic or explosive…
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This original video game console features a VFD
Reading Time: 2 minutesVFDs (vacuum fluorescent displays) were common a few decades ago and have a nice, distinct glow that many find appealing. But like Nixie tubes and CRTs, VFDs have are outdated and almost obsolete at this point. They can’t come close to matching the price or functionality of modern LCD and OLED screens,…
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Monitoring hospital bed occupancy with an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn care facilities and hospitals, being able to tell when beds are occupied or free is vital knowledge for the staff, as they can move onto other tasks more quickly with up-to-date information. Adam Milton-Barker’s hospital bed occupancy detection system aims to accomplish this goal by combining embedded machine learning models and connected hardware…
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All aboard the java train!
Reading Time: 2 minutesThese days, everyone seems to turn to robots for automating tasks in the physical world. But robots are often clumsy and unreliable — not to mention expensive. Trains, on the other hand, are famous for their reliability. With that in mind, YouTuber James Whomsley designed a model train railway to bring coffee…
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Small, MKR WAN 1310-powered device monitors CO2 levels in classrooms
Reading Time: 2 minutesHumans are animals and like all animals, we evolved in mostly outdoor conditions where the air is nice and fresh. But modern society keeps most of us indoors the vast majority of the time, which could have negative health effects. There are many potential hazards, including a lack of sunlight and psychological…
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Adorable model trolley livens up a garden
Reading Time: 2 minutesModel railroading is a popular hobby going back more than a century, but which has remained largely unchanged for many decades now. The typical model railroad uses an electric locomotive with a motor powered through the rails by DC current, with the polarity of the power supply determining direction and voltage determining…
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Instantly understand 40+ languages, with Speech Recognition Engine
Reading Time: 2 minutesVoice commands are a contactless, hands-free, natural way to interact with devices, equipment, and machines of all kinds: no wonder they are increasingly popular! With speech recognition technology advancing faster than you can say “users expect it,” developers often need to find ways to integrate it in their new projects. This, however,…
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Arduino Nano Every brings Knight Rider sound effects to Knight Rider RC car
Reading Time: 2 minutesKITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) was a fictional car based on a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am in the Knight Rider television series. KITT featured an artificial intelligence, voiced by the legendary William Daniels, and some iconic styling. Savall21 built a replica RC KITT and used Arduino boards to add sound and light effects that…
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The Protector is a life-saving wearable packed with intelligent sensors
Reading Time: 2 minutesExercising outdoors is great for our general health and mental wellbeing, but it also carries some risks that are not always apparent, such as bad air quality, incoming storms, or simply falling down. To assist in tracking these environmental parameters and overall physical activity, Christopher Mendez Martinez created a small wearable device he calls “the…
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This 3D-printed robot is made for sumo battle tournaments
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhile the majority of makers are unable to afford the fancy equipment and components that go into modern state-of-the-art battle robots, there do exist lesser-known tournaments for more DIY designs, including sumo robot battles. Instructables user noclaf8810373’s design incorporates all of the high-powered components one would expect to find, along with an innovative defense mechanism. Construction…
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Using sensor fusion and tinyML to detect fires
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe damage and destruction caused by structure fires to both people and the property itself is immense, which is why accurate and reliable fire detection systems are a must-have. As Nekhil R. notes in his write-up, the current rule-based algorithms and simple sensor configurations can lead to reduced accuracy, thus showing a…
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Iana’s smart glove in real life
Reading Time: 2 minutesRainbow Six is a series of tactical shooter video games dating back to 1998. The series contains many individual titles set in various points of time, from historical wars to fictional futures. Rainbow Six Siege (2015) is set in the future and the character Iana has the ability to project a virtual clone of herself,…
