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Students build self-balancing TIPI robot, plan new world order (video)
Remember this guy, the QB robot that was priced at a whopping 15 grand? Seemingly, the webcam wheeler inspired a team of young minds at the University of Waterloo, who've unleashed the DIY in themselves to build one of their own. TIPI, or Telepresence Interface by Pendulum Inversion, was designed to give humans the feeling that they're not actually talking to a six-foot tall cyclops cyborg with an LCD face and webcam eye, but rather, evoke the emotions drawn when speaking the old, conventional, face-to-face way. Thanks to this team of mechatronics engineers, the low-cost TIPI uses an accelerometer, gyro and pendulum to balance by itself and can be remotely controlled while communicating via its Beagle Board and Polulu Orangutan SVP brain. Head past the break to see the robot struttin' its stuff -- oh, and get ready to rave. You'll see what we mean.
DIY business card displays your info via persistence of vision, fails to impress Patrick Bateman (video)
Still fancy the age-old business card and enjoy outrageous DIY projects that may or may not make you look foolish? Continue on then, dear reader. The peeps over at Instructables have provided a lengthy and seemingly difficult set of directions on how to craft a persistence of vision business card. POV allows your eyes to see text or images generated by light waving back and forth -- in other words, your name is displayed by swinging your arm in a giant circle. If you're cool with this, hit the source link, build your own and be sure to let us know how many contacts you make.
Original iPad retrofitted to play nice with Smart Cover, magnets largely to thank (video)
Although we don't exactly know how they work, magnets are one of Earth's many fascinations and are used in many gadgets today -- perhaps most notably in Apple's new Smart Covers. As you might have already known, the iPad 2's first party screen concealer uses a bunch of magnets to make the magic happen; it snaps on and fits almost too well. By taking a few rare earth magnets and gluing them to the original slate's hip, blogger Dan Provost is able to use a Smart Cover with the iPad uno. He positioned them according to how they stuck to the hinge of the cover, which explains the lack of spacing between the four magnets. As you'll see in the video, Apple's screen protector works well with the tablet, but it lacks the auto-unlock mechanism found in the iPad 2. Care to give your original iPad a taste of modernity? Hit the more coverage link to find the main ingredient for this DIY project.
NES becomes world's least efficient flash drive (video)
Hold on to your Zapper, because we're about to blow some minds -- this Nintendo Entertainment System has been outfitted with a USB port, and its Tetris cartridge transformed into an 8GB USB flash drive. Not only that, there are simple step-by-step instructions to craft your own online, so you too can slot, socket, mount and feel blissfully anachronistic all the same time. Speaking of time -- it looks like we've finally got a sufficiently retro alternative to your Iomega ZIP drive.
Man builds machine to push phone buttons from half a world away (video)
If your ambition was to travel the world, and your job to push the buttons of three cellphones located in South Korea, you might go insane. That seems to be what happened to Mok Young Bak, at least, when he invented the crazy contraption depicted in the video above. Called the Caduceus, it's a telepresence machine that does just one thing -- it controls every single button on each of those three phones with a series of servo motors and actuator cables, and moves a pendulum-like webcam so he can clearly see each screen from wherever he happens to be. That way, he can enjoy tourism while leaving his livelihood within reach, at least so long as concerned neighbors don't assume the terrible din is, say, a killer robot assembly line, and insist that police investigate.
Chinese designer makes Megatron tank a steel-toothed reality
It doesn't move and it certainly doesn't transform, but we're still not sure we'd stand anywhere near this jagged metal contraption ripped right out of the silver screen. The giant Megatron tank replica from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen not only looks like it'd grind us up like so much beef beneath its spiky treads, it reportedly weighs five tons and stands eight feet tall. It's allegedly constructed entirely out of scrap metal by a designer known as "Steel Legend" -- a honorific that we imagine few will dare question now. If only it could take on junkyard Optimus Prime in a Beijing Battle Royale. More pics of the tank at our source links below! [Thanks, leungxd]
Nanocade kit now on sale in the USA, somewhat less pricy at $229
If you asked us to drop $350 for 23 pieces of laser-cut plastic, we'd probably shoo you away, but it's hard to resist the incredible charm of the Nanocade. Besides, designer Rasmus Sorensen's actually selling the miniature arcade cabinet parts for just $229 right now, which makes the decision to finally build your own MAME machine a wee bit more affordable. You'll still need to supply all the internals yourself, including buttons, an arcade stick, a monitor and glue, and even should you succeed, good luck prying guests away from your new coffee table conversation piece. Find the basic kit in your choice of Midnight Black or Arctic White at our source link. Note: It's a bit of a bummer, but the Nanocade website says that handsome curved control panel displayed above actually isn't part of the initial kit -- it comes with a pair of flat pieces that meet at a (seemingly) wrist-chafing angle instead.
Homebuilt UAV hunts down hydrogen balloons, shoots firework missiles (video)
Augmented reality is swell, don't get us wrong, but it's no substitute for the real thing -- especially when that thing is a badass tricopter equipped with a jury-rigged firework cannon to rain down miniature hell. Swedish R/C enthusiasts built this first-person flying contraption to carry out a single mission -- destroy a series of hydrogen-filled balloons -- which will hopefully be hard-coded into future automatons too. After all, balloons could serve as an excellent distraction when they inevitably come for you. Still, there's no need to worry quite yet, so kick back and enjoy the video above while you contemplate humanity's end.
iPhone headset socket hijacked to power DIY peripherals (video)
Apple's proprietary dock connector may keep would-be peripheral manufacturers at bay, but if you want to build your own iOS companion devices, there's another way. You might have noticed that the Square credit card reader uses Apple's 3.5mm headset jack to transmit power and data at once, and gadgeteers at the University of Michigan are busy open-sourcing the same technique for all the DIY contraptions you can dream of. Project HiJack has already figured out how to pull 7.4 milliwatts out of a 22kHz audio tone, and built a series of prototype boards (including working EKG, temperature, humidity and motion sensors) that transmit data to and from an iOS app at up to 8.82 kbaud -- using just $2.34 worth of electronic components. See the basic principles at work in the video above, and -- as soon as the team updates Google Code -- find out how to build your own at the links below.
Macintosh Plus celebrates 25 years by becoming ultimate DJ headgear (video)
Don't have $65,000 and / or seventeen months to build yourself a Daft Punk helmet? Here's the next best thing: crack open a Macintosh Plus, add an iPad, an old bicycle helmet and some electroluminescent gear, and get to soldering. Originally a school project for design student Terrence Scoville, this visualizer helmet now sits atop the cranium of DJ Kid Chameleon. Because there's nothing like a few digital fireworks to celebrate an old computer's birthday. Video after the break.
'Arduino The Documentary' now available for your streaming pleasure
Over the years we've seen loads of Arduino hacks and mods -- a DIY kit that lets plants tweet, a robotic iPhone, and even touchscreen GBA SP. All of these impressive, heartwarming and otherwise inspiring projects were made possible by the Arduino platform. Just in case you're unfamiliar with what Arduino actually is, let us remind you that it's an open source project geared toward students and other humans who wish to delve into the wild, wacky world of do-it-yourself electronics hardware and software coding. We'd encourage you to check out the documentary in full -- you know, to get the skinny on the company's inception and watch as the Arduino folks talk about their movement and its future -- but we doubt you need our elbowing. Check out all 28 minutes of footage after the break.
Bug Labs gets cozier with Verizon, announces LTE module for speedy DIY devices
Not satisfied with the smattering of LTE products announced at CES thus far? Why not build your own with Bug Labs' modular components? Yes, the open-source hardware manufacturer has teamed with Verizon to offer pre-certified wireless modules once again, though this time they take advantage of the new LTE hotness rather than Verizon's EV-DO network. No word on when we'll be able to sign up to prototype our own phones nor how much they'll cost, but know that even just the base platform will slurp $500 out of your wallet. PR after the break.
Yarn-eating Yarn Monster forms yarn balls, makes us want to build our own (video)
Robots, Arduino, and monsters are all very close to our new-age, gadget-loving hearts. The folks over at Union Bridge Labs have created a half-monster, half-machine dubbed the Yarn Monster. This little cubic beast has one job -- to eat yarn and shape it into a perfectly rolled ball of, well, yarn. It's powered by a ton of hardware, from a stepper motor to Arduino components to even a universal mounting hub. Instructions to control speed of the nom-noming are sent to the Arduino via XBee from a remotely connected potentiometer which can also reverse the direction of yarn-ball rolling. We encourage you to spend your hard-earned dough (about $130), buy the proper components and build one of these things to impress your loved ones. If not though, be sure to watch the video after the break.
Oval bookshelf is the perfect case for this DIY car stereo radio (video)
Got a leftover head unit sitting about? How about a PC power supply? Add a few old speakers, a oval bookshelf, a sewing machine box handle and some carefully prepared wooden panels, and you've got a beautiful retro radio that looks like several hundred bucks. User iminthebathroom built this one for a daughter's Christmas present, but isn't keeping the formula to him or herself -- you'll find a full walkthrough at Instructables if you're in a MacGuyver mood, and a video after the break to show you what the cherry-red contraption can do.
RepRap prints transistors, but fabs have little to fear
Budding hobbyists almost have it too easy these days, what with all the ready-made components, Mindstorms and Arduino boards, but there's still a couple of folks out there kicking it old-school... and printing transistors at home. Yes, that's a RepRap 3D printer you see there, with a MakerBot Unicorn pen head, depositing tiny dots of silver ink to form intricate rows of tiny electrodes. Sadly, the printer doesn't currently automate the entire process, as you'll also need to separately apply a dielectric material and a host of chemicals to get a working field effect transistor from scratch, but once the basic process is perfected the possibilities, as they say, are endless. Now if you'll excuse us, we've got a hot date with some vacuum tubes. Find the basic formula for DIY transistors at our source link.
VCR head gets Frankenstiened into a beefy momentum scroll wheel
We've seen a fair share of VCR hacking in our day, but this momentum scroll wheel built from an old VCR head by Instructables community member Osgeld sets a new bar for jerry-rigging dead technology. Apparently the project arose from a desire to find a 21st century-approved use for the circular part that was gathering dust after being stripped from a spare Sony VHS player. The result is a bulky, yet useful, scroll wheel that can easily be set into motion and sustained via its own inertia to keep spinning for long periods. That feature could prove useful to anyone saddled with a mountain of video editing work, or even you lazy folk just hoping to flick less while reading the web. Unfortunately, a quick glance at Osgeld's DIY tool and part lists indicate you'll need to do quite a bit more than ransack a tape player to get this job done right. But then, when do the good things in life ever come easy?
Man celebrates Halloween with flying ghost helicopter (video)
Some people buy a costume for Halloween. Others piece one together from scratch. Michael Colton makes six-foot-tall flying ghost helicopters that chase children down the street. He pieced this one together from some off-the-shelf R/C quadrocopter parts mounted to a simple aluminum frame, all held together with zip-ties and covered with an old bedsheet. He calls it Mr. T, and we pity the fool who doesn't watch it in action after the break, staged as the performance might be.
Interactive fiction meets interactive typewriter, pilfers the kingdoms of Zork (video)
You are standing in an open field as usual, or perhaps you're in the darkness, likely to be eaten by a grue, but the words aren't etching their way into your soul from the familiar computer terminal -- they're on freshly printed paper. Like a player piano, the Automatypewriter lets you play games like Zork by automatically keying in letters via a series of solenoids and fishing line to tell you where you are, and it records your input, too; every time you type "XYZZY" in vain, it's an Arduino board that sends signals to the text parser, which directs a hollow voice to pity your foolish word. Forget the iPad typewriter -- this is old-school. See it in action after the break, or hit the source link for the schematics to build one yourself. Just be sure to install Planetfall, too.
Computer controlled Bayan from 1988 makes us want to go back to the past
Back in 1988, Russian engineer Vladimir Demin combined a bunch of solenoids (loops of copper wire) and a Bayan (a Russian accordian), to create a self-playable instrument controlled by his awesome, self-built computer. Yes, we're impressed, and you will be too, if you take a look at the video below.
DIY LED place cards are necessary -- if your wedding must be nerdy and work intensive
Weddings are stressful, but if you out your mind to it, they can really reflect who you are as a couple. That's what the above DIY LED place cards could do, should you choose to follow the instructions and make some for your special day... or whatever. Using acrylic sheeting, binder clips, lithium batteries and LEDs, a Dremel tool and a little gumption and you'll have special, super nerdy place cards whipped up in no time. As long as you're sure this project won't be a relationship-ender, hit up the source link to get in on the fun yourself.
