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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.
'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.
Dear Aunt TUAW: $1.39 iPad holder
Dear Aunt TUAW: Behold the $1.39 iPad holder. It holds the iPad perfectly in both orientations. All of the iPad users in my office have one, and it's the best. It's very very stable, too. Love and kissies, Your nephew Joel
Cut-rate, webcam-based 3D scanner coming soon to a MakerBot store near you
3D scanning seems magical enough without bringing things like Lego Mindstorms contraptions into the mix. Now a cat named Andy Barry (a research engineer at NASA Ames Research Laboratory's Autodesk Innovations Lab) has gone and built one out of a webcam, a laser, and a whole lot of moxie. The premise is pretty straight-forward: a red laser sweeps across an object while the webcam keeps an eye on the beam's deflection (the more the beam shifts, the closer the object is to the camera). The computer uses this data to calculate the thickness of the object. Sounds like the perfect compliment to your Cupcake 3D printer, eh? With any luck, you should see it at the MakerBot store at around the $200 mark sometime this fall.
DIY tablet kit is less than $400, more complicated than an iPad
Tired of The Man holding you down on the tablet front with his oppressive App Stores, his tyrannical carrier constraints, and other outrageous insults to your civil liberties? Well now you can break free of this stranglehold, thanks to a company called Liquidware and its open source, DIY tablet starter kit. The premise is simple: Liquidware provides a touchscreen OLED display (4.3-inch, 480 x 272, resistive touch), the BeagleBoard guts (a single-board computer driven by a 720MHz ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3530 CPU, with 2GB of NAND and an SD card slot), and the BeagleJuice battery module, along with an SD card pre-loaded with Angstrom Linux. You put all the pieces together and then just basically go nuts, designing your own application marketplace, infrastructure for direct-to-consumer video and audio sales, and a revolutionary and magical user interface that blurs the lines between waking life and a hallucinatory dream-state where anything is possible, and the only limitation is yourself. Check the Moscone Center's booking information below to see scheduling availability for your developer conference, and hit the source link to offer up your $393.61 to Liquidware.
MakerBot prints another MakerBot, the circle is complete
MakerBot isn't the first self-replicating 3D printer -- that spectacular distinction went to the RepRap Darwin back in 2008 -- but that doesn't make it any less awesome that the $750 machine is now able to produce its own frame. With a month's labor, owner Webca was able to create the entire plastic chassis you see above, using a second MakerBot constructed of the traditional wooden parts. Without knowing how much goop went into the project, it's a touch difficult to say if the method is economical, but there's nothing to keep you from trying the same. Best of all, Webca decided to share his plans with the world -- you'll find instructions for all 150 pieces at the source link, a month off of work in your wildest dreams.
MSI X340 reborn as DIY carbon fiber tablet, watch it stream YouTube at 720p (video)
Tired of touchscreen tablets that lack speed, a usable UI, or support for a certain streaming video format that will go unnamed? As one of our favorite sayings goes, if you want it done right, do it yourself. One Engadget reader took that idea to heart in crafting the 13.4-inch carbon fiber contraption you see above, imbuing it with enough high-end netbook parts to run Windows 7 at a brisk pace and play 720p video on its large, resistive touchscreen. Starting with the guts of an MSI X320, adding an accelerometer and 40GB solid state drive and finally sandwiching a random Chinese digitizer on top, the whole 1.6GHz Atom Z530 machine cost him under $700 in parts. For that price, we're sure many of you would be happy to follow in his footsteps, but if not, by all means continue complaining to your tablet manufacturer of choice. We have another favorite saying: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Video after the break; Q&A with the creator at our more coverage link.
Maker Faire 2010, in pictures
What does it take to pique your curiosity? Would a building-sized, needle-nosed 50's space ship do the trick? Perhaps the female form, constructed entirely out of obsolete typewriter parts? How about a machine designed specifically to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of that blasted Tootsie Roll pop? These were just a few of the many wonders present at the 2010 Maker Faire in San Mateo, California, and despite being a lifelong resident of the region, this weekend marked my very first attendance at the event. Needless to say, I've been kicking myself for not exploring my DIY side earlier. You don't have to do the same, however, because I brought home practically enough pictures to give you a virtual tour; you'll find robotic spiders, NES banjos, LEGO cities, automobile-sized bicycles, miniature nautical battles and much, much more in the gallery below. Now, go get lost in there. %Gallery-93609% Special Bonus: Rock band OK Go, performing under the influence of H2O. Quite literally, we might add. When was the last time you rocked out underwater?
Students accelerate cubicle arms race with PlayStation Eye-tracked, iPhone-guided coilgun (video)
DIY weaponry gets more lethal with each passing year; where once we were content with a simple foam missile launcher, technology has progressed such that our automated turrets now spew screwdriver bits, airsoft and paintballs. As progress forges ahead, two engineering students at the University of Arkansas have added injury to insult with this four-stage DIY coilgun. Using an Arduino microcontroller to actuate the firing mechanism and steer the monstrous wooden frame, they nimbly control the badass kit with an iDevice over WiFi, and line up targets using a repurposed PlayStation Eye webcam. While we'd of course prefer to have our phone SSH into the gun over 3G, we're not going to argue with success. We'd like to keep our lungs un-perforated, thank you very much. See it in action after the break.
Canon DSLR shutter remote hacked into Atari joystick
Just point and shoot. Video after the break.
