Join A Car Seat Rocker, courtesy of Ben Heck with Android ADK!
I’m sure that most of our readers are familiar with Ben Heck. If not, he is an online celebrity who is most famous for his mods, usually for video games.
Ben Heck recently took a request from a viewer to make a seat that will help rock his child to sleep. It will simulate the ride of a carseat in a car. Sometimes this helps a little one fall asleep, and I know this from experience.
Ben used the Google ADK (Accessory Development Kit) in order to take advantage of the built-in accelerometer to record the motions that the car goes through while it is driving. As user drives, the phone collects the code, and this data collected gets fed into the Android ADK. Ben tried this out on a scale model of a seat, but not a live one. You can click on the Source to see a video of it in action.
Continue reading » A Car Seat Rocker, courtesy of Ben Heck with Android ADK!
DIY Klingon LED Coffee Table
Since it is the weekend already, why not dust off the table in the basement and indulge in a little bit of DIY action? Fans of Star Trek will definitely love the DIY Klingon LED Coffee Table, where it might even fool some into thinking that this is a true blue, movie-licensed piece of furniture instead of one that was constructed using nothing but love for the series (and the relevant technical know how, of course).
To make it all the more appealing to the masses, this homemade Klingon LED Coffee Table will even feature lights that help it glow – they’re all located right below the acrylic top sheet, numbering 26 flashing RBD diodes and one blue LED in total. Pine legs are used to keep this table standing securely, while clear acrylic rods will play their role in providing support. Nick Woodrow is the man behind this DIY Klingon LED Coffee Table, and he welcomes pre-orders via email.
Portal 2′s robot ball Wheatley comes to life as a complex puppet
I have played the Portal video game before, but I haven’t tried out Portal 2 as yet. I have heard that it has some interesting robots that look just darling. One of them is Wheatley, a robot ball that is quite animated, and it has now come to life by username TRP-Chan.
I have a video of it after the jump if you want to see it in action, and I highly recommend that you do. Even though it is limited to a lap, this Wheatley is quite lively.
The puppeteer also does an amazing job of working out all the expressions on this little guy. Actually he isn’t little, but 12 inches across. There is a hole in back, and there are wires snaking all through the Wheatley ball to make it move.
Continue reading » Portal 2′s robot ball Wheatley comes to life as a complex puppet
Dave Forbes’ LED-TV Lab coat set for Burning Man
I’ve seen attempts at mixing displays with clothing before, and they usually end up being a stiff screen on loose clothing.
Yeah, it isn’t really a good fit, but Dave Forbes has created a 160 x 120 LED video coat that somehow plays video all over. You can watch a video of it after the jump, and you can see how it works.
You can see that it is pretty DIY, and is essentially circuit boards and LED flex boards hot glued to a lab coat material. The video feed stems from the iPod, and you can see that there are knobs for adjusting the color, brightness, and even a way of toggling it to black and white.
Dave Forbes plans on wearing this coat at Burning Man in the summer. He will have to change the batteries every hour or so, though.
Continue reading » Dave Forbes’ LED-TV Lab coat set for Burning Man
DIY Guitar Pick Punch
Talented musicians can be quite the eccentric lot – and sometimes, they just want things done their own way, never mind that the average man on the street might deem it strange. Well, take guitarists for example – some of them might want to have their very own picks to pluck strings with, so what better way to keep said eccentric guitarist happy than with the $24.99 DIY Guitar Pick Punch?
Basically, this device is self-explanatory – you are able to turn just about anything into a guitar pick using but a simple punch. The guitar pick which is punched will be similar to that of a standard 351 style pick, and you get to go green (and creative) with the kind of guitar picks you choose. Use expired credit cards, grocery store club cards, plastic packaging material – hey, your imagination (and the toughness of the material) is the limit, so go for broke!
Be a truly awesome guitarist who not only plays your own tracks, but uses your very own picks as well.
Drawing Machine takes prize at Maker Faire
Right now, I am in the San Francisco area, but I wish I could have been there for the Maker Faire, which was last week.
The Drawing Machine that you see here in the photo was one of the winners of an Editor’s Choice award, and he didn’t even expect to show it off at this year’s fair. The device is able to recreate a JPG mechanically in the form of a drawing.
It has a set-up with Arduino software, and it takes weeks or even months to complete the image. You have to admit that is a pretty long time to wait for a drawing, and yes, a human would be able to do it faster. I’m not certain if a human can achieve the level of detail that this device can, as it makes a drawing of Frankenstein’s monster from the classic motion picture look like a still from the movie.
Continue reading » Drawing Machine takes prize at Maker Faire
RcSuperhero won’t be getting his own movie, but he can fly!
Look, up in the sky, is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s the RcSuperhero!
Seriously, if I saw a man-sized figure flying through the sky, I might think that I was looking at a real superhero. This is probably the purpose of this kit, which weighs in at 3 pounds and has a motor with 6 pounds of thrust. Check it out on the video after the jump, with glowing eyes and feet.
Continue reading » RcSuperhero won’t be getting his own movie, but he can fly!
Eight-legged Wooden Walking Table
Well, I suppose that someone was bound to make it sooner or later, but this wooden table can walk.
In case you are wondering, it isn’t a table that can walk on its own through motorized power. If you watch the video, it looks like the walking only works if someone is pushing it. You can watch the video after the jump to see it in motion.
I really don’t think it would have been that much trouble to put a motor on this thing, but I didn’t make it. It was Wouter Scheublin who designed it, and I don’t think I have a right to critique him. After all, I have been trying to make a walking Lego toy for years.
Continue reading » Eight-legged Wooden Walking Table
