BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day » April 15, 2010

Hack A Day (7 unread)

Mindstorm plays Tetris for you

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Obviously you’ve got too much hacking to do right now, but that game of Tetris isn’t going to play itself. [Branislav Kisacanin] has you covered with his Tetris-playing robot which is build with LEGO Mindstorm pieces. The setup is actually pretty complicated. A Texas Instruments DM6437 video development board watches the computer screen via a [...]
Solenoid orchestra led a by laser conductor

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

This video brought a smile to our faces. [Griffin Milsap] is creating live music using an orchestra of solenoid instruments. Each solenoid is set up to strike an object such as a bowl or mug. The trigger mechanism is a light sensor inside of a ping-pong ball. The collection of instruments is conducted by a [...]
Clock hides time until you’re in close proximity

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Alan] is branching out beyond the Arduino with this clock. He’s still using the same code but built this board around an ATmega328 and the components he needed, saving his Arduino board for further development. The concept uses a character display housed in an old iPod Touch case. The build relies on an infrared sensor [...]
Stanford’s stickybot3

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 12:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

Stickybot has gone through a pretty radical upgrade. You may recall the gecko looking glass walking bot from all over the net. While it was pretty cool, the technology has gone much further. Not only is it designed to look like a gecko, the feet are actually made to adhere to surfaces in the same [...]
Make cotton candy at home

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 11:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

If you are anything like us, you are suddenly filled with childlike glee when you think of big fluffy poofs of cotton candy. The thought of making it at home has a certain appeal, but that machine is a mystery reserved only for those elite enough to get through cotton candy maker school. Or so [...]
Ask HackADay: Organization?!

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 10:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

Several people have been asking a similar question to, “How do you at Hackaday keep track of and organize all your equipment?” -[Jeff Allen] and others. We have a variety of resources to help you keep track of your tools, equipment, parts, and supplies! Follow us after the jump for some tips for keeping your workspace clean and [...]
Punching accelerometers

Posted: April 15th, 2010, 8:21am MDT by Jakob Griffith

Shortly after finishing his Makiwara punching bag, [Abieneman] wired and programmed an Arduino to an accelerometer to find out just how much acceleration (and with some math, force) is behind his punches. The project is simple and would be quick to reproduce for your own measuring and experiments: all that he used included an Arduino, [...]