[Will] wanted to build some animatronic eyes that didn’t require high-precision 3D printing. He wound up with a forgiving design that uses an Arduino and six servo motors. You can see the video of the eyes moving around in the video below. The bill of materials is pretty simple and features an Arduino, a driver board, and […]
THIS ARDUINO KEEPS ITS EYES ON YOU Continue Reading
Mouser Electronics’ second eBook in its Engineering Big Ideas series, “Prototyping with Purpose” walks you through the design process, discussing tools, software methodology, circuit design, and the final integration into a solid prototype. “The prototype stage is where innovators really start to understand the viability of their ideas, as well as what might be required
Mouser’s Big Ideas eBook reviews prototyping options Continue Reading
Rotating mechanisms can be a headache when it becomes necessary to deliver power through them. [Igor Brkic] faced just such a challenge when creating his double-pendulum build, and solved it with a little DIY. The project is known as KLAATNO, inspired by the Croatian word for pendulum, klatno. It’s a mechanical installation piece, consisting of a
DOUBLE PENDULUM USES CUSTOM SLIP RINGS Continue Reading
[Max] had a rotary dial from an old telephone and — unsurprisingly — had nothing in particular to do with it. The simple answer? Use an Arduino Leonardo to turn it into a USB keyboard device. Of course, the Leonardo can easily impersonate a USB keyboard, so that’s the easy part of the project. Interfacing to
ROTARY DIAL BECOMES USB KEYBOARD Continue Reading
The great thing about being a maker is that when the market fails to meet your needs, you can strike out on your own. [GuzziGuy] did just that, building a bespoke mechanical keyboard that’s stylish to boot. The aim was to create a keyboard well suited to working without a mouse, and with a keypad on
IF YOU CAN’T BUY THE KEYBOARD YOU WANT, BUILD IT INSTEAD Continue Reading
Have you ever wished that slot machines dispensed money as easily as an ATM? Well so did [Scotty Allen] from Strange Parts, so in collaboration with his friend [Matt] decided to combine the two. After a four-month journey fraught with magic smoke and frustration, they managed to build a fully functional ATM slot machine. The basic
JACKPOT!: THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF TURNING A SLOT MACHINE INTO AN ATM Continue Reading
Glowables come in all shapes and sizes, and we’re always keen to see the multitude of different ways hackers find to put great masses of LEDs to good use. [cabrera.101] wanted to get in on the action, and whipped up a rather flashy icosahedron. The build uses high-density 144-LED-per-meter strips for the edges, with 60-LED-per-meter strips
ICOSAHEDRON GLOWS WITH THE BEST OF THEM Continue Reading
In this day and age, where all leisure activities must be duly captured and monetized online, camera sliders are hot items. Many start with a simple manual build, before graduating to something motorized for more flexibility. [Saral Tayal] took things a step further, implementing a basic tracking mode for even sweeter shots. The build is mechanically
OBJECT TRACKING CAMERA SLIDER GETS THE NICE SHOTS Continue Reading
Watching a sport can be a bit odd if you aren’t familiar with it. Most Americans, for example, would think a cricket match looked funny because they don’t know the rules. If you were not familiar with baseball, you might wonder why one of the coaches was waving his hands around, touching his nose, his
AI PHONE APP LEARNS BASEBALL SIGNALS Continue Reading
CNC comes in all shapes and sizes, from huge industrial lathes to homebuilt wire benders. [MJKZZ] has built their own compact rig, using optical drive parts to create a cute but effective laser engraver. (Video embedded below.) The build aims to keep things simple by holding the laser stationary, and moving the bed instead. The laser in
A SUPER EASY LASER ENGRAVER Continue Reading
