When winter settles in around these parts, daylight doesn't seem to last too long. So like moths we tend to get excited about the new bright and shiny toys we bring in. Today we have Super Bright LEDs - they're the nifty little units we put in the HexPummer Lantern to create that extra pulse […]
Wednesday Cool Links: Spiderbot, Solar S...
Dave Hrynkiw
October 17, 2012
It's Wednesday! Hooray! Huzzah! We're celebrating because... Well, ok, we have nothing big to celebrate right now. So we're going to celebrate having nothing to celebrate with the traditional and only appropriate way possible... BROWSING THE INTERNET! Indeed, we've been celebrating this time-honoured tradition with steadfast dedication, and it's our pleasure to share it with all of you.
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Four-Legged Spiderbot As the website puts it, this is "a walking machine, radially symmetrical, having four legs with two degrees of freedom each, controlled through a wireless link from a hand-held controller based on two Wii Nunchucks." Very impressive articulation and range of motion. Be sure to check out the video. |
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The Almost Useless Machine A solar-powered... Reciprocating saw? Make sure you have lots of patience and a cold one to enjoy while you "work"! Seriously though, while this might not be too functional, it certainly has some great craftsmanship. |
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Solar "Death Ray": Power of 5000 suns! Mirrors. Lots of mirrors. 5800 of them, to be precise. It's pretty cool (and a LOT scary) what kind of power can be harnessed by arranging mirrors onto a fiberglass satellite dish and aligning it to the sun. |
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6 Rubens Tubes Visualizer Hrm, a flame visualization for music? SIGN ME UP. Turn it into a handy-dandy plug-in accessory for the iPod, for the best on-the-go pyrotechnics you can possibly imagine. Might want to make sure you turn it off before tucking it away in your pocket, though. |
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Solar Engineer Badge on DIY So, you think you like DIY? Well, it's time to prove your chops by completing challenges over at diy.org. They even have a Solar Engineer Badge that features a bunch of project ideas, including our Instructable for the Solar Powered Miniball. |
We were once hoping that we could instead celebrate by racing giraffes through obstacle courses, but that didn't pan out. Too bad. I was planning on decking mine out with some sweet black and white racing stripes, to make it look like a very oddly proportioned zebra.
MORE POSTS
SCC3733 Solarcell hacking
Here's a tip submitted by Rick Steenblik regarding hacking our SCC3733 for less voltage, but more current: After using your SCC3733 solar cells for a couple of bots I noticed that they can be altered to provide about 3.3v at 80ma (in full sun) by cutting the bus connector on the back to electrically separate […]
Cool Link Wednesday: CD-less CD Album, A...
We missed last week's Cool Links, so we'll empty our backlog and throw a few extras your way. 1-Bit Symphony This whole album is chiptunes all done on a microcontroller and placed in a CD case. The album/cover art is actually what makes the music. Ted Talk - Massimo Banzi: How Arduino is open-sourcing imagination […]
Maxim 8212 in stock!
FINALLY, after several phone calls, our shipment of Maxim 8212 configurable voltage detectors has shown up on our doorstep. All BEP customers who ordered with the accessory package can expect a small package from us in the next little while with your missing 8212's. We'll be putting them on regular sale in the next little […]
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