Touch screen using range sensors

range-finder-touchscreen

This touch screen relies on measurements from two range finders to track your finger as you press buttons. [James Alliban] put this together as his first Arduino project. We're familiar with [James'] background because of his informative augmented reality business card. As the Arduino picks up data from the range finder it sends it to a Flash script that is running on the PC. As we watched … [Read more...]

Heel treads make shoes go

heel-treads

Motorized treads as a replacement for the heel of your shoe? Okay, remember how The Jetsons had moving sidewalks everywhere so you wouldn't have to walk at all? Well, there's a much more efficient way to do it and Treadway Mobility seems to have figured it out. In the video after the break you can see several of their prototype units zipping the wearer around quite happily. We think the best part … [Read more...]

Whole house current monitoring

[Debraj Deb] put together a current monitoring device that interfaces with the circuit box at his house. The system is controlled by a PIC 18F4520 and uses an LM358 Op-Amp to rectify the AC signal, as well as an MCP6S21 for range adjustments for detecting both high or low current loads. The data displayed on a character LCD includes average, RMS, and peak current. For now the data is saved to an … [Read more...]

Humble Homes, Simple Shacks

house-book-shantyboat-2-21 (Custom)

[Derek] puts the "hack" into the word shack.  We really enjoyed his "little yellow house" videos and shared them with you. After that, we discovered that he has published a book. No, he didn't have it published, he published it. This guy is DIY through and through. "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats, Funky Forts (And Whatever The Heck Else We Could Squeeze In Here)" … [Read more...]

Nexus one gets Linux

Considering how hackable the Nexus One is already, we can only imagine a whole new host of interesting things thanks to Ubuntu running on the device. [Max Lee] set his heart out on getting not just Ubuntu on the Nexus One, but also Debian, and he wrote a perfect install guide to help out those wanting to give it a shot. He cheated a little bit by having Ubuntu run in the background while the … [Read more...]

Multi-layer display uses water instead of screen

multi-layer-display

This multi-layer display uses droplets of water as a projection medium. This way, several different projected areas can be seen for a not-quite-3D layering effect. The trick is in syncing up all aspects of the apparatus. There are three manifolds, each with 50 stainless steel needles for water drop production. A solenoid valve actuates the drops, a camera images them mid-air, and a computer syncs … [Read more...]

Wireless face tracking camera

A student team at University of Massachusetts  have built this wireless face tracking camera system. Using a small 2-axis motorized camera meant to be mounted on model airplanes, an arduino, and some custom software, they can track faces and keep them in frame in real-time. This is pretty cool, but maybe not quite as groundbreaking as they make it sound. We think it is pretty awesome though. … [Read more...]