Arcade controller in a box

arcade-controller-in-a-box

[Alex] wanted to play video games with an arcade stick and buttons, but got sticker shock after seeing the price of commercially available controllers that connect to a computer via USB. He set out to build his own and ended up with the controller-in-a box that you see above. At first he tried using an mbed microcontroller board but was unhappy with the latency built into the system that … [Read more...]

Anthropomorphizing an Ikea lamp (like Pixar but in real life)

pixar-lamp

ArduinoArts is animating an inexpensive Ikea lamp as a contest entry. Seeed Studio's Toy Hacking Contest calls for the competitors to work their magic using the Grove Toy Kit, which is an extensible sensor connection system for the Arduino. Most of the items in the kit were used to add interactivity to the lamp. Check out the video after the break to see the motion that two servos provide. The … [Read more...]

Huge DIY 3D printer predictably prints huge 3D items

super_sized_3d_printer

Well, if we ever need something huge built on a RepRap, now we know who to call. [Jim] over at Grass Roots Engineering wrote in to share a large 3D print he just finished, which was extruded by an equally impressive home-built 3D printer. The part he built consists of a bunch of hollow green tubing in a criss-cross pattern and was printed in just under 2 days. He never mentions what the part … [Read more...]

DIY portable charger/generator

portable_charger_generator

[Glenn] from The Back Shed has built a lot of windmills and stationary generators over the years, but recently decided to try his hand at building something a bit more portable. The charger is based of a relatively simple design, employing a 5.2 HP Kubota 4 stroke motor and a 12v car alternator to provide power. While you might be inclined to point out that his charger does exactly what an … [Read more...]

TSC230 Color Light-to-Frequency Module

TSC230-color-light-to-frequency

ElecFreaks is selling a new color sensing module based on the TSC230 sensor. They've posted a demonstration using an Arduino that shows off what this sensor is capable of. The module includes four white LEDs which give a baseline of light to help normalize readings when reflected off of differently colored surfaces. The white balance of the sensor needs to calibrated in software in order to ensure … [Read more...]

Turning pixels into LEGO pieces

lego-pixel-coffee-table

Looking to spice up his living room with some modular plastic pieces, [Quentin] came up with a way to take digital pixels and convert them to LEGO building plans. The end result is a coffee table top that uses a font complete with anti-aliasing. The first thing he did was figure out physical dimension and color palettes available from the popular building blocks. His search yielded all of the … [Read more...]

Spectrum analyzer users custom characters on an HD44780 display

hd44780-spectrum-analyzer

[Camilo] built a spectrum analyzer to use with his audio system (translate). The hardware is quite simple, using an op-amp, microcontroller and LCD display. He chose an LMV324M low-voltage op-amp which connects to the incoming audio signal and feeds its output to the microcontroller's ADC. In this case, he chose a Freescale microcontroller from the HCS08 family which is running at 20 MHz. This … [Read more...]