Re-live 1978 in all its glory with the [Roth] Scream Box

roth-scream-box

We never imagined that [David Lee Roth] would mesh well with an Arduino, that is until Flickr user [tgtsfkncld] showed off his [Roth] Scream Box a few days ago. The unassuming box resembles sort of a nondescript “Easy Button”, but its payload is far more entertaining than whatever Staples could have possibly recorded for their device. Once the Scream Box is powered on, each press of the … [Read more...]

SimpleCortex, for when an Arduino is too wimpy

board

Sometimes, an Arduino just doesn't have enough horsepower. Whether you're gathering loads of sensor data and sending it over the web via Ethernet, or just trying to build a home-brew video game, it's very easy to run into the limitations of the Arduino platform. [Rik] and his fellow classmates may have a solution to this problem with their SimpleCortex development board. The SimpleCortex began … [Read more...]

Self-stabilizing autonomous bicycle

bike

For [Gunnar]'s diploma thesis, he wanted to build an autonomous bicycle. There's an obvious problem with this idea, though: how, exactly does a robotic bicycle stand upright? His solution to balancing the bicycle was a reaction wheel that keeps the bicycle upright at all times. A bicycle is basically an inverted pendulum; something we've seen controlled in a number of projects. To balance … [Read more...]

Antique Electromechanical Calculating Machines

electromechanical calculator Hamann 505

The decision to use electronics for our calculating machines has long been decided.  However, that doesn't mean that mechanical engineers didn't put up a valiant, if ultimately futile, fight. [Dvice.com] has an interesting article comparing the calculating technology of the 1960s, such as the [Haman 505], to today's iPad. This comparison and pictures were made possible by [Mark Glusker]'s … [Read more...]