CD Controlled Lawn Mower

June 26, 2010 by Mike Szczys 35 Comments

[Oliver Nash] was enlisted by his parents to fix their robotic lawn mower. They owned a Robomow which happily navigated their yard to keep the grass at a nice level. These robots rely on a perimeter wire with a special signal running through it to ensure they are inside of the mowing area. Confronted by a dead perimeter module, [Oliver] ordered a new unit and disassembled the old module to study the components. He also measured the signal generated by the replacement unit. In the end he was able to produce a replica of the signal using audio software, burn it to a CD, and playback the recording using the perimeter wire. It’s a bit of a zany idea but it worked.

Portable Atari The Size Of A Game Boy

June 26, 2010 by Mike Szczys 19 Comments

This portable Atari is the result of [Mario’s] toils. The core system is an Atari Flashback 2, an embedded system released in 2005 with several built-in games. The stock titles weren’t enough so [Mario] added a cartridge slot in order to play whichever games he wishes. The case was originally the packaging for an iPod touch so you know it’s sturdy. We also like the free-formed audio amplifier as seen in the work log. Does anyone know if the Flashback 2 has a pause feature?

Cat Hacking

June 26, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 32 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CSoroo-bkg]

After a gruesome accident involving a harvester, [Oscar] lost his legs. [Noel Fitzpatrick] a mad scientist veterinary surgeon came to the rescue. [Oscar] now has leg implants prosthetic feet. It is pretty amazing that a cat would even function in this manner. Have you ever seen one try to walk with tape on its feet? We have to wonder why that cat doesn’t have some more awesome looking legs though. We think that cat needs to team up with [Aimee Mullens], the olympic athlete with no legs, to get a better looking pair.

Multitouch Using Water

June 26, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 17 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuihQVRpRrQ]

[Taichi Inoue] is back again, this time with a multitouch system that uses water as the touch surface. The setup consists of a tank of water placed atop an LCD, a lamp, and a web cam. The web cam pics up the light that is reflected when something breaks the surface of the water. It is, as far as the computer is concerned, no different than the blob recognition we see with many of the home made multitouch systems. Mixed with his Yukikaze, this guy might end up with the most relaxing computer system in the world.

[via Makezine]

Jumping Robot Looks Like A Product Of Doctor Wily

June 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 33 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBYT2PeLxUk]

We love it when footage of a robot prompts a “holy crap” response from us. This little guy, a product of the Chiba Institute of Technology, uses four rods as a suspension system for jumping. The bulk of the bot can be moved up or down, using its momentum to raise the wheels and jump to the next level. Check out the clip after the break to see how getting down involves a controlled fall as graceful as a dancer. Doctor Light better get cracking on another robot to take this one out when it turns on us.

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Selective Laser Sintering Rig On The Cheap

June 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

[Peter’s] been hard at work designing an affordable Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing platform. We first saw his work on this back in April when he was working mostly with acrylic. Now he’s moved on to a design that relies on hardboard which has resulted in a build that comes it at around $20 including the motors.

The design uses a dual z-axis table for the feed stage and the build stage. That is to say, as the powder is fused together by the laser the platform it is on is lowered. Next to this platform, the feed platform is raised, allowing the power to be swept onto the build stage. This setup is moving in the right direction, but we’re still waiting to see what works when it comes to adding the laser and sourcing the powder.

SOAP Compatibility For SQLmap

June 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 11 Comments

[_coreDump] was doing some database vulnerability testing using SQLmap to automate the process. To his dismay, the package was unable to test using the Simple Object Access Protocol. Faced with having to manually test all of the SOAP vulnerabilities he decided to work some Python magic and add support. His solution allows SQLmap 0.8 to parses XML data from the SOAP protocol by modifying three files from the package. He’s made the diff files available if you need this functionality for your own security testing.