Year: 2011

Hackaday Birthday Cake!

September 18, 2011 by 27 Comments

[Alex], aka [Grovenstien] turned 30 this weekend. After a conversation with his sister, where she asked: “what was that website with the skull that you always look at?”, he thought maybe he’d get a sticker or a shirt. She surprised him with this totally awesome birthday cake! There really aren’t any build details, but you can pretty much see that it has LEDs for eyes as well as some crazy sparkler effects going on as well. What we’re particularly impressed with is the fact that everything was hand cut, even that crisp text at the bottom. Happy Birthday [Grovenstien] and awesome job big sister!

check out the rest of the pictures after the break.

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Broken Xbox 360 Converted Into An Arcade Controller

September 18, 2011 by 20 Comments

xbox_360_arcade_controller

Like many Xbox 360s out there, [Aaron’s] console succumbed to the dreaded three red lights of death. Since it seemed to be unrepairable, there wasn’t a lot that could be done with it other than throw it out. Rather than be wasteful however, [Aaron] thought of a great way to reuse the console’s outer shell.

He’s a big fan of fighting games, and as everyone knows, this genre is best played with an arcade-style controller. The 360’s shell seemed to be just about the right size, so he gutted it and got busy constructing his own arcade controller. With the console cleared out, he installed all of his arcade bits, wiring them to a stripped third-party Xbox controller.

He installed a four port USB hub to the front of the console, enabling use of the 360’s USB ports, and rewired the power button to trigger the Xbox Guide button. A shiny coat of paint later, and he was ready to play.

Keep reading to see a short video of [Aaron’s] arcade stick in action, and check out the picture gallery he put together of the controller’s construction.

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Mechatron, Industrial Looking Security Bot

September 18, 2011 by 27 Comments

This little beast is named Mechatron. Built by a father/daughter team called Beatty Robotics, the goal was to build something “retro-futuristic, tough, and industrial”. We think they definitely pulled off some of their goals here. Weighing in at nearly 50 pounds, Mechatron is still very agile, as you can see in the video below. He can fire his gun, which uses brass or plastic bullets, at a rate of nearly 1,000 rounds per minute while traveling in any direction thanks to the use of the mechanum wheels. 8 range finding sonar sensors, a laser and a turret that rotates 360 degrees will make sure you don’t elude Mechatron’s watchful eye… and shooting. While we were initially debating how they could make the Mechatron look more reto-futuristic, we all agreed that the lights in the video helped a lot. Maybe a curvy body piece could help too, depending on what era they were hoping to achieve.

[via buildlounge]

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Schäuble Jr Aims To Take Away Your Privacy!

September 18, 2011 by 9 Comments

[Mnt] wrote in to tell us about this 360 degree array of cameras featured on [Codeninja]. This has to be one of the most impressive arrays of cameras and sound equipment that we’ve seen at Hack a day.

The array is capable of 360 degree x 140 degree panoramic views using the 9 cameras arranged in a circle around the base. Impressive in itself, these cameras are all capable of both pan and tilt rotation via and Arduino-controlled servo setup. It also has a native 360 degree camera mounted on top of everything for calibration purposes and IR-LED illumination capabilities.

On top of all of this, the camera array also features audio capability with a 9-microphone setup, presumably one for each camera. This, coupled with piezoelectric speakers should provide for echolocation capability. Although jokingly called the “Schäuble Jr.” after a German politician, we’re not sure of the true purpose for this “sensor array.” We can only hope that it will be used for good. A very impressive build, it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

ATtiny Hacks: 2313 Driving A 4x4x4 LED Cube

September 18, 2011 by 19 Comments

ATtiny Hacks Theme Banner

[Kirill] wrote in to share his ATtiny hack, a 4x4x LED cube. The 64 LED display is a great choice to fully utilize the hardware he chose. It’s multiplexed by level. Each of the four levels are wired with common cathodes, switched by a 2N3904 transistor. The anodes are driven by two 595 shift registers, providing a total of 16 addressable pins which matches the 4×4 grid perfectly. All said and done it only takes seven of the ATtiny2313’s pins to drive the display. This is one pin more than the chip’s smaller cousins like the ATtiny85 can provide. But, this chip does include a UART which means the project could potentially be modified to receive animation instructions from a computer or other device.

You may have noticed the USB port in the image above. This is serving as a source for regulated power in lieu of having its own voltage regulation hardware and is not used for data at all. Check out the animations that [Kirill] uses on the display by watching the video after the break. You’ll find a link to the source code there as well.

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Stoplight Indicator System Signals When Your Servers Are In Distress

September 17, 2011 by 34 Comments

stoplight_server_monitoring_system

At [mkanoap’s] office, they have a software package that monitors their various servers’ health, but they wanted a separate indicator to display the status of their most critical systems. They put together a simple list of criteria for their display, including the ability to view the status without a computer, and that it share the same red/yellow/green indicators that their monitoring software utilizes. With those needs in mind (and a few hundred dollars to spare), [mkanoap] and crew rushed out to buy a stoplight, then got to building.

Their status system is self-contained, utilizing an Arduino and Ethernet shield to control the stoplight. The Arduino was programmed to act as a web server, and responds to GET requests by toggling any of the three mains-powered lamps using relays. [mkanoap] then created a handful of scripts that check the status of the critical servers every 5 minutes, updating the stoplight accordingly. The whole setup was tucked neatly inside the light’s housing, before being mounted on the wall in their office.

[mkanoap] says that the reaction to the stoplight as been great, though they had to install dimmer bulbs so those people sitting near it were not blinded. His writeup is incredibly detailed should anyone want to construct one of their own, and who wouldn’t?

Weekly Roundup 9/17/11

September 17, 2011 by No comments

In case you missed them, here are our most popular posts from the past week.

Our most popular post from the past week was one where we show a project where [Linas] built his own CT scanner and then used those scans to create 3D models.

Our next most popular post was an Engine Hack from the previous theme where [Mike] built a jet out of pipe fittings and motorcycle parts.

Next up is a post that will be of interest to folks who like their privacy. This post shows a project that simulates a trip wire using a laser beam. The end result is the same though. Cross the beam, hear it scream.

Our forth most popular post was one about a robot that can climb walls and then parachute back down to do it again… provided that it has a team of students ready to catch it on a tarp at the bottom.

Finally, we have a post that describes how to create a circuit board out of a piece of glass. The author is using it for a touch-sensitive button interface.