A ZX Spectrum Raytracer, In BASIC

January 26, 2024 by Dave Rowntree 12 Comments

[Gabriel Gambetta] knows a few things about ray tracers, being the author of Tiny Raytracer, a raytracer written in just 912 bytes of JavaScript. As a long-time fellow sufferer of the UK-designed ZX Spectrum, could these two love affairs be merged? Could the Tiny Raytracer fit on the ZX Spectrum? In BASIC? The answer is an affirmative, albeit with our beloved speccy’s many limitations.

Ray tracing with only 15 primary colours

The story starts with [Gabriel]’s Computer Graphics From Scratch (CGFS) raytracer algorithms and an existing code base that was ported to the ZX Spectrum’s very limited BASIC dialect, using VSCode for editing, BAS2TAP to generate a tape image file (essentially an audio track) and executed with FUSE. With the toolchain sorted, [Gabriel] adds just enough code to deal with the ray intersection equations of a sphere, and renders a three-sphere scene to a 32×22 pixel colour image, taking a mere 15 minutes of runtime. Fellow sufferers will remember the spectrum had a 32×22 block attribute array (or colour array) with two colour values for foreground and background pixels. Each attribute block contains 8×8 pixels, each of which could be foreground (on) or background (off.) The next stage was then to expand the code to handle pixels as well as blocks, by simply expanding the raytracing to the full 256×176 resolution, and for each block simply determine the two most common colours, and run with those for the whole block. It sort of works, in a very spectrum-esq ‘attribute clash’ kind of fashion.

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Nanotechnology In Ancient Rome? There Is Evidence

January 26, 2024 by Kristina Panos 47 Comments

Anything related to nanotechnology feels fairly modern, doesn’t it? Although Richard Feynman planted the seeds of the idea in 1959, the word itself didn’t really get formed until the 70s or 80s, depending on who you ask. But there is evidence that nanotechnology could have existed as far back as the 4th century in ancient Rome.

That evidence lies in this, the Lycurgus cup. It’s an example of dichroic glass — that is, glass that takes on a different color depending on the light source. In this case, the opaque green of front lighting gives way to glowing red when light is shining through it. The mythology that explains the scene varies a bit, but the main character is King Lycurgus, king of Edoni in Thrace.

So how does it work? The glass contains extremely small quantities of colloidal gold and silver — nanoparticles of gold to produce the red, and silver particles to make the milky green. The composition of the Lycurgus cup was puzzling until the 1990s, when small pieces of the same type of glass were discovered in ancient Roman ruins and analyzed. The particles in the Lycurgus cup are thought to be the size of one thousandth of a grain of table salt — substantial enough to reflect light without blocking it.

The question is, how much did the Romans know about what they were doing? Did they really have the means to grind these particles into dust and purposely infuse them, or could this dichroic glass have been produced purely by accident? Be sure to check out the videos after the break that discuss this fascinating piece of drinkware.

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Hacking A Xiaomi Air Purifier’s Filter DRM To Extend Its Lifespan

January 26, 2024 by Maya Posch 10 Comments

When [Unethical Info] was looking at air purifiers a while back, their eye fell on a Xiaomi 4 Pro, with a purchase quickly made. Fast-forward a while and suddenly the LCD on top of the device was showing a threatening ‘0% filter life remaining’ error message. This was traced back to an NFC (NTAG213) tag stuck to the filter inside the air purifier that had been keeping track of usage and was now apparently the reason why a still rather clean filter was forcibly being rejected. Rather than give into this demand, instead the NFC tag and its contents were explored for a way to convince it otherwise, inkjet cartridge DRM-style.

While in the process of reverse-engineering the system and doing some online research, a lucky break was caught in the form of earlier research by [Flamingo Tech] on the Xiaomi Air Purifier 3, who had obtained the password-generating algorithm used with the (password-locked) NFC tag, along with the target area of the filter’s NFC tag to change. Using the UID of the NFC tag, the password to unlock the NFC tag for writing was generated, which requires nothing more than installing e.g. ‘NFC Tools’ on an NFC-capable Android/iOS smartphone to obtain the tag’s UID and reset the usage count on the filter.

A password generating tool is provided with the [Unethical Info] article, and this approach works across a range of Xiaomi air purifiers, making it an easy fix for anyone who owns such a device but isn’t quite ready yet to shell out the big bucks for a fresh DRM-ed filter. This approach also saves one from buying more NFC tags, which was the case with the previous solution.

Building A Cable-Driven Delta Printer

January 26, 2024 by Lewin Day 11 Comments

Most of us have played with a Cartesian-style 3D printer. Maybe you’ve even built a rigid delta. In this case, [Diffraction Limited] decided to a little further away from the norm with a cable-based delta design.

This delta design uses direct cable drives to control the end effector, with preloading rods effectively decoupling the preload from the drive force. Thus, the motors only have to provide enough power to move the end effector around without fighting the tension in the cables. The end effector is nice and light, because the motors remain stationary. With lightly-loaded motors and a lightweight effector, rapid accelerations are possible for faster printing. The video does a great job of explaining how the winch-based actuation system works to move the mechanism quickly and accurately. It’s a pleasure to watch the delta robot bouncing around at high speed as it executes a print.

The video notes that it was a successful build, though difficult to calibrate. The strings also wore out regularly. The truth of the matter is, delta printers are just more fun to watch at work than their less-controversial Cartesian cousins. Video after the break.

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A DIY E-Ink Tank Watch

January 26, 2024 by Dave Rowntree 9 Comments

[Augusto Marinucci] liked the classic Cartier Tank series of dress watches aesthetic, but wanted something a bit more techy, with a decent runtime on a single battery. E-Ink displays are often used in such applications, but finding one to fit a custom case design, is a tall order. When ordering one off the shelf is not easy, the solution is to make one from scratch.

Building a programming jig is a great idea for small-scale production

The article doesn’t have much information on the E-Ink side of things, which is a bit of a shame. But from what we can glean, the segment shapes — in this case, based on the famous Apollo DSKY — are formed in the top copper of a four-layer PCB, using filled and capped vias to connect invisibly from below.

A donor E-Ink display is cut to size with scissors (we don’t know much more than this!) and glued in place around the edge to make the common electrode connection. The display PCB attaches to the control PCB, at the rear using low-profile board-to-board connectors. This board hosts a PIC16 micro, as well as an RV-3028-C7 RTC which keeps time whilst consuming a paltry 45 nA.

Five volts are provided via a MAX1722 low-power boost converter which is fed power from the CR1616 cell via a couple of logic-controllable load switches. With a low-power design such as this, it’s critical to get this correct. Any mistakes here can easily result in a very low runtime. It is easy to over-stress small button cells and kill them prematurely.

The case looks like it’s printed in a translucent resin, with the PCB stack sealed inside with a UV-cured resin pour. It’s not immediately obvious if the rear panel can be removed to access the battery and programming port. There are what appear to be screw holes, so maybe that’s possible, or maybe they’re the rear side of the PCB mounting posts. Who can tell?

If DIY hardware is but too much effort for you, then there’s the option of hacking new firmware onto an existing watch, or perhaps meeting in the middle and making something out of all those junk E-ink tags you can get from time to time?

Thanks to [JohnU] for the tip!

Hackaday Podcast Episode 254: AI, Hijack Guy, And Water Rockets Fly

January 26, 2024 by Al Williams 1 Comment

This week Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams chew the fat about the Haier IOT problem, and all other top Hackaday stories of the week. Want to prove your prowess at C programming? Take a quiz! Or marvel at some hairy display reverse engineering or 3D-printed compressor screws. On the lighter side, there’s an immense water rocket.

After Al waxes nostalgic about the world of DOS Extenders and extended memory, the guys talk about detective work: First detecting AI-written material, and finally, a great detective story about using science to finally (maybe) crack the infamous DB Cooper hijacking case.

Follow along with the links below. Don’t forget to tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Here’s a string of bits containing the podcast that looks suspiciously like an MP3!

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Wearable Robot Makes Mountain Climbing A Breeze For Seniors

January 26, 2024 by Kristina Panos 23 Comments

You know, it’s just not fair. It seems that even if we stay active, age will eventually get the better of our muscles, robbing them of strength and our bodies of mobility. Canes and walkers do not provide additional strength, just support and reassurance in a treacherous landscape. What people could really benefit from are wearable robots that are able to compensate for a lack of muscle strength.

[Dr. Lee Jongwon] of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has developed this very thing. MOONWALK-Omni is designed to “actively support leg strength in any direction”, and make one feel like they are walking on the moon. In order to test the wearable robot, [Dr. Jongwon] invited senior citizens to climb Korea’s Mount Yeongbong, which is some 604 meters (1980 feet) above sea level.

The robot weighs just 2 kg (about 4.5 lbs) and can be donned independently by the average adult in under ten seconds. There are four high-powered but ultra lightweight actuators on either side of the pelvis that aid balance and boost leg strength by up to 30%. This is all designed to increase propulsion.

An AI system works to analyze the wearer’s gait in real time in order to provide up-to-the-second effective muscle support in many different environments. One wearer, a formerly active mountain climber, reported feeling 10-20 years younger when reaching the top of Mount Yeongbong.

It’s quite interesting to see mobility robots outside of the simplicity of the rehabilitation setting. We have to wonder about the battery life. Will everyone over 65 be wearing these someday? We can only hope they become so affordable. In the meantime, here’s a wearable robot that travels all over your person for better telemetry.