Bike Brake Light Senses You Slowing Down

November 9, 2009 by Mike Szczys 57 Comments

bike-brake-light

Group riding can be a bit dangerous if the pace is fast and riders don’t notice a slowing in the front of the pack. [WyoJustin] designed a brake light system for cyclists to try and remedy this issue. LEDs are mounted in the end caps of the handlebars on a road bike. When an accelerometer senses the bike slowing down the LEDs light up, warning those behind you that you’re slowing down.

The system is made to be portable, as a lot of serious riders have multiple bikes. To make this happen, all of the electronics are housed in the handlebar tubing for easy transfer. This includes an accelerometer with built in voltage regulator, an Arduino to control everything, and a battery. Take a look at the brake lights in action after the break.

Most of the bike lights we see are for the front of the machine, but this backward-facing package is a clean and easy solution we can get behind (safely).

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Gamecube To Go

November 8, 2009 by Mike Szczys 33 Comments

gamecube-to-go

[Hailrazer] built a handheld GameCube so he could take his gaming with him. The final product is quite nice, providing a large display and about 3 hours of play time on the lithium polymer batteries.

Starting with the case from a Kidz Delight Datamax game, he used Bondo ABS cement and plastic bumper filler to alter the case but still provide a professional look. The display is a five-inch PlayStation One LCD Screen from which he also incorporated the speakers. At least four controllers were cannibalized for use as the buttons, sticks, triggers, and directional pad. Our favorite feature is the totally exposed optical head mounted on the back.

We’ve embedded video as well as a picture of the optical drive after the break. This goes so far beyond just making the GameCube an all-in-one system. If you like this build, check out the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast mods on [Hailrazer’s] YouTube channel.

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Servoelectric Guitar Is A Keytar With Strings

November 6, 2009 by Mike Szczys 18 Comments

servoelectric-guitar

[Keith Baxter] has undertaken something of a ‘Mount Everest’ of guitar modifications. He’s developing a Servoelectric guitar that trades frets for a keypad. It is still a guitar in the sense that it has a body, strings, and pickups to sense the strings vibrations and pass them to an amplifier. The left hand, which traditionally would shorten the strings as needed by pressing them against a fret, now changes string pitch using a keypad. This is an interesting fusion between traditional guitar and 80’s phenomenon, the keytar.

Each string is connected to a different servo motor. When a key on the keypad is pressed, the corresponding servo adjusts the tension of that string, bringing it in tune at the new pitch. His original design involved a lot of custom circuitry but he’s evolved the project to include an Arduino controller. This second generation both simplifies the control circuitry and improves upon it.

We’ve embedded some video after the break. In the first example you can see the strings adjusting for each new pitch. In the second, take a look behind the guitarist… what do you think he’s got planned for those giant capacitors?

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Cold Cathode Art Piece Controller

November 6, 2009 by Mike Szczys 5 Comments

cold-cathode-art-piece-controller

[Andrew] built a light box for an exhibition last year that displayed different colors statically. After showing it off, it went unchanged but future improvements remained in the back of his mind. Recently, he pulled it out again and hacked together a controller to drive the colors individually.

He’s actually reusing some of the hardware he built for a different project. At its core is a PIC 16F628 that actuates the lights using relays. In this case, only four of the eight on the board are used to control red, white, blue, and green cold cathode tubes. The video after the break shows the device randomly rotating through different patterns. This is a nice start to making the piece more interactive and we can image adding web-controlled color changes, or perhaps some Daft Punk inspired functionality.

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Didgeridoo Modded To Include Electronic Manipulation

November 6, 2009 by Mike Szczys 68 Comments

didgeridoo-sound-synthedsizer

It’s not a bazooka, but this altered instrument makes it look like the player is toking off of some type of weapon. [Kyle] wanted to take the already mysterious sounds produced by a didgeridoo then capture and alter them electronically.

The physical build of this project is nothing short of beautiful. He’s mounted several curved control boards to the outside of the instrument. The controls feature six push buttons, five toggle switches, and six potentiometers that interface with an Arduino. The sound is picked up by the device then sent along with the switch settings to a computer via Bluetooth. The computer then works its magic to create the wicked audio effects heard in the video after the break.

His article, linked above, includes several diagrams detailing the synthesis process. They’re a little beyond our understanding but if you know what’s going on, please share your insight in the comments.

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Hacky Thanksgiving

November 4, 2009 by Mike Szczys 7 Comments

hackey_thanksgiving

Friends, pilgrims, send us your hacks. Most especially, your Thanksgiving hacks. We had a wonderful time over the past six weeks collecting and highlighting your Halloween props and now it’s on to the next holiday. Did you build your own deep fried turkey rig with some special features? How about that pie making robot you built for last year’s celebration? Can’t live without your twittering cornucopia? Document it and send it to our tip line! All Thanksgiving themed hacks will be considered but only the well documented and creative entries will be featured.

If you just joined us, here’s a roundup of the Halloween Props we encountered this year:

disclaimer: boiling oil is dangerous, that’s why it used to be used for torture. Always consider your own safety!

[Turkey photo source]

Apple Remote Arduino Shield

November 3, 2009 by Mike Szczys 27 Comments

arduino-apple-remote-shield

[Computergeek] made an Arduino Shield in order to use it as an Apple remote. We like the construction technique that he used; taking perf-board and soldering the circuit and using stripped wire to interface with the pin sockets on the Arduino. He’s written the code needed to function as an Apple Remote but this shield has a lot more potential. This is an excellent opportunity to delve into the different IR protocols out there and create a universal remote for all of your random devices. We’d also want to give it a try as a TV-B-Gone.

The parts are easy to find or salvage without putting in an order. We’re not certain about his design, he should probably have invited a resistor to the party the two IR LEDs are having.