DIY Animatronic Penguin Shakes And Grooves

February 25, 2011 by Mike Nathan 9 Comments

animatronic_penguin

Instructables user [djsfantasi] wanted to build an animated holiday display using puppets as a means of raising money for a local arts program. After doing a bit of reading and research however, he decided that building animatronic characters for the display was not that far fetched an idea.

His first inclination was to build a penguin, allowing him to focus mostly on torso motion rather than having to articulate arms and legs as well. His goal was to enable his penguin to “dance” by shimmying and shaking as well as flapping his wings. Using plywood, four servos, along with some miscellaneous connecting rods and cables, he went to work.

The penguin is operated using a SSC-32 servo controller that features an ATmega168 MCU at its core. This allows him to control all of the servos independently, and also in concert, allowing for combined movements. The penguin’s mouth also functions, using a circuit that synchronizes its movements to an audio file.

While the robot is currently tethered to his computer via a serial cable, [djsfantasi] mentions that he is currently working on an iPhone app that will be able to control the robot wirelessly. All he needs to do now is build an animatronic Tom Servo then toss a Crow skin over this one, and he’ll be all set!

Keep reading to get a look at the penguin moving and grooving in the video below.

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A VFD Clock That Tells The Time, Then Tells You To **** Off

February 25, 2011 by Mike Nathan 12 Comments

Clocks are relatively simple devices – they tell time, and most often sport a handful of other utilitarian features like alarms and radios. Rarely though, do you see a clock that will wake you up in the morning and also curse at you shortly thereafter. [Matt Evans] clearly thought that clocks need to pack a little more attitude, so he built his girlfriend a clock that not only tells time, but spouts off nasty phrases as well. What a lucky gal!

The clock was constructed using IV-17 VFD tubes, each bearing 16 light-able segments. It seemed wasteful to simply use the tubes to tell time, so [Matt] got busy adding other features to the clock. It has an alarm, a calendar that is always stuck on his girlfriend’s birthday, and an ambient light sensor to dim the tubes at night. It also sports a variable rudeness setting, allowing for mild insults when family members are present, and extremely foul language for when your frat brothers swing by.

He has plenty of pictures on his site, but we’re betting people will want to see schematics and some source code. After all, Mother’s Day is but a few months away!

A Look At Sony’s Ongoing War Against Hackers

February 25, 2011 by Mike Nathan 60 Comments

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[Phillip Torrone] recently wrote an article over at Make regarding Sony and their “War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators“. In the article, he traces Sony’s history as a well-liked hardware company that once produced innovative products, to its current state as an enemy to all who would dare wield a screwdriver and soldering iron. He took quite a bit of time scouring the Internet to dig up very specific examples of Sony’s perceived assault on the hacking community. That’s not to say he simply lambasts the company and leaves it at that. Rather, he reflects on their past as a staple in nearly every American home, how they have changed since venturing into the content business, as well as what we might be able to do as hackers to change the way Sony treats its customers.

One specific example he mentions is the lawsuits that plagued the Sony Aibo modding scene, a case very near and dear to his heart. This scenario is one where the voice of the people was eventually heard, though too late to make a difference. He laments the loss of interest in the platform by the modding community as a clear cut example of the disastrous nature of Sony’s litigious nature.

You should definitely take a moment to read the article if you have the time. [Phillip] brings up some very good points, giving you plenty to consider the next time you make an electronics purchase, large or small.

We’d love to hear your take on the matter as well.

Hear That? It’s A 555 Timer AM Radio

February 25, 2011 by Mike Nathan 16 Comments

[Eric] recently built an AM radio based on a 555 timer, and posted a few pictures to the Hack-a-Day Flickr pool. He used the 555 timer as an AM demodulator and power amplifier in order to drive the speaker. A hand-wound inductor is used to tune the signal which is then superimposed over the ramp signal produced by the circuit he built. [Eric] points out that he chose a CMOS 555 timer because of its superior performance in this particular application since the timer is used in a bit of a nontraditional manner. He shared his circuit diagram as well as a great video walking through each part of his design, finishing off with a demonstration of the radio, which can be seen below.

This is yet another great project that will be entered in the 555 Design Contest – simple and elegant. We love seeing these, so keep them coming!

If you want to see more cool projects made by Hack-a-Day readers, be sure to check out our Flickr pool as well as the forums.

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555 Two-fer – Baby Swing Upgrade And A Headphone Tube Amp

February 24, 2011 by Mike Nathan 22 Comments

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[Jason] sent in two 555 timer driven items that were worth sharing, both of which are entries in the 555 Design Contest.

The first item is a circuit that automatically resets an infant swing. [Jay], who built both items, has an infant swing for his daughter that spins a mobile and plays music. It’s great but it only works for 7 minutes and 15 seconds before a button push is required to trigger it again. He found this limitation to be annoying, and as I have owned the same swing, I can echo his frustrations. He probed the swing and found that a 5v pulse was required to reactivate the mobile, but it had to be sent after it turned off to have any effect. He put together a simple circuit that would do the button pushing for him, as you can see in the video below.

[Jay’s] other entry is a headphone tube amp using a quartet of 6DJ8 vacuum tubes. The 555 timer in the amp is used to drive a FET and the hand-wound transformer he built for the amp. You can see a video of the amp in action below as well.

The projects are lacking a thorough write-up, but he does provide schematics for both the swing reset switch and the tube amp for those looking to replicate either item.

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Der Wafflemeister 3000

February 24, 2011 by Mike Nathan 19 Comments

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When people think about robots, a few different things come to mind. We like robots because they take care of tedious work. Robots are great for accomplishing tasks in hazardous environments too. When the [Chalmers Robotics Society] thinks about robots however, they think, “Breakfast!”

The CRS constructed a sweet automatic waffle cooking machine known as the Wafflemeister3000. It can produce up to 5 waffles at a time, cooking them to a nice golden brown in a little over 3 minutes. Think about that for a second – that’s about 90 waffles an hour!

This project isn’t exactly new, with the second iteration having been completed in 2007. However, since the third version features a 400% increase in production volume, we thought it was worth a mention.

Be sure to check out the video below of the Wafflemeister3000 doing its thing.

[via Neatorama]

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Magnetic SMD Pick And Place

February 24, 2011 by Mike Nathan 13 Comments

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[svofski] sent us this pick and place robot (Google translation) that he found , and it’s quite unique. The majority of the components that make up this pick and place have been recycled from old computer equipment. The X-axis motion is accomplished using old printer parts, while an old CD-ROM drive was gutted to provide motion along the Y-axis. Floppy drive components were ultimately chosen to give the pick and place Z-axis motility.

What makes this pick and place unique however is the way in which components are moved. Most pick and place devices we have seen rely on suction in order to lift and carry components, but this one uses a magnet instead. The machine is used to build small circuit boards for a robotics platform offered on the builder’s web site, which primarily utilizes SMD parts. Once they realized that the majority of their small components were ferromagnetic, they built a hand-wound electromagnet to lift them. While the design limits the usage of the device to strictly ferromagnetic parts, they have a very specific need, which this fills perfectly.

Another unique aspect of this pick and place is the grooved table that sits under the workpiece. It is used to route up to four reels of SMD components, with the placement head providing all of the reel motion instead of relying on separate motors.

If you have a few minutes, be sure to check out the video of the pick and place at work.