Author: Will O'Brien

805 Articles

Automatic Color Detection

May 8, 2007 by 15 Comments


[KLOZ] submitted his final project from college. Rather than an expensive CCD camera, he used a set of colored resistors LEDs and a light dependent resistor (I’m assuming he means a photo resistor) to determine the color of a product (m&ms). He used the carriage from an old HP inkjet, a custom cnc cut wheel to separate and deliver the m&ms and a Parallax propeller micro controller board to tie it all together. Now he can hog all the green ones for himself.

Update: Yes, I’m an idiot. I did mean colored LEDs. People who caught me will get an email – I’ve got something for ya.

Check out the sorting demo video after the break

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Electric (motor)cycle Extra

May 7, 2007 by 12 Comments


[Zach Norman] built this electric bike on a Harley frame. I couldn’t dig up much in the way of details, but the flickr photo set looks good.

[Micheal Raines] built a great looking electric chopper.

In the lightweight category, this hybrid (pedal/electric) bike uses li-poly batteries and a simple motor-tire drive to keep going. via [hacknmod]

Early this morning [tnkgrl] sent in her HSDPA mod for the OQO Model 2. Engadget beat me to it, but it’s a great mod for anyone who visits outside of those handy EVDO areas but want the speed for their UMPC. Living in the middle of nowhere means that I’m stuck with RxTT.

[andrew] built a handy parallel port A/D converter – so far he’s got it logging temps. The parts count is pretty low, depending on an ADC, a 555 and some OP amps.

Powershot Firmware Hacking

May 6, 2007 by 26 Comments


I was under the impression that canon firmware hacking had fallen by the wayside a bit. [random guy] pointed out that Canon firmware hacking is still alive and well, but it’s the smaller consumer models that are getting the attention. Several cameras, like the A610 happen to share the same digic II image processor as my Rebel XT. By uploaded some modified firmware, you can shoot RAW format pics, and get quite a few other features as well. There’s even a HDK (Hack Developer Kit) for rolling your own firmware. Most of the work appears to have been written up in Russian, but there’s an english wiki and guide page to get you going.

RC Digital Camera Interface

May 5, 2007 by 1 Comment


This isn’t a brand new hack, but it’s a great solution for most digital cameras that like to go to sleep on you.
[T. Black] put together a nice simple pic circuit to control a cheap aiptek digital camera. It uses a 12C508, a cap and a resistor. The PIC not only activates the shutter, but can wake up the camera from sleep mode. You don’t even have to provide a dedicated control channel – it can piggy-back on the throttle control signal. The hardest part of the project is tapping the signals on the SMD pc board inside the camera. There have been quite a few R/C camera controllers built, but this is certainly one of the most elegant. You can grab the code and schematic from the bottom of the project page.

GPS Enabled Radar Database

May 4, 2007 by 30 Comments


The page pretty much lacks every possible detail, but [Mattias] put together his own RADAR camera notification. It uses a published database of camera’s and a GPS receiver to notify the driver that they’re approaching one of the many permanent speed detection cameras in Sweden. Despite the lack of details, I can guess about the design. It shouldn’t be that difficult to construct something similar with a PIC or AVR with a decent amount of memory. Just compare the current location with the list, and notify the driver when it determines that it’s within a specified distance. Unfortunately all the RADAR detectors where I live are strapped to police cars.

Laser Dance Pad

May 3, 2007 by 21 Comments


[A. Smyth] passed this along – it’s another take on the non-mechanical dance pad. The first prototype used IR detection, but apparently the hardware was flaky. The new version uses cheap laser pointer style diodes with photo detectors. Personally, I want to see one that breaks the laser into a line and collimates the resulting beam, and senses beam interference by measuring the intensity. (And it would look incredible with a fogger) The electronics are pretty simple – the photocells are interfaced with the guts of a USB game pad and breaking the beam creates a button push.

Industrial Alarm Clock

May 2, 2007 by 13 Comments


While clocky runs away from you, this alarm clock can probably strike back. It’s got a pair of basic stamps along with relay’s to control external devices. [Jason] built it from parts he already had, and has visions of it being used for stage fx control later on. For now, I’ll bet that none of the guests will want to attempt turning it off for fear of reprisal by the clock.