Murata To Deliver Solid State Batteries To Market In The Fall

August 3, 2021 by 43 Comments

Solid state batteries have long been promised to us as the solution to our energy storage needs. Theoretically capable of greater storage densities than existing lithium-ion and lithium-polymer cells, while being far safer to boot, they would offer a huge performance boost in all manner of applications.

For those of us dreaming of a 1,000-mile range electric car or a 14-kilowatt power drill, the simple fact remains that the technology just isn’t quite there yet. However, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has just announced that it plans to ship solid state batteries in the fall, which from a glance at the calendar is just weeks away.

It’s exciting news, and we’re sure you’re dying to know – just what are they planning to ship, and how capable are the batteries? Let’s dive in.

Continue reading “Murata To Deliver Solid State Batteries To Market In The Fall” →

Strangest Upside-Down 3D Printer Fits In A Filament Box

August 3, 2021 by 47 Comments

It’s rare these days for a new FDM printer to come along that sparks our interest, but the [Kralyn]’s Positron managed to do it. (Video, embedded below.) It prints upside down and packs down into a filament box while still boasting a print volume of 175 mm x 176 mm x 125 mm.

Unlike most 3D printers, the hotend and XY-gantry is mounted below the build plate, directly onto the base. You might assume that a printer needs to extrude plastic with gravity to work properly, but the real action is in the smooshing of the plastic layers. It appears that it might even improve bridging since the hotend is supporting the plastic as it gets extruded. A clear glass build plate is used, with the same heating strips found on the rear windows of most cars. This also allows the user still see the part, and provides the added advantage of being able to quickly spot bed leveling and adhesion problems.

Another interesting side effect of this arrangement is rigidity. There is no need to suspend the XY gantry with the heavy hotend in the air, so it can be mounted directly on the thick aluminum base plate. It uses an H-bot style gantry, with Synchromesh timing cables instead of belts, which eliminates the concern of belt twist. To get the best possible print volume within the size of a filament box, the gantry axes are arranged diagonally across the base plate. The Z-axis can disconnect and lay flat on top of the printer and uses the linear rails to keep it perfectly straight and perpendicular when mounted. Continue reading “Strangest Upside-Down 3D Printer Fits In A Filament Box” →

Custom RISC-V Processor Built In VHDL

August 3, 2021 by 30 Comments

While ARM continues to make inroads into the personal computing market against traditional chip makers like Intel and AMD, it’s not a perfect architecture and does have some disadvantages. While it’s a great step on the road to software and hardware freedom, it’s not completely free as it requires a license to build. There is one completely open-source and free architecture though, known as RISC-V, and its design and philosophy allow anyone to build and experiment with it, like this build which implements a RISC-V processor in VHDL.

Since the processor is built in VHDL, a language which allows the design and simulation of integrated circuits, it is possible to download the code for the processor and then program it into virtually any FPGA. The processor itself, called NEORV32, is designed as a system-on-chip complete with GPIO capabilities and of course the full RISC-V processor implementation. The project’s creator, [Stephan], also struggled when first learning about RISC-V so he went to great lengths to make sure that this project is fully documented, easy to set up, and that it would work out-of-the-box.

Of course, since it’s completely open-source and requires no pesky licensing agreements like an ARM platform might, it is capable of being easily modified or augmented in any way that one might need. All of the code and documentation is available on the project’s GitHub page. This is the real benefit of fully open-source hardware (or software) which we can all get behind, even if there are still limited options available for RISC-V personal computers for the time being.

How does this compare to VexRISC or PicoSOC? We don’t know yet, but we’re always psyched to have choices.

EXPS/2 Keyboard Adapter Translates PS/2 And USB To MSX

August 2, 2021 by 9 Comments

Say what you will about suitcase computers, but at least most of them still have their keyboards with them. [danjovic] has this vintage Brazilian computer from the 1980s called a Gradiente Expert. These were MSX machines with Z80 chips that ran BASIC, DOS, and CP/M, and they looked like state-of-the-art dual-deck stereo systems. You can still find them pretty easily, but sadly, most of them have lost their rad mechanical keyboard with its giant arrow keys and proprietary connector.

If you now want to get one of these awesome pieces of computing history and would like to be able to talk to it, [danjovic] has you covered with the open-source EXPS/2 keyboard adapter. It will allow you to connect either a PS/2 keyboard or a USB keyboard in fallback mode to the Expert using an ATMega328P and a bespoke DIN-13 to DB-13 cable. As it turns out, there’s a wealth of information on MSX keyboard matrices out there.

How much do you know about the USB keyboard interface? If you want a warehouse of information delivered to your brain in the most pleasant way possible, go watch [Ben Eater] break it down with pen and paper.

Levitation By Sound

August 2, 2021 by 12 Comments

Levitating things with magnets is no great feat these days. We don’t see as many projects with sonic levitation. However, Japanese engineers have a new method to lift objects using sound. The process isn’t totally reliable yet, but it may lead to better methods in the future. You can see a video about the work below.

Manipulating very small items via laser or acoustics isn’t new. However, there are significant limitations to current methods. This new approach uses an array of hemispherical ultrasound transducers. By controlling the amplitude and phase of each transducer, an acoustic trap forms and can pick up a 3 mm polystyrene ball without direct contact.

Manipulating objects without contact interests us for a few reasons, not the least of which is circuit assembly. Robust technology of this type could also add new dimensions to additive manufacturing. Of course, it is a long way from a 3 mm polystyrene ball to a surface mount component. However, you have to admit watching components just float through the air to their final resting places would be something to see.

Not that we haven’t seen sonic levitation before. Magnetic levitation tends to be easier, but also has some limitations.

Continue reading “Levitation By Sound” →

Dedicated LED Animation Framework For ESP32

August 2, 2021 by 8 Comments

[Eric Arcana] has been creating animated holiday decorations for several years, which involved a lot of custom code to make things light up the way he wanted, pulling the microcontroller to make changes. Using ESP32s with remote software updates is easier, but [Eric] also wanted to make the code simpler. To achieve this he created Fade, a custom programming language/framework for controlling LED animations from the ESP32.

Fade is written for addressable RGB LEDs like the Neopixel/WS2812. It keeps track of the current color of every LED in the system and allows the user to define what color it should be at a specified time in the future. Time is specified using 10 ms clock cycles. The LEDs will smoothly change from one color to the other in the specified number of clock cycles, without needing to specify what the intermediate colors should be.

Code is written in simple IDE, running on a web server on the ESP32 itself, or on a remote Windows PC. The language is very simple, but still powerful enough to create complex LED animations. A key part of it is the ability to specify multiple concurrent state changes in just a few lines of code. [Eric] also included optioning to take touch button inputs and use them to update the animations. Another nice feature is a simulation window on the desktop IDE. It allows you to create custom LED layouts on PC, and test your code without needing to send it to the ESP32.

Addressable LEDs have made creating large LED installations a lot simpler, like this 6 foot LED ball or a LED Video Wall.

Continue reading “Dedicated LED Animation Framework For ESP32” →

Single-Wheel Motorcycle Trailer

August 2, 2021 by 40 Comments

A motorbike might not take up a lot of parking space, but this is not true for the trailer required to transport one. To solve this problem, [Make It Extreme] built a custom single-wheel motorbike trailer barely wider than the motorcycle itself.

The frame of the trailer is welded together from a couple of sections of large diameter steel tube, with a single car wheel mounted to a C-shaped portion on the rear end. A standard ball hitch would allow the entire trailer to tilt over to one side, so a pin hitch is used instead, with a pivot to allow up and down movement. Another pivot was added to the frame just ahead of the rear wheel to allow the trailer to lower to the ground for loading. It is raised and lowered with a manually pumped hydraulic cylinder, and a small pivoting ramp at the back also acts as a stop for the motorbike’s rear wheel. With the rigid frame and no suspension, we’re just wondering how well it will handle bumps at high speed.

[Make It Extreme] really likes his recreational vehicles, which include a monotrack motorbike, a monowheel, and an all-terrain hoverboard, among others. Continue reading “Single-Wheel Motorcycle Trailer” →