correct me if i’m wrong, but technology was supposed to make our lives easier, take care of us, make us dinner, raise our children, and, fulfill our every dream.
so what has technology done for you lately? nothing? well, my friend, today we have a hack that will change your life forever. today sammo sent us a link to jp brown’s amazing rubick’s cube solving robot.
the final task on my big list of things to do can finally be crossed off. life is good.
On autonomous robots, the most difficult challenges usually lie in the software and electronic realms, but the mechanics can also be very time consuming. To help address this challenge, [Nikodem Bartnik] is working on the Open Robotic Platform (ORP), a modular robotics chassis system designed to make prototyping as easy and affordable as possible. Video after the break.
The ORP is governed by a set of design rules to maintain interchangeability. Most of the design rules are very open, but the cornerstone of ORP is its standardized mounting plates featuring a 20 mm grid pattern of 3.5 mm mounting holes. These plates can be stacked using connecting rods, creating a versatile foundation upon which various components can be mounted.
[Nikodem] is on a mission to create and collect an entire library of these modular components. From custom 3D-printed holders that accommodate sensors, motors, wheels and dev boards to homemade PCBs that snap directly onto the chassis, everything to get your robot rolling as soon as possible. While manufacturing methods and materials are not limited, 3D printing and laser cutting will likely be the most popular manufacturing technologies for making your own parts.
Anyone who has ever processed real analog film in a darkroom probably remembers two things: the awkward fumbling in absolute darkness while trying to get the film loaded into the developing reel, and the tedium of getting the timing for each solution just right. This automatic film-developing machine can’t help much with the former, but it more than makes up for that by taking care of the latter.
For those who haven’t experienced the pleasures of the darkroom — and we mean that sincerely; watching images appear before your eyes is straight magic — film processing is divided into two phases: developing the exposed film from the camera, and making prints from the film. [kauzerei]’s machine automates development and centers around a modified developing tank and a set of vessels for the various solutions needed for different film processes. Pumps and solenoid valves control the flow of solutions in and out of the developing tank, while a servo mounted on the tank’s cover gently rotates the reel to keep the film exposed to fresh solutions; proper agitation is the secret sauce of film developing.
The developing machine has a lot of other nice features that really should help with getting consistent results. The developing tank sits on a strain gauge, to ensure the proper amount of each solution is added. To avoid splotches that can come from using plain tap water, rinse water is filtered using a household drinking water pitcher. The entire rig can be submerged in a heated water bath for a consistent temperature during processing. And, with four solution reservoirs, the machine is adaptable to multiple processes. [kauzerei] lists black and white and C41 color negative processes, but we’d imagine it would be easy to support a color slide process like E6 too.
This looks like a great build, and while it’s not the first darkroom bot we’ve seen — we even featured one made from Lego Technics once upon a time — this one has us itching to get back into the darkroom again.
Continue reading “Darkroom Robot Automates Away The Tedium Of Film Developing”
LEGO are perhaps the perfect children’s toy, at least until you step on the errant brick while walking around the house. Available in all kinds of sets with varying themes and characters, they encourage building and creativity in kids like no other. Those with 3D printers might have considered creating their own specialty blocks, but the manufacturing of real LEGO blocks involves steel molds with extremely tight tolerances far outside the realm of most 3D printers. To print blocks capable of interconnecting in a similar way involves taking advantage of the characteristics of 3D printers and their materials instead, as [CNC Kitchen] demonstrates with these PrintABloks.
The PrintABlok was the idea of [Joe Larson] aka [3D Printing Professor] and is built around a one-unit base block, which has holes on all of its sides, paired with small connecting pieces which are placed in the holes to connect the various blocks to one another. Using your CAD software of choice (although they were originally built using Blender), the base block can be lengthened or widened for printing various different types of blocks, and the diamond-shaped hole can even be added to various prints that aren’t blocks at all. This means that a wide variety of parts can be made, all designed to interlock with the bricks or various other shapes. [Joe] even created an array of themed sets like robots, castles, and dinosaurs and although he sells these more complex models, he released his base set and interconnection mechanism for free and is available for anyone to use.
Another perk of the PrintABlok system is that they are scalable, mitigating safety risks for smaller children that might try to swallow some of the smaller parts. It’s an excellent way to put the 3D printer to work if there are any children around in the house. But this isn’t the only LEGO-inspired build we’ve ever seen, and they aren’t always going to be used to make children’s toys. [Ivan] recently used similar 3D-printed interlocking bricks more in the style of LEGO Technic to attempt to build a human-rideable go-kart.
Shape shifters have long been the stuff of speculative fiction, but researchers in China have developed a magnetoactive phase transitional matter (MPTM) that makes Odo slipping through an air vent that much more believable.
Soft robots can squeeze into small spaces or change shape as needed, but many of these systems aren’t as strong as their more mechanically rigid siblings. Inspired by the sea cucumber’s ability to manipulate its rigidity, this new MPTM can be inductively heated to a molten state to change shape as well as encapsulate or release materials. The neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) microparticles suspended in gallium will then return to solid form once cooled.
Applications in drug delivery, foreign object removal, and smart soldering (video after the break) probably have more real world impact than the LEGO minifig T1000 impersonation, despite how cool that looks. While a pick-and-place can do better soldering work on a factory line, there might be repair situations where a magnetically-controlled solder system could come in handy.
We’ve seen earlier work with liquid robots using gallium and bio-electronic hybrids also portending the squishy future of robotics.
Continue reading “Phase Change Materials For Flexible And Strong Robots”
When there are so many single board computers and other products aimed at providing children with the means to learn about programming and other skills, it is easy to forget at time before the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi and their imitators, when a computer was very much an expensive closed box.
Into this late-’90s vacuum left in the wake of the 8-bit home computer revolution came LEGO’s Mindstorms kits, a box of interlocking goodies with a special programmable brick, which gave kids the chance to make free-form computerized robotic projects all of their own. The recent news that after 24 years the company will discontinue the Mindstorms range at the end of the year thus feels like the end of an era to anyone who has ridden the accessible microcontroller train since then.
What became Mindstorms has its roots in the MIT Media Lab’s Programmable Brick project, a series of chunky LEGO bricks with microcontrollers and the Mindstorms LEGO brick contacts for motors and sensors. Their Logo programming language implementation was eschewed by LEGO in favor of a graphical system on a host computer, and the Mindstorms kit was born. The brand has since been used on a series of iterations of the controller, and a range of different robotics kits.
In 1998, a home computer had morphed from something programmable in BASIC to a machine that ran Windows and Microsoft Office. Boards such as Parallax’s BASIC Stamp were available but expensive, and didn’t come with anything to control. The Mindstorms kit was revolutionary then in offering an accessible fully programmable microcontroller in a toy, along with a full set of LEGO including motors and sensors to use with it.
We’re guessing Mindstorms has been seen off by better and cheaper single board computers here in 2022, but that doesn’t take away its special place in providing ’90s kids with their first chance to make a proper robot their way. The kits have found their place here at Hackaday, but perhaps most of the projects we’ve featured using them being a few years old now underlines why they are to meet their end. So long Mindstorms, you won’t be forgotten!
Header image: Mairi, (CC BY-SA 3.0).
LEGO and its Technic line is a great way to learn about all kinds of mechanical things, but it’s also just a whole lot of fun to play with. We suspect the latter reason is what got [Brick Technology] to pursue creating a trippy water vortex with the building toy.
The first design uses a transparent plastic sphere as a water vessel. Inside the sphere is placed a small turbine, turned from the outside via a magnetic coupling. This means the sphere can remain intact, with no holes required, nor complicated seals which can leak. It works well, and produces a vortex when the turbine is spun by a regular LEGO motor. A second attempt elects to rotate the entire sphere itself. Small LEGO wheels are then used to hold the sphere in place on the rapidly spinning turntable. The results are impressive, creating a large and relatively well-formed vortex.
Naturally, though, the video saves the best for last. The big transparent sphere is installed in a rig that surrounds it completely. The sphere itself is spun up thanks to wheels installed on two different axes. This allows the sphere to be spun in various directions under command from a PlayStation controller, creating more complicated vortexes and flow patterns. A set of swiveling casters are provided to hold the sphere in place as it rotates in various directions, and are damped with springs and rubber bands to stop the rig shaking itself apart.
Is there much purpose to this? Well, not on the surface level, no. However, it would certainly make one heck of a rig for shaking up cocktails. Or, if for some reason you need a noisy yet attractive centrifugal separator, maybe this could do the trick. Continue reading “LEGO Rig Makes Pretty Water Vortexes”
