-100degC Cascading CPU Cooler

September 11, 2005 by 8 Comments

cooler

From a thermodynamics standpoint this project is damn near pornographic. The goal is to cool both the CPU and GPU down to -100 degrees Celsius using a dual evaporator cascade system. The project is fully documented starting with making the CPU/GPU blocks and polishing them to 0.005 microns. Next step is the case build up followed by a ton of brazing. He got everything assembled and pressure tested with only a few bugs. Right now they’re troubleshooting the system. They can get one of the heat exchangers down to -48.9degC, but not both. I’m sure they’ll get through this. Head over and check out the beautiful work they’ve done so far.

[thanks weirdguy0101]

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Ladyada.net Is Back Online

September 11, 2005 by 18 Comments

Yes, I’m going to dedicate an entire post to this. Limor is one of our favorite hardware hackers, but her site was unfortunately down last week when we picked it for Editor’s Choice. Well, she is back from vacation and has gotten the site back online as promised. Take some time to check out her great projects: the Minty MP3, Mini POV, and my favorite, the x0xb0x.

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Mac Mini Robot

September 10, 2005 by 6 Comments

minirobot
The University of Oklahoma wanted to get a good idea of what it is like to operate a robot using visual and aural sensors before they built one of their own. They started with the Pioneer 3-AT robotics platform. They added a Mac Mini and powered it using a 12V battery and an inverter (this was only a temporary setup). The Pioneer is controlled through a USB-to-serial connection. An iSight camera provides visual feedback. Turning control is jerky over the WiFi connection, but since this will eventually be an autonomous system it isn’t a concern. It is a nice quick proof-of-concept.

[thanks Jason Striegel]

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Noise Cancelling Headphones

September 9, 2005 by 24 Comments

headphones

Here are plans for building a noise canceling headphone circuit. Noise cancellation works by placing microphones close to the ear and then playing the recorded sound out of phase causing destructive interference. Commercial headphones have the mics and power supplies built into the headphones. The page has some other fun suggestions for playing around with the stereo mic setup. If you’re looking for a cheaper route, there is this.

[thanks flybri and h-tech]

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Event Coverage: Dorkbot Meetings And Artbots 2005

September 9, 2005 by 6 Comments

bwhackevent

Continuing on our streak of Friday coverage of cool hackerly events, we would like to say a few words on Dorkbot and Artbots.  Dorkbot started as a New York City monthly meeting for robot and homebrew interactive device aficionados.  It has now spread to many cities, perhaps even one near you.  Guests are invited to speak and afterwards, the hardware hackers mix and mingle to the geekery beat.  The collection of projects presented in the past are stored on their site with linkage for you to peruse.  We at Hack A Day are a bit sad that neither Paris nor Nebraska hosts a monthly Dorkbot.  That said, you are invited to start a new Dorkbot chapter near you if you so desire.  The next New York City Dorkbot meeting is on Wednesday, October 5th at 7 pm.  Check the listings and/or mailing lists for the city nearest you.

As if Dorkbot’s artsy tech scene wasn’t cool enough, once a year Douglas Repetto also organizes Artbots: The Robot Talent Show.  We had a chance to attend Artbots 2003 at the Eyebeam Gallery in NYC.  Particularly marking that year was Stijn Slabbinck’s scratchbot which has been covered rather extensively elsewhere. LEMUR – the league of electronic musical urban robots — was also in attendance in 2003.  This year’s Artbots was held in Dublin, Ireland and included workshops: a MIDI scrapyard challenge and a 60 minute bot building course.

Some of our favorite artist installations from this year’s Artbots include:

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Telecrapper 2000

September 8, 2005 by 20 Comments

t2k

The Telecrapper 2000 is designed to intercept telemarketer calls. It checks the caller ID when a call comes in and picks up if the ID is “out-of-area”, “unavailable”, or “private”. A script then begins playing a series of WAV files. A new file is played when the script detects silence indicating the marketer has finished speaking. The entire conversation is recorded for later amusement.

[thanks h-tech]

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