RFID Controlled Phone Dialing

phone1

In an attempt to create an easier to use interface for the elderly, [Stephen] has put together this phone prototype which uses RFID tags to dial. It is common for our motor skills and eyesight to deteriorate as we get older. There are special phones out there, but generally the only changes they make are enlarged buttons and louder speakers. [Stephen] had the idea to make a system where an elderly person would hold up a picture of the person to the phone and it would dial. He picked up an RFID card reader and an Arduino. The code for the RFID reader was already available, and with minor modifications to prevent multiple swipes from hand tremors or slow movements, he was able to get it working pretty fast. The Arduino then sends the data to an ioBridge to make the call.He’s using Google voice to physically place the call, so you could probably adapt this to other services as well. You can see a video of it in action after the break.

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AVR HV Rescue Shield

rescueshield

While playing with an ATmega168, [Jeff] programmed the RSTDISBL fuse bit. This pretty much makes the chip useless in most cases. [Jeff] didn’t want to give up on it though, so he built a system to program it using the rarely used high voltage parallel programming mode. He used an Arduino, a few lines of code and a few spare parts to make it. After sharing the idea with some fellow programmers, he decided to make an Arduino shield specifically for this purpose. You can use this to reset almost any fuse to rescue a chip. If you are a die hard AVR person and never started using Arduino instead, the STK500 actually has this built in.

Thermosmart: Arduino Thermostat

smartstat

[Chris] sent in the Thermosmart. It is an Arduino controlled thermostat. It has a web interface which allows him to see the current temperature and make adjustments from remote locations. He can set heating or cooling to on, off, or auto and adjust the ranges as well. We’ve seen similar done with an Arduino before, even one with a nice LCD interface. This could possibly be useful for remote plant monitoring as well.

Arduino Mouse Trap

mouser

[scott] had a need to capture a mouse and wanted to learn about how to program an arduino, so he built an Arduino controlled mousetrap. It is made from things he had laying around the house, like some Tupperware containers and wooden rods. The program is pretty simple, when a trip wire is touched, the servo jerks the wooden rod out of the way, closing the container. You can see it working after the break. The trip wire seems like a big failure point. he states that it is just a wire, slightly above a tin foil strip. That seems like it would only be a tiny area that the mouse would need to touch to trigger it. What better switch could he design as cheap and quick as possible?

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Building The Shmooball Cannon

shmoo

We’ve been eagerly anticipating this, [Larry] has published the entire build of the Shmooball gun for 2009. This design is more compact and elegant than the one for 2008 and has a slightly more Ghost Buster’s aesthetic about it.  The pictures are great and there’s lots of good tips along the way. We can’t wait to see what they make next year. How about a gattling version?

Replacing A Point And Shoot Lens

cockeyed

Cockeyed.com is a peculiar site. It is spattered with links in an almost unintelligible manner, but if you dig hard enough, or just click randomly, you can find some pretty fun stuff. One nice writeup they’ve done is how to replace the lens in their point and shoot camera. This one happens to be a Canon Powershot sd750, but it will give you an idea about how difficult it can be for any point and shoot. The lens assembly couldn’t be replaced until almost every single piece had been disassembled. There are tons of pictures showing the process and the final result. Though the install was a success, his replacement lens was already beat up pretty bad. Looks like he’ll have to go through it all again.

[via The Old New Thing]

Model Rocket GPS And Data Logger

datalogger

Serious rocket hobbyists aren’t content with merely launching their rockets into the air. [wwgd] wants to have an on board computer to control his flights and log the data.  He doesn’t quite know how to do it all yet, so he’s starting with the basics. He has built the basic GPS data logger using an accelerometer, a GPS unit, and a BS2P microcontroller. The overall weight is 62 grams and it can record for the whole 5 minute flight. At roughly $200 though, we’d be thinking twice before launching it into the stratosphere.