Apparently you can revive dead Ni-Cad batteries by zapping them with high voltage. Some people have used welders in the past, but many of us just don’t have access to one. This project shows you how to hack a disposable camera into a battery revival device. This could be very cost effective. A single regular AA battery could revive many Ni-Cads. Remember, this doesn’t charge them, just makes them able to be charged again.
[1up] has posted his portable NES as an entry for the Sanyo Eneloop contest. We’ve seen some really cool portable builds, but this one has a complete step by step writeup of the process too. Many of these projects start with the little all in one devices that contain 99 games already. [1up] wanted to use original hardware so you could play any cartridge you could get. He used a complete NES and a portable PS1 screen. The total project cost was roughly $130, if you don’t include all the stuff he broke in the process.
Not only does he make it portable, but also points out easy ways to improve your experience. One example is to disable the lockout chip. This was an anti piracy precaution from Nintendo. If the cartridge doesn’t pass this, it won’t play. Often, games won’t pass due to something as simple dirty contact. He explains all of this and takes you through the process of disabling the chip so everything can run smoother.
He has it all encased in a clear box. Some people prefer a more professional finish, but we have to admit that seeing the guts is pretty cool.
[weirdo] sent in this sweet Xbox 360 arcade controller project(translated). He really wanted an arcade controller for the new Mortal Kombat game. After noticing that the expensive retail arcade controllers were missing the trigger buttons, he decided to hack his own together. After dissecting the controller, he soldered in some break out boxes. This will allow him pretty easy reconfiguration. Wanting some additional customization, he added LEDs to the buttons. Most people add LEDs to the buttons, so that’s not a huge deal, but he also added one to the ball on the end of the joystick. That added touch almost makes us forget that this thing is housed in a pizza box. To be fair, he wants to refine the button layout for a while before he makes a final enclosure.
We covered a very similar project last year, but it has since disappeared from its original site. You may also remember the slick Wireless PS2 arcade controller from back in June.
Hobby super computer building isn’t something you hear about every day. This project is even more peculiar due to the fact that it is a supercomputer built with BASIC Stamps. [humanoido] posted some great pictures and detailed info about his project. We’re not completely sure what definition of supercomputer he’s using, but he states that it beats out the others in 10 categories. Those categories are: smaller, lighter, portable, field operable, runs on batteries, has greatest number of input/output, has greatest number of sensors/variety, lowest power consumption, lowest unit cost, and easiest to program. Those sound a little more like features than supercomputing categories to us, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that this is one cool jumble of wires.
You may be wondering what it does. Well, so are we. From what he says, it talks in Chinese and English and has a plethora of other input and output devices. It also displays status of its internal communications. Catch a video after the break.
[floe] wrote in to tell us about his multitouch based thesis work. While many projects have focused on the hardware side of multitouch, TISCH is designed to promote the software side. TISCH is a multiplatform library that features hardware abstraction and gesture recognition. This takes a lot of weight off of widget developers since they can specify known library gestures instead of writing the exact motions from scratch. Using TISCH also means a standard set of gestures across multiple widgets, so the learning curve will be much easier when a user tries out a new app. If you’re researching multitouch, check out this project and help improve the codebase.
Reader [Julian von Mendel] and his team built this tennis ball fetching robot for a competition (translated). The first version used distance sensors to locate the tennis balls for pick-up, but they changed to a camera based approach. The robot has three omniwheels and is designed to calculate the shortest path to the ball despite orientation since it can rotate while traveling. The wheels are monitored using rotation sensors from PS/2 mice. The control is provided by 3 Atmel microcontrollers that communicate via SPI. The multiprocessor design is fairly generic and could be reused for a different style of robot. While their robot performed fairly well, there were some shortcomings. The limited storage space meant frequent trips to drop off balls. The tilting bucket kept them from picking up tennis balls that were against the wall. Also, the bot had to be disassembled for battery swaps. The project is very well documented and they’ve released all of their control code. You can see the robot retrieving a ball after the break. Continue reading “Tennis Ball Fetcher”
We’ve been following [glaciawanderer]’s CNC build for quite some time and he’s recently added a few upgrades to make for an even more interesting machine. He’s been trying out new bearing blocks, anti-backlash nuts, and z-axis plates hoping to get some improvements. In the case of the bearing blocks, he went back to the older style because of the added safety and smoother movement. The final addition he made was a dust collection system. It’s just a couple support hoops and duct tape, but it should keep dust out of the threads and rails.
