Maze Solving

May 11, 2010 by Mike Szczys 7 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Txt5rLSWU]

[Mitchel Humpherys] and his fellow developers didn’t just develop a maze-solving algorithm, they also built a ping-pong ball maze platform that is computer controlled. Using a webcam the computer picks up the high-contrast maze by peering down from above, calculates the solution, and moves the ping-pong ball to the goal using two different tilt servos controlled by an 8051 microcontroller. But wait, there’s more! Why have the computer solve it when you can make a game out of a maze? Once the PC was thrown into the mix it was pretty easy to add Wii remote and Wii balance board control too. See these alternative inputs in action after the break.

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Chumby One Becomes A 3g Router

April 29, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 19 Comments

[bunnie] has taken a few moments to show us how to turn our Chumby One into a 3g router. As it turns out, there is an easter egg that allows it to communicate with certain models of 3g dongles. There’s no GUI for this trick, so you’ll be doing most of your configuration via SSH. That shouldn’t be a problem for this crowd though. The Chumby One just got a lot more appealing.

Midi Piano Instructor

April 26, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 18 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7AfiCQQ4nE]

The MIDI piano instructor is a tool aimed at those who wish to learn to play piano, but don’t want to take lessons. The LED bar mounted above the keys lights up to show you exactly what key to press and when. We’ve seen this available in some electronic keyboards for some time, but this unit would be able to fit any standard sized keyboard. Check the page for schematics and pictures.

[via Flickr]

Driving The Car Without Going Anywhere

April 23, 2010 by Mike Szczys 34 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAZSPK4pWc]

This video game controller is a factory fresh VW. Much like the racing simulator from earlier in the week, the video game data is being displayed on the instrument panel. This takes us to a much higher level now because control for the game is taken from the car’s CANbus using and ODB-II connector. If you don’t speak in automotive jargon, that means that the sensor readings from the steering wheel, shifter, and pedals are being picked up and exported as joystick commands to the PC running the driving game. The only place the experience uses a substitute for the real thing is the sound, which is being played through speakers instead of emanating from under the hood. Looks like you just need to add a projector and screen to your garage in order to turn it into the hottest new gaming device.

Build A Foam Machine

April 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 32 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7d11X8uT4]

Spice up your next house party with this diy foam machine. [Stephen Martin] posted his PDF plans for version 1 and version 2 of the device. It seems the deciding factor on the machine is the type of fabric screen used to create the suds from a bubble bath liquid. This is the reason he’s got two versions. They share a lot of the same components (especially the expensive ones) but the first version is easy to swap out different fabrics and the second is a more permanent installation. In the end, we’re looking at a sump pump feeding foam to a fabric net that is attached to a blower. This will be a nice addition to that fog machine you built last fall.

Coin-op Pays Out When You Win

April 16, 2010 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

The days of plugging coins into a stand up arcade game are sadly dwindling. [Dirk] figured out a way to prolong the nostalgia by incorporating currency back into the experience in a useful way. He rebuilt the video game Raiden to pay out a prize when you win the game. Now it takes a coin for each play but if you make it to the end you can recoup the expense.

[Dirk] took an original cabinet game, did some dangerous work to replace the old CRT monitor, and retrofit a MAME machine to handle the gaming. He’s using Windows and had some problems because of it but, as you can see after the break, things worked out in the end. The hopper hardware that spits out coins went through several steps from the initial design to the finished product, but it has always been based around a PIC controller connected to the MAME box via parallel port. This is a fun addition to any MAME cabinet.

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Mind Controlled TV

April 11, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 31 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mVxY2IJXBg]

Finally, a good use for those EEG headsets. [Andrew] has set up a system that will turn his TV on and off if he focuses hard enough. He’s got the software set to trigger an IR LED when the “strength” gets high enough. When the action starts, around 4:30 in the video, you can see that when he raises his arm the meter on the screen begins to raise and the TV turns on. Though not immediately useful, we can’t help but get a little excited seeing him literally turn his TV on with a thought.