Make Your Own 3d Monitor

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NektsV1EOic]

Don’t let this cruddy video fool you. [Sprite_tm] has done an amazing job here. He has put together a fairly simple way of creating your own 3d monitor at home. The basic principle is easy to get. You have to supply different angles of an object, on the screen, at the same time. [Sprite_tm] has done this by using transparency sheets, printed with a pattern to only show specific pixels. As you move your head, you see a different set of pixels, and therefore a different image. It’s simple, but it works. The system isn’t really new. Traditional 3d with polarized glasses uses a very similar setup. This system however seems like it is lacking in stereoscopic view however. When you move your head, you’re looking at a different angle, but still a 2d image of it. It would be really cool if he could somehow present each eye a different view, without polarizing filters and glasses. We’ve seen others do that with multiple screens, but that gets so clunky and can give most people a headache pretty quick. We also think we are about to see a flood of face tracking perspective modification, especially with project Natal and similar technology emerging.

New Pet, Project 413

I wonder if anyone ever mouses over images anymore. Oh silly me, xkcd reference.

[Jacob] sent in his teams final project, Project 413. While sounding like something straight out of an action movie, don’t worry, it’s not the next terminator. Rather a combination of an eBox (in place of an EEE pc), omni wheels, motors, batteries, and the finishing touch – a hamster ferret ball. If this is sounding familiar to a certain web comic, then right you are, as XKCD was their main inspiration. Sadly, the web cam and ‘having a soul’ functions didn’t make it into their version, but being controlled via Wii remote is always a plus.  Check out a video after the break. Continue reading “New Pet, Project 413”

Bender Keg Cooler

What? Another Bender project? This almost went in the trash since it looks so much like the bender brewer from earlier this week, we thought it was the same tip. This isn’t a brewer though. This is a keg cooler, made to look like Bender. You can follow the build process to see exactly how they constructed it. They did a great job, the tap is in his cigar, and the keg resides in his body. Fantastic job guys, now you need some Benderbrau to dispense.

[thanks hexmonkey]

Nunk On Droise

Nunk on Droise is an art installation where noise is made depending on how drunk you are. In a configuration that could be called a cthoilet, the sensors shown above are alcohol sensors. Though we initially thought this would be testing urine, the description states that it tests the breath of the participant. Unfortunately there aren’t any schematics or code, though you can see how it is all assembled from the flickr pool. You can also see a video demonstration of the prototype.

Movie Mover: A Mobile Theater

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po8F6lIFhkk]

[Electricunicycle] put together this radio controlled mobile theater system to amuse his neighborhood pals. It is a projector and what looks like an electric wheelchair base. He has managed to fit a decent sound system in there as well, which required a second battery. This is pretty cool, though we could see ruggedizing it a little more to be able to drive around in fields. He states “this is one of the faster movie theaters around”. This makes us wonder what the competition is like.

Complete The Maze, Get A Gumball

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcj9Sdiohog&w=470]

This neat accelerometer controlled marble maze adds a level of fun to retrieving a gum ball. You have to first navigate the maze using a controller that has a dual axis accelerometer in it to control the angle of the platform. Though that does look like a wii accessory, there is no wiimote in there.  Only after you have completed it will the gum ball machine dispense the candy. [Dan] constructed everything himself, which might explain the lack of “pits” for the marble to fall into in the maze.

More details on the build and source code are available on his page.

[via hacked gadgets]

Omni-car

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB15-uSNvHA]

We stumbled onto one of [Nik Melton]’s projects, an Omni-car. It is omnidirectional, meaning it can go any direction at any time without having to turn. The body was designed by him, then printed with a 3D printer. The control scheme is what interests us though. He has found a simple way to wire it to get the job done. Sure you can see that it suffers from some pretty bad “drift” when trying to go in a straight line, but overall, we think he pulled it off well.

You might want to take a few moments to look around his project page. This guy has done a bunch of fun stuff  like delta robots, strange hybrid wheel/leg robots, tesla coils, and arm mounted flamethrowers. Judging by the videos, he’s pretty young too. We think his guy has a bright future ahead of him.