We definitely don’t recommend trying this one, but [Tony] sent in this odd twist on the old potato launcher. A pair of physics students put together a Taser like potato sized bullet. On impact, two metal pins are inserted into the target, delivering an electric shock. Depending on the size of the capacitor and amount of charge delivered, it can be a (sort of) non-lethal or lethal shock. We’d prefer not to be shot with either one.
[via pspmod]
[Windell] was stoked enough to send us [Jay]’s sweet hack on [Windell]’s Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories Peggy 2.0 kit. [Jay] added serial input and hacked quartz composer on his mac to light up all 625 LEDs with live motion video. If you were jealous of the Metalab’s giant LED display, now you can have your own – smaller and cheaper.
EMSL has recently supplemented this awesome device with their Arduino Library for Peggy 2.0. It is a program library that contains various animations and demonstrations of how to draw on a Peggy. Download and enjoy them as they are or tweak them to test out some of Peggy 2.0’s capabilities.
We’ve seen numerous products geared toward tracking the location and activities of your pets, two in the last month, but we feel sure you can make more functional devices than those you can purchase. Let’s look at a few and consider our options.
If you’ve got an extra grand laying around, you can pre-order one of [nortd]’s touchkits. It features a unique custom made acrylic screen with a crap ton of IR LEDs embedded in it. An included IR camera provides the input and a projector (you get to supply your own) is used to light the surface. We mentioned this in our multitouch roundup and you can find a video of it embedded after the break.
Buzzsurf microwaved an RFID card so you don’t have to. Pointless, but real, unlike those piles of $20s.
[via Synaptic Seepage]
We at Hackaday often dream of having our own personal planets where we wouldn’t have to deal with other people, but our spaceships aren’t quite ready. While we figure that out, you can do the next best thing: render small planets using Photoshop or GIMP with a few other graphics apps and this guide to making small planets like the one pictured above.
A group from Philadelphia PA calling themselves Team pzkpfw decided to recreate a Panzerkampfwagen III, but not entirely according to the original specs. Instead of treads and an engine, they used a system of pedals, gears and chains powered by up to six riders. The team of roughly nine men spent eleven days welding beams and plates, drilling and shaping sprockets, and painting the tank a fearsome pink camouflage. They were planning on crashing the 2nd annual Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby with it, which they crashed last year in a pirate ship, but they ended up being too tired from their tooling around to actually do it. There’s always next year. Get a look at their promotional video after the break, or if you’ll be in the Philly area soon, “visit the tank on Frankford Ave, just north of Norris St in Philadelphia.”
Continue reading “Pedal Powered Panzer Tank Built For Crashing Parties”
