Collect And Analyze ECG Data

August 22, 2009 by Zach Banks 14 Comments

ecg

Although we’ve covered DIY ECGs before, [Scott Harden] sent in his version that gives an in-depth explanation of what to do with the collected data. He built a basic battery-powered op-amp-based ECG for under $1. The circuit just amplifies the signal from the chest leads and feeds it into a computer via the microphone port. He then used GoldWave to record, filter, and save the signal. From there, he used python to analyze the heartbeat and calculate his heart rate and further manipulate the data. His previous blog posts go into more detail on how the python code works and why he chose software over hardware filters.

Arduino USB Host Shield

August 21, 2009 by Phil Burgess 18 Comments

UsbHostShield

Circuits@Home has been journaling their development of a USB host mode shield for Arduino, which could bring the platform a veritable explosion of mass storage, keyboard input and countless other peripheral options (and a corresponding raft of new hacks). Currently at the prototype stage, a ready-made shield and library are forthcoming, so keep checking back. Meanwhile, for embedded developers wanting to learn the ropes of USB, the in-progress articles will likely provide some valuable insights.

[thanks Kersny]

Pressure Sensitive Keyboard

August 9, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 45 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDI8eYIASf0]

The Applied Sciences group in Microsoft Hardware have come up with an interesting tool. This is a pressure sensitive keyboard. Our minds went strait to gaming, as theirs did too apparently. They show how this could give you more control in your games based on how hard you push the button. Remember the first time you got to use an analog stick, it sure is hard to go back to a D-pad. We want to know when we’ll get to play with these cool toys made by Microsoft.

Tiny Bluetooth Teardown

August 8, 2009 by Eliot 38 Comments

minibluetooth

The folks at SparkFun were startled by how small USB bluetooth adapters had become so they split one open. They noted a few interesting design features. It has a small folded trace antenna on the board edge. The metal USB housing acts as the RF shield. The bluetooth IC is an AS3620QA. Now we wonder what those tiny Buffalo drives look like inside.

Related: Eye-Fi teardown, storage/WiFi in an SD card

Droplet

August 7, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 16 Comments

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/5989780]

[Andrew Rapp] sent in this project called Droplet. He’s been doing work with Xbees and Arduinos together and built this little toy. He describes it as “sort of like a Chumby”. It has built in services for Twitter, Google Calendar, News, Gmail, etc. You can download the full source code and plans on his site. His next planned revisions include possibly running it from a sheevaplug, making a nice case for it, and utilizing the unused pins of the arduino.

CPU Tachometer

August 7, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 35 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nAeftaUWYw]

Recently, analog displays have come back in vogue. This is partially due to the common steam punk theme that is popular right now. [Cristiano] has done an analog display, but instead of brass and polished wood, he’s gone automotive themed (Internet Archive Cache) with it. He purchased a cheap tachometer from ebay. A circuit had to be designed to give the tach the signals needed for it to operate, and you can download the schematic from his site. As you can see in the video above, it works well. We think that “shift” light might get annoying pretty quickly.

Tangible Holograms

August 6, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 24 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-P1zZAcPuw]

As you watch that video, you’ll probably find yourself wondering several things about the tangible hologram project. Why haven’t we seen these simple hologram setups used more often? Where did that cool air puff system come from and why haven’t we seen more on that? When will this be integrated into the latest Xbox/PS3/Wii? We don’t know the answers to those questions, but we would really love to play with this in person to see how convincing it is.