[Ben Heck], in a display of true hacker spirit, has released a tutorial on how to mod the Access Controller. We have been waiting for it, but we can’t help but commend the detail he goes into. He lists pinouts, as well as digi-key part numbers for various replacement parts. Great job as usual [ben].
[stuart] wanted a more intuitive way to control his rover platform than the software solution he had been using. He settled on using a Playstation controller with an AVR to operate the rover wirelessly. He found a couple references for talking to the controller using SPI on a PIC and adapted that for his ATMega88. The code is available on his site. He removed the rumble motors from the controller and stuffed the chip plus the transmitter package inside. The Linx TX/RX pair are mounted to pluggable boards so he can use them on other projects. A video of the tank in motion is after the jump. Continue reading “Playstation Tank Controller”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXmccs4GIqI]
Absolutely fascinating. The University of Washington is developing a vocally controled mouse interface. We’ve seen vocal control of the computer before, but it is usally responding to specific commands and words to carry out tasks such as opening files. This system uses different vowels and sounds to create cursor motion. You can see the same system used in the video above to control a robot arm as well.
[via BotJunkie]
[Ben Heckendorn]’s Access Controller is now shipping. The controller is designed to be used with just one hand. It has six openings that the five control modules can be placed in. It’s easy to reconfigure depending on the player or game. While the prototype was built using Xbox 360 controller parts, this newly released unit is available for the PS2, PS3, and PCs. The Xbox 360 version is still being reviewed for final production. [Ben] says that in the coming weeks he’ll post a how-to for building your own modules. There’s always one empty slot and the bus like design should make this fairly simple.
Reader, [Fox9p3400], opened up an Xbox 360 controller battery pack so we could all see what goes into one. It contains two Sanyo 2100mAh NiMH AA rechargeables (Model HR-3U 1.2V). In addition to that, there is an Atmel microcontroller (not pictured) and the copper temperature probe you can see above. He has more pictures on Photobucket.
[Jacques] sent us this little project he has been working on. It is an amazingly cheap USB 2 chanel scope. The total cost of the project was around 5 Euros. It is based off of an Atmel Tiny45, has 2 analog inputs, and can supply 5 Volts to a breadboard. He has listed the bill of materials as well as downloads for the source code, plans, and display software.
The NUI Group has been working hard to bring the PS3 Eye to windows. From the factory, this device has pretty impressive specs, but no windows drivers. After a bit of hacking, they’ve developed a driver for it and released it on their forums. The main reason they are so interested in it is that it can capture full frame at 60 frames per second, making it perfect for multi touch sensing. Now that they’ve got it working with windows, they’re working on a custom PS3 Eye filter for touchlib.
[via PS3 Fanboy, thanks vor]
