Pick And Place Robot Built With Fischertechnik

July 30, 2019 by Pat Whetman 3 Comments

We’d be entirely wrong to think that Fichertechnik is just a toy for kids. It’s also perfect for prototyping the control system of robots. [davidatfsg]’s recent entry in the Hackaday Prize, Delta Robot, shows how complex robotics can be implemented without the hardship of having to drill, cut, bolt together or weld components. The added bonus is that the machine can be completely disassembled non-destructively and rebuilt with a new and better design with little or no waste.

The project uses inverse kinematics running on an Arduino Mega to pick coloured objects off a moving conveyor belt and drop them in their respective bins. There’s also also an optical encoder for regulating the speed of the conveyor and a laser light beam for sensing that the object on the conveyor has reached the correct position to be picked.

Not every component is ‘off the shelf’. [davidatfsg] 3D printed a simple nozzle for the actual ‘pick’ and the vacuum required was generated by the clever use of a pair of pneumatic cylinders and solenoid operated air valves.

We’re pretty sure that this will not be the last project on Hackaday that uses Fischertechnik components and it’s the second one that [davidatfsg] has concocted. Videos of the machine working after the break! Continue reading “Pick And Place Robot Built With Fischertechnik” →

The Bluetooth LCD Sniffer You Didn’t Know You Needed

July 29, 2019 by Tom Nardi 16 Comments

At one time or another, we’ve all suffered through working with a piece of equipment that didn’t feature a way to export its data to another device. Whether it was just too old to offer such niceties, or the manufacturer locked the capability behind some upgrade, the pain of staring at digits ticking over on a glowing LCD display and wishing there was a practical way to scrape what our eyes were seeing is well known to hackers.

That was precisely the inspiration for DoMSnif, the dot matrix LCD sniffer that [Blecky] has been working on. Originally the project started as a way to record the temperature of his BRTRO-420 reflow oven, but realizing that such a device could have widespread appeal to other hardware hackers, he’s rightfully decided to enter it into the 2019 Hackaday Prize. If perfected, it could be an excellent way to bolt data capture capabilities to your older devices.

The first phase of this project was figuring out how to capture and parse the signals going into the device’s KS0108 LCD. Getting the data was certainly easy enough, he just had to hook a logic analyzer up between the display and the main board of the device. Of course, figuring out what it all means is a different story.

After running the oven for a bit with the analyzer recording, [Blecky] had more than enough data to get started on decoding it. Luckily, the layout of this fairly common 128×64 pixel display is well documented and easy enough to understand. With a little work, he was able to create a tool that would import the captured data and display it on a virtual LCD.

Unfortunately, the Bluetooth part is where things get tricky. Ultimately, [Blecky] wants to ditch the logic analyzer and use a Adafruit Feather nRF52 Bluefruit to capture the signals going to the LCD and pipe them to a waiting device over Bluetooth. But his testing has found that the nRF52’s radio is simply too slow. The display is receiving data every 14us, but it takes the radio at least 50us to send a packet.

[Blecky] is looking at ways around this problem, and we’re confident he’ll crack it. The solution could be in buffering and compressing the data before sending it out, though you’d lose the ability to monitor the display in real-time. Even if he has to abandon the Bluetooth aspect entirely and make the device wired, we still think there would be a market for an easy to use hardware and software solution for scraping LCD data.

Take Control Of Your DSLR With PiXPi

July 28, 2019 by Tom Nardi 32 Comments

If you’ve ever tried to take a picture of a fast moving object, you know how important timing is. You might only have one chance, and if you hit the shutter a bit too early or too late, the shot could be ruined. Past a certain point, no human camera operator can react quickly enough. Which is exactly why [Krzysztof Krześlak] created PiXPi.

In the past we’ve seen high-speed flashes designed to “freeze time” by illuminating the scene at the precise moment, and while PiXPi can technically do that, it also offers a few alternate methods of capturing that perfect moment. The idea here is to give the photographer the best chance of getting the shot they’re after by offering them as many tools as possible.

Essentially, PiXPi is a microcontroller that allows you to orchestrate your DSLR’s trigger, external flashes, and various other sensors and devices using an easy to use graphical programming interface from your smartphone. So for example, you could program the PiXPi to trigger your camera when it detected a loud enough noise.

But the device also allows you to be a bit more proactive. Rather than sitting back and waiting for a signal to fire off the camera, the PiXPi can directly take control of the action. As an example, [Krzysztof] has created an electronically triggered valve which can release a drop of liquid on command. Using PiXPi, the photographer can quickly put together a routine that triggers a drop, waits the few milliseconds it takes for it to hit the target, and then snaps a picture.

The goal of the 2019 Hackaday Prize is to develop a product fit for production, and naturally a huge part of that is having a well thought-out design. But if you’re ultimately looking to sell said product, it’s also very important to keep the needs of the end user in mind. To that end, we think [Krzysztof] has done a great job by not only making the system very flexible, but keeping it easy to use.

Continue reading “Take Control Of Your DSLR With PiXPi” →

This Wristwatch Is A Free Form Work Of Art

July 27, 2019 by Jenny List 4 Comments

Free-form circuitry built as open wire sculpture can produce beautiful pieces of electronics, but it does not always lend itself to situations in which it might be placed under physical stress. Thus the sight of [Mile]’s free-form wristwatch is something of a surprise, as a wristwatch cam be exposed to significant mechanical stress in its everyday use.

A wire Wrencher graces thewe underside. — A wire Wrencher graces the underside.

The electronic side of this watch is hardly unusual, the familiar ATmega328-AU low-power microcontroller drives a tiny OLED display. Mechanically though it is a different story, as the outline of a wristwatch shell is traced in copper wire with a very neat rendition of a Wrencher in its base, and a glass lens is installed over the screen to take the place of a watch glass. A strap completes the wristwatch, which can then be worn like any other. Power comes from a small 110 mAh lithium-polymer cell, which it is claimed gives between 6 and 7 hours of on time and over a month of standby with moderate use.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be much detail about the software in this project, but since ATmega328 clocks and watches are ten a penny we don’t think that’s a problem. The key feature is that free-form construction, and for that we like it a lot.

The March Toward A DIY Metal 3D Printer

July 26, 2019 by Sharon Lin 20 Comments

[Hyna] has spent seven years working with electron microscopes and five years with 3D printers. Now the goal is to combine expertise from both realms into a metal 3D printer based on electron-beam melting (EBM). The concept is something of an all-in-one device that combines traits of an electron beam welder, an FDM 3D printer, and an electron microscope. While under high vacuum, an electron beam will be used to fuse metal (either a wire or a powder) to build up objects layer by layer. That end goal is still in the future, but [Hyna] has made significant progress on the vacuum chamber and the high voltage system.

The device is built around a structure made of 80/20 extruded aluminum framing. The main platform showcases an electron gun, encased within a glass jar that is further encased within a metal mesh to prevent the glass from spreading too far in the event of an implosion.

Vacuum chamber enclosed in mesh (new gasket shown)

Mold for making silicone gasket

The design of the home-brewed high-voltage power supply involves an isolation transformer (designed to 60kV), using a half-bridge topology to prevent high leakage inductance. The transformer is connected to a buck converter for filament heating and a step up. The mains of the system are also connected to a voltage converter, which can be current-fed or voltage-fed to operate as either an electron beam welder or scanning electron microscope (SEM). During operation, the power supply connects to a 24V input and delivers the beam through a Wehnelt cylinder, an electrode opposite an anode that focuses and controls the electron beam. The entire system is currently being driven by an FPGA and STM32.

The vacuum enclosure itself is quite far along. [Hyna] milled a board with two outputs for a solid state relay (SSR) to a 230V pre-vacuum pump and a 230V pre-vacuum pump valve, two outputs for vent valves, and inputs from a Piranni gauge and a Cold Cathode Gauge, as well as a port for a TMP controller. After demoing the project at Maker Faire Prague, [Hyna] went back and milled a mold for a silicone gasket, a better vacuum seal for the electron beam.

While we’ve heard a lot about different metal 3D printing methods, this is the first time we’ve seen an EBM project outside of industry. And this may be the first to attempt to combine three separate uses for an HV electron beam into the same build.

Tiny Game System Is An Experiment In Minimalism

July 25, 2019 by Tom Nardi 22 Comments

Many people assumed the smartphone revolution would kill the dedicated handheld game system, and really, it’s not hard to see why. What’s the point of buying the latest Nintendo or Sony handheld when the phone you’re already carrying around with you is capable of high-definition 3D graphics and online connectivity? Software developers got the hint quickly, and as predicted, mobile gaming has absolutely exploded over the last few years.

But at the same time, we’ve noticed something of a return to the simplistic handheld systems of yore. Perhaps it’s little more than nostalgia, but small bare-bones systems like the one [Mislav Breka] has entered into the 2019 Hackaday Prize show that not everyone is satisfied with the direction modern gaming has gone in. His system is specifically designed as an experiment to build the most minimal gaming system possible.

In terms of the overall design, this ATMega328 powered system is similar to a scaled-down Arduboy. But while the visual similarities are obvious, the BOM that [Mislav] has provided seems to indicate a considerably more spartan device. Currently there doesn’t seem to be any provision for audio, nor is there a battery and the associated circuitry to charge it. As promised, there’s little here other than the bare essentials.

Unfortunately, the project is off to something of a rocky start. As [Mislav] explains in his writeup on Hackaday.io, there’s a mistake somewhere in either the board design or the component selection that’s keeping the device from accepting a firmware. He won’t have the equipment to debug the device until he returns to school, and is actively looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping him get the kinks worked out on the design.

An Open Hardware Rubber Ducky

July 24, 2019 by Tom Nardi 12 Comments

No it’s not an open source version of Bert’s favorite bathtime toy (though seriously, let us know if you see one), the PocketAdmin by [Radik Bechmetov] is intended to be an alternative to the well-known “USB Rubber Ducky” penetration testing tool from Hak5. It might look like a standard USB flash drive, but underneath that black plastic enclosure is a whole lot of digital mischief waiting to spill out.

The general idea is that the PocketAdmin appears to the host computer as either a USB Human Interface Device (keyboard, mouse, etc) or a USB Mass Storage Device. In either event, the user has the ability to craft custom payloads which can exploit the operating system’s inherent trust in locally connected devices. The most common example is mimicking a USB keyboard that starts “typing” once connected to the computer.

You can even configure what vendor and product IDs the PocketAdmin advertises, allowing you to more accurately spoof various devices. [Radik] has included some other interesting features, such as the ability to launch different payloads depending on the detected operating system. That way it won’t waste time trying to bang out Windows commands when it’s connected to a Linux box.

The hardware is designed to be as easy and cheap to replicate as possible. The heavy lifting is done by a STM32F072C8T6 microcontroller, coupled with a W25Q256FVFG 32MiB flash chip to store the payloads. Beyond that, the BOM consists mainly of passives and a few obvious bits like the male USB connector. [Radik] has even provided a link to where you can buy the convincing looking USB “flash drive” enclosure.

We’ve seen low-cost DIY versions of the USB Rubber Ducky in the past, but PocketAdmin is interesting in that it seems like [Radik] is looking to break new ground with this project rather than just copy what’s already been done. This will definitely be one to watch as the 2019 Hackaday Prize heats up.