Mind Controlled Rovio

April 28, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 9 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNkkuMO5l7A]

[Robert] at Extremetech was going to write a review of the Emotiv EEG headset but found the bundled software lacking. He decided to write something to really show off what could be done with an EEG in your home. He is now controlling his Rovio with his mind. He had already written a new control program for the Rovio, so redoing the same program with the EEG controls would give him a great comparison. If you recall from the mind controlled TV, meditating on a single thought can be cumbersome for quick controls. Instead, he used facial expression recognition. Maybe this should be called “face controlled Rovio” instead.

Puppet Circuits

April 28, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 6 Comments

This isn’t a specific project, so much as a pointer to a budding new site. Puppet Circuits is the project of [Raphael Abrams], one of the co founders of NYC Resistor. As you can probably guess, he has been posting about the circuits he uses in his animatronic puppets. I faces all kinds of problems since may of the systems are to be worn and have to endure some pretty rough treatment and still perform well. Very interesting stuff to read about.

Improving A Motorized Toy

April 17, 2010 by Mike Szczys 18 Comments

[Dan Fruzzetti’s] daughter was delighted to get a motorized vehicle from her Grandparents, but [Dan] was unimpressed with the stock features. The lead-acid battery supplied remarkable life between charges, but the vehicle only had one feature: a go button that routed juice to the bipolar motor. After the break we’ll look at his improvements to the drive train, steering, and cosmetics.

Continue reading “Improving A Motorized Toy” →

Warthog Laser Tag

April 12, 2010 by Mike Szczys 11 Comments

The Warthog from Halo is one of the most beloved video game vehicles. [Tim Higgins] brings the fun to life with his laser tag Warthog game. It uses Barbie Power Wheels toys as a base and adds laser tag weaponry. Xbox 360 controllers are used but just like in Halo, you can’t control the gun and the vehicle at the same time. We’ve encountered [Tim’s] love for water-based amusement before and this did originally start out with a water cannon powered by a wind-shield washer reservoir.

Take a look at the videos after the break as well as his recent post for information about the hardware. His choices for controller circuitry are way overpowered, sourcing an Eee PC to do the heavy lifting. This is because the choices he made were for easy development and not economy of components. A PC has no problem connecting to Xbox 360 controllers, and the modular control boards mean no complicated circuit design or arduous soldering were necessary. In the end, this looks like a ton of fun and we give him bonus points for repainting the pretty pink plastic that comes standard with these models of children’s toys.

Continue reading “Warthog Laser Tag” →

Hacking The MindFlex, More!

April 8, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 59 Comments

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10184668%5D

Reader [Eric] sent us a powerfully informative, yet super simple hack for the MindFlex toy. Don’t worry, it’s not another worthless shock ‘game’, And it’s using an actual interface instead of the built-in LEDs.

With two wires for the serial protocol, and an Arduino, you’ll be able to view “signal strength, attention, meditation, delta, theta, low alpha, high alpha, low beta, high beta, low gamma, high gamma” brainwaves. While it’s not medical grade, it’s a lot more intuitive than previous interfaces.

The original intent was for a system called MentalBlock, but we’re wondering what would you do with brainwave data?

LEGO Gearbox – Seven Speed Plus Reverse

April 8, 2010 by Mike Szczys 44 Comments

We know LEGO is a very versatile medium to build with but this is beyond what we considered possible. Seven speeds and a reverse gear were built into the gearbox for this LEGO vehicle. It’s not completely an original design, but adds to the five-speed design found in a ten-year-old LEGO set. See it demonstrated in the video after the break. The design uses a sequential gearbox; shifting is accomplished by clicking the stick up or down depending on how you want to shift. If you’ve got enough parts on hand you can build this using the assembly photos that [Sheepo] posted.

Can’t get enough of the gears? Check out this model of a double clutch transmission.

Continue reading “LEGO Gearbox – Seven Speed Plus Reverse” →

LEGO Automatons

March 26, 2010 by Mike Szczys 47 Comments

Here’s a collection of little LEGO oddities. Some of them exhibit a purpose, such as this interesting take on a line-following robot. Others, like the four seen above, are just automatons built to bring a smile to your face through their motion. There are dozens to choose from, with several pictures and a video of each. See the clips of these four after the break. Oh, and don’t worry, we didn’t find any LEGO iPhone docks, just cleaver mobile creations.

Continue reading “LEGO Automatons” →