Tomato Irrigation

No hack will be more readily accepted by the significant other more than an automated vegetable watering system. [Jouni’s] homemade rig keeps those tomatoes happy with just the right amount of moisture. A bucket serves as the reservoir, a submersible pump gets the water to the soil through a bit of plastic hose. An Arduino monitors the soil sensor, watering and tweeting about it when things dry out too much. Don’t miss the soil moisture sensor post if you need some tips on how to get that end of things working. The rest is pretty straightforward.

Multitouch Using Water

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

[Taichi Inoue] is back again, this time with a multitouch system that uses water as the touch surface.  The setup consists of a tank of water placed atop an LCD, a lamp, and a web cam. The web cam pics up the light that is reflected when something breaks the surface of the water. It is, as far as the computer is concerned, no different than the blob recognition we see with many of the home made multitouch systems. Mixed with his Yukikaze, this guy might end up with the most relaxing computer system in the world.

[via Makezine]

Student Soaker, Wireless Water Gun

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aaQIkLkSIo%5D

As far as pranks go, [Austin Shaf’s] wireless hidden water gun is a real treat. The video above goes over a brief explanation and shows the setup in action. The prankster holds onto a wireless AVR remote, and when the unsuspecting victim walks by, he activates a second AVR controlling a pump; spraying water everywhere.

While most of us are out of school by now, the project would still be a fun office or perhaps street prank. If you’re one for registering, schematics and source code can be found at AVRFreaks. Alternatively, check after the jump for a copy of both.

Related: Office Pranks, and Water Guns.

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Pressurized PVC Water Gun

Hackaday’s [Caleb Kraft] has branded today “kiddie d-day” after seeing this PVC water gun follow close on the heals of the LEGO sniper rifle. This is a great summer project if you don’t mind letting the kids use the quick connect on your air compressor. It’s really just a ‘T’ made of PVC with two valves for air and water management and a soda bottle on the third leg as a reservoir. In the short clip after the break you can see that you don’t get a lot of shooting time out of each charge compared to the DIY Super Soaker, but this build is also a lot less complicated.

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Remote Operated Underwater Vehicle

PVC hull, SLA batteries, Bilge Pumps, sounds like a good start to [Jimmy’s] ROV project. Paintball gun (as a BCD), dual live cameras paired with an Arduino making it internet controlled, all tethered with a fiber optic cable, sounds like [Jimmy’s] ROV got a whole lot more astounding.

While some very important parts have yet to be implemented, like the leak detectors, the project looks to be going quite smoothly. With updates promised, we can’t wait to watch this continue until the end.

Related: Yellow Subs and double ROVs

DIY Super Soaker

With summer just around the corner you should try out a build like this constant pressure water gun that [JLspacemarine] put together. Similar to the commercially available Super Soaker toys, this isn’t just a squirt gun but includes a water reservoir as well as a pressurized air chamber. Pumping up the air chamber allows for a constant stream when the trigger is depressed. [JLspacemarine] used a combination of hardware store items such as PVC, ABS, springs, hose clamps, and valves to bring this all together.

[Thanks Danukeru]