Several years ago I watched a viral YouTube video that starred Jerry the Dachshund, whose engineer owner had built him his very own automated ball launcher. I had two dogs at the time, and was also unemployed with some time on my hands, so I decided to try my hand at building one. After a […]
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3D video camcorders and displays are getting cheaper, but they’re still fairly expensive, and the only sub-$100 cameras that take 3D still photos all use roll film. So I thought it would be fun to mix the old with the new and see how cheaply I could build a digital camera rig for creating old-school […]
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Connect a shirt pocket “amplified listener” hearing aid with an in-car FM transmitter, and you’ve got a wireless bug. Tuck them inside a hollowed-out book with the mic concealed by the dust cover, and you’ve got a covert listening device that you can leave lying around or on a shelf near a surveillance target. Then […]
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The thumb piano, known as a kalimba, mbira, and by many other names, is a lamellaphone that uses prongs called tongues, keys, or tines that you pluck to generate acoustic vibrations. The length of the tine determines the pitch. Generally, the thumb piano uses some kind of mechanism as an anchor that puts a great […]
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By Robert Armiger and Carol Reiley We created Air Guitar Hero as a fun rehabilitation exercise for people with amputations. Here we’ll show you how to make an inexpensive version so anyone can play Guitar Hero without pushing buttons. It uses an electrode cuff, a modified Wii guitar controller, and open source code. Wii-Hab Lab: […]
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This is the follow up to my Chomping Pacman Costume There are plenty of resources out there for creating magic mirrors, but I wanted to take things one step further. Everything that found was for an installation, and I wanted to find a way to make it into a wearable Halloween costume. My idea for […]
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Run a mini “Electric Punk” bike faster (and funnier) by powering it with a big, bad cordless drill.
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