MAKE Volume 29 Web Extras and Downloads

We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.

Groovy Mechanical Sound Players

By Bob Knetzger

A look back at the all-mechanical marvels that made fun sounds for over 100 years. (Page 36)

Videos

Thumbnail-activated talking strip

Japanese all-cardboard record player toy

Mattel’s “Dishonest John” talking puppet

Fisher-Price See ‘n Say

Mattel’s Mickey Mouse Chatter Chum

Air Guitar Hero

By Robert Armiger and Carol Reiley

Drop the controller and shred songs using the electrical signals from your arm muscles. (Page 44)

Check out the full Air Guitar Hero project build.

Open Myoelectric Signal Processor at openprosthetics.wikispot.org

Videos of Air Guitar Hero in action

Pulse Sensor

By Yury Gitman and Joel Murphy

A wearable device to give your projects a live heartbeat. (Page 52)

Check out the full Pulse Sensor project build for the circuit diagram and more photos.

Download the Pulse Sensor code here.

Gateways to the Soul: EyeWriter and Eyeboard

By Zach Lieberman and Luis Cruz

Two systems, EyeWriter and Eyeboard, let people draw, write, and connect using only their eyes. (Page 57)

• Eyeboard Electrooculography (EOG) System
• The Eyewriter 2.0

DIY Blood Pressure Monitor

By Alex Russell, Garrick Orchard, and Carol Reiley

Make a blood pressure tester that’s tough, smart, and mobile. (Page 70)

Code files

Tacit: A Haptic Wrist Rangefinder

By Steve Hoefer

This ultrasonic “bat glove” lets you feel things at a distance. (Page 78)

Check out the full Tacit project build.

Template for cutting neoprene (PDF)

Watch Tacit in action

Tiny Wanderer Robot

By Doug Paradis

An easy-to-make robot with a $2 microcontroller brain. (Page 88)

Check out the full Tiny Wander project build.

SVG and PDF cutout templates

• Download the templates zip file.

Circuit Board Layout files

• PCB files

Wiring Check Tables

Before inserting the ATTiny85 into the socket on the controller board you should make some simple ohm meter checks using these tables.

Programming Instructions for the ATtiny85 Chip

• See Step 12 through 16 of the Tiny Wanderer project build.

Download the Code

• Edge detection
• Object avoidance
• Line following

Photos Identifying Acrylic Kit Pieces

Geiger Counter

By John Iovine

This radiation detector clicks, flashes, logs radioactivity levels, and shares its data with the world. (Page 100)

Check out the full Geiger Counter project build.

• Sources for radioactive test materials
• Schematic diagram, including alternative sound output circuit
• Acrylic cutting files for enclosure

Better Nerf Gun

By Simon Jansen

Build a metal foam-dart gun that blows away store-bought plastic models. (Page 112)

Check out the full Better Nerf Gun project build.

Design Images and Templates

• Trigger assembly template
• Wooden grip template

Kinect Hacking

By Joshua Blake

Go from handwaving to coding with the Microsoft Kinect SDK. (Page 124)

Kinect Hacking Code

• Step 1 code – Get image and depth data
• Step 2 code – Remove background
• Step 3 code – Track skeleton and add maps
• All code – single download

More Fun Kinect Hacking

• Kinect JediBot
• Kinect Turntable 3D Scanner
• Kinect 3D Object and People Scan
• UC Berkeley Quadrotor
• Jonathan Oxer Kinect ARDrone Parrot demo
• NAVI (Navigational Aids for the Visually Impaired)
• Minority Report Software for Kinect
• Kiwibank Interactive Wall
• Kinect Augmented Urban Model
• Jellybean, the Kinect Drivable Lounge Chair

Kinect Weather Map And Other Kinect Hacking Resources

• Kinect SDK Download
• Kinect SDK Forums
• Visual Studio 2010 Express
• Natural User Interfaces in .NET book
• National Weather Service radar images
• Kinect Weather Map project source code
• OpenNI website
• OpenNI mailing list
• OpenKinect wiki
• OpenKinect mailing list

Bent-Wire Crank Toy

By Lea E. Albaugh and Matt Mets

Learn these tricks and turn plain wire into a head-bobbing toy. (Page 144)

Check out the full project build.

Wire bending template

Root Beer Pong Bot

By Bob Knetzger

Here’s a “noninvasive hack” that takes advantage of ReCon 6.0 Programmable Rover’s cool features while adding a fun new function to make a “Root Beer Pong Bot.” (Page 161)

Code Sheet

Here’s the code sheet for the game program I wrote. Each numbered box is a step in ReCon’s instructions. ReCon beeps, announces the game and 10 points, turns around (so that he presents the cup to you), backs up, stops to announce 75 points, turns and backs up, turns and backs up again, stops and announces 50 points, turns and backs twice again, then if you haven’t yet gotten the ball in the cap and triggered the kill switch, Recon blows his horn and announces you lost, as he does a victory dance to a dance beat.

What kind of game program can you create? Can you use the LOOP command and HOME command to make a more elegant routine?

More Photos