Fun & Games

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.

Flashback: Retro R/C Racer

Flashback: Retro R/C Racer

Minneapolis maker Frank E. Yost shared this beauty of a project with us back in MAKE Volume 11, and it was a definite favorite in the MAKE Labs from the get-go. I mean, who doesn’t love sheet metal and pop rivets? Frank loves R/C toys but doesn’t love plastic. He was on the quest for […]

Arduino kid’s toy prototype

Kirsten Halterman writes in: “My First Robot” is a book for young children (ages 1-3), intended as an introduction to sensory input and output. I created this book to excite children about small electronics and robots. Using an Arduino, buttons, and an IR sensor, I programmed the robot (named Isbot) to sing a song for […]

Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition

Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition

Sixteen teams gathered today to determine whose autonomously-navigating vehicle would be the fastest around the Sparkfun headquarters in Boulder, CO. Four-wheeled rovers (typically built on RC car platforms) dominated the entries, but there were three flying UAVs, and one spheroid (Nathan, with “labrat”, pictured at right). One team had been designed a tethered model rocket […]

Airplane reuse

Airplane reuse

Image from Inhabitat Looking to cash in your frequent flyer miles? Maybe you can crash here…. The airplane was transported piece by piece from the San Jose airport to its current resting place on a pedestal 50 feet above the beach. It looks a bit like a model airplane on a stand, and we can […]

Arduino vs. Simon

Arduino vs. Simon

From the MAKE Flickr pool Carl decided to test the limits of the Open Source Electronic Game Kit by letting Arduino give it a go. He wired it up for proper control and after three hours of chip versus chip recorded the following … Apologies – I suppose that’s a bit of an ending-spoiler for […]

Nintendo DSi teardown

Nintendo DSi teardown

Our friends at iFixit.com nabbed a brand-new DSi as soon as it went on sale, and as they are wont to do, they immediately field stripped it down to its nuts and ribbon cables. Here are some of the deets they discovered. Highlights: * The DSi’s new matte black skin feels rougher than the DS […]