DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!
The latest issue of MAKE, Volume 22, contains an automated chicken coop door opener project, by Alan Graham (Portland, OR). My geek BFF, Jeri Ellsworth, sent me a link to another, clever remote-controlled coop opener, put together by her friend “Slinky.” It uses a $5 power drill as the door winch and a Seeduino as […]
The Bike Church is a Santa Cruz-based bike tool cooperative. They offer workshops, a DIY repair facility, and generally, a place for cyclists of all skill levels to hang out and talk about bikes. Wouldn’t it be great if every town had such a facility. Bike Church Tool Cooperative [Thanks, Nick Fountain!]
The U3-X uses a balance control system that derives from Honda’s research on human walking dynamics for its famed ASIMO bipedal humanoid robot. When the rider leans his or her body, an angle tilt sensor sends data to the balance control system, which in turns moves the wheel, maintaining balance.
Interesting dissection of a sphere from Thingiverse user VeryWetPaint. This “hemi-demi-sphere” is also cleverly designed to present the best-finished surface from the printer on the outside of the assembled sphere.
The Copenhagen Wheel is a giddy, improbable project by the MIT Senseable City Lab. The idea is that you simply replace the back wheel of your bike with this Copenhagen Wheel that generates power when you pedal and gives it back when you don’t feel like pedaling. But it also connects to the Internet, can […]
Kenya-based maker Babamzungu designed and built this proof of concept one-stage anaerobic digester to convert waste organic material into useful methane gas.
May is here, spring’s in full swing, and folks are in happy circulation. From my home office window, it’s a steady stream of people on leisurely walks, kids and adults on bikes, kids on skates n’ skateboards, and the old guy down the street who proudly rides his Segway to the 7-Eleven. With gas prices […]
