In this tutorial about controlling a pedestrian sign with an Arduino you can learn a few things. #1 how to control relays with an Arduino, which is really useful for a ton of different projects. #2 How to use an IR remote to control your Arduino, another cool technique. #3 Never trust a crosswalk sign with an Arduino hanging out of it!
Back when I got my Chumby Guts kit a few months ago, I imagined that it would be pretty funny to set up it up Teletubby style with the screen in the belly of a plushie. At the time, I didn’t have a suitable doll to sacrifice at the alter of maker fun, but like Kent Barnes, I did have the box it came in. I like the alarm clock features, and enjoy being chirped awake. Eventually, though, the box kind of wore out, and my Chumby Guts lay loose on the night table.
There are lots of ways to make homebrew pressure sensors, but this method from Instructables user hiskeyd is the easiest I’ve seen: Jam two stripped wires into a piece of static dissipative foam and bend the ends over to keep them from pulling out. Then coat the whole thing in Plasti-Dip. And you’re done.
Have you built a straw tower as a student, or have you used the project as a teacher? How well does a project like this work in homeschooling? What techniques work well, and what resources are really helpful?
MacArthur fellow and MIT Media Lab alumnus Karl Sims brings us this great tutorial on how to build your own complex harmonograph (Wikipedia) for making cool…um…”geometric figures?” I’m looking for a 50-cent mathematician’s word (which may or may not exist) for these periodic spirally figures. Can anybody help me out? [Thanks, David!]
The mysterious Jack Crossfire’s open source autonomous VTOL UAVs are amazing to watch. For around a hundred dollars you, too, can build your own.
This music visualizer project combines two of my favorite things, Arduino’s & BlinkM’s, with another one of my favorite things, music! In the video above, all the BlinkM’s are mapped to display the same value, but they can be controlled individually with some code modifications. Check out the link for complete build instructions and the Arduino code.
