Jeff Highsmith

Making Fun: Brainwave Controlled Zen Garden

Making Fun: Brainwave Controlled Zen Garden

By Jeff Highsmith

Jeff Highsmith

I enjoy inventing new and fun gadgets. I pick projects that are challenging, fun, and educational.

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My Brainwave-Controlled Zen Garden is similar to a standard desktop zen garden in that you rake sand to calm yourself. In my version, though, the rake and resultant patterns are controlled by your actual brainwaves. If you are tense and worrisome, the rake moves randomly and quickly, scribbling odd patterns in the sand.

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Making Fun: Computer Vision Hair Trimmer

Making Fun: Computer Vision Hair Trimmer

By Jeff Highsmith

Jeff Highsmith

I enjoy inventing new and fun gadgets. I pick projects that are challenging, fun, and educational.

View more articles by Jeff Highsmith
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Part of what makes me a maker is that I prefer to do things myself when I can, including cutting my own hair. The tricky part, though, is cutting a good line across the back of the neck. I set out to build a trimmer that I could blindly run up and down the back of my neck, and have a computer vision system automatically turn the trimmer on or off in accordance with its position.

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