Maker Shed

Twitchie Scorpion

Twitchie Scorpion

I made this scorpion toy with a Twitchie Robot Kit. I’m really afraid of scorpions where I live in Arizona, so I thought a friendly toy would help me get used to them. I made his plush body from some fabric I had around, aiming to make him look like an Arizona bark scorpion, which are tan/yellowish/translucent. Twitchie is Arduino powered and comes pre-programmed, so it’s an excellent kit for beginners in robotics, because no programming is required! You can download and modify the code if you want, and it’s pretty light on the soldering, too. I’d recommend Twitchie for young makers (boys & girls, too!) interested in robotics or moving plush toys. You can buy the Twitchie Robot Kit in the Maker Shed:
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKTET2

Music is “At the Crack of Noon” by Shuutobi, http://shuutobi.com

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How-to Tuesday: Drawdio meets Unruly [2 for Tuesday]

How-to Tuesday: Drawdio meets Unruly [2 for Tuesday]

I have 2 really cool projects for this weeks How-to Tuesday. One is the Drawdio kit by Adafruit Industries, the other build is a modification of Drawdio called “Unruly.” These are great projects to make with your kids. Although, when you are done you most likely will not be too willing to share it. It’s just that much fun!

You can read more about this build at makezine.com.

Continue Reading Marc de Vinck
How-to Tuesday: Trippy RGB Waves kit v1.0 [fast]

How-to Tuesday: Trippy RGB Waves kit v1.0 [fast]

This week I made the open source Trippy RGB Waves Kit by Mitch Altman. I like this kit because it’s perfect for someone learning to solder, yet it has programming headers so the advanced user can hack it up. The original video was about 12 minutes too long. Too long in my opinion, so I sped it up a bit. OK, a lot.

The kit is available in the Maker Shed http://www.makershed.com/?Click=19208

Watch the real-time version at http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/12/howto_tuesday_trippy_rgbs.html

Continue Reading Marc de Vinck
How-to Tuesday: tinyCylon kit

How-to Tuesday: tinyCylon kit

This week I made the tinyCylon kit from the Maker Shed. It’s a fun little project that has a lot of cool light patterns programmed onto the chip.

Check out the complete build here: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/12/how-to_tuesday_tinycylon_kit.html

You can purchase a tinyCylon kit in the Maker Shed at http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKDW1

Continue Reading Marc de Vinck