sports

Practice Your Service Return With This Arduino-Powered Automatic Ping-Pong Ball Machine

Practice Your Service Return With This Arduino-Powered Automatic Ping-Pong Ball Machine

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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Friction wheel mechanism, frame made of VEX Robotics Design System components.

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A New Sport: Crate Stacking

A New Sport: Crate Stacking

By Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina is the Maker Faire Program Director. She works on stage content for the flagship fairs (Bay Area & New York), and also runs Maker Faire's global licensing program for locally and independently produced Maker Faires. She also co-creates the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in her town, Oakland, CA.

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Crate stacking is a game. The objective is to stack as many upside-down plastic milk crates as possible and stand on the top. Come try it out at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire this Sunday in Oakland.

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Shredding the Mountain on a Fragile Italian Glass Snowboard

Shredding the Mountain on a Fragile Italian Glass Snowboard

By Laura Cochrane

Laura Cochrane

"To oppose something is to maintain it." –Ursula Le Guin

Currently: NEO.LIFE Alum: Instructables and MAKE

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Ever wanted to shred down the mountain atop a sheet of super smooth glass? The folks at Network_A and Signal Snowboards teamed up to make a real glass snowboard and see how it rides. This video is fun to watch — you get to see the entire build process and the exhilarating field testing afterwards. It looks like they had a blast.

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Add it to the List: Robots can now Play Badminton

Add it to the List: Robots can now Play Badminton

By Michael Colombo

Michael Colombo

In addition to being an online editor for MAKE Magazine, Michael Colombo works in fabrication, electronics, sound design, music production and performance (Yes. All that.) In the past he has also been a childrens' educator and entertainer, and holds a Masters degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

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Researchers at the Flanders Mechatronics Technology Centre in Belgium have built a robot that can play quite a convincing game of badminton.

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A Folding Kayak Made of Corrugated Plastic?!

A Folding Kayak Made of Corrugated Plastic?!

By Travis Good

Travis Good

Speaker. Maker. Writer. Traveler. Father. Husband.

MakerCon Co-Chair (MakerCon.com) Maker City San Diego Roundtable Member San Diego Maker Faire Producer (SDMakerFaire.org)

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New uses for existing materials can fuel hardware innovation. Such was the case for Anton Willis who after moving to a San Francisco apartment had to put his beloved kayak into storage. No room for big toys. By coincidence around that same time he met Robert Lang, a physicist and renowned origami expert. The ideas of kayaks and origami fused in Anton’s mind and lead him on a journey that resulted in the Oru, an innovative folding kayak.

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Moonlight Skiing, Tron-Style

Moonlight Skiing, Tron-Style

By Goli Mohammadi

Goli Mohammadi

I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

Contact me at snowgoli@gmail.com or via @snowgoli.

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Inspired by a post on Makezine last year about a crew of EL-wire brandishing surfers, the folks at Switchback Entertainment made a short video for Salomon Freeski TV featuring EL-wire embellished skiers (and some seriously drool-worthy powder shots). The video was filmed using only small headlamps, moonlight, and EL wire as light sources. Compounded by […]

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