Welcome: The Imperfect Prototype
Dale Dougherty
Stories we tell about success too often focus on the finish line and gloss over the important steps of how we got there.Page 05
Make: Volume 78 — Robo Boats
Stories about success often focus on the end result — the “big win” that makes all those pesky failures along the way have meaning. But for makers, the failures are just as important — sometimes even more so — than the end result, because of what was learned along the way.
In our cover story, we follow a group of friends who set out to send an autonomous boat across the Atlantic a decade ago. Their boat never made it, but that failure set them on a course to launch their own startup for self-navigating vessels. And they give you tips on building your own!
From there, get busy building by using the principles of tension and symmetry to make an “impossible” tensegrity planter. Then, update a classic Magic 8-Ball with a Raspberry Pi and divine your fortune with a set of custom GIF reactions.
Plus, 32 projects you can build:
- Make VR haptic gloves on a budget
- Build a CO2 logger to help fight Covid-19
- Learn to use generative design in Fusion 360
- Send and receive sound using a beam of light
- Build articulated wings for over-the-top cosplay or Halloween
- And much more!
On the cover: Seasats’ new autonomous boat is a professional-grade ASV born from a decade-old DIY build.
Table of Contents
Columns
Made on Earth
Backyard builds from around the globe.Page 06
Features
Making Competence, Making Confidence
S.A. Applin, Ph.D.
Confront imposter syndrome with these tips. Page 10
The Joy of Coding
Dale Dougherty
Meet the team behind the streaming robotics-education platform CodeJoy.Page 16
Minoring in the Majors
Marshall Piros
How a self-described beginner got crash course in making via the Make: Learning Labs.Page 20
Fresh Air
Dale Dougherty and Guido Burger
DIY CO₂ monitors can help clear the air of coronavirus.Page 24
Ocean Science
Across the Sea, Eventually
Mike Flanigan
From parents’ garages to the high seas to a new career building USVs.Page 36
How to Track a Shark
Kieth Hammond
Chasing chompers with the latest tech.Page 44
Projects
Botanical Engineering
Chris Forde
Leverage the principles of tension and symmetry to make this seemingly impossible planter.Page 46
Grit Stash
Len Cullum
Banish the jumble of random sheets and mystery grits, and get your sandpapers in order.Page 52
The Magic GIF-Ball
DJ Harrigan
Ask and behold your future told — in memes — with this new twist on a classic toy. Page 62
Budget VR Haptic Gloves
Lucas VRTech
Use your hands in virtual reality and feel the objects you touch, for about 50 bucks in parts.Page 68
Cellphone Smart Gate
Mike Senese
Build this LTE-enabled opener to activate your garage or gate from anywhere.Page 72
Remaking History: Robert Boyle and the Air Pump
William Gurstelle
Re-create the vacuum pump that became the symbol of the Scientific Revolution. Page 78
Amateur Scientist: Listening to Light
Forrest M. Mims III
Make a photophone to send and receive sound on a beam of modulated sunlight. Page 84
1+2+3 Virtual Half-Pipe
Keith Hammond and Mike Senese
Turn an old skateboard into a versatile sit-or-stand swing. Page 89
Toy Inventor’s Notebook: A Can Full of Tone
Bob Knetzger
Build a guitarist’s tone toy — in a can! Page 90
House of Fun
Helen Leigh
Plug-and-play microcontrollers make home automation easy, at Halloween or anytime. Page 92
Wicked Wings
Mike Senese
Rise above the rest by adding articulating wings to your next costume.Page 98
Little Props and Horrors
Jaimie and Jay Grenier
Tis the season … to spook the neighborhood. Page 100
Skill Builder
Generative Design
Lydia Sloan Cline
Use the power of AI to build biomimetic, optimized CAD models within Fusion 360. Page 102
Antennas in the Wild
Tim Deagan
Get the skinny on radio antennas with this primer and field guide. Page 112
Toolbox
Toolbox
Gear up with the latest tools and kits for makers.Page 122
Over the Top
Unnecessary Inventions
Mike Senese
Product designer Matt Benedetto spends his off time dreaming up outlandish contraptions.Page 128
