Make an automatic ice fishing jig

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An automated spin pike decoy for DIY ice fishing.

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If you’ve spent most of your life in a relatively warm climate, chances are you think of ice fishing as sitting inside a shack with a line through a hole in the ice, waiting for a fish to bite. Although this type of fishing is certainly done in northern climates, its more violet cousin, spear fishing, is also accomplished using a jig to attract actual fish to the “spearing zone.”

The exciting part of this would seem to be actually “catching” the fish, and making the jig bounce around is likely quite boring. Naturally, this problem is best solved using an Atmel-based development board, an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328) in this case, to automatically control the jig via a small hobby servo.

The fishing setup featured on JigBuddy.com is a relatively simple build, and should cost around $50 for the parts. A potentiometer controls the jig’s speed, while an on/off switch powers the Arduino board directly, saving complication over using it as an input.

Though a relatively easy build, there is some project box cutting involved, so if you care more about catching fish than finishing an interesting project, that’s also an option to buy one for just under $90 plus shipping and handling. Perhaps your machine could also be used as a cat toy during the summer!

 

 

Dad builds a talking and transforming birthday cake for his son

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Maker Russell Munro created an Optimus Prime cake that actually transforms.

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While Jeff Highsmith may have been the unofficial Maker dad of the year in 2014 with his impressive mission control desk, it looks like we just found 2015’s undisputed champion. That’s because Russell Munro recently created the ultimate birthday cake for his six-year-old son: a talking Optimus Prime cake that actually transforms.

According to Munro, the animated cake consists of a 3D-printed skeleton: a chest, thighs, arms and lower legs. The thighs and the chest are the only animatronic pieces, as the lower legs remain in place to support all of the movement. Metal fishing wire is wound up by a stepper motor which pulls the chassis to a standing position. A pair of arms pop out from the chest once the robot is fully upright.

The entire operation is controlled by an Arduino, along with an EasyDriver from SparkFun, a 2A DC motor driver and an MP3 player module. The platform for the cake is made from 8mm MDF.

With the help of his wife, the chocolate mud cake was then baked around the mechanism and ultimately topped off with an amazing icing job. Safe to say, this Maker will probably be receiving countless invites to birthday parties in the very near future. Intrigued? Read all about the build on his log, as well as his latest writeup in MAKE: Magazine.

And now sans the cake…

Take a trip down ‘Memory Lane’ with this artistic project

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A mind-blowing series of sculptures and audio-visual works by Félix Luque Sánchez and Iñigo Bilbao.

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According to its creators Félix Luque Sánchez and Iñigo Bilbao, Memory Lane “consists of a series of sculptures and audio-visual works reproducing relevant places to the childhood of the two authors.” Through a process of 3D scanning and rendering, these places are subtly changed; some elements are enhanced, while others seem to fade away. This depiction aims to show that our memories are not “a mere depiction of actual places but of distorted and glorified memories.”

The sand rock and landscape portion of this exhibit consists of a rock that was scanned, then reproduced using a CNC milling machine, as seen in the second video below. This reproduction was then levitated using magnets, and made to traverse in front of two screens, displaying the previously-recorded scan. To complete the experience, noise from the electromagnets holding the “rock” in place is enhanced and played to the audience.

Besides the named artists, several other people helped with this installation, including designer Damien Gernay, Arduino programmer Vincent Evrard, and mechanical designer Julien Maire. The smoothness of the levitation, especially when combined with a lateral movement is quite impressive. For an idea of how something like this could be done, check out this Arduino-powered suspension device!

Alright, so you may not find this lipstick robot inside a Sephora anytime soon

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Let’s just be glad it wasn’t eyeliner.

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A robotic arm can wake Simone Giertz up, brush her teeth, feed her breakfast, and now, it can even put on her lipstick before a night on the town… well, sort of.

In an experiment that was simply an “afternoon impulse,” the Swedish YouTuber and tech enthusiast decided to program her infamous uArm and give it a tube of red lipstick. The ATmega328-powered robotic device then proceeded to apply the makeup, regardless of where it thought Giertz’s mouth was. The results were, as expected, not so pretty.

Good news beauticians, your jobs are still safe!

Watch some fish steer their own tanks

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These two projects give ‘Go Fish’ a much more literal meaning.

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Oh, boy! This is gonna be good, I can tell.” 

Sure, we may still be a few years away from ubiquitous autonomous cars, but what about the world’s first driverless vehicle for fish? Believe it or not, this is actually something that several folks have sought to make a reality.

First, there’s Dutch design group Studio Diip who back in 2014 modded an existing tank with wheels and sensors that enabled its inhabitant to operate the vehicle by swimming in a specific direction. According to its creators, the aptly dubbed Fish on Wheels was “an attempt to liberate fish all over the world.”

A transparent tank is equipped with a webcam positioned above the water, a battery-powered Beagleboard-XM and an Arduino-controlled robotic car. The camera tracks the fish’s movement using the contrast between the fish and the bottom of the tank. Meanwhile, little Nemo’s position inside the tank is then employed to send commands to the Arduino to steer the gadget in that direction. The whole device is completely standalone.

“Up until now driving vehicles has been limited to mankind only, but now your pet fish can also put the pedal to the metal,” the team writes.

Interestingly enough, Studio Diip weren’t the only ones hoping to “encourage more development in enhanced pet mobility.” Maker Adam Ben-Dror recently trained his Siamese fighting fish (named José) to not only jump out of the water to get food on command, but to follow his hand as he circles it around the outside of the bowl.

Knowing that José is more than a mindless creature with just three-second memory, Ben-Dror decided his fish should have more freedom to swim around more than just the confines of its 1.5-foot-wide tank. That is what led the Maker to create the Abovemarine, a vehicle that allows his pet — or any other fish — to roam around and interact with its fellow land dwellers.

The Abovemarine is equipped with an Arduino and a camera that tracks José’s movement in real-time, while a computer running OpenCV processes the directional information and actuates the mobile tank’s three omni wheels.

This Roomba sucks up dirt to the Jaws theme song

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Maker Marcel Varallo doesn’t just vacuum, he goes to war against the dust mite.

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Lucky for those who hate sweeping and vacuuming floors, there are robotic devices that can take care of these tedious tasks for us. And although Roombas do a fairly decent job in cleaning our homes, like with most things, it could do better. This is why Marcel Varallo decided to upgrade his iRobot 530 Series into a dust mite-battling vehicle that he calls Doomba.

Ever since the Roomba made its debut, hackers have loved getting their hands on the bots and modifying them to suit other purposes. Initially, Varallo simply wanted to “jazz up the default speed” of his roving gadget, but why stop there? He proceeded to make a few more modifications, such as mounting a webcam to the front and adding a UE Boombox that emits the iconic Jaws theme and the Flight of the Valkyries as it sucks up its prey.

A Raspberry Pi with Wi-Fi enables webcam hosting, remote triggering of tasks and schedule management, while wireless control is handled through a PS2 receiver dongle and an Arduino Nano (ATmega328). Varallo even included a capacitor bank to prevent brownouts from the Doomba’s SPI port.

“By the end of all this it had blown out to something much bigger than I intended and was more work than I would have liked,” the Maker admits. Those wishing to mod their own robotic vacuum should check out Varallo’s detailed project page.

 

 

Make your own Arduino-powered laser engraver at home

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Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars, a 16-year-old decided to build his own professional-looking machine. 

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If you don’t have a laser cutter, and would like one (after all, who wouldn’t?) you could buy one for thousands of dollars…. or build one yourself. 16-year-old “MichielD99” decided to do just that, and documented the entire process on Instructables.

Control is handled by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) running the grbl CNC controller software. This, in turn, runs two stepper motors via driver boards, as well as a laser via its own separate driver. It’s noted that this configuration could even be used as a CNC router if a rotary tool and Z-axis was added.

What really sets this project apart is the beautifully-made physical structure. It’s constructed primarily from 18mm and 12mm sheets of MDF, which translates to roughly ¾” and ½” thick material. It’s been 3D-modeled, and the cutouts are available as PDF images and STL files. This means that if you want to replicate it, all you have to do is print the PDFs out, then use a bandsaw to cut out the appropriate pieces. STL makes it possible to replicate with a laser or CNC router. Some work with a Dremel tool will also be needed, though this could possibly be avoided if using a CNC router to make the cuts.

If you’re going to create one of these yourself, this engraver is a great place to start (right after you purchase a pair of safety goggles meant for your laser’s wavelength). For another take on this type of tool, check out this build using similar electronics with a frame made of aluminum extrusion.

Become a DIY pinball machine wizard

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This Maker was able to recreate an arcade classic using commercially available parts and an Arduino Mega.

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Pinball machines might not be a common sight in America anymore, but if you’re nostalgic about these ancestors of video games, chances are you’ve thought about owning one yourself. Since you’re reading this blog, there’s also a good chance you’ve thought about building one!

Bob Blomquist decided to go from thinking about it to actually constructing his own using commercially available parts, including an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560). As you might suspect, as shown at 9:10 in the video below, even a relatively simple table like this requires a massive amount of wiring.

Blomquist’s project features several interesting techniques, including the use of an off-the-shelf voltage divider too step down the 24 volt power used with the “pop bumpers.” This allowed the bumpers to be powered by 24 volts, while this output is reduced to 5 volts for Arduino input. In this case, the circuit tended to leak current, so an analog input was employed to filter out false signals.

The voltage divider is a very useful concept in electronics, and more information on building one of these yourself can be found here.

Besides showing off a few electronics tricks, this detailed video also reveals all kinds of interesting components used in a standard pinball table. They are quite interesting in their normal use, and for that matter, some of them could certainly be repurposed for other Maker projects!

Build a 3D scanner with infinite resolution for just $50

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All you need is a DSLR camera, an Arduino, a stepper motor driver, a stepper motor, an IR LED and a LCD shield.

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Looking for desktop 3D scanner with inifitinite resolution? Well, the good news is that you can get your hands on one for just $50. The bad news is that, you will need a DSLR camera. That’s because Maker Whitney Potter was able to create his own using a Nikon and an Arduino-driven stepper motor.

“Desktop 3D scanning has made great leaps in recent years but it still has great limitations,” Potter explains. “Scanner hardware is built around a specific scan volume and resolution. You can get decent results, but only if your object fits that sweet spot. If you’re object is too small, or too detailed or your scanner is just having a bad day, your scan will look like a potato. Luckily there is another approach.”

The method he is referring to is photogrammetry, which constructs 3D images from a set of partially overlapping 2D images. The limiting factor with this approach is the quality and spacing of the photographs. Each picture must be well exposed and perfectly focused. Plus, there must be sufficient overlap between the photos so the rendering software knows where each shot belongs. Although this can be done with some practice on larger objects, it is virtually impossible with smaller subjects. This is where the Arduino-powered stepper motors come in handy.

As aforementioned, Potter’s DIY 3D scanner employs a stepper motor controlled by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) to turn the scanned item by a fixed amount. An infrared LED then triggers the camera’s wireless sensor, setting off the shutter. This process is repeated until photos have been collected from all angles, allowing one’s photogrammetry software to reproduce an accurate and high-res 3D image of the subject.

Meanwhile, an LCD display shield with a set of buttons enables a user to command the Arduino. With these buttons, the user can select the number of pictures to be taken per revolution. The scanner can run in two different modes. In automatic, it takes a picture, advances the stepper and repeats until it has completed a whole revolution. Whereas in manual, each push of the button captures a picture, advances the stepper and waits. According to Potter, the latter is particularly useful for scans where each photo needs to be framed and focused manually.

Although Potter’s Arduino sketch has been configured for a Nikon DSLR, it can be set up to work with pretty much any other brand of camera. The Maker utilized Sebastian Setz’s Multi Camera IR Control library, which allows it to work with any model that uses an IR remote.

In terms of photogrammetry software, Potter recommends Agisoft Photoscan and Autodesk Memento, as well as Autodesk 123D Catch for those on a budget. Intrigued? Head over to the Maker’s Instructables page where you can find a step-by-step breakdown of his project.

Creating a new LEGO TECHNIC interface

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This hackerspace swapped out the Apple II for an Arduino and a touchscreen.

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Readers that were born in the 1980s or early 1990s may remember something called “LEGO TECHNIC.” These were advanced LEGO components that, along with other interesting mechanical parts, could be electrically driven and even controlled with an Apple II computer.

The LVL1 Hackerspace in Louisville was fortunate enough to receive a set as a donation, including the 70455 interface module. Unfortunately, the space did not have a working Apple II to interface with it, so a member decided to “simply” make an Arduino interface for the device instead.

Going from donation to interface completion took several years, but the first step was to open up the box. Although looking inside things is generally a good thing to try when hacking unknown equipment, this proved unnecessary since it was already documented and available online. Based on research, an Arduino shield was then created to interface the Arduino outputs with the LEGO control box.

After everything was wired, code was written to control it, and thus the TECHNIC components. A touchscreen was added to complete the build as seen in the video below.

Although certainly an interesting exercise in resurrecting “ancient” technology, another alternative would likely have been to directly power the light and motor using a motor shield. Then again, what fun would that be?