This glove lets you feel for objects below the water’s surface

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Inspired by dolphin echolocation, IrukaTact is an underwater haptic glove that helps find sunken objects.

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Developed by Ph.D. candidates Aisen Carolina Chacin and Takeshi Ozu at Japan’s Tsukuba University, IrukaTact is a submersible haptic glove that enables users to “feel” objects that are just out of reach in underwater environments. A wearable such as this could prove to be useful in scenarios where there’s limited visibility, like sinkholes or flooded streets.

Inspired by the dolphin, IrukaTact (‘iruka’ means ‘dolphin’ in Japanese) employs echolocation to detect sunken objects, and translates solar signals into haptic sensations in the form of pulsing waterjets. The closer a wearer’s hand gets to the targeted item, the greater the pressure that’s exerted onto either the index, middle or ring finger.

The thumb and pinky are left free in order to reduce clunkiness, save battery power and improve movement. IrukaTact itself is fairly compact and unobtrusive, which lets a user easily pick up and grasp things once they’ve been found.

Initially designed as a kit for hazardous situations, IrukaTact is open source and can be built using off-the-shelf materials and 3D printing. The glove is based on a MaxBotix MB7066 sonar sensor, three small motors and an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328), and is programmed to send signals to the three middle fingers in silicone thimbles.

The motors are placed on top of each digit and collect water from a surrounding environment to create pressure feedback. Meanwhile, a silicone ring around the middle finger — which is connected to the MaxBotix sensor at the wrist by a small tube encasing the wires — keeps the sensor parallel with the hand and allows it to read information from whatever direction the palm is facing.

At the moment, the sensor can receive and send signals from up to two feet, but its creators hope to extend that distance in the near future. Beyond just an aid for rescue workers, the glove could also be paired with a device like Oculus Rift and outfitted with gyroscopes and accelerometers to emit haptic feedback in virtual reality.

Intrigued? Head over to the IrukaTact’s page here, or watch its demo video below!

 

Maker builds an abstract clock out of a drum set

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This drum clock turns on every hour and starts playing its own music. 

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Most people reading this should be familiar with clocks that make a pleasant noise to audibly announce what time it is. Aoun Carlotta decided to put her own spin on things by affixing three stepper motors a drum, hitting or scraping it with various elements. Per the Maker’s description of her AbstractC drum machine, “My project is about trying to make an abstract clock with a drum set. Abstract because it will play every hour, but you won’t actually know what hour it is.”

A lamp timer is used to start the sequence, and the fact that it’s a random beat certainly simplifies synchronizing everything. As described in the project’s Instructable article, one could purchase a motor shield to help with stepper control, but she went through the trouble of soldering a board together herself. Once that was done, an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) is used to take the signal from the lamp timer and run the drum program.

Mechanically, the steppers are attached to the drum via a bracket hooked to the bolts that hold the top hoop, and thus the drum skin on. If you’re thinking about building your own automated percussion instrument, this setup should give you some inspiration. As for what this “random drumming mini-set” sounds like, be sure to check out the video below.

Build a mini CNC plotter out of old DVD drives

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Have a few old DVD drives collecting dust? Create an Arduino-based CNC plotter with them. 

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Although they might have been amazing technology in 1993 or so, CD drives, and later DVD drives, seem to be used less and less these days. If you have (or can source) two of these drives lying around, perhaps you can build a plotter out of them.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, but Michalis Vasilakis’ excellent tutorial should give you a good path to either follow or expand upon. The project features a clean-looking plexiglass frame with two stepper motors to control X and Y movement, and a servo for Z-axis control. It can work with whatever pen or pencil you have handy.

The Maker’s tutorial includes both a parts list for beginners, using an Arduino Uno to simplify things, and an advanced list, where an ATmega328 is employed with a larger number of components. It goes into how to disassemble the optical disk drives, and how to determine what each wire going into the stepper motors does. Finally, the instructions go over how to program the machine to actually draw what you need using Inkscape as the image source.

What’s more, the plotter can be equipped with a Bluetooth module for wireless printing of text (or images).

If it can use a pen, then one would think it could also use a rotary cutting tool for light engraving, but according to the writeup, attempts at this were not successful. On the other hand, this “e-waste 3D printer” uses many of the same materials, so that design might give you more ideas if a simple pen mark isn’t suitable for your purposes.

Monitor your fridge door with Arduino

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With this simple hack, you can receive alerts whenever your refrigerator door is open.

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We’ve all heard of the IoT, and many probably wonder what exactly that means. Sure, connecting your toaster to the Internet is interesting, but not useful for everyone. On the other hand, there are certainly devices that people would like to connect to “the cloud,” but are not capable of doing so by default. Filling in this gap is MySensors, which describes itself as “IoT + DIY.” Put another way, it’s an open source system of libraries for the Arduino using a transceiver to communicate with the world.

As seen on the MySensors forum, one useful example for this would be to monitor whether or not your refrigerator is properly closed. The brainchild of Pete Will, the setup for this is relatively simple using an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328) with two temperature sensors and a NRF24l01 transceiver. Temperature sensors go in both the freezer and refrigerator, as well as strips of copper formed to complete a circuit when the door is closed.

As demonstrated in the video below (at 0:45), if the door is left ajar, your smartphone can audibly notify you of this, and an email alert is sent in case you don’t hear the alert.

If you’re wondering what to actually do with the contents of your fridge, why not check out this Arduino-controlled pizza oven? Something like that could probably use an IoT upgrade as well!

HardWhere 2.0 is a pocket-sized Linux PC

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This small stick can turn any TV into a desktop PC.

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Personal computing just got more compact and affordable with HardWhere 2.0, a PC-on-a-stick that plugs into any TV with an HDMI port. This tiny computer offers the same desktop experience without the hassle of long power cables, bulky equipment and loud, overheating fans. You can take all your computing needs anywhere in your pocket!

HardWhere comes from three Italian Makers based in the little town of Treviso. Andrea Cescon, Marco Crosera and Stefano Artuso have proven that big ideas can come from small places. HardWhere boasts a multi-user experience, with everything from its Ubuntu Linux-based operating system to user files and apps saved on a removable microSD card. To change the user, you just need to replace the microSD; ensuring privacy for each individual.

Despite its sized, its capabilities are hardly minimized. HardWhere still has the full PC experience, with cloud sync and storage, complete web browsing, HD video streaming (VLC, Netflix, YouTube, etc.), OpenOffice, as well as the Linux app market. This minicomputer even runs Android on the internal Flash memory, giving you access to more apps.

As the team touts, “many lives, one HardWhere.” This device can be useful in many situations beyond a personal computer. It can act as a family PC with each member having their own microSD; as a small server for peer-to-peer downloading and uploading; as a presentation companion that can plug to an HDMI projector; or as an entertainment where you can stream your videos, play your songs, or scroll through photos.

HardWhere’s hardware includes a quad-core ARM-based processor, 2GB of RAM and a GPU Mali-400. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and comes with two micro- and full-sized USB ports for power, a microSD card reader and an HDMI 1.4 connector. What’s more, HardWhere was designed with Makers in mind. The pocketable PC enables user to code and upload sketches to their Arduino, and even control a variety of 3D printers.

Ready to take computing to the next level? Head over to HardWhere’s Kickstarter campaign, where its creators are currently seeking $8,768. Delivery is slated for February 2016.

This running Christmas tree is spreading holiday cheer in Tokyo

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“An Uber for illuminations.” 

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A British inventor living in Japan has decided to spread Christmas cheer in a rather unusual way this year. Dressed up as a Christmas tree, complete with flashing lights and decorations, Joseph Tame is turning more than just a couple heads throughout Tokyo’s streets, sidewalks, stores, train stations, and even in the back of its pulled rickshaws.

The aptly named Running Christmas Tree costume consists of an aluminum frame wrapped with a pair of backpacks, each stuffed with branches from two fake trees. The attention-grabbing getup — which took two months to build — is equipped with 99 batteries, 1,500 LEDs, 100 feet of wiring, nine microcontrollers (a combination of Arduino and Raspberry Pis), three onboard cameras, as well as a built-in library of 153 Christmas songs. From the looks of the video below, he is even wearing some slick Adafruit Firewalker-like kicks.

Tame says he is taking bookings for personal appearances in the suit, which he is billing as an “Uber for illuminations.”

“The tree is available on-demand via your smartphone using the links below, and from Dec 26th 2015 via our new iOS app. The tree can come to you wherever you are in the world, but please note that depending on your location it may take a bit of time to reach you; with a combined weight of 93kg (68kg of Joseph + 25kg of Tree) it is currently too heavy for delivery by drone, and is not yet available from Amazon Prime due to there only being one of him,” its creator explains.

See the costume in action below!

Ring in the holidays with this cuckoo clock bell

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Drive your family cuckoo with this awesome, ATtiny85-powered Christmas bell! 

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Last summer, Philip Verbeek visited Philadelphia. And what would a trip to the City of Brotherly Love be without a stop at the Liberty Bell? While there, he bought his own little replica as a souvenir, which he planned to throw on his Christmas tree this year.

However, being the Maker that he is, Verbeek felt that wasn’t enough. Instead, he wanted to take it one step further by having it ring automatically. To accomplish this, he used a servo motor with a small hammer at the end. An ATtiny85 in combination with an RTC mini-breakout board is tasked with ringing the bell.

At the top of every hour, the clock rings the number of the current hour and once at every half hour. (Think of it as a cuckoo clock for your tree.) As an extra feature, Verbeek even included a push button for manual control and an RGB LED on top that illuminates as the bell chimes.

Ready to ring in the holidays? Check out Verbeek’s project here, or watch it in action below!

Add a delay timer to your washing machine

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This Maker hacked his washing machine with an Arduino to reduce costs and add convenience.

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Depending on where you live, you may or not be familiar with time-based pricing for power consumption. Basically, this refers to a system where power is priced not only by how much of it you use, but at what time the consumption takes place. Simon Jowett lives in an area of Australia where “peak” power, from 2 PM to 8 PM on weekdays, is charged at 51 cents (Australian) per kilowatt hour (kWh). The “off peak” rate, from 10 PM to 7 AM, is only 11 cents per kilowatt hour. In other words, where he lives if you’re willing to use power when most people are asleep, it costs less than a quarter of what it would during the most expensive times.

In order to take advantage of this pricing scheme without disturbing his sleep, Jowett squeezed an Arduino into his washing machine’s control panel, along with several relays to act as a delay timer. As he notes in step 2, “Mains electricity is dangerous” so you shouldn’t attempt this if you’re not “confident and or competent.” Additionally, as he puts it later when trying to find DC power to run his Arduino from the machine, “There is a risk here of really mucking things up.”

Warnings aside, his delay-enabled machine seems to work quite well, and, as seen in the video below, has a very usable display and interface. Now he can set up the machine to wash, go to bed, and his laundry will be washed when he wakes up in the morning! Intrigued? Head over to the project’s page here.

Starduino is an 8-bit Super Mario tree topper

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Bring this classic power-up to life as part of your Christmas decor. 

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Super Stars (also referred to as Starmen) can be found in a plethora of Mario Bros. games, including the original and the Mario Kart series. One place you’d typically not find them, however, is on top of a Christmas tree. That was until now.

In the game, when a player gets a star, they become temporarily invulnerable to all damage. This enables them to defeat anything and rack up points, except to hazards that would normally be fatal regardless of power-ups. Well, John Edgar Park has decided to swap out invincibility for some sparkling decor.

The Super Mario fan has built his own 8-bit tree topper using an Arduino, LEDs and a few other off-the-shelf tools. Starduino — a name that was coined by yours truly — is a fairly straightforward project. It consists of an Arduino GEMMA (ATtiny85) that drives an Adafruit NeoPixel ring housed inside a 3D-printed blocky star. Meanwhile, power is supplied by a USB cable plugged either into a wall adapter or a battery.

Still looking for a last-minute focal piece for your tree? Don’t despair! Park has provided a step-by-step breakdown of his build on Adafruit, so you can spark some nostalgia of your own this holiday season.

 

GRIDI may be the biggest MIDI board we’ve ever seen

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Gettin’ MIDI with it! Na na na na na na na nana! 

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Sequencers are an interesting type of electronic instrument, capable of playing a selectable beat over and over. These devices can take many forms, but the GRIDI (“Grid plus MIDI”) is likely one of the largest. It takes the form of a table with a 16 x 16 grid of lights embedded in it. Each of these lights, along with a sensor, are placed at the bottom of a small round recession on this table. When in operation, a line of these lights light up, travels in a set rhythm to the other side of the table, then reappears at the beginning to start the loop over again.

As entertaining as this is by itself, if a marker is placed in a dimple, then when the line of lights passes over it, the instrument signified by that position is played. As there are 16 positions that the line passes over, this allows for 16 virtual instruments to be sequenced at each line position.

The brainchild of musician Yuvi Gerstein, this contraption is inspired by Damien Hirst’s Spot Paintings, which can be seen on display behind the sequencer in the video below. Control is accomplished by an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560), along with a Macbook Pro. As you might suspect, although the build looks very clean, there is a lot of wiring behind the scenes that makes this electronic instrument work!

Intrigued? You can check out this article for even more information on this brilliant system.