Matt Denton on the hexapodrobot forums has a thread about his hexabot robotic CNC router. Its a crazy cool invention, something you’d expect from a science fiction film.
In the video below, you can see the robot carefully carving out a 3D face from some high density foam.
Understandably, the resolution is pretty low at approx 7-8bit, according to Matt. I think though that the ability to move your CNC routing machine around the shop, scaring the bejeesus out of everyone and everything it comes into contact with, its well worth it.
I’m not sure of the actual practical applications of a mobile CNC machining robot, but I’m sure there is one, if only for the creepy cool way it backs away from whatever its just made!
The Awesomer linked me onto this blog about (conceptual) open source phone development. It seems to be a blog dedicated to conceptuals of how an opensource/mozilla phone would look and operate, in association with Mozilla’s concept series.
The Mozilla Phone is an experiment in the open-source development of a conceptual phone. Put in motion by Aza Raskin of Mozilla Labs as part of its Concept Series, the project is led by Billy May as well as the combined insight of all those with an idea and a keyboard (and maybe a Wacom). While some of the problems will deal with industrial design, a great deal of the focus will be put on physical interface issues and basic user-phone interaction.
Evil Mad Scientist labs, one of the most awesomely named electronics outfits out there, has posted an article about the single sided circuit board they made.
For our circuit, we decided to make an LED chaser that would light up LEDs in sequence along the length of the Mobius strip. To do this we chose a smallish AVR microcontroller, the ATtiny2313, which is a 20-pin device with 17 available output pins. With each output we drive a single red LED, and the whole thing can be powered by a 3V type CR2032 lithium coin cell.
The International Space Station care of mpancha on Flickr
The [GlobeAndMail] via [Engadget] report that a group of four college students from Toronto, Canada have accomplished a technological feat by constructing their very own astronaught-phone; with which, they managed to place a ten minute call to the International Space Station using a radio system they built themselves.
While school contacts with the space station are routinely made through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, many of those contacts are made using a traditional ham radio.
“It’s an incredible feat of undertaking and technology, and I’d just like to say I’m really, really proud of this team,” said Humber instructor Mark Rector.
“They’re playing way, way above their league today.”
Kirton has posted a guide on how to make your own punchbag interface controller.
This is a very unique solution, and probably the only punchbag/beanbag type human interface device I’ve ever seen. Like most of these unique interfaces, its hard to find a practical application, however I think perhaps for certain children with learning or motor-skills difficulties, this would perhaps be a good introductory tool to get them engaged in the classroom.
