Posted July 6, 2011 by Chris

Straight from an MSP430 design contest, here is an article that describes how a blood pressure meter was created. A block diagram is included in the article which gives great insight into how the system was put together and how it works. If you’re interested in Bio-Med, this one is for you!

Posted July 3, 2011 by Chris

The Time Fountain is an attempt at high speed trickery to make it look like time is flowing backwards through flashing light at water drops with LEDs. The article explains the process of how the time fountain was built, with a detailed parts list and progressive pictures. If you want to amaze your friends at your time controlling powers with electronics, build one of these!

Posted June 30, 2011 by Chris

This article shows how you can take some standard R/C cars, hack away at their guts and make automated racing cars. Two ultrasonic proximity sensors were added to each car so that they can sense their surroundings and a Picaxe micro was added to make the cars intelligent. Check out the action video to see autonomous racing.

Posted June 26, 2011 by Chris

Here is an example of what I feel is an over-designed RGB controller, however over design is always better than under-designed. The article goes step by step through how the controller is built and what parts are used. RGB LEDs are pretty sweet little things, but controlling them to make all colors of the rainbow can be a daunting task for those who are new to them.

Posted June 6, 2011 by Chris

Brushless DC motor control is far more complex than stepper or basic DC motor control. Because of this, we must take many extra things into account while designing the controller. This article shows you how to prototype together your very own brushless motor controller in about a days time.

Posted June 4, 2011 by Chris

Flying UAVs seem to be the ultimate challenge for robotics. Stabilizing the flyer is very difficult since you need to combine multiple sensors’ data into control loops. This article shows a successful build of a quadrotor and lists all parts used. A PID control loop is used for movement stability.

Posted June 2, 2011 by Chris

This article explains in some depth ac motor and generator theory and then continues to build an example using styrofoam and some wire. The parts list is very simple and not expensive with a lot of pictures of how to build the generator. Don’t miss the action video at the end of the article!

Posted May 31, 2011 by Chris

This article explains how to make your own Stamp based RS232 stepper motor driver. It is similar to my stepper motor controller, except RS232 communication is used to control speed and direction. The article has great documentation for how the driver works and what is needed to build it.

Posted May 26, 2011 by Chris

Automating an etch a sketch is probably one of the funner intro to robotics projects that you can make. The basic idea is you take two motors, attach them to the knobs of an etch-a-sketch and then build up some control commands for drawing. This article details out this process with a great working example. Their schematics and software are available for download to make your very own!

Posted May 21, 2011 by Chris

It’s tough to know what to make of this project. It’s a type of creativity that seems quite far out, using the sound of sewing machines to create music. The website is light on the technical details but there are many instructional and demo videos of the ‘orchestra’ in action.