http://www.pyroelectro.com PyroElectro.com brings you cool projects & tutorials that you can do at home. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:15:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/09/20/finding-gsm-cell-phone-location/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/09/20/finding-gsm-cell-phone-location/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=2858

This article presents a method for using GSM basics to find out your current location. A PHP script included in the article lets you input your cell phone's details and then passes it to google maps to find out your location. Granted many phones already have GPS in them, location triangulation from GSM towers is also very useful.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/09/20/finding-gsm-cell-phone-location/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/07/01/pic-phoneline-controller-v1-0/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/07/01/pic-phoneline-controller-v1-0/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:00:49 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=2125

If you're looking to figure how phone lines work and how to interface with them, this article should help you on your way. The article explains how to make a device that you can 'call into' and control using normal telephone lines. No hardware schematic is included but you can get a general feeling for the design and what is going on by the details included in the article.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/07/01/pic-phoneline-controller-v1-0/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/06/ibot-a-real-iphone-robot/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/06/ibot-a-real-iphone-robot/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 18:00:46 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1777

Although there seems little practicality for putting a $500 iPhone on a robot, the novelty seems to be alluring enough. This project uses a jailbroken iphone to send commands to a microcontroller, telling the robot to move in different directions. Don't miss the action video.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/06/ibot-a-real-iphone-robot/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/02/a-robot-iphone-mask/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/02/a-robot-iphone-mask/#comments Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:00:51 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1172

Here's a very low tech way to make an awesome robot mask with an iphone. Using the iphone app 'mouth off' for a mouth that moves with what you're speaking into it, this project write-up goes through step-by-step how to build and use the mask.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/02/a-robot-iphone-mask/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/01/shimon-jazz-robot/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/01/shimon-jazz-robot/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:52 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1169

Using a novel gesture-based improvisation and motor control system, the robot listens to the human play and tries to match its beat, sync, and themes. It uses choreographic gestures to generate both motion and sound. Take a look!


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/01/01/shimon-jazz-robot/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/24/old-school-sms-communication/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/24/old-school-sms-communication/#comments Fri, 24 Dec 2010 20:00:13 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1138

Taking a break from the hardcore stuff, here's an old classic: older cell phones were much more (hardware) hackable compared to newer cell phones. Getting received SMS messages out of them to control electronics was easily achieved. This project shows you how to control elecotronics via SMS, old school style.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/24/old-school-sms-communication/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/21/mobots-speedo/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/21/mobots-speedo/#comments Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:00:00 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1129

If you're an avid bike rider and you have an extra nokia lcd laying around, this project is for you. Speedo uses a nokia lcd to display your current bicycle RPM's and distance traveled. The project write-up includes: schematics, software and action shots.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/12/21/mobots-speedo/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/11/07/automated-text-messages-to-your-cell/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/11/07/automated-text-messages-to-your-cell/#comments Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:00:52 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=982

Text messaging has recently become mainstream and second nature. Many cell networks will now let you send text messages to a cell phone with an e-mail message. This is extremely convenient and the today's project explains how to do it.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/11/07/automated-text-messages-to-your-cell/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/10/27/phone-recorder-project/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/10/27/phone-recorder-project/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:00:36 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=942

If you're curious about how telephones work and how to actually record and play back sound files using a microcontroller you'll want to read this project write-up. The phone line is connected to a PIC which collects that data and can save it as a wave file for you to play back and listen to.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/10/27/phone-recorder-project/feed/ 0 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/10/15/flickr-images-on-a-nokia-lcd/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2010/10/15/flickr-images-on-a-nokia-lcd/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:00:39 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=901

Adding a display to your project makes it look that much cooler, plus 'normal' people will have a shot at understanding what you're doing! This project write-up goes through the process of using a Nokia LCD to display images from Flickr. Source Code and Schematics included.


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