Posted January 23, 2016 by Chris

"Dan suggested building a robot that would flush the toilet at timed intervals throughout the day. In my mind, calling something a ‘robot’ sounds like a sophisticated, possibly sentient being that can do your bidding. But simply put, a robot is a machine that can be programmed to do tasks, like flushing a toilet. An automatic kitty toilet flusher sounded perfect!"

Posted September 21, 2015 by Chris

"This article is the first in the ‘Projects’ category. It’s a very inexpensive way to make a pretty good DC bench supply or dedicated 12 volt supply for working on projects or powering devices. As of this writing, a good quality and powerful ATX PSU (power supply unit) can be obtained online for about $20.00 or less. "

Posted July 8, 2015 by Chris

"I am very pleased to announce that I have now added support for the PS4 controller via Bluetooth. This will allow you to read all the buttons and joysticks with the same API as all the other libraries I have written for the USB Host library."

Posted December 9, 2014 by Chris

"Although the panda effect is in 3D, and 3D is usually hard, several visual limitations simplify the problem greatly. The panda is only seen from the side, and is rotated about its exact center. This means that if I can figure out how to render a side view of a single layer of panda voxels, I’ve come up with a solution for the whole effect."

Posted January 5, 2014 by Chris

"As far as solar powered vehicles go, the Hybrid Electric Kinetic Photovoltaic Vehicle (KPV) is probably the most innovative and eye catching of the lot. For one, the KPV is extremely portable and can fit in your suitcase. The KPV has a lithe body frame but can function just as well as any solar powered vehicle twice its size."

Posted October 30, 2013 by Chris

"The goal of my project was to design and implement a mobile robot that can be controlled wirelessly using speech as a user interface. This was my first mobile robot which I built by forking concepts from here and there. I tried to follow open standards and use opensource hardware and software components wherever possible."

Posted July 29, 2013 by Chris

“We came up with the idea because it could help us and others protect property and privacy. Traditional household security systems often require installation and detect based on opening of doors and windows. In the cases where installation is not possible and/or the area of interest has no door, our ultrasonic security system will come in handy because it requires no installation, and detects intruders based on their physical presence.”

Posted March 12, 2013 by Chris

“Microchip PIC now has a USB flash controller in an IC. So you no longer need a USB chip with various components AND a microcontroller. Both components are integrated in one chip. Microchip also sells these chips in DIP package. This makes the job for prototype development and hobby electronics easier.” [Article in German]

Posted October 16, 2012 by Chris

“I miss my old Commodore Pet. It was a blue-face with the chiclet-style keyboard. So, I’m recreating it in a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. I’m using a Digilent Nexys3 development board. The design runs original version 1 or 2 ROMs.”

Posted February 6, 2011 by Chris

Named ‘El Relojito’ (relojo = watch in spanish), this seemingly simple design is a great project for anyone ready to move past the rank of ‘amateur’. 60 LEDs surround the 7-segment leds telling you the time. A PIC micro controlls all the action. The write-up is in spanish, but the schematic/pictures should be enough to guide you.