This project dates back to 2009, but it’s entirely new to me: the HPS Hamstar is a hamster-powered submarine constructed out of a 3-liter bottle, a hamster wheel, and a few other household materials (with a total cost of $57). Its maiden voyage—documented above—was powered by Houdina, now in retirement after a single trip in the submersible.
I love stories like this, about how people are making use of off-the-shelf technologies to mimic the effects of more sophisticated and expensive scientific equipment. Yay DIY! The slow march of optical spectroscopies toward the clinic has been helped along by technologies borrowed from communications electronics. Those technologies are allowing optics researchers to build things […]
I grew up in Minneapolis and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I still believe that the people are the nicest in the world, and that it’s a fantastic place to live. I didn’t, however, realize how much of a maker town it is.
Bellino Alain created this fascinating take on Darth Vader using what look to be antique fixtures and household hardware. The resulting helmet is equal parts dark side and floral panache. I love when makers take familiar forms and re-imagine them using discarded materials. A fine job, indeed.
Make your own personalized watch with the Knit-Shock! Watch Kit from the Maker Shed. To make your own personalized watch, just follow the easy to read instruction and use the included needle and thread to create the pattern you want. Don’t have the right colors? The plastic canvas can use a wide variety of yarn from your personal stash or local craft store.
Wannes Vermeulen created an iPad app to control a modded RC car, complete with a remote point-of-view camera: I used two servo motors attached to the original remote control of the car to adjust speed and steering. These are controlled by an Arduino Uno, which gets the accelerometer data from the iPad through a socket server on my laptop. I also fitted my old Android smartphone to the car, which uses an IPCam app to stream the video to the iPad. The “camera”, the iPad and the laptop are connected to the same Wi-Fi network to share their data.
Digital camera sensors are typically sensitive to infrared light, but camera manufacturers install a infrared cut-off filter to block these wavelengths. If you have an old Canon point and shoot camera and want to try out infrared photography, Matthew Petroff has posted a guide to modding a Canon PowerShot SD400 for this technique.
