Open Source Hardware

Train an army of crows to gather treasure for you

Train an army of crows to gather treasure for you

Josh Klein developed a machine that trains crows to trade coins for peanuts. Literally, for peanuts. So you fill this thing with peanuts and set it out, say, in a public park, and the crows will scour the ground for loose change, carry it to the machine, and drop it in a slot in exchange for food. The project, dubbed “CrowBox,” made a big splash when he unveiled it back in 2007. Now he’s made the complete plans for the CrowBox completely available online so you can roll your own. And there’s no reason you couldn’t train your fly-monkeys-fly to gather other crow-portable objects. Twenty-dollar bills? Keys? iPods? Human eyes? The possibilities are endless. Set one up at the beach! Train seagulls to trade whole wallets for pre-shucked oysters!

Open source Homeland Security non-lethal weapon – The Do-it-yourself handheld LED-based Incapacitator: THE BEDAZZLER

Adafruit’s first open source Homeland Security non-lethal weapon project – The “Do-it-yourself Handheld LED-Based Incapacitator: THE BEDAZZLER”. After attending a conference where the $1million “sea-sick flashlight” (THE DAZZLER) was demoed by Homeland Security, Adafruit decided to create an under $250 version and here are the source code, schematics and PCB files! This is not a […]

Making the most of open-source hardware

Great overview – Making the most of open-source hardware – Electronics Weekly – Gerald Coley, Texas Instruments… AT A GLANCE * Open-source hardware offers an advanced start on your design.* Open-source software complements open-source hardware.* Open-source hardware prepares your PCB (printed-circuit-board)-fabrication and -assembly houses for high-volume production.* You may want to share your improvements by […]