April Maker Challenge #25/30 : juicerStick

WHAT: okay. the title is a bit vague. i want to make a hand held baton that i can shake vigorously (or bring with me running) that will charge and sustain a 5v charge - to plug into my phone for off occasions. sorta like a mechanical mintyboost - minus the alkaline batteries,

OBJECTIVE: make a portable, mechanically actuated 5v supply. should be able to physically crank/shake it while providing power to sustain the current boost. should be able to hold at least an additional hour of phone use per *charge*. smallest form factor possible to accomplish that additional hour. hopefully robust enough to leave in the car year-round.

HOW: no idea. im guessing 5v regulator, inductance coil, maybe a spring, nice magnet, ... havnt fleshed this one out yet. might take some research in supercapacitors. or maybe just really big ones.

APPLICATION: in case i need to use the phone when its dry. i like the mintyboost - but its chemical shelflife leaves something to be desired. you KNOW i will run out of batteries when i need em.

April Maker Challenge #20/30 : humanDataMap

WHAT: after attending a lecture and talking abit with the legendary designer Niels Diffrient - he sort of highlighted the need for informed design and measurable data to support advancement. i want to make a pressureMap. In particular - it would be more along the lines of a seating pressure map (but i didnt want to title this AssMap). But instead of just pressure (which is the primary focus of human factors mapping) - i want to map out temperature and moisture buildup too.

OBJECTIVE: to provide a pressure/temp (and later moisture) map of a person. initially for a seated position - but maybe later into a glove or helmet to monitor sporting gear performance. initial resolution goals are to within a square half inch area. it has to be portable enough to throw on a chair and collect data, and be waterproof.

HOW: there are companies out there that provide pressure map systems using loadcells and whatnot - but they are expensive, and out of my reach. i dont quite yet know HOW i will get this all within a reasonable affordable budget, but i will share my findings and method with everyone for free! moisture might be a harder measurement to take, and possibly superfluous - since i can possibly approximate it with temperature.

APPLICATION: ass map! (which is used to ensure ergonomic and even pressure distribution for seating). and not just seating too. effectiveness of pillows, protective headgear, athletic gloves, shoes, etc... can all be tested and put to a metric!
i want measureable metrics goddamnit!!!

April Maker Challenge #15/30 : b3nqnlnw

WHAT: inverse pendulum. (look at the title in a mirror). yes, it is a very academic problem. but hopefully easily enough solved with the use of a gyro.

OBJECTIVE: make a two (or one wheeled) robot that can stand upright. a mini segway, if you will.

HOW: stepper (probably). and hopefully a single gyro. hooked up via some small processor - see what happens. (i know its not THAT simple - but i dont want to think about the gory details here)

APPLICATION: lots! something that can stand up on command? two of these flipped might be able to make a controlled cartwheeling robot. could use this to make a ballbot*

* this will be another challenge, for another day.

April Maker Challenge #14/30 : NoiseNeedle

WHAT: you know the needles on turntables? how they interpret texture on vinyls into sound? i want to make a little rangefinder, that reads textures in real life - and converts them to sound. like a little laser beam scanner, feeding back textural (distance based) information and turning it into sound.

OBJECTIVE: make a portable, free standing, noise "needle". would be nice to have a visible laser dot scanning the surface. should sit on a little turret that has adjustable scan-rate. bonus points if i can make it actually read a vinyl LP.

HOW: there are lots of little rangefinding setups out there. will require lots of playing around with these techs to get this figured out. once that is done, the scanning turret should'nt be too hard. aiming for something that reads a short range (less than 3 ft). it would be crazy cool if i could convert this to read FAR away (ie: cityscapes)

APPLICATION: noise. interesting ones.

April Maker Challenge #8/30 : spaceCones

WHAT: cheap little modules that i can place like traffic cones, or suction cup, or whatever - that act like positional beacons. They should probably talk together to know where each is in relation to another.
Example1: 2 cones on the ground, and one fixed to my camera. with some calculation - i should be able to measure everything within this 3 pin area to the resolution of the beacons.
Example2: if i put 3 down on the floor, i want something inside it to be able to triangulate where it is in a given area. would be nice for position control.

OBJECTIVES: 3 cones (at least). they need to be able to judge distance from one another (i know there are rangefinders out there) . then they need to beam that information out to something else.

HOW: not a real clue in the world. i am guessing line of sight would be required for decent rangefinding - so i suppose IR data transmission would be an ok. it'd be nice if i can figure out how to do it otherwise.

APPLICATION: i was thinking of an alternative to CNC control where it is simply X,Y,Z tables. linear tracking is for suckas. If i can make all this wireless - and somehow have a paintBot.... then i should be able to print/plot on the scale of 100ft or so. (whatever the range and fidelity of the rangefinders would be)

April Maker Challenge #7/30:LoopyBeats

WHAT: Portable, recording beatbox looper machine. But with a twist. I want to integrate this with a processing script that can "read" the beatbox notes/sequences and save them in midi. I also want to integrate a drum machine into it as an extra channel.

OBJECTIVES: #1. recording beatbox looper with tempo modulation #2. ability to lay over conventional drum machine channel. #3. Output in a way that can be "read" and reproduced (if i beatbox a snare, i want it to read "snare" in a drum machine track)

HOW: for starters, i will probably prototype this in processing on my desktop. To be portable, i will likely go arduino based. Requires memory, so probably a SD reader of some. Adafruit waveshield would probably help. I dont know much else about programming with sound - but that hasnt stopped me yet.

APPLICATION: Yes. i know there's an app for the iphone that is a simple drum machine. but what if you wanna lay down a beat you have in your head? you already hear it in your head - so if you can come CLOSE to beatboxing it, then overlay or add actual drum machine effects to it?
then i just need to find someone who can spit worth a dime.

April Maker Challenge #5/30 : sousvide

What: a closed loop temperature controlled hot water bath. the size of a crockpot. most probably - for food experiments. typically known sous vide. (vac bags are commercially available)

Objectives: closed loop control temperature with a ±1 Celsius accuracy. should probably hold temps of 21C to 95C consistently. and recirculate the water. hopefully on the cheap.

How: temp control is something that is pretty well documented online. i just have to source the thermistor (cheaper than thermocouple right?) and maybe come up with a nice 7seg/LCD for an interface and on the fly temperature programming. next step is to make sure i have the thing insulated so i'm not pumping in crazy amounts of heat into it. i also have to figure out what kind of thermal mass i want to deal with and the average size of cooked food and whatnot.

Application: i want to be able to prep a whole bunch of vac bags with raw/semiraw foods, freeze em, and throw a pack in 2-3 hours before i need to eat. the niceness of temp control is that i can maintain a specific temp so i never overcook my food.

bonus points: if i can only hook this up to an affordable xbee/zigbee/bluetooth module, which i can connect to my computer - then i can start this up (or shut it down) from online or via email.