We’re excited to be bringing robots to the California Academy of Sciences Robot NightLife event on Thursday, March 27, 6-10 pm. This is a 21+ event and tickets are $12.
Evil Mad Scientists, now accepting Bitcoin
Just a little note to say that our Evil Mad Scientist shop is now (“finally?”) accepting payments in Bitcoin. Our Bitcoin payments are processed through BitPay, one of the largest and most trusted processors for Bitcoin-based online payments.
Three Fives in IEEE Spectrum
Our Three Fives Kit was featured in this month’s IEEE Spectrum. From the article:
Just as DNA models, star maps, and periodic tables serve as reminders of fundamentals that can get obscured by day-to-day minutiae, so too the Three Fives kit is a reminder that even the most complex digital processor is still at its heart just a collection of very simple components.
You can read the full article and see pictures of it in use in a sample circuit over at IEEE Spectrum.
STREAM
Over at RasterWeb, Pete writes:
I love the Evil Mad Scientist STEAM T-shirt but I thought there was something missing, so I changed it to STREAM because… Robots.
Remember to stream big, my friends!
Pi Day is Here
Or, if you prefer, we’re halfway (well, 44% of the way) to Tau day, 6/28. A fine day to watch the Vi Hart‘s Anti-Pi Rant. And, a fine day to round up some of our finest Pi, Pie, and mathematics projects:
Pi blanket for Pi Day, and the Apple Apple Pie!
Sierpinski triangles out of polymer clay, and fractal cookies.
Fractal snowflake cupcakes, Fabric Klein bottle
Vector Snowflake generator application, and Symmetrisketch— for exploring other symmetries.
Basics: AVR Target Boards and Arduino Compatibility
Gary writes:
I have fallen in love with your Diavolinos – thank you!
My question: does the “Simple target board” allow for the 6-pin FTDI Friend hookup to upload sketches? This is quick and easy with the Diavolino. I’m new to reading circuits and stuff, and I cannot tell looking at the target board. It says to use in-system programmer, but I prefer to not buy another interface. Thanks!
Excellent question! It is certainly possible, but not as quick and easy. Both the Diavolino and our ATmegaXX8 target boards boards use the same chip, usually the ATmega328P. But, one might say that our ATmegaXX8 board is a simple AVR target board optimized for use with an AVR ISP programmer (like the USBtinyISP), whereas the Diavolino is a simple target board optimized for use with the FTDI interface.
Versus a “bare” target board (with just the chip and power), there are four things that you would normally add, in order to use the FTDI interface to upload a sketch from within the Arduino environment:
Continue reading Basics: AVR Target Boards and Arduino Compatibility
Pi Egg for Pi Day
Evil Mad Scientist Linkdump: March 2014
Back from the dead: The Evil Mad Scientist Linkdump. Last seen circa 2010, the Linkdump is our occasional collection of interesting links. You can find our archived linkdumps here.
- New research on the Five Second Rule.
- Glyphter, the SVG Font Machine
- Do you live within 35 miles of the line between Kingston, NY and NYC? Are you far enough from the city to see stars at night? If so, you might be able to watch an asteroid occult a bright star on March 20th.
- Dan Sheadel writes on twitter: “If Linux+Git+Eagle users want to use visual diffs between board revisions, I’ve written a tool to help out.” See also our posts on the subject (1, 2).
- Ryszard’s “marble machine 3” in pictures at Woodgears.ca
- In January, Microsoft joined the Open Compute project. (Another big name in large-scale Open Source Hardware.)
- Helix is a small new museum and community space located in Los Altos, CA, operated by the Exploratorium.
- Use a Mac and design circuits? LTspice IV now runs native on the Mac. (Much easier than the old way!)
- Vintage awesomeclock: The Telechron Occlusion Clock
Cool Wearable Electronics
Mascot costumes are often hot and sweaty, and mascots are expected to enthusiastically energize their teams. At FIRST robotics competitions, there are also traditions of dance parties during delays caused by technical difficulties, leading to even more activity in a warm, heavy costume than would normally be expected.
Cardinalbotics, an FRC team from San Francisco, made a mascot costume using an application of wearable electronics I had not considered before: cooling fans. The cardinal head was made of fabric sewn over shaped foam, with fans on the sides to keep everything cool inside.
The fans were wired up to an on/off switch and adjustment pot which were hidden in a velcro compartment in the back of the head.
From the Mailbag: on STEAM Education
Trevor wrote in:
I’ve probably said it a million times, but I don’t think I’ve told you guys. You’re amazing. When it’s time for a new project I jump over to EMSL first. I use your projects to demonstrate a lot of STEAM principles at my Makerspace, and proudly wear my EMSL STEAM shirt every Saturday morning when I’m teaching our Makerspace Cadets class. (It’s a fun sciencey/makey/artsy class for kids). Keep up the great work. :)
Thank you for the kind words, and for your dedication to your students!
