One of our favorite low tech halloween decorations is a (tiny) army of mini jack o’lanterns. Here’s how to carve your own. Continue reading Your own private mini-pumpkin jack O’lantern army
Halloween Projects!
A pumpkin that sleeps like a Mac
Here’s an neat idea for a jack-o’-lantern: Hide a single white LED just beneath the thin surface of the pumpkin. And program it with the same slow “breathing” effect that indicates sleep on Mac computers.
The result? A pumpkin that sleeps like a Mac. It’s actually quite striking, in part because the effect becomes invisible every few seconds. It’s also an easy microcontroller project: our demonstration video and build instructions follow. Continue reading A pumpkin that sleeps like a Mac
Maker Faire and Eggbot on Martha Stewart Show
If you happen to be into TV and/or Eggbot, you might want to tune into the Martha Stewart Show on Wednesday, Oct. 20. Our collaborator, Bruce Shapiro, inventor of the Eggbot, will be on as a part of a special episode about Maker Faire which will show off some of the cool things that Martha and her colleagues discovered at Maker Faire New York. After the show is broadcast, you should be able to find photos and video from the episode here.
Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid under cc-by-nc-nd license.
The Expandable Larson Scanner!
“The Larson Scanner rocks, but it’s too short!”
“How can we expand the Larson Scanner?”
“Can you link multiple Larson Scanners together?”
These are just some of the questions that I have asked about the Larson Scanner.
And now, there’s an answer, in my first guest blog post here on Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories!
Printing on a strangely shaped egg
One of those questions that keeps coming up about the Egg-Bot is, “Does the surface have to be perfectly smooth?” Or sometimes just, “Can you print on a golf ball?”
While we wouldn’t go so far as to say that you’ll have good luck printing on a tennis ball, it turns out that the surface doesn’t exactly have to be flat either. Golf balls certainly aren’t a challenge. And, as you can see above, you can even plot on strangely shaped “eggs,” so long as the surface is smooth enough that you can drag a marker along. Neat.
Update: We’ve posted some tips on using the Eggbot with pumpkins here.
You can find more pumpkin projects in our Halloween Project Archive.
MUNI time lapse video
Church and 30th St. San Francisco MUNI Construction from Ken Murphy on Vimeo.
Our friend Ken Murphy of Blinky Bug and History of the Sky fame just posted this incredible time lapse movie, watching as construction workers replaced San Francisco metro train tracks outside of his apartment. The work was done from October 8-12, and the movie spans 12 minutes. It’s amazing how much goes into something that looks so simple.Fall Field Trips!
Coming up soon: Combots Cup V at the San Mateo Event Center on Saturday, October 23 and Sunday, October 24. Combots is the annual heavyweight robot combat championship.
“This event highlights the best combat robot teams in America and their 220 pound flame-throwing, blade-spinning, titanium shearing robots of destruction! Whether you’re a sports fan or techno geek, ComBots puts on the best robot events in the world! If you missed seeing fighting robots at Maker Faire this year, or are longing for RoboGames, here’s your chance to see them again.”
That same weekend: East Bay Mini-Maker Faire is on Sunday, October 24 at the Park Day School in Oakland. We’ll be bringing our Egg-Bots and showing off a few of their Halloween related applications.
We hope to see you there!
Robogames 2006 photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid under cc-by-nc license.
Hacking the Blinkybugs Book
Chronicle did a very nice job with it–the book itself comes out of the nifty sleeve that holds the kit and book together. The cartoon illustrations by Alexander Tarrant are very clear and there’s a nice assortment of accessories to go with the core hardware.
The bug circuit went together very easily. These little guys are super compact and self contained, which means they’re adaptable to all kinds of uses. And while putting them on pipe cleaner legs is seasonally appropriate, they’re a perfect fit for a mini-pumpkin. The first thing to do after gutting the gourd is to mark and cut the holes for the LED eyes. A 3/16″ bit turned by hand makes a hole that is just snug enough to hold a 5 mm LED firmly in place.
A couple of slits let the LED leads stick up through the body of the pumpkin where the antenna wires will be able to reach them.
Finally, the pumpkin lid is trimmed to allow the antenna wires to move freely.
You can find more pumpkin projects in our Halloween Project Archive.
Larson Scanner Review
Justin over at WyoInnovations writes:
“My 14 year old daughter put together the Larson Scanner Kit offered by the Evil Mad Science Laboratories (EMSL). We have put together quite a few soldering kits around here and this one is, simply put, the best “learn-to-solder” kit I’ve ever come across.”
Thanks, Justin!
Kits are in stock over at the Evil Mad Science store, just in time for Halloween!
