Make: technology on your time

I've never seen a trailer like this - perhaps it wasn't road safe or something, but it would be wonderful to (re)make - via LoL.

The Lost Knowledge column explores the possible technology of the future in the forgotten ideas of the past (and those just slightly off to the side). Every other Wednesday, we look at retro-tech, "lost" technology, and the make-do, improvised "street tech" of village artisans and tradespeople from around the globe. "Lost Knowledge" was also the theme of MAKE Volume 17

Ever since we humans started making shadow puppets in the firelight of our caves, we've been fascinated by the power of the projected image. It seems only fitting that, for DIY Movie Making Month, we'd take a look at magic lanterns, some of our first technological baby steps that have delivered us to the age of Avatar.

What is a magic lantern? It's basically a 17th century pre-cursor to the slide, and then movie, projector. The Magic Lantern Society defines a magic lantern as:

...an appliance by means of which transparencies are projected by artificial light upon a screen with the projected image having a diameter generally from thirty to eighty times greater than that of the transparency or slide, whilst the area of the image may be from one thousand to six thousand times as great.

Magic lanterns grew on the developments of magic shadow shows (i.e. shadow puppets), camera obscura, magic mirrors, and other earlier optics and projection techniques. The period of the magic lantern spanned from the mid-17th century to the late 19th. While there is no clear inventor of the device, Dutch astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), with his lenses designed for use in telescopes, is probably the closest thing to a father of the technology.

For portable radio operation, I like End-Fed Half-Wavelength Antennas (EFHWA, pronounced "EF-WAH"). This type of antenna is similar to the common half-wavelength dipole, but with one significant advantage. A dipole has its feedpoint (where it connects to the radio) in the middle of the antenna, but an EFHWA's feedpoint is at one end. This makes it very convenient to throw the antenna up in a tree and connect the bottom of it to your radio. Here are instructions for making a multiband end-fed half-wavelength antenna that works on 17, 20, 30, and 40-meter bands.

From user Meph over at the always-entertaining There, I Fixed It.

Here's a neat idea for a tablecloth, by Kristine Bjaadal. Normally, one would avoid spilling things on their linens, however the Underfull Tablecloth has a hidden pattern built in that only shows up once it becomes stained. Now you can look at that lovely butterfly pattern and remember that one time you had a bit too much wine, without feeling bad about having ruined the tablecloth! [via neatorama]

Makers Market seller Kevin of kaitrees has a bunch of great videos on his market blog. They range from details of the pieces themselves, to "slap tests", and works in progress. It's a neat look at the process that goes into making these pieces.

My sculptures are an effort to distill what real trees inspire in people into something one can have inside their living or working space.

This tree in the video above will require about 500 hours to complete, stand over 7 feet tall, and will use about 1000 strands of aluminum wire. It's his largest piece to date, and looks Amazing! I wonder how much it will weigh?

In this series, "Letters from the Fab Academy," Shawn Wallace, member of AS220, the Providence, RI community arts space, shares his experiences with the Fab Academy, a distributed learning collaborative, built on the infrastructure of the Fab Lab network. -- Gareth

3D Scanning

When working with 3D scanning and printing equipment, it quickly becomes apparent that objects are nowhere near as fungible as MP3s. We'll have to wait a while for the day when every teenager is capable of casually copying real-world objects. However, it is surprisingly easy to hack together a crude 3D scanner from commodity cameras, projectors, and hardware you probably have in a couple of junk drawers in your shop.

A good place to start is with the Modela mini mill, which has a piezo-based needle sensor attachment that can be used for scanning small objects. The machine records the plunge depth at the point it contacts the object and the software that comes with the Modela (Dr. Picza) converts these points into a 3D mesh. Here's an example of using Dr. Picza to scan a small shell from Benito Juarez from the Barcelona Fab Academy site:

Kügli is an Arduino-controlled musical instrument by Stefanie Hess and Johannes Schmidt. The project consists of a bowl with a false bottom, packing an Arduino, XBee wireless module, and some speakers. The ball contains a Lilypad and another XBee.

The spacing and dynamic of a ball in a bowl influences sound. While holding the bowl in its hands the player can walk around and rock the bowl forth and back either smoothly or with fast movements. Two factors are relevant for the sound: the position of the Kügli in the ball and the rotation-speed of the Kügli. Both data streams are sent to Max/Msp via the serial port. The XBee component, accelerator and piezo-microphones are sensoring and passing the the movements.

In the Maker Shed:

An anonymous MAKE subscriber writes in to let us know about this very cool wireless robotics platform based on the Arduino and an XBee. The purpose of the project was to teach their 9-year old son about programming in Processing. What a great way to introduce programming to kids!

I built a wireless robotics platform from a cheap R/C car, an Arduino with XBee shield, small microswitch sensors, and a Processing program running on a remote computer to control the vehicle. The vehicle is completely controlled by the code running on the remote computer which allows very rapid prototyping of the code to tell the vehicle what to do and how to react to the sensor events received from the vehicle. I'm hoping this is a good way to teach my 9-year old son about programming.

In the Maker Shed:


The Maker Shed has everything you need to get started with Arduino

Enjoy playing rock, paper, scissors, but having trouble finding worthy opponents to play it with? Need to improve your game for that upcoming world tournament? Well, then, you will certainly appreciate Steve Hoefer's rock paper scissors playing glove. Thanks to the built-in accelerometer and bend sensors, all you have to do to play is play the game, and the computer will tell you what it's move was, and keep track of who won. It's a funny project, and it includes some cool features, such as using edge-lit plastic for the display. Well done!

More:

• DIY Rock paper scissors electronic game
• HOW TO - Beat anyone at Rock Paper Scissors
• Rock, Paper, Scissors - interview with a professional player

Every other week, MAKE's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Make: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

Part 1. Setting up a background for your project.

By Ed Troxell, photo intern

As a DIYer, you share your projects to show off your expertise and to help others find theirs. But building a project and writing the steps is only half the battle. The other half is capturing images of your work that clearly show what you're talking about and what you've done in your steps.

As the photo intern for MAKE, I shoot lots of projects for the magazine and website. Here are my steps for setting up a background for photographing your project clearly to show it off in its entirety.

1. Set up your project and mini studio.
Find a well-lit area that's clear of visual distractions and provides you with enough room for shooting. If you're shooting on a workbench, clear off all the clutter and if necessary, drop a bedsheet or paper backdrop to hide everything that's not your project. The camera doesn't want to see your mess, it just wants to see your masterpiece. Extraneous items on the bench or in the background will only confuse the viewer and make a good project look bad. Clean up before you shoot.

Clean bench good (but what's that junk in the corner?):

Cluttered bench bad:


2. Know your "light temperature."
Light temperature means the color of your light, and it affects your "white balance." Most cameras react best to daylight, which is a bluish light, and I strongly recommend shooting in daylight. Shooting your project near a big window (with no direct sunbeams coming through) is a good place to start. Shooting outside in smooth shade is good option too (but not in speckled tree shadows).

Your flash is daylight balanced, so you can use your flash as a "fill" or secondary light to fill shadows. (Your flash should never be the main source of light, unless you're using a real strobe system.) Also, most of those compact fluorescent light bulbs are close to daylight balanced. They can be a nice fill too.

Just be careful not to mix the color of your lights. The white balance on your camera will get confused if warmer light is in the room (like a normal household tungsten filament light bulb), conflicting with the daylight or CF lights. Choose the light temperature you're shooting with, and stick to it.

3. Choose a clean background.
Use a plain, simple background, nothing too distracting. You want clean backgrounds that show off your work. Pick colors that go with your project or make it stand out. We tend to use bright colors. We recommend not using red, as red is a very difficult color for digital cameras. Do not use black. White is fine.

Instead of a distracting background pattern like this:

Use a clean background color like these:

4. Place your project on a level and straight surface.
Here's the photo booth we use here in the Make: Labs for shooting indoor shots, when we're not shooting on the workbench:

5. Test your settings.
Take a few shots, then check the images on your computer (ideally in Photoshop) just to check focus, brightness, file size, grain (ISO), and other details. Sometimes a setting can be off. It's best to know now, rather than find out when you're done shooting.

For example, if you're submitting projects for MAKE magazine or Make: Online, you'll need to take high-resolution photos at an aspect ratio of 4:3. High resolution means they can be printed on paper at 300dpi. (Yes, even web photos -- because we might want to print them later.)

In my next post: Shooting your project in high resolution.

Lego's licensing of the Disney/Pixar Toy Story franchise has produced something surprisingly awesome in this mashup of two classic toys. $11 from the Lego shop. [via Geekologie]

Biking directions added to Google Maps... here's my route from Adafruit to NYC Resistor!

Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often "So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?" We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!

Andy Johnson writes in:

I'm a guy that sews. No, I'm not afraid to say it, I think it is one of the best skills my Mother taught me, besides cooking. I sewed this magazine protector to keep my latest copy of MAKE looking newsstand fresh. I carry MAKE in my backpack, and I carry my backpack everywhere. With all the junk I carry banging around in there, it can get my stuff pretty hammered. I took my favorite T-Shirt, that unfortunately has worn out, and cut out a rectangle 1/2 inch larger than my copy of MAKE on both sides, and doubling the length so it can be folded over. I created a flap on the top and sewed velcro to both the flap and the reverse of the protector. Surging the seams would be the best, but I only have access to a regular sewing machine. If you have extra t-shirt, you can use it to make ipod sleeves, calculator protectors, whatever you like.

It's upcycling month at CRAFT, so head on over for some more great recycling projects with our UpCraft! series.

Figuring which way is 'up' for any one of the various IC packages may be second nature to circuit veterens, but getting acquainted with all possible indicators is definitely an important step for newcomers - and it can be a tad tricky at times. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories posted a detailed photo guide on the subject, even going over orientation tips for seven-segment and LED matrix displays - good stuff!

Mythretirer Adam Savage has a post up this morning on that one Boingy blog about the latest in his lifelong series of personal replicas of Deckard's handgun from Blade Runner. There's more shots of the build as well as pictures of the original prop and two of Adam's earlier replicas. The very first one uses the famous contoured handgrip from Italian toymaker Edison Giocattoli's TG-105 'Super Thur' ray gun, which also appeared in a prop from Joss Whedon's Firefly.

LEGO MINDSTORMS hacker Akihiro Uehara built an interface between an AlphaRex and a Wii Balance Board.

User can control the robot's leg motors speed and direction by changing the vector connecting user's center of balance and center of the board. I have designed this application for elementary school kids in a science museum exhibition.

Don't forget to leave a comment on our Facebook fan page to participate in our Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 giveaway. [Thanks, Akihiro!]

Julia Tsao's Curious Displays thesis project proposes swarms of half-inch pixelbots, which could form into a TV or perform other robotic tasks.

Each block operates independently as a self-contained unit, and has full mobility, allowing movement across any physical surface. The blocks operate independently of one another, but are aware of the position and role relative to the rest of the system. With this awareness, the blocks are able to coordinate with the other blocks to reconfigure their positioning to form larger display surfaces and forms depending on purpose and function. In this way, the blocks become a physical embodiment of digital media, and act as a vehicle for the physical manifestation of what typically exists only in the virtual space of the screen.

Julia even provides a prototype remote control, made improbably gigantic by such buttons as NEEDY, MELANCHOLY and ZEN which would activate pre-pogrammed pixelbot behaviors. Part of the project even includes simulated instructions for dealing with rogue pixels that are hiding under the couch! [via Fast Company]

Have you ever wondered what exactly is involved in building a working, radio-controlled R2-D2 robot replica? This vid documents the two-year process of Victor Franco, of Southern California, and his friends building an R2, mainly from scratch-built parts of varying materials, including wood, styrene, resin, and aluminum. He also used some parts provided by members of the R2 Builders Club. Nice work! [Thanks to Chris James and Michelle Iva Cook Hlubinka!]

Victor Franco's Blog

More:

• Building clubs for your favorite movie and TV robots
• R2-D2 builders at WonderCon
• MAKE Audio: DIY R2-D2!

Free wall chart! Designing with Amplifiers Quick Reference Wall Chart @ Analog Devices... get the poster / wall chart here! (or PDF). Mine arrived today!

Guilherme Martins wanted a simple Arduino-compatible board that he could use as a robotics platform, so he designed one. Called the Motoruino, he took a standard Arduino board and added an H-Bridge chip so that it can control two motors directly. Of course, you could certainly get the same functionality using an add-on board such as the MotorShield (or even by making your own on a breadboard). If you know you are going to be making a robot, though, I can certainly see that having everything together on a single piece would help make your project smaller and more reliable.

He is working on some final tweaks, and plans to release the project under the Creative Commons license. Cool stuff! [via Lets Make Robots]

In the Maker Shed:

MotorShield for Arduino Kit

Hackyhack is a fun project by Dustin Jessen and Chanika Remest that packs an Arduino mini, an LED, a speaker and a piezo knock sensor into a hacky-sack ball. The LED flashes and the speaker emits a sound with every kick, and thirty successful kicks causes a song to be played.

More:

• HOW TO - Make your own hacky sack / footbag

Stewart McCullough sent us this stop-motion music video he did for some friends, The Bran Flakes. He used (and recommends) Dragon Stop Motion software. He says it's "very well done... stable, with a good user interface, and lots of good features specifically for doing any kind of stop-motion animation." It costs $275.

The Bran Flakes
Dragon Stop Motion

In response to our DIY Movie Making theme, Derek "Deek" Diedricksen sent us this first episode of Tiny Yellow Houses, a series he's doing on backyard shackitecture, this one featuring his "Hickshaw," a movable small structure designed to be used as a backyard hang-out space/tiny office or festival sleeping space.

Derek also has a self-published, hand-drawn book of his wacky, whimsical backyard structures, called Humble Homes... You can order it on his blog, Relax Shacks.

More pics from the book after the jump.

I've had this long-standing concept for a theme restaurant where everything--tables, chairs, utensils, food, condiment dispensers--is like 30% bigger than normal. The idea is to make you feel like a kid again. We'd call it "Tiny's." (And yes, we're still seeking investors. Also waitstaff suffering from gigantism.) Look for one soon in a strip-mall near you. Believe me, you won't be able to miss it.

In the meantime, if you just can't wait for the experience, you could always start filling up your house with great big versions of the stuff you already have. Instructables has just posted a cool round-up of tutorials on how to do just that. Shown uppermost is user Tetranitrate's giant match. And yes, as the middle photo shows, it does (or did) actually work. At bottom, last but in no sense least, there's user indymogul's giant sandwich, which I think was part of a Halloween costume or something. But who cares? Giant sandwich!

Related:

• Claes Oldenburg is a famous Swedish sculptor, associated with the Pop Art movement, who made great big versions of stuff as sculpture.
• GreatBigStuff.com is an online store that only sells...well, you can guess, can't you?

Dale Dougherty and Sherry Huss would like to invite you all to a Maker Faire Detroit - Community Planning Meeting, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The meeting will be held at the Main Branch Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI.

In addition to providing updates on the event, the goal of the meeting is to continue to generate ideas, form working groups, and continue to connect with people and organizations that would be interested in bringing Maker Faire to Detroit.

If there are others that you know would like to get involved, please feel free to invite them. This event is open to the public and we'd love to connect with people, groups, and organizations that should be involved with Maker Faire.

If you've attended a Maker Faire Community Meeting in the past, and want to talk about specifics of your curated area, we'll have our Maker Faire team onsite to work with you. Otherwise, we look forward to receiving your submission to the Maker Faire Detroit "Call for Makers" which will go live on March 15th, 2010 at www.makerfaire.com

For more info, see the event page on Socializr.

Spotted in the MAKE Forums:

Liam built this impressive robot, then used it to demonstrate the difference between proportional and PID control. The robot is designed to stay a certain distance from an object, and uses two Sharp IR distance sensors to track it's position. The system looks like it is working great, however he is noticing some variability in the output of the distance sensors he is using- anyone have any ideas?

This is the GBOT with a PID controller using the ZX-40A microcontroller from http://www.zbasic.net. ZX-40A is based on the ATMEGA644 AVR chip. Inputs include 2 IR range sensors (GP2D12). Outputs include 2 PWM signals to the Pololu motor driver (VNH2SP30).

The GBOT maintains a setpoint distance of 10-inches from a target and maintains that distance, no matter what. The control system was originally coded with P-control only and resulted in excessive overshoot and oscillations. So then I added PID control. See video to observe P-control vs. PID control.

Had trouble with IR sensor noise. Issue mitigated with hardware and software. Hardware... added low ESR 1,000uF capacitors on VIN and VOUT of the LM2940T voltage regulator. Software includes an 8th order butterworth filter to clean IR sensor position and velocity. I did have issues with a fire, probably caused by a short or the motor driver. Not sure yet. Since isolating the regulator with the filters and after adding a large heatsink to the voltage regulator, no more fires. See picture below of "incident".

Anyone have experience or information on GP2D12 IR sensor distance variability? I have the noise reduced to 0.025" amplitude. Can this be reduced further? Thanks.

Beeple posted this video analyzing/documenting/presenting a beyond-awesome computer-generated rhythm machine I so deeply wish was real. Note to self - must figure how to construct laser capable of creating laser sound … anyone? [via CDM]

From the pages of MAKE: Drumbot Activate! MAKE: 15: Music, Page 60. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!

The upcoming mission of the space shuttle will focus heavily on robotics and NASA is using that opportunity to bring additional educational outreach to teachers and students. In an education briefing today, NASA detailed some of the resources and events related to STS-131. The robotics section of the NASA web site includes lesson plans, multimedia, information about robotics competitions, and career profiles of ways students can use math, science and engineering in various robotics jobs. STS-131 Mission Specialist, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, is a teacher-turned-astronaut and will be recording an educational video about the space shuttle and space station robotics operations while on-orbit and crew members will participate in two live educational downlinked events during the mission. You can follow the STS-131 mission on the NASA web site and check the NASA TV schedule for all televised mission events.

Build your dream, then make it move! Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 is the latest version of the robotic building set that launched First Lego League and inspired thousands of kids. People have used Mindstorms to make everything from robotic animals to Rubik's cube solvers.

Today, in association with The Lego Group, we're giving away a NXT set! All you have to do is leave a comment on our Facebook fan page. Simply find the post on Facebook corresponding to this one, and leave a comment describing a real or theoretical project you'd like to make with the set. We'll choose a random commenter to get the prize. The contest ends noon PST tomorrow. Good luck, and our thanks to Lego for their generosity!

Spring is in the air! The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and we're looking to do some cleaning in our warehouse. What does that mean for you? Well, for starters, we have a bunch of products on sale in the Maker Shed. We'll even throw in free shipping on orders over $125! Just use the code "CLEARME" at checkout.

WHAT? Un-freaking-believable! Energizer battery charger contains backdoor

The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access. In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application’s directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user.

When considering a battery charger, if there's an open source one, choose it - and avoid the one that comes with software for no good reason, otherwise this could happen... MAKE stocks the MintyBoost, and while that charges devices (not batteries) - it's open source, does not require software, will not trojan your computer.

Rachel @ CRAFT points us to this drawer set with graduated boxes for proper and easy hardware storage, what a neat idea!

The Association of Professional Model Makers (APMM) 2010 conference, "Revolutions in Model Making - Creating the Future Faster," will be held on March 26-29, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Cambridge, MA.

The conference's keynote speaker is Neil Gershenfeld, Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms and author of FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop -- From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication. Saturday and Sunday will feature workshops on the latest model-making materials, techniques, tools, and resources, as well as career advice. Friday and Monday include tours of Boston-area model facilities at DEKA, Continuum, BOSE, Rhode Island School of Design, Hasbro, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Boston City Model, and MIT.

The student model-making competition has a $500 first prize and the winner's school will receive a RepRap machine that will be built at the conference. Entry categories are: architectural, entertainment, exhibit, product design...working prototypes & engineering models, transportation, virtual/non-traditional, and open category (doesn't fit the other categories). No cost to enter, but you must be a student member of the APMM (either on your own or through your School APMM membership) or become a student member for $25.00/year.

Revolutions in Model Making - Creating the Future Faster
March 26-29, 2010
The Association of Professional Model Makers
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Cambridge, MA

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:

Flickr user zeni666 made this neat visualizer using an Arduino, oscilloscope, and homemade resistor ladder. Here's what the setup looks like:

Tokyo/Glow is an absolutely gorgeous short film, written and directed by Jonathan Bensimon, about the little glowing guy from a cross-walk sign who jumps down from the sign, at night, and wanders around Tokyo gawking at all the lights. I don't think there are any CG effects. The film's amazing look was achieved by combining a real actor in a custom glow-suit with a bunch of photographic hi-jinks: stop-motion, time-lapse, long exposure...did I miss anything?

Remember L.A. Lights? Looks like they're all grown up, as Rodarte uses LED shoes in their Fall 2010 collection. [via Fashioning Technology]

Although this is still a work in progress, I think it's great! All you need is an Arudino, a few buttons, and an 8x8 LED matrix to make you own simplified version of this arcade classic. What's next Halo? Let's hope so! More information, including the Arduino code, can be found in the Vimeo description.

This is a game project for S10-05833 - Gadgets, Sensors, and Activity Recognition in HCI taught by Scott Hudson at Carnegie Mellon University. I created a simple version of Super Mario Bros using an 8x8 LED matrix (one color), an Arduino Nano, two buttons for the input (forward and jump), and a piezo sensor hooked to a separate Arduino for the theme song.

In the Maker Shed:


The Maker Shed has everything you need to get started with Arduino

Dan Morrill decided to take the Garduino system that he built a step further, and created a remote control that runs on an Android phone and talks to the Arduino over Bluetooth:

In practice, it takes your "Serial.print" output from an Arduino program and makes it available over Bluetooth to a PC..... or a phone. Android, meanwhile, added an API for Bluetooth RFCOMM in version 2.0. My wife got me a BlueSMiRF for my birthday, and it was off to the races.

I rewrote the Arduino code into a simple finite state machine, and added the ability to accept commands over serial. It's a very simple project, so there are only 2 commands: reset, and set current time. I encountered some interesting open-source related issues in doing this, but that's another post.

I then wrote a spiffy little Android app that pairs up to the BlueSMiRF, reads the state dumped from the Arduino every 3 seconds, and then makes a pretty little Android UI. It shows me a Sun, Moon, or Clock depending on which state the Arduino is in (daytime, nighttime, or waiting for clock data), and reports the other status fields like light intensity and status.

Garduino Redux

Source code for Arduinos and Android devices

We have blogged about American assemblage artist Ron Pippin's work before, with a focus on his wunderkammer pieces. But he's been busy since then. Fair warning: Much of Pippin's work uses real animal parts, and although I personally find it very beautiful, some viewers may be disturbed and/or offended. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]

Tim Heath and Ryan Hickman's Truckbot could be built for under $20 (excluding mobile). That's pretty impressive for such an open and accessible robotics prototyping environment. Using a laser-cut cardboard chassis, $3 micro servos, and a bare bones Arduino, the duo have assembled one of the cheapest platforms to come along in a while. [via GadgetLab]

One of the main reasons for using cell phones as part of robots is to drive down costs. Today's phones come with wi-fi, cellular connections, Bluetooth, GPS, touch sensing, accelerometers, magnetometers, displays, microphones, speakers, and cameras. They are now being powered by 1Ghz processors and come with ample amounts of storage. Everything you need in a robot except for mobility is already in your pocket. We just needed to add some inexpensive mobility to it.

The project description for this iPhone stabilizer is in Japanese but as usual you can rely on Google Translate's garbled assistance. The site's great diagrams and photos, however, need no translation! [thanks, recombu!]

In honor of both DIY Movie Making Month and our ongoing love affair with simple machines that hurl stuff, Jeff DelPapa, founder of NERDS (The New England Rubbish Deconstruction Society), sent us a link to this time-lapse video of a group of teens building a trebuchet. Jeff describes the video as "stone-simple...120x real-time, using a webcam, 8 hours in 4 minutes." He's planning on doing another trebuchet build with teams of adults, in late April, early May, as a fundraiser for the Charles River Museum of Industry.

CRMI Spring Fundraiser: Be a Siege Engineer

INCREDIBLE PROJECT! SMEEON writes...

Finally got around to adding together some video clips I took. I had a lot of people asking about what it does and how, so here is a little walk through.

We're excited to announce the first meeting of Make:PGH, a new Make city group based in Pittsburgh. After the first attempt was thwarted by the snowpocalypse, we're eager to get started. In the area? You should definitely stop by!

Action! Excitement! Danger!

We're excited to announce the inaugural meeting of Make:PGH, the Steel City Makers! Interested in making stuff? Like the stuff that you see in MAKE magazine? Got cool projects to show off, or grand ideas that are soon to be realized? Want to hang out with other like-minded people? Then you should definitely come out to the meeting on Tuesday, February 9th, at 7pm!

We've got some good things lined up: presentations on the Makerbot, a laser harp, and an awesome activity, so be sure come out!

Marty McGuire: Makerbot

Marty McGuire is a research programmer at Carnegie Mellon and a council member for HackPittsburgh. He hopes one day to make "mad bank" thanks to open source hardware and the desktop fabbing revolution.

Marty will talk briefly about the MakerBot open source 3D printer, where it came from, and how it works. He'll also give a short printing demo, and answer your questions!

Andy Leer: Fighting Domo

Andy Leer will share with us his experiences using the ioBridge to create fun interactive web enabled dioramas. Find out how with a few minutes and some simple hardware you too can put almost anything on the web.

Mystery Activity

Following the two fine presentations will be an activity of great interest and possible import!

Make:PGH Meeting 1 (take 2)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7pm - 9pm
Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeee

Want to see a Make: City group in your area? Gather some friends and some ideas, and make it happen! Be sure to let us know, and we can help you get started.