Electronics-Lab.com Blog

Open Source robotic arm made using Ponoko.com digital making

Submit your idea NOW and win 1-year subscription

Following up the contest announcement post ”WIN 1-year subscription with Ponoko.com to turn your design into reality” it’s time to take action! To participate propose a project that can be build using the Ponoko.com digital making service. Post your contest entrances on the comments (you can propose more than one if you like, increasing the chances to win)

The three most interesting projects will be selected and awarded with free digital making to turn your creativity into reality. We are waiting your contest entrances NOW!

• 1st Prize: 12 months free Ponoko’s Subscription (worth 468$)
• 2nd Prize: 100$ voucher to ‘click to make’
• 3rd prize: 50$ voucher to ‘click to make’

Parallel Track is a web application for displaying the position of one of more vehicles on a map coded in PHP.  It was originally designed to work with Telit’s Python supporting modules http://www.telit.com/en/products.php but can be updated by anyone that knows PHP to work with custom tracking projects. Check more info on the link below.

Parallel Track: Vehicle Tracking php application - [Link]

The MAX11835 haptic (tactile) piezo controller provides a complete solution to drive ceramic piezo actuators to create haptic feedback for products featuring user touch interfaces. The MAX11835 can drive single-layer or multilayer piezo actuators over a wide range of voltages up to 250V. [via]

MAX11835: “Feel the touch” touch buttons - [Link]

Pyxis OS is an amazing arduino based operating system. Based around the Arduino hardware platform, it adds some pretty impressive features, such as the ability to run programs from an SD card, read/write to a FAT filesystem, and easily display graphics and GUI elements on a color LCD. [via]

Pyxis OS, an operating system for Arduino - [Link]

jmsaavedra writes:

I am going to walk you through the process of prototyping a Printed Circuit Board using a laser cutter and supplies from your local Radioshack and hardware store.  This is a process I have perfected after several prototypes I created as part of my thesis, modular//neuroid. [via]

Use a laser cutter to make PCBs - [Link]

 This project details a small & simple, but very powerful USB charger for your mp3 player, camera, cell phone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge! The charger circuitry and 2 AA batteries fit into an Altoids gum tin, and will run your iPod for hours: 2.5x more than you’d get from a 9V USB charger! You can use rechargable batteries too. [via]

Minty Boost: Portable USB power - [Link]

Concept-engineered by NASA in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the National Institute of Aerospace, and M-DOT Aerospace, the Puffin aircraft design shows just how far personal, electrically propelled flight could change the ways we live and get around.

Lithium-phosphate powered personal tilt-rotor aircraft - [Link]

NIST engineers are working with scientists from the University of Arizona (Tucson) and Boeing Research & Technology (Seattle, Wash.) to design antennas incorporating metamaterials — materials engineered with novel, often microscopic, structures to produce unusual properties. The new antennas radiate as much as 95 percent of an input radio signal and yet defy normal design parameters. Standard antennas need to be at least half the size of the signal wavelength to operate efficiently; at 300 MHz, for instance, an antenna would need to be half a meter long. The experimental antennas are as small as one-fiftieth of a wavelength and could shrink further. [via]

Remarkably small antennas - [Link]

Josh from imsolidstate build an current sensor to measure the current the vehicle is using and comming from alternator. Current sensor is based on a Hall effect sensor. Schematics and source code are available on his website. [via]

Measuring alternator current with a Hall Effect Sensor - [Link]

“Davehacks” build a system to remote start a car using a cell phone. He removed the vibration motor and connected some circuitry to remote start the car’s engine, so it’s wanrmed up before you enter the car. [via]

Car Remote Start using Cell Phone – [Link]

The exponential growth of LED lighting has ushered in a vast selection of integrated circuit devices to provide controlled power to LEDs. This article describes some basic LED theory and several techniques used to provide dimming control to switched-mode LED drivers. Read more on the link below

Dimming Techniques for Switched-Mode LED drivers - [Link]