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Maker Faire Austin 2008
Projects and Makers By Topic
Arts | Crafts | Engineering | Food | Green | Music | Science
Engineering
1 to 115 of 115"Maker Cake" Working Pinball Machine Cake
We will be creating a functioning pinball machine cake entitled "Maker Cake." Maker Faire attendees will have the opportunity to play real pinball on this cake. There will be mechanics to put the ball into play, working flippers, lights, sounds, pop bumpers, scoring, and of course, cake.
"Shelly", The Egg-Inscriber Robot
The Robot Group
Inspired by Dr. Bruce Shapiro's original art piece "Eggbot", Shelly the Egg Inscriber draws patterns on eggs using polar coordinates. Shelly is made from hand-machined aluminum parts, stepper motors and is controlled by CNC software. -- Created By Rick Abbott
20th Century Technology Museum
We will exhibit a small sampling of the collection of the 20th Century Technology Museum and have demonstrations and projects related to the technology of the 20th century.
Airheads Air Drums
Airheads allows anyone to create music by simply playing the air. This touchless gizmo has two sensors sticks that are placed 2 ft. apart. The sensor sticks act as a hands free Midi controller and are able to sense both position and velocity. A player's hands are able to generate different notes and different velocities that have been preselected from any type of drum trigger MIDI and synth. Make music with this compact air instrument.
Arduino 101
With the Arduino, you can use your computer to make all kinds of things happen in the real world. Geared toward those just getting started with this popular microcontroller.
Arduino Controlled Robot Marionettes
3 robotic marionettes are controlled by an open source arduino-based animatronics system. El Quemira was presented during last year's fair and these are the next generation of puppets with more lifelike movement.
Aural User Interface
The Aural User Interface (AUI) is a mouse-driven computer interface tailored for easy use by blind and visually impaired persons. It closely mimics the concepts of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) but replaces visual cues with aural cues.
Austin Amateur Radio Club
This popular hobby encompasses many skills and talents. See demonstrations of making antennas, circuit troubleshooting, communicating via voice and data on shortwave and ultra-high frequency bands, kit-building and more.
Austin Area Electric Vehicle Association
Because electric vehicles are currently a scarce item to purchase used and are practically unavailable new, a large part of AustinEV's focus is on the conversion of gas-powered vehicles to run on electricity. For many, this activity is an end unto itself; it's a fun project that provides its own reward. The result is what we call the EV grin -- electric vehicles are just a lot of fun to drive!
Austin Modders
We are a friendly group of electronic and gaming enthusiasts.
We have custom modified computers built by our members.
Everything from wood PCs to fully-loaded gaming computers.
Our PCs have been featured on national TV, Make, Digg, Slashdot and other popular websites.
We have built custom demonstration computers for companies such as Dell, AMD, ATI, RadioShack, Thermaltake, XFI, and many others.
Austin Pirate Radio League
Demonstrate various homebrew radio technologies, possibly including: Thor's Hammer Syththesizmic Deffening Unit, 3-meter Man-tenna and 100MHz Phase-locked Loop Exciter... of DOOM!
Bending Circuits, Bikes, and Musical Traditions in India
Benderella, veteran circuit-bender and Maker, reports on discovering circuit-benders, bike modifiers, and electric analog musical instruments on the crowded streets of India. Stop by to see incredible photographs and a stage demonstration of modern trends in the evolution of Indian electronic musical instruments.
Best of Instructables
MAKE contributing editor Gareth Branwyn demonstrates four projects from Best of Instructables Volume 1: a marshmallow shooter, a vacuum former, an LED business card, and a keyboard wallet.
Build Your CNC
My passion is to make machines that enable the average hobbyist to make stuff. CNC machines, which allow hobbyists to do fabrication, are highly desired for precision, multi-purpose uses and design-oriented process. Many are unaffordable. It is my goal to teach how to make these machines, or make them affordable.
Capitol BEST
A 6-week robotics design contest for middle- and high-school students geared toward inspiring them to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology fields of study.
CargoGrass
A self-contained personal patch of grass growing on a platform mounted above an automobile. The deck is strong enough to support people while parked or carry other heavy items while in motion. A soilless medium is used to grow the St. Augustine with a hydroponic system housed in the trunk.
Catapult
To build a catapult and enter into King of Fling competition
Ceiling Fan Sign
It is a 5 blade ceiling fan with LEDs mounted vertically on the end of the blades. It scrolls a message 360 degrees above the tips of the blades. The message is input using a computer keyboard plugged into a radio transmitter. It is a mono color display. I use a C8051F364 to control the LEDs. The microcontroller was designed by Silicon Laboratories in Austin, TX.
Cheap and Easy Surface Mount Soldering Demos
We'll be demoing some of the techniques to hand solder surface mount chips without expensive microscopes and tools. The demos will include hot air, toaster ovens and stencils and we'll be making glowing firefly bugs.
Cool Glow Wii Mote Modification
Two young brothers, Alex (12) and Isaac (10), learned how to hack their Wii motes so that their A buttons glow. Definitely impresses your friends! Visitors who bring their Wii motes can have them hacked on site.
They will also have do-it-at-home kits for people who did not bring their motes.
Cyclecide Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo
Monster bikes, music and comedy sketches lassoed into a clown rodeo which includes: The Pedal-Powered and Kiddie-Powered Carousels and Ferris Wheel; The Dizzy Toy; The Cyclo-fuge; The Whirl & Hurl; The Melody Maker; The Flight of the Bumble Bee; and Alter-bikes
Dallas Personal Robotics Group
The DPRG is demonstrating a variety of small
robots, some designed by members, others that members are field testing
for a retailers. The group is also showing off microcontroller
boards, mechanical components and other recent creations of its members.
Dare to Dream Different with Donuts
What can you make with 30 mini-donuts in 5 minutes? Come and impress the crowd with your fun creations and win cool prizes. Meet Microsoft Team Zero to hear the story behind the donuts and what they are planning to do next.
This fun donut contest introduces Microsoft’s “Dare to Dream Different” challenge through which almost any developer can create their dream embedded device using the power of .NET Micro Framework – and win over $96,000 in prizes!
Diet Coke & Mentos Mega-Fountains
Help the original Eepybird guys build their amazing Mega-Fountain using Diet Coke and Mentos! Soda practically explodes as carbon dioxide rapidly escapes from the bottle.
Digitally Fabricated Housing: Build a house with a computer, a ShopBot, and a rubber mallet
Dennis will discuss the ShopBot house he helped build at MOMA out of 600+ sheets of plywood. The project was called, "yourHouse: Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans." It was the effort of Larry Sass and two principal associates, Dan Smithwick and Dennis Michaud (as well as a dozen of Larry’s other students). The house is an extension of Larry’s work on digital fabrication. The team is attempting to harness the speed and precision of digital cutters to fabricate simple shelters quickly and inexpensively. With Larry's building technique, joinery takes the form of precise, interlocking, notches and grooves rather than traditional screws or nails. The idea is that the parts can be cut at or near the building site using locally available sheet material. Then a crew without construction expertise can fit the parts together in just a few days, doing it as they would with a picture puzzle or Lego model, locking pieces into place with nothing more than a rubber mallet, yet creating a sturdy, permanent structure.
DIY laser cutter
A laser cutter made from two scanners and a DVD-R diode. Computer automation made simple.
Educators' Maker Faire
Use Maker Faire as an educational resource, creating publicly usable products for educators and students accessible worldwide.
Electric Tall Bike
This is not only a tall bike; it's electric. There's no throttle, just and on-off switch.
Emily: Team Moon
Emily is a two-wheel drive, fully invertible uber-wedge. It competes both individually as a middleweight and as a super heavyweight multi-bot (with big-brother Gerald.) It's capable of running for an entire event without recharge or maintenance. Emily was designed to be super reliable, maintenance free and easy to replace. It's primary strategy is to use its custom 1/4" thick titanium "dingy plates" for brute force, with its massive wheel torque (designed to be effective against super heavyweights.)
FIRST Robotics Teams
A booth for 6 Central Texas area FIRST Teams. The teams will showcase the robots they have built for FIRST competitions and will also provide demos and information regarding FIRST and its mission.
Flame Thrower Catapult
Catapult for the Fling Flang Flung: King of Fling Contest. With luck, out catapult will throw a water ballon and hit a Bozo Bop Bag.
Flexible LED Shirt
I have made a 5-foot-long 2" wide flexible LED sign that wraps around a T-shirt. The LED array is 8x250 which is 2,000 LEDs and controlled with a Atmel ATMEGA168. The LED array will display just about anything from scrolling words to animation.
Flingamajigadingdong
Flingamajigadingdong is a trebuchet made out of stuff that was cluttering up the garage anyway -- scrap wood and bricks. For my first treb, I'm going for function over form, brawn over beauty. (She's kind of ugly, but she'll get the job done.)
Four-Player Portable Arcade
The return of the MakerFaire 2007 favorite, this is a portable, four-player tabletop MAME cabinet that allows children and parents alike to go head-to-head with classic arcade games such as Gauntlet, Warlords, Galaga, and Wizard of Wor. Plus this year, try your hand at vintage laserdisc games such as Dragon's Lair and Cobra Command.
General Applications Robotics
"GALA Dolly" is an interactive humanoid robot. Her mechanicals include a wheeled base, and a pan-and-tilt head assembly with webcams. She is controlled by an on-board XP laptop with a DOTNET interface that is integrated with the Speech API, enabling her to synthesize Text-to-Speech as well as recognize voice-activated commands.
With time and resources permitting, I hope to complete a robot arm attachment, as well as a second, identical "GALA Luna" version that will be written in Java rather than DOTNET.
Gerald & Emily: Team Moon
Gerald is powered by a two-wheel, gyroscopicly stabilized drive with a custom interchangeable gear box. It's a fully invertible drum bot that competes as both a heavyweight and as a superheavyweight multi-bot with little sister Emily. Gerald weighs in at 205 lbs or 335 lbs, depending on configuration. It's capable of running for two consecutive matches without any servicing. The 80 pound drum spins at 4000 rpm's with two 1.5"x1.5" S7 tool steel teeth. It's protected by 1/4" to 1/2" titanium with shock mounted 1" thick 4130 side deflectors and optional 5/8" thick coil-shock mounted AR-400 top armor (as protection against the Judge.)
Gerald: Team Moon
Gerald is powered by a two-wheel, gyroscopicly stabilized drive with a custom interchangeable gear box. It's a fully invertible drum bot that competes as both a heavyweight and as a superheavyweight multi-bot with little sister Emily. Gerald weighs in at 205 lbs or 335 lbs, depending on configuration. The 80 pound drum spins at 4000 rpm's with two 1.5"x1.5" S7 tool steel teeth. It's protected by 1/4" to 1/2" titanium with shock mounted 1" thick 4130 side deflectors and optional 5/8" thick coil-shock mounted AR-400 top armor.
Groovy CNC!
Recycling retro records into groovy keychains and guitar picks! Old 33rpm vinyl record albums are placed into the Probotix Fireball V90 CNC mill and then precision cut into new shapes with engraved text. G-CODE from a computer operates a circuit that controls stepper motors that guide a rotary tool as it both cuts and inscribes multiple items from a single record. This process not only produces new items, but also leaves behind an interesting shaped record.
Hacking Things with Microcontrollers
Anyone can learn how to make cool things with microcontrollers! Even if you've never sewn a button, you can actually make a fun, intriguing project. Blink lights, hack your brain, play video games, turn off TVs in public places - microcontrollers can do it all. This is for all skill and experience levels. Ages 5 to 100. You can even learn to solder!
Home Made 3D Printer
A home made 3d printer which produces layers of thermal plastic to produce physical objects.
Human-Powered Road-Going Viking Boat
This thing is a car without a motor that looks like a boat. It is propelled by means of the occupants' efforts at a rowing machine mechanism. The videos are of a four-person prototype which served as a warm up for the real thing: a 13 person (12 rowers + 1 helmsman) 38-foot-long road-going viking boat. While the large version remains a work in progress, the prototype is fully functional.
HydroRobotics
Robots in the Evironmental Field<br />HydroRobotics is my site to promote my interest in robots in the environmental field (engineering, mostly). The robots are mostly aquatic, since I am a water engineer by trade. At the last MakerFaire in Austin, I brought H2rObot, a prototype robotic surface vessel for bathymetric mapping and environmental sampling/mapping. This year, version 1.0 of H2rObot is finished and, by October, will have completed it's first real mapping job. My interest also includes ROVs and AUVs and I will have a small ROV at the Faire as well. A terrestrial version of H2rObot is in the works and I hope to have it at the Faire as well. The display includes information about the various robotic subsystems and sensors used and about the environmental application of the robots.
Ice Cube: Team Toad
Ice Cube is the middle child of Team Toad's family of plow-bladed pushers: antweight Ice Chip, lightweight SnowFlake, middleweight Ice Cube, heavyweight FrostBite and superheavy Iceberg. Ice Cube's strategy is simplicity itself: be a linebacker and gain yards on the ground. Push em back. One of the oldest robots still competing, Ice Cube originally sported a spring steel hoop in the back to keep the plow blade firmly on the ground. In 2006 a complete redesign with a lowered center-of-gravity eliminated the hoop, increased traction and allowed Ice Cube to right itself after being inverted.
Iron Man: Team Wetware
Ray Scully
King of Fling
The King of Fling Catapult Contest begins at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 18th.
The goal of the contest is to hit targets. The targets battle will be placed at intervals as shown in the Field Set Up Diagram. During the actual contest, each contestant fires 6 projectiles while the judges observe. At the judge's signal, your team's time on the firing line will begin. Then, firing will commence and you may shoot as many as 6 projectiles. All projectiles must be hurled within a total of 4 minutes. Teams experiencing mechanical problems will be allowed reasonable time to correct problems and allowed to shoot again after all other teams have completed their hurls.
Knight News Challenge
The Knight News Challenge (http://newschallenge.org) is in the third year of a program that gives away $5MM a year to innovative online projects that support online news, community discourse and social media in specific local communities.
The contest closes November 1st, and you can work through your idea before applying in the News Challenge Garage incubator site (http://garage.newschallenge.org).
LED Hoop and LED Camera Light
The LED Hula Hoop is a fun product used by professional performers, dancers, and anyone interested in having fun making cool streams of color in the dark. They sometimes cost as much as $300, but Michael Nuzzi will show you how to make one yourself for a lot less, using minimal tools. You can even upgrade to a rechargeable version!
LED Camera lights are a great DIY project to add much needed illumination to digital video cameras and allows cool experimentation lighting photographs. Michael unveil ProdMod's newest 1W LED version. It's brighter than ever!
Liquid ID Spectrometer by Eric Rosenthal
The Creative Technology Liquid ID Spectrometer is a precision instrument that accurately identifies liquids that have been included in its database. The unit works by passing narrow wavelength reference signals through a liquid sample and comparing the measured readings with a database included in the system’s memory. Liquid samples must be placed in a test tube. The identification of the liquid occurs within a few seconds and displayed on the LCD screen. The unit is equipped with a USB port. The USB port has a number of features. The USB port is used to program the unit with new liquids to be added to the database. During normal operation of the unit the USB port outputs its results to a computer. It is not necessary to connect the unit to a computer using the USB port.
Lit Up
We'll be showing a variety of objects that have been made or hacked to include LEDs, fiber optics and light reactive pigments.
Luthier's Friend™ Precision Thickness Sander
One stop sanding station and thickness sander designed to meet the exacting demands of luthiers, model makers, boat builders and home shop owners. It will thickness wood precisely down to 0.010", duplicate parts using templates and shape complex parts freehand. Sets up on any drill press and hangs on a nail when not in use. Dust collection is nearly perfect.
I will also have a new invention which I call Carpenter's Calipers . It is an attachment which converts any carpenters square into giant calipers which read out directly on the square graduations .
I also plan to exhibit my Giant Fishing Lure Sculptures which were featured in Make Magazine .
Madhouse Games
Madhouse Games is a father and sons team of game developers. We have several games we'd like to display and allow others to play at the faire.
Also, we plans to bring a custom cocktail style gaming table.
Make Your Own Vibrobot
Mark Frauenfelder
Meet MAKE editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder, who'll show you how to make the toy robot featured on the cover of MAKE Volume 10, from a tiny motor and a mint tin. Quick, easy, and cool for kids!
Massage me
A wearable massage interface that turns a video game player’s excess energy into a back massage for an innocent bystander
Microsoft .Net Micro Framework
Come join us and check out our Doughnut Machine and Robot Ring!
Mini Sand Drawing Machine
This small inexpensive plotting system uses two servos and a mechanical linkage to doodle. The drawing stylus can reach a curved diamond shape and can adapt to plot with a pen or other interesting materials. It is a low resolution system that can be built with hand tools and inexpensive off-the-shelf parts.
This project is part of The Robot Group projects.
Mousey Demo!
Dave and Cheryl of Solarbotics will be on hand in the MAKER Shed demonstrating "Herbie the Mousebot" - a direct relative of "Mousey the Junkbot" featured in MAKE Magazine.
My Daughter’s Wheelchair Safety System
It's like OnStar for your daughter in college! Learn how one dad hacked a GSM cellphone with a Parallax microcontroller to make an on-call "telematics" phone system that's even better than the paid services. Plus: His latest version adds GPS.
Nixie Duo & Nixie Driver Kits/Modules
A neon-filled nixie tube has multiple filaments, one for each digit zero through nine. We use IN-12A type nixies for the "From Russia with Love" effect.
Each NIXIE DUO board supports two nixie tubes and mates with a NIXIE DRIVER board. You can stack 'em and string 'em together end-to-end for large important numbers.
We've got lots of projects in the works for these digit pair modules, all driven by open source tools.
nublabs & the Boston FabLab
nublabs is a smart-up in Boston that is working to set up a FabLab and community laboratory space, funded by socially-conscious engineering work. We've brought a FabLab--a computer controlled router, laser cutter, mini-mill, vinyl cutter, and EE bench--to Maker Faire to show Makers what the Fablab can do, tell them about the work that we've done, and help them to use the tools to make something on the premises.
NuVinci Continuously Variable Transmission
The NuVinci CVP (continuously variable planetary) transmission is an award-winning drivetrain product for bicycles and light-electric vehicles. Fallbrook Technologies will demonstrate the NuVinci product offerings, as well as showcase several development platforms utilizing this revolutionary technology. Makers can customize the transmission and control system to suit their application.
NYU's ITP
ITP is a two-year graduate program located in the Tisch School of the Arts whose mission is to explore the imaginative use of communications technologies — how they might augment, improve, and bring delight and art into people’s lives. Perhaps the best way to describe us is as a Center for the Recently Possible.
Original Sin: Late Night Racing Team
Original Sin was built as a joint effort of Team Piranha, Pizza Orgasmica, and Late Night Racing with the goal of making a strong, powerful and well handling combat bot. High traction tires driven by two 4.5HP electric motors give Original Sin the pushing power needed to make its abrasion resistant steel wedges effective against many types of bots including lifters, other wedges, and deadly spinners. Precise and aggressive driving is a key factor in Original Sin's success.
Peanut Butter Monster Detector
The Peanut Butter Monster Detector is a combination bedside night-light and audio/visual effects generator for reassuring frightened children. If a child is unexpectedly awakened at night, they can easily trigger the unit with a single pushbutton. Once triggered, the unit floods the room with bright white light while it emits sounds, flashes LEDs and rotates a scan head to the accompaniment of a reassuring spoken dialog. After the unit gives an "all clear", it becomes a bedside night-light that slowly fades out after a few minutes.
Pipe Wench: Team Plumb Crazy
Late one night in the Team PlumbCrazy workshop, things got a little freaky between Wipe Out #2 and Devil's Plunger - and Pipe Wench was conceived. Driven by Wendy (who gets discombobulated driving upside down,) Pipe Wench has the mobility of Devil's Plunger and the self-righting capability of Wipe Out #2. The self-righting mechanism has the added bonus of being able to throw opponents out of the arena! While Pipe Wench did not fare well at her first RoboGames in 2006 (1 win/2 losses), she came back stronger and wiser in 2007 to take the silver medal. As for the future, Pipe Wench has been shopping and is looking to accessorize better.
Propane Poofer
This flame effect appliance converts liquid propane to a vapor and when fired, quickly releases the propane vapor to create a large fireball.
ps3toothfairy
The ps3toothfairy provides a full IR / Automation solution to the PlayStation 3. Enables your Harmony or other universal remote to control the PS3 including power on/off. The ps3toothfairy combines the internals of an official Sony PS3 remote, a custom circuit board, Verilog and C firmware to provide full emulation of the PS3 Bluetooth protocol.
R/C Warship Combat
The North Texas Battle Group builds, sails, and fights 1/144-scale radio-controlled WWII-era model warships in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. CO2 powered cannon are used to fire ball bearings into balsa-wood hulls. Ships are damaged - even sunk! Then they are recovered, patched, and sent back into battle!
Think of it as battlebots on the water!
R0B0 or Yellow Bot
This is a mobile platform type robot made from a large yellow transit case. The wheel/motor assembly is from a kiddie Jeep and an aluminum scooter. It is currently unfinished, and I would like to bring him and try and finish the work at the faire. This is a tradition from our old RoboFests from the '80s, and I will have tools, wires, crimpers, soldering irons etc. available for those in need of on site repairs.
RoboGames
Fighting robots! Fire! Screaming fans! 102,000 pounds of steel and bulletproof glass. Who could ask for anything more?
Robot with Silly String Shooter
We're demonstrating practical uses for a mobile robot that shoots silly string.
Robotic LEGO Adventures
How do LEGOs relate to Climate? FIRST LEGO League introduces children to solving real-world problems by applying math, science, and technology through the fun experiences of a robotic LEGO game and a themed project, focused this year on Climate Connections. Join us in the MakerKids tent on Sunday.
Robotics at Austin Community College
We will be demonstrating a variety of robot kits as well as simple custom robots that we use in courses at Austin Community College. We will also display a software development lab (oscilloscope, laptop and PIC development boards), and a Probotix CNC mill that is under construction.
Robots, Robots, Robots
The LASA Robotics team showcases and demonstrates competition robots from previous years, ranging from small, knee-height robots to 5 foot, 120 pound machines. Come and get an explanation on how the team incorporated elements of smart engineering into their design process in order to create a better competition robot, and additionally, how the team developed and pioneered new innovations that aided various functions of the robot such as fluidity, control, and ergonomics. Also on display will be the team's award-winning documentation describing the competition process in the form of engineering notebooks.
Rotato: Team Pandoras Bots
Pandora's Bots has been fighting robots out of Austin, TX since 2003. In the spring of 2004, they decided it was time to build the most destructive lightweight robot ever. Rotato was completely designed in CAD before a single part was bought or made. The design concept was clear, put as much weight into the weapon as possible. Having 45 of the 60 lbs in motors/batteries/titanium for the weapon system they did just that. With over 20 pounds of titanium spinning at 2500 RPM the sparks always fly with Rotato in the box.
SanDraw
SanDraw is a computer operated mechanism which draws patterns in sand and is similar to a Zen garden managed by a microprocessor. SanDraw was inspired by the work of Bruce Shapiro and a work of art named Sisyphus.
Sewer Snake: Plumb Crazy Team
Matt grew up 4-wheeling, and designed Sewer Snake to be extremely mobile with exterior wheels. The first version was 4-wheel drive and was originally going to have a drum weapon but switched to a wedge on the front. Matt enjoyed ths so much that the wedge evolved into a modular lifting system with red throwing fork. The 4-wheel drive version of Sewer Snake fought in four tournaments with a 10-6 record. The 6-wheel drive version of Sewer Snake debuted in 2004 Nationals and has been in 45 competition matches with only 7 losses in 9 tournaments in the US & UK
ShopBot Tools
The New Orleans House Project is prefabricated housing that can be assembled without any hardware using only a rubber mallet in a very short time by unskilled labor. The goal of this project is to provide quick, easy, temporary housing for areas effected by a natural disaster.
Bat Houses: provide a safe nesting area for bats. This helps keep bats out of your attic. There will be a Bat Expert coming from Georgia, with some live bats.
Kids projects 3D glowing skulls, and rubber band racers.
Simple Solar Circuits
We demonstrate a few simple circuits-- that you can build yourself-- to make small solar and battery powered night lights, garden lights, and decorations for halloween.
Soleta
Soleta is a remote-controlled, solar-powered cart. It stands 23" high, weighs 10 pounds and is capable of carrying a 10 pound load. A couple of dashboard features are a charge meter and odometer.
Space Pod v1.0 and v2.0
The Space Pod design is a totally ergonomic space age concept for computer interface seating. I wanted to design and build something that escapes the more traditional desk and chair use concepts.
As you sit in the Space Pod, it resembles a flight or driving simulator in appearance. The seat is user adjustable in 3 dimensions, and the keyboard and mouse are on 3D floating arm devices to make for the most adjustable and comfortable computer usage seating in existence. The Space Pod also boasts a custom sound system, lighting system, and cooling system which are all intelligently controlled.
The Space Pod is designed for people wishing to have a professional workstation that can provide long hours of complete comfort and minimal fatigue. Professionals that would like a Space Pod workstation include graphic designers, web developers, writers, or really any computer job.
Gamers love the Space Pod because it's the gamer's dream! Driving simulators, and flight simulators come alive when you add the proper steering controls. All games come alive in the Space Pod with complete immersion effects.
SparkFun Electronics
SparkFun Electronics is offering 2 soldering workshops. First, a simple five-minute “flame” kit with basic detection and LED pulsing firmware, teaching easy through-hole soldering. Second, a more advanced two-hour Simon game kit using SMD (surface mounted device) components. All donations will benefit two local Austin non-profits, Angelheart Children’s Shelter and The Robot Group. Yes, you really can solder SMD! Stop by the SparkFun booth and we’ll show you how!
SparkleLabs Easy Electronics Kit
Learn about Sparkle Labs new DIY Design Electronics Kit! Create games, toys and contraptions with these fundamental components. Follow the easy instructions to make a light detector, LED flasher, noisemaker and more.
Stirling Engines
The Robot Group
Invention of the Stirling engine is credited to the Scottish clergyman Rev. Robert Stirling 1816. He was later assisted in its development by his engineer brother James Stirling.
The inventors sought to create a safer alternative to the steam engines of the time, whose boilers often exploded due to the high pressure of the steam and the inadequate materials. Stirling engines will convert any sufficient temperature difference directly into movement.
Each of the models seen here were hand machined from aluminum, steel, brass, graphite and other (sometimes rather hard to work) materials. Stirling engines are notoriously difficult to create from scratch as they depend on fine balances in order to work properly. These operating models represent years of machining time and attention to detail. -- Created by Rick Abbott of The Robot Group Inc. in Austin, TX.
Texas Heat: Team CM Robotics
Texas Heat is armored in military grade Titanium, with a six foot flamethrower that roasts opponents. An onboard Texas Instruments MSP430 processor carefully controls the valve sequencing with millisecond timing to achieve the precise fuel to air ratio required for ignition. Custom electronics by Nuvation use TI High Performance Analog to generate the different power needed for the digital electronics, valves and igniter. Fuel is a propane/butane mix that is optimized for highest heat and luminance. Texas Heat can drive inverted on its solid rubber wheels, with 4 direct drive motors and a wedge on both the front and rear.
Texas Robots
The Robotics and Automation Society at The University of Texas Austin demonstrates their various robot projects. Projects include an autonomous ground vehicle, FIRST robots, homemade Segway, an inexpensive but powerful DIY robot kit and homemade CNC machine.
The Atlatl: Release Your Inner Cro-Magnon
Discover how to make and use the guided missile of the Ancients!
The atlatl is a tool used to throw light, flexible spears (known as darts) with surprising strength and accuracy. Predating the bow and arrow by thousands of years, this seemingly simple tool is a complex system involving weight, balance, flexing, and stored energy.
The Barrage Garage
If you were to design your perfect all-purpose Maker-style workshop, what would it be like?
Make Contributing Editor Bill Gurstelle invites you inside "The Barrage Garage," the ultimate Maker Space filled with the cool tools and
supplies that Makers use to create wonderful things. We'll describe the basic tools and supplies your workshop must have, as well as the tools you dream about.
Besides a tour of the garage, we'll look at some way-cool projects Barrage Garage projects: catapults, flamethrowers, taffy pulling machines, air cannons, and more.
The Defyer: Syberon Robotics Team
Team Syberon has been competing in combot robotics for the last 6 years. Power comes from 2 Mag Motors and the power source is from two 13ah Hawker batteries. The frame is 1-inch steel bolted to an Aluminum base with 1/4 inch HDPE polymer Plastic body plates. The Defyer's pneumatics are powered by high pressure air and can run between 250 psi up to 1000 psi.
The Hair and Balanced TV Filter
The Hair and Balanced TV Filter taps into the composite video input to your TV, detects whether you are watching talking head pundits or newscasters, then draws moustaches on the faces on the screen.
The TV filter is a new kind of hardware shield that helps users take control of their screen. I use mine on Fox News, to remind myself that Fox isn't real journalism.
The Luna Project
The Luna Project works to harness the power of open-source techniques and the do-it-yourself community to achieve what government and industry have not : break humanity out into planetary space. Joining skill to motivation, we can succeed, and so we say "The Stars Are Ours!"
The MakeToy Laser Fabrication Center
Demonstration of a converted Epson inkjet printer to a desktop micro-laser based CNC prototyping system. Micro-laser fabrication brought to your desktop.
The Man Who Fell To Earth
On August 16, 1960, Colonel Joe Kittinger jumped from a hot air balloon at the edge of space and fell for 20 miles, along the way becoming the first man to break the sound barrier, without an airplane. Freefalling for four and a half minutes, Kittinger dropped at speeds up to 714 miles per hour before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet and landing safely on target in the New Mexico desert. The experiment, to test the safety of a new high-altitude ejection system, was a success. After retiring from the Air Force, Kittinger continued living the high life, in 1984 completing the first solo hot air balloon journey across the Atlantic.
THE PONGINATOR MK3
The Robot Group
Building on the success of the original PONGINATOR that made its debut at Maker Faire Austin 2007, THE PONGINATOR MK3 now sports an articulated electro-mechanical hydraulic-driven body to supplement this smoke-belching, siren-blaring, music-blasting kinetic robotic sculpture! THE PONGINATOR MK3 stands over 3 stories tall and uses quad pneumatic cannons to fire custom printed ping pong balls hundreds of feet in the air! Come by and see if you can catch a one of a kind souvenir and experience for yourself this amazing mechanical sculpture in action! -- Created by Vern Graner, Wolf Dilworth, Marvin Niebuhr, Rick Abbott with assistance (and insistence!) by Kym Graner, Nic Graner and many other members of The Robot Group Inc. in Austin TX.
The Robot Group
Through the synergy of fusing art and technology, The Robot Group has stimulated the public into a playful interest in high technology, and art now has new vehicles for affecting culture. It is based in Austin, Texas.
The Stribe
The Stribe Prototype is an Open Source music control project that explores the intersection of gesture, light, and sound. Eight touch-sensitive strips are flanked by dual columns of LEDs, providing subtle fingertip control coupled with illuminated feedback. The Stribe's firmware communicates via USB with music programs such as Max/MSP and Reaktor.
Tiger Truck
This art car blows huge flames, bigger than any other we know of! The Tiger Truck is painted like a tiger with huge vertical flame throwers.
UnPtnt
UnPtnt is a project management tool for open source hardware. Teams use UnPtnt to do iterative design on projects of all types from solar heaters to microcontrollers. It features design file versioning, project wikis, bill of materials, and license tracking.
UT's Robotics Research Group
A review of the Robotics Research Group's technical goals and videos demonstrating results from some of our recent projects. The group has ongoing projects in mobile manipulation, reconfigurable glovebox robotics, and automated battlefield surgery.
Video Head
The Video Head Project was inspired by the amazing art project called Drum Head by Murat Konar. In a attempt to take it to the next level, the Video Head will have multiple mouth and eye expressions in order to display a wider range of emotions and interactions. The foam head gives the image an eerie lifelike 3-d appearance.
My daughter Catherine is serving as the model to provide the range of expressions. A java program will control cutting and pasting the different eye and mouth images in real time to make the head appear to interact with the audience. In addition, sensor feedback will help determine the facial expression.
Vlad the Impaler II: Team ComBots
Gage Cauchois had great success at BattleBots with his first robot, Vlad the Impaler, one of the most powerful drivetrains in the sport.
Vladiator: Team Moon
Vladiator is Team Moon Robotics' newest Super Heavyweight, winning the BattleBots Super Heavyweight Championship in 2001 and placing Runner Up in 2002. The weapons are all powered by twin 4"x4" pneumatic cylinders from a 3000 PSI HPA system which can lift over half a ton at the tip. The Flame Cannon is capable of burning a hole through 1/4" of Aluminum at 2 ft.
Warsaw: Team Pandoras Bots
Originally born as a drawing on a napkin, Warsaw is the grizzled veteran of Team Pandora's Bots robotic assault. Spinning drums, spinning disks, hammers, flippers, wedges, Warsaw has fought them all. Warsaw uses a 2 ft. diameter aluminum spinning disk with hardened S7 tool steel teeth to deliver thundering punishment on its opponents in the middleweight division. As with all robots operated by the Pandora's Bots tandem of Damian Ramirez and Jason Maas, Warsaw's basic premise is to bring the pain all the time, every time. The wins will take care of themselves.
wiblocks
wiblocks are physical computing building blocks. The first wiblocks consist of an Arduino compatible uC block (with XBee) + LCD block + battery pack. Future blocks will feature other uCs and a variety of multimedia functions.
X-Bee and Arduino
Kipp shows how to use X-Bee radios to talk to your Arduino microcontroller. Use them together to make a remote controlled 120V AC controller to run pumps, lights, anything!
Yahoo! Purple Pedal Project
Yahoo! has just rolled out the first-ever solar-powered, wired, photo-sharing, GPS and geotagging-equipped bike - and it just so happens, it's covered in purple. Five of these bicycles will be coming to Austin for Maker Faire. Equipped with a mounted Nokia N95 camera phone that is solar powered, the Flickr Bike snaps a photo every 60 seconds when the bike is in motion and then shares it on an interactive map that joins all the riders' lives and experiences, as well as to the riders' page on Flickr.
Ziggy: CM Robotics Team
All external armor and the weapon assembly are built from Military grade Titanium, with the weapon system pushing with a peak thrust of 14,000 lbs! Weapon control is managed by a freescale 9RS08 microprocessor (Implementation by Nuvation), which produces variable thrust capability, depending on user input. In most situations, smaller "jabs" are used for control and conserving stored pressure, but a full powered flip can launch a 340 lb competitor into the arena ceiling!
ZW2
Electric trike, two-seat, battery electric vehicle, highway capable. Designed from the ground up with a hot-rod front end and custom chopper rear end. Designed for easy assembly as a kit.
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