Tech tinkerers building marvels using D-I-Y computing tools

For many tech tinkerers, simply buying gadgets off the shelf is not enough – they need to build it. A range of D-I-Y computing tools like the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Lego’s Mindstorms can provide the base on which to build completely new and unique creations. What to build is only left to the imagination. Many such projects are also available to you, doable with a basic knowledge of electronics, says Hitesh Raj Bhagat

Lego Mindstorms

Miguel Valenzuela’S Lego Pancake Bot is built on top of an electric hotplate. The pancake batter is filled inside a plastic ketchup bottle. The narrow nozzle of the bottle is narrow enough to keep the thick batter from falling but a gentle squeeze is all it takes. You need to pre-program a shape before the bot starts pouring & cooking. Unfortunately, the device can’t flip pancakes yet.

THE TIME twister

Created by Hans Andersson, is a mechanical clock constructed using two Mindstorms which communicate using Bluetooth — one keeps track of the time and handles the minute digits while the other handles the hour digits and second indicator. Each digit is made up of five layers with black and white tiles laid out in different patterns. Motors on each digit twist the tiles so that the correct digit is displayed.

Raspberry Pi

Software engineer David Hunt wanted to make his Canon 5D Mk II SLR a little smarter, so he built a Raspberry Pi mini computer into an old battery grip — he calls his creation the Camera Pi. The Pi connects to the camera using a USB cable. Depending on the code, the possibilities include wireless photo transfer to a computer, camera remote control, intervalometer and auto backup of images to an external USB drive.

Arduino
Using A custom-made mechanical iris, Arduino and conventional electro-magnetic lock (the kind that opens with a button), David Glicksman decided to make the entrance to his garage a little special. Building upon a simple piezoelectric knock detecting circuit, the iris hides an Arduino which uses a microphone to listen for a certain pattern of knocks. When it hears the correct, pre-programmed pattern (i.e. the password), it uses a relay to trigger the lock.

INSTRUCTABLES USER

Lopuz built a self-contained, LED cube display with 7 rows, 7 columns and 7 layers of LEDS. LED cubes work by lighting up points in a 3D lattice of LEDs. They create some mesmerizing animations (check the video online).

HOBBYIST

Michael Davis wanted to build an allin-one PC using the Raspberry Pi. He stuck the P it to the back of a, added a USB WiFi dongle, USB hard drive, USB speakers & wireless keyboardmouse. The system is powered by Raspbian, a Debian-Linux-based free operating system optimised for the Raspberry Pi hardware.