https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/130 Seems to be real flexible circuit: transistors made out of flexible stuff. To make stretchable electronic devices, it’s not possible for us to simply swap the silicon with a polymerZhenan Bao of Stanford University The method developed by Bao and her colleagues fabricates 2- μm-wide transistors from semiconducting polymers using ultraviolet light. The first… Continue reading Actual Flexible Circuit
Interested in issues of transportation and recycling? Turning plastic into a scooter. One of the interesting aspects is that this is designed for the user (it can pull a trailer). It's not just an attempt to make a billion dollars. https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/1207473_34481_109836_GYDSU2v7r.jpeg https://www.core77.com/posts/109836/Circular-Economy-and-Micromobility-This-Electric-Scooter-Adopts-a-Sustainable-Approach-to-Urban-Transportation-Solutions
There is documentation for the built-in library ("cpx"). Start with https://circuitpython.readthedocs.io/projects/circuitplayground/en/latest/index.html The actual reference is: https://circuitpython.readthedocs.io/projects/circuitplayground/en/latest/api.html Programmers will be slightly annoyed, as it doesn't follow conventions we are used to. People, however, will appreciate the pictures, examples, and explanation.
The Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and narrative text. That means you can program CircuitPython in it! You can also use Jupyter Notebooks for many other programming tasks, including processingJS. In fact, you should go through the "classic notebook"… Continue reading Using Jupyter Notebooks with arduino (CircuitPython)
If you use a feed-reader (so 2000), i.e. rss reader, you can find the whole-class feed as http://unrvl.net/wprss .
If you have any interest in resisting power structures (government, corporate), or a radical concern with decentralized systems, or maybe you just think that backdoors lead to general security failure, or as another example of thinking about coercion resistant strategies. So, you might like: Creating a "coercion resistant" communications system from boingboing.net (which they got… Continue reading Coercion-Resistant Design
We often want "muscles" in our projects. But, servos (and motors) are large, power hungry, noisy, and rotate (rather than pull directly). Pneumatics seem to require a bulky, power hungry, noisy pump. Memory metal has some nice scale, but is also power hungry (and hot). Piezo (film) seems promising, but is weak and requires high-voltage… Continue reading Muscles
Last year I saw a digital spinning machine, project HILO, and talked with weaver who built it, Sara Diaz Rodriguez. I was excited by the engineering (arduino driven), and we talked about working together. The project & Sara Diaz Rodriguez was at DDW again with the next generation machine (all opensource!). Looks like I'll go… Continue reading Notes from DDW Part 1
Is this why you should do a CPJ? The link is a nice interview too. the bulk of the 7 years of the project was the flies sitting in their environment slowly getting used to new conditions. I kept the flies for a year under a Titan analog orange light before testing for adaptation. modelled… Continue reading A CPJ Example (and fruit-flies on Titan)
Every 6 months, someone announces a way to 3D print buildings. Printing the walls is not a solution: they always leave out the utilities. This one is interesting for the undulations. the undulating wall design requires 15% more concrete. but "more efficient at resisting overturning moments" and "reduced the potential for shrinkage cracking near the… Continue reading Yet Another “Printing Buildings”
one way to get height into a map Height tells you so much; the steepness of streets, where water tends to flood, even often class distinctions ... a trimetric projection (it’s like isometric) The repetition of the wedges makes the topography visible.
Add (animated) googly eyes (via core77) "It's second-nature to glance at the driver of the approaching vehicle before stepping into the road," says Pete Bennett "appearing to 'look' directly at them - signalling to road users that it has identified them, and intends to take avoiding action." Use the natural ways we interact with other… Continue reading How do you know the car is paying attention?
This, FilmArray, is an automatic PCR & analysis machine for respiratory diagnosis. requires just 2 minutes of hands-on time, with a total run time of about an hour. From a swab. They have other panels. The machine is targeted to health stuff (diagnosis), but it begs to be hacked. Only $%0,000 dollars per machine? Surely… Continue reading Automagic PCR
Via MetaFilter, In 1999, Channel 4 sent Pulp's Jarvis Cocker around the world to investigate outsider art and interview its creators; the result was a fascinating three-part series: Part one (France). Part two (US). Part three (Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and India). A full list of the featured sites (some of which no longer exist)… Continue reading Video Series: outsider art
At Boston Cyberarts, an exhibition of algorithmic art till October 28. We often describe the Boston Cyberarts Gallery as an exhibition space for those who regard code as their creative medium. ... all of the artists in this exhibition have developed creative systems for processing information that are simultaneously illuminating and emotive. Should I bother… Continue reading exhibition of algorithmic art
It's for clothing a black, tight-fitting full body suit covered in 350 white markers [take] photos with a smartphone. The company's algorithm then turns those images into an accurate 3D scan of your body, allowing you to order precisely-fitting clothes Can we hack it to get access to the 3d model? I wonder if the… Continue reading 3D Body Shape Capture
There are single-pixel cameras, that trade time (a series of patterns are projected, and the reflected brightness recorded) for pixels (it's just brightness: single pixel). We can see the original object if the brightness/pattern is played back ... fast enough. Cf. ~16Hz rate of motion pictures ("flicker fusion"). Picture of Einstein in the pdf. Why… Continue reading Aka 10KHz, Humans as single pixel cameras
Customize (extreme) your vespa
Can make nanotubes, in some colors: With direct synthesis, large quantities of clean sample materials can be produced ... [using] aerosols of metal and carbon Can we make them? I mean, nanotubes are interesting.
Seems to be "cured" graphene oxide, but a technique for 3D Printing To create these complex structures, Hensleigh started with graphene oxide, a precursor to graphene, crosslinking the sheets to form a porous hydrogel. Breaking the graphene oxide hydrogel with ultrasound and adding light-sensitive acrylate polymers, Hensleigh could use projection micro-stereolithography
Math, modeling, water tanks, to figure out how mangrove roots work to resist storms. Via eurekalert.org. mangrove root systems even have the ability to dissipate tidal energy through unique hydrological flows and divert the energy of water ... robust network of roots that can withstand extreme environmental conditions. modeled the complex mangrove roots as a… Continue reading Artificial Mangrove
Watch the frenetic behavior. “It’s called a one-degree-of-freedom structure, in which you just need to turn one crank and the whole thing moves in the way that you want,” Demaine explains. “It lets you transfer just one degree of freedom into a whole complicated motion, all through the mechanics of the structure.” This is an… Continue reading Self-folding tiny origami robots
Liquification of bulk cargo can sink ships: granular materials loaded directly into a ship’s hold – can suddenly turn from a solid state into a liquid state... Solid bulk cargoes are typically “two-phase” materials as they contain water between the solid particles. As everyone knows, liquification happens during earthquakes A lot is known about the… Continue reading particles + water + pressure
MICA has a whole office. helping MICA Students and Alumni become successful entrepreneurs. Meet with MICA's Entrepreneurship Evangelist to discuss your business idea and next steps. Seed Funding ("Upstart") Stephanie Chin is scheduled to give a presentation to UNRVL
Accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc. can be hacked to be ultrasonic receivers, or, just hacked. Boffins bork motion control ... use acoustic waves that vibrate at the same frequency of a MEMS gyroscope ... There are limitations to the attacks There are videos.
LiveTag (via slashdot) new smart tags that harness reflected Wi-Fi signals ... copper foil printed onto lightweight paper-like material ... had to experiment with many different combinations of shapes, sizes, and materials for the LiveTags and run all those combinations through computer simulations. ... the smart tags only work within a three-foot range of Wi-Fi… Continue reading RFID Circuit Bending
Pretty "fab" stuff is in Albuquerque We use complex emergent phenomena to craft bits & atoms into toys & games from an infinite Universe of possibilities. Through the power of custom software, nature inspired algorithms and digital fabrication tools, we transform natural materials into beautiful artifacts of computation. What do they do? You can't tell from… Continue reading They Make Pretty Stuff, I Guess
in Why Love Generative Art? (via kottke.org) I see a clear line of influence on generative art starting from Cézanne and shooting straight through.... a simplified definition of generative art ... some non-technical examples of how generative art works ... history of generative art Relevant, of course, to The Sympathy of Things.
What it says on the label. a series of biodegradable food packaging ... agar-agar seaweed ... the package will wither ... biodegradable beeswax ... caramelised sugar, coated with wax ... melts when it comes in contact with water Seems much more reasonable than other so-called biodegradables. I wonder how they work in practice though.
Kinetic Folding Door designed by Warwick Turwey Why not? It's origami. Can't find real source. Saw it on boingboing.
awgrover 
