This week on Maker Update:
a DIY Digital camera that's made to be played with
Google's little signals
dismantling cookies for science and unlocking your computer with push ups.
Hey, I'm Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update.
I hope you're all doing well and pushing forward with whatever you're working on.
If you could use some inspiration now you've come to the right place.
Let's get started with the project of the week.
On his blog, Christopher Getschmann describes his experiments
with creating his own unique digital cameras. These days,
Most of the interesting things you can do with digital photography happen after
the photo is already taken. Filters, effects, cropping, It's endless.
What Christopher has done is design a number of cheap 3D
printed cameras where you can really play with the image before you snap the shot.
There's a tilt lens where you can create weird focal planes
rise, fall mounts that can distort the angles and create stronger vignettes,
focus rings for cheap lenses that wouldn't normally have them
even a dual camera system where you can take simultaneous shots
on two different lenses.
Inside each camera is a Raspberry Pi zero, a rechargeable
18650 battery for portable power and the PI camera module.
But we've seen PI based cameras before,
and that's not what makes this project interesting.
So often I see projects where someone makes a DIY version
of something that already exists.
But projects like this are my
favorite because a maker wanted something that didn't exist yet,
something too weird or risky or unprofitable for a company to make.
And in the end,
you get this fun invention that nobody else in the world has but you.
It's just the best feeling.
You can find Christopher's code and the design files using the link in the description.
Now for some news.
Google Seed Studio has unveiled a series of experimental IoT
notification objects you can create for your home.
The project is called Little Signals and it's a showcase of alternative ways
we can weave subtle notifications into our lives.
They show these little desktop objects that use sound, movement,
or visual indicators to gently grab your attention.
To that end, the objects use little blower fans
and motors and speakers to make noises or create motion.
I think it's a neat enough concept, though.
I have to wonder if these little signals would really be enough
to grab my attention.
You can find the example Arduino Code and 3D model step files
using the link in the description.
More projects.
Crystal Owens from MIT has published a scientific paper
and an associated 3D printed design dedicated to the study
of the shearing and separation characteristics of Oreo cookies.
I had to look this over twice to make sure it wasn't some sponsored content
or an April Fool's prank, but from what I can tell, it's legitimate and awesome.
Apparently, the study of the flow of matter is called Rhrelogy,
and one of its principal instruments is a tool called the Rheometer,
which applies forces to a substance to measure its change.
So naturally, studying
the material characteristics of Oreo cookies would be called Oreology,
and it would require a specialized instrument called an Oreometer.
The design here clamps to each side of the cookie sandwich.
Then weighted arms that are designed to be loaded
with varying amounts of pennies are used to apply a specific amount
of twisting force to the Oreo until it breaks apart.
Not only do I love this product, but I love thinking about other testing rigs
that you could design for other kinds of standardized foods.
It might not be MIT research paper worthy, but there's at least
a hundred different science fair projects you could spin out of this idea.
But when it's time
to shed that Oreo weight, Victor Sonck has you covered.
He's created a Raspberry Pi based system that requires him
to unlock his main computer by doing five push ups.
What makes this project especially unique is that Victor
turns to machine learning for his solution.
He trains a machine learning model to recognize the difference between the up
and down positions of his push up and then count how many have been done.
And to prevent the possibility of just entering his password.
The PI spams his computer with Backspace commands
until the push ups are completed, making it impossible to type.
It's a fascinating
look at how to tackle problems with machine learning and computer vision
I could see how someone might solve the same problem
with hardware and sensors, but I really enjoyed seeing how machine
learning approach provided a valid and arguably more foolproof solution.
Now for some tips and tools, on Tindie, I saw this
cyberpunk inspired watch by HCL.I
You can get it as an unassembled kit.
and aside from the design looking pretty cool, I especially like the LED
filament on the right side for a bit of neon glow.
There's a bill of materials on Tindie where you can view the components
and maybe incorporate some of them into a design of your own.
And on Printables, I got a kick out of this giant 3D printed neo pixel by MakeTvee.
You can use it as a coaster if you like, and there's built in holes
for wiring in your own red, green and blue LEDs.
For this week's Digikey Spotlight, I recommend checking out
Adafruits new series, Chip Shortage.
As we move from denial to acceptance around the global drying up of supplies
of electronic components that were once commonplace, a show like
this is a kind of support group for those in search of the unobtainable.
It's also a place where you can hear about component substitutions
that may get your project back on track.
Check it out.
And that does it for this week's show.
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A big thanks.
to Digikey Electronics for making the whole thing possible.
And thank you for watching. I'll see you soon.