This week on Maker Update: Arduinos on the ceiling
a Cookie Monster for your home, looking out for pedestrians,
barbed wire wear and turning foam board into foreheads.
Hey, I'm Donald Bell and welcome back to another Maker Update.
I hope you're all doing well
and finding some time hopefully to do something creative for Halloween.
I have a great show for you, including a few Halloween projects
to help spark some inspiration.
So let's get started with the project of the week.
This one's not at all related to Halloween,
but you have to check out the ceiling
mounted kinetic art piece designed by Nicholas Steadman.
At 40 feet long, it's initially overwhelming
to think of creating a motorized piece at this scale.
But when you look closer,
you can see there's actually a series of two identical planks,
each with two stepper motors controlled by an Arduino.
Each plank is ultimately wired up to a Raspberry
Pi that orchestrates the movement using a Node.js program.
Still, if you want to try making something similar, a design
like this really comes down to figuring out that first modular plank.
After that, you can scale it to fit the environment.
I also like the use of laminated foam here.
It looks like a bunch of shiny futuristic metal up there,
but it's really lightweight foam encased in a thin metallic finish.
Not only does this make it less dangerous if any piece were to fall off,
but it also reduces the strain on the stepper motors
that are holding and rotating each of the wedges.
The project is light on details, but you can find a brief description
and some build photos on his Hackaday project page.
Now for some news, version 8 of the Circuit Python
programing language has been released in beta form.
There's improved support for Raspberry Pi Pico,
Pico W and its RP2040 chip generally.
But the major new feature here is a WiFi workflow mode
that makes it possible for you to discover Circuit Python devices over
a local Wi-Fi connection and interact with them just like you would
with a wired connection, including uploading new code.
You can find more information on the Circuit Python github page
linked in the description.
Now for more projects.
As far as monsters go, I think Halloween has done
a fairly poor job at honoring Cookie Monster.
I mean, he's a highly recognizable monster,
He is notorious for his sweet tooth and he has the voice of a death metal singer.
Dh_dave on Instructables has the right idea
with this giant Cookie Monster Halloween decoration.
The clincher on this one is really the rotating eyes.
But I also like how there is a night mode here where
the mouth lights up with those LED flame flicker lamps that give Cookie Monster
a bit more of a menacing edge.
What makes the project extra great in my book is that Dave includes
a template file that you can use to recreate exactly this design.
Not only does this take the guesswork out of the shape, but
it also includes the exact placement for the motors and pulleys for the eyes.
There's no code, no microcontrollers.
The geared motors here plug right into household AC,
but googly eyes aren't just for monsters.
Charmaine Chang and a group at the University of Tokyo created
this proof of concept self-driving car with animatronic eyes.
Yes, it's adorable.
But they also have this whole study on how outfitting autonomous cars
with these eyes can reduce pedestrian accidents.
You know how when you're walking in front of a car, you'll typically
look at the driver to get a sense of if they see you.
These eyes are meant to serve that same function for self-driving cars.
If the eyes aren't looking at you as a pedestrian,
you get an instinctive sense that the car doesn't see you.
And if they are looking at you, then you know that the car sees you
and will avoid you.
Or possibly the AI has become sentient and is about to hunt you for sport.
How cute. Right?
Speaking of cute, if you're looking for a quick 3D printed Halloween accessory,
check out these barb wire chokers and bracelets from Penelope Bulnick.
She includes the STL files along with the original Tinkercad file,
which you can use to modify the design or adjust the length for whatever you need.
All right, last project,
Did you see Jimmy Diresta’s, Giant Foam Head Project?
This one was a real surprise.
And like nothing I've seen him do before.
You get to see him go
from creating a real rough form using foam board and expanding spray foam.
Then he starts shaping it, using a rasp to whittle things away
and the spray foam to build things up
the top of the head gets some fiberglass sheets and epoxy just for strength.
Then comes a whole bunch of this bondo like product for a hard coating
that can be sanded smooth.
Then primer, paint.
And I'm assuming a glass coat of some kind.
The result looks great and has me inspired to experiment
with some of these techniques for big goofy decorations.
Now, for a few tips and tools.
On Adafruit, the Ruiz Brothers have a guide on designing
press fit 3D printed shapes for thin led noodle strands.
These wiggly led filament
strands aren't too useful on their own, but once you can trap
and shape them with a 3D printed frame, you can create all kinds of light accents.
Last week I got an email from Noah inviting me to check out this fast led
animation web app, and it's a really easy way to create your own NeoPixel led
light sequence without spending any time sorting out the code.
You just paint your pattern and simulate it until you're happy with the result,
and then you can upload it
straight to your connected Arduino without ever having to launch the IDE.
Definitely worth a try, especially if customizing LED animations has frustrated
you in the past or if you're looking for a very specific result
that hacking demo code just won't provide.
On Tindie, I found this Mecanum Wheel robot chassis by Hiwonder.
For under $50.
It seems too good to be true, but I guess the cost of these wheels have come down
a lot since I looked into them around four years ago.
I'm not vouching for this specific kit.
I'm just saying if you've been putting off playing with Mecanum Wheels
until the prices come down, now seems to be the right time.
And through the Core 77 blog, I came across the jig making
wizardry of Max Maker.
Check out how he iterates this foam cutting jig.
He's using this to create
custom packing material for the drawer slides that he ships out.
I just love the mindset of optimizing the process
to this degree and pushing it further and further.
It's inspiring.
For this week's Digi-Key spotlight, we're flashing back to the
Scary Pi project from Kyle at Digi-Key.
This is an automated candy dispenser using a Raspberry Pi,
a pi camera, a big Mashable button and a generic pet feeder.
It's a fun project that doesn't need a ton of parts.
You can find a link to the video and full documentation
using the link in the description.
All right. And that does it for this week's show.
Be sure to subscribe. Leave it thumbs up or leave a comment.
Big thanks to Digi-Key Electronics for making this show possible
and a best of luck to you and your Halloween endeavors.
Thank you for watching and I'll see you soon.