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Many of us are currently battling the elements. Clearing snow is a necessary task but it doesn’t have to be tiring. The one pictured above and in the video is autonomous but I think there is still room for some good remote control designs such as the picture below.
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We have seen lots of RFID projects over that past year but this RFID Dorm Room Door Unlocking System is sure to catch on. Using suction cups to mount the unit is a nice touch since when this hack is removed there will be no signs that anything funny was done to the lock. I predict that in the next 3 to 4 years we will be seeing this technology built into lots of locks sold at the local Home Depot. Via: HackaDay |
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It’s often sad when a cool toy or gadget gets broken. Luckily there is no need to toss it in the trash, why not hang onto it and build something out of it when inspiration comes knocking. That is what John from Team Droid did when his RC Helicopter had an accident. "I had a toy helicopter that had lost it’s tail rotor in an unfortunate accident. I didn’t want to part with it because the main rotor still spun and heck it’s a remote control helicopter. I proceeded to turn the once state of the art in toy chopper technology into a regular airplane." |
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Our friends over at TheWorkshop.ca have just completed the the next phase of the Suzuki Electric Bike Hack that we have been following. This phase includes some stats on top speed and possible distance this bike is capable of. I have to figure out how I can get a electric guitarist to play cool tunes while I work, I would be so much more productive. "The graph is of the Suzuk-E’s speed in Km/h over a 1.25Km run down our road. The conditions were icy and snow covered with no bare sections to get traction on. The only flat section of road (checked against the elevation graph, not posted) jived with what I thought. The top speed is about 21Km/h in 6th gear on the flats… This translates backwards to approx 2,500RPM on the motor from the spread sheet posted in section one. Given the above data, I now have to decide which direction to take in rewinding the motor. Based on the results from 3 previous motor re-winds of the Dirt-E Bike’s motor last year, I have a good sense that winding heavier copper will raise the RPM/Volt but at the cost of lowering the low RPM torque of the motor. In this case my gut instinct is to rewind the motor with more turns of lighter wire to achieve greater low-end torque which should raise the RPM of the motor under a comparable load closer to it’s best efficiency. It sounds good to say "Heavier copper" and "Higher Current", but if the majority of that additional energy is simply converted into heat, the outcome is far from optimal."
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Jordan Horwich wanted to have some unique speakers. He sure pulled it off when he took some iPod shells and stuffed them with some speakers and electronics which now look right at home beside his Apple laptop. "I was looking through a bunch of old stuff when I came across my original iPod. I had long ago scavenged it for parts, so I came up with another use for it. The total cost ended up around 100 USD for everything. It was mostly the shipping prices that made it so expensive. If I had spent some more time finding cheaper prices, or finding the parts locally, the cost would have been about 60 USD."
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There are many contraptions that allow us to use technology to give us a hand. Here are a few interesting ideas that I am sure will catch on…
