Ryan from JUDD Studio Engineering just completed a very cool iPhone Like Kitchen Touchscreen Computer. His wife wanted a computer in the kitchen, that’s not an odd request these days. But instead of running down to Best Buy to pick up a new computer and mounting it in the kitchen Ryan decided to make his own unit that has a UI based on the iPhone. The result is some great eye candy on the wall of the kitchen. But that isn’t where it ends, this unit is very functional, it can do run Skype, play iTunes, manage a to do list, update your Outlook calendar, get twitter alerts and much more. There are lots of install pictures and a log that talks about some of the issues faced along the way such as adding a few optional cabinet ventilation holes.

“For years my wife has been on at me to put a computer into the kitchen where she can manage her recipes, shopping lists, to do lists and access the internet for looking up various things.  After looking at a couple of pretty basic and well overpriced commercial units we decied to have a crack at doing this ourselves.

Her requirements:
– must be discrete and look like a digital picture frame when not being used.
– must be touchscreen.
– must have internet access.
– must be easy to use and not crash often (shes used to windows vista)
– must have barcode scanner for managing her kitchen database.
– the wires and techo stuff must be hidden and out of sight.
– should be able to view whats on the lounge TV in the kitchen.”

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I was shocked when I saw this Volt Meter Style Clock,  it is close to a design that is sitting on my bench right now! My design should be done in 2 or 3 weeks. I love the minimal parts count of this project, since it is battery powered there is no power regulation section and that helps keep the circuit nice and simple. If you want to make your own code and schematics are available.

Via: Hack a Day

“The clock is patterned after an analog voltmeter.  The meter pointer indicates the time on a meter scale marked in hours, with quarter divisions indicated.  The pointer, driven by a servo motor, starts at 12 o’clock on the left, ending at 12 o’clock on the right.  The meter pointer travels slowly to the right, indicating the current time.  At 12 o’clock, the pointer rapidly transverses from right to left, restarting the process. The clock runs on a PIC18F1320 (which I happened to have), hand-assembled on a pref board.  A picture of the board and a schematic are shown below.  Most PIC 18F series will work for this circuit – a proto-board with an 18F452 was used for code development, The two buttons are for setting the time.  Because the servo has its own internal electronics, it has 3 connections for control signal, power and ground.  No high-current drivers are needed by the circuit.”

This tiny Hexapod Walker costs only about $70 to build. It is based around the Micro Maestro 6-channel USB Servo Controller by Pololu. It only takes three servos and some paperclip legs to get this thing in motion and with a few distance sensors for eyes it can see obstacles and get around them.

Thanks for the tip Paul.

“This tutorial shows you how to build a very simple autonomous hexapod robot using just three servos. The 2″-high hexapod is capable of walking forward and backward, and can turn left and right. Two forward-looking distance sensors provide obstacle avoidance. The brain of the hexapod is the Pololu Micro Maestro, a 6-servo controller that can read inputs and play motion sequences in a stored script.”

Thanks to Ponoko for sponsoring the contest this week. They are providing a $50 gift voucher to a lucky winner to allow you to spread your creative wings and have your own design built. Here are some details about how the process works. When you are done creating your master piece you can make some cash by selling it to the masses from your own Ponoko Showroom. Only catch with the $50 gift voucher is that it must be used to have your creation built. You can’t go the easy route and just buy something from someones showroom, I don’t think that would be a problem though since you are all real creative thinkers! I would love to see a few pictures of the creation that the winner comes up with.

“What’s Ponoko?

Ponoko is the new sustainable way to design, make and deliver products worldwide.

It’s a creative place where designers can make their ideas real, and sell them to the world. The website gives designers an online workshop and factory to make their designs, along with an online showroom to promote them.”

This contest will run for one week (January 16, 2010 – January 22, 2010) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it. Make and model isn’t needed just what it is and what it can be used for is fine.

Please do not give the answer in the comments.

Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing Contest” as the subject, and the message body consisting of:

• The name of the item in the above picture
• An example of what the item pictured above can be used for

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

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Added Feb 6, 2009

The item to guess was a Makerbot Watch

The winner is Richard G.

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Below is a pictures of the prize.

This Temperature Control project interfaces a DS1621 temperature sensor to  a ATtiny 2313 micrcontroller, with some AVR Bascom code a relay is controlled based on temperature. This is a very useful project since it has many applications, you could use it to turn on your car block heater when it gets cold, or turn on your attic fan when it gets real hot in the attic. Full code and schematics are provided so you can make you own. The authors spelling is about the same as mine (I love spell check).

“This circuit uses a Dallas DS1621 temperature sensor which indicates the temperature of the device. The temperature sensor has an thermal alarm output, which becomes high when the temperature of the device exceeds a user defined value.”

BS2ILH from the Parallax forum posted an interesting project, it’s a Model Train Rotary Dumper. Say goodbye to having to push your train cars around using your hands, instead with a push of a button you can see automation take over and complete the task of unloading all the coal from your model railroad.  You can see lots of build videos here, it is a very well laid out project! Schematics and code are available here.

“A locomotive positions a unit train at the gate servo arm. Either a button on the hardwired control box or the IR remote control (from a Sony DVD) is pressed to activate the sequence. The positioner lifts its arm and moves to the rear of a car and lowers the arm to grab the coupler. The gate arm is turned to clear the track and the brake servo arm is lowered. The positioner pushes the train cars forward, the the gate is swung and the brake arm raises to grab the leading car axle. The sequence is repeated and thus 1 car is inside the dumper. The dumper rotates to unload the coal from the car and back to upright. The sequence of moving a car and dumping it is continued until a light detector mounted under the tracks signals that there are no more cars to dump – a car is not over the detector when it is checked prior to the positioner moving another car in the sequence. When the sequence is complete the Siren sounds and ‘Frere Jacques’ plays thought the piezo speaker.”

This LED Candle project by macobt is nice and simple, plus the effect is enhanced because the LED is actually mounted in a real candle. We have seen other LED Candle projects here in the past but this one has a great finished look to it. If you have a spare PIC12F675 laying around you might want to give it a try, the code and schematic is provided here.