This week on Maker Update, Alexa presses buttons, Google gets a laser, robot fish, robot dogs, 1-dimensional pong, drill bits, speed squares, an unholy union of DeWalt and Ryobi, and a resistor kit roundup.

Show Notes

Project of the Week

Make an Alexa Controlled Finger by I Like To Make Stuff
https://www.iliketomakestuff.com/make-an-alexa-controlled-finger/
https://youtu.be/afPxj0LS0LU

News

Festo BionicFinWave robotic cuttlefish
https://www.festo.com/group/en/cms/13252.htm

Robots from Parametric Move expo
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHvctKwAXIO9gr-HPMnz9a9wjF0gW2U3H

Vertical Hopper Compositions by KODLab
https://youtu.be/ijnOCQOpC7k

More Projects

“Ok, Google. Fire the Laser” by tuckershannon
https://makezine.com/2018/06/20/laser-turret-responds-voice-commands/
https://imgur.com/gallery/DsXW9TO#siLlTRm
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2965798

MAKE YOUR OWN 1D PONG GAME By GreatScottLab
https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Own-1D-Pong-Game/

Cool Tools

This week’s Cool Tool recommendation is the Hakko FX-901 Cordless Soldering Iron. Many of you have already heard me wax poetic on my favorite. Here’s my full review.

Tools/Tips

Tips For Drilling Holes by Essential Craftsman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Z3iiu6z5Y

How to Use a Speed Square // Bits by I Like to Make Stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM6O3WK8FrU

3D Printed DeWALT Battery Adapter for Ryobi Tools by Jay Rugland
https://youtu.be/_cy5M7grGFk

5 Amazon Resistor Kits Compared
https://youtu.be/rkK57y-muPc

Maker Faires

Solano County Mini Maker Faire Vallejo, California
Halle Mini Maker Faire Halle (Saale)

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, Alexa grows a finger, Google gets a laser, robot fish, robot dogs, robot… things, 1-dimensional pong, drill bits, speed squares, an unholy union of Dewalt and Ryobi, and a resistor kit roundup.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update. I hope everyone’s doing well, and thanks to all of you who left comments and a thumbs up on last week’s episode. I’m glad to hear the show’s working for you, but if you have ideas on how to make it better, let me know.

I have a big show for you this week, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

Bob Clagett from I Like to Make Stuff made an Alexa-controlled finger to start his laser cutter. This project has so many levels of maker nerd, it’s a masterpiece. It has resin casting, IoT, Arduino code, and a laser cutter.

Bob is using a cheap, Arduino-compatible NodeMCU board to mimic a Belkin WeMo device on his home network.

He then set up an Alexa routine so that when he says “Alexa push the button” it triggers a servo connected to the NodeMCU board to rotate 90 degrees, pressing the button.

Well, actually, a casting of Bob’s finger presses the button, just to add an extra level of ridiculous to the project.

What I love most about this project is that when you back up a little, you realize it’s an Alexa-controlled servo project you can make for around $20. That servo could press a button, turn a wheel, flip a switch, move a gear—it’s really open for your own interpretation.

It’s time for some news. I found a lot of robot stuff again this week, but I swear this isn’t a robot show.

But how can I not talk about this robotic cuttlefish made by the German Industrial Automation firm, Festo. It’s called the BionicFinWave, and it uses two flexible silicone fins to propel itself through water.

3D printed crankshafts attached to the fin create the wave pattern motion needed to push it around. The fins are independent from one another, allowing it to turn by using different motions on each side.

In a robotics expo called Parametric Move at the University of Tokyo, there were a bunch of these small, experimental, 3D printed robots on display.

Most of them were interesting because they were driven by just a single motor. But there was also this intricate, only slightly creepy, animatronic head that was clearly packed full of little motors and servos.

But the most adorable robot news comes from the University of Pennsylvania. Avik De and Daniel E. Koditschek created this collection of Feedback-Stabilized Quadrupedal Bounding, Pacing, Pronking and Trotting. Or as I like to think of it—every single motion you’d want from the cutest robot pet ever made.

It’s time for more projects. If Bob’s Alexa-controlled finger isn’t your cup of IoT, check out this Google-controlled laser display by Tucker Shannon.

Using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, two inexpensive stepper motors, a UV laser and some glow in the dark sticker material, this project will temporarily write out the current temperature when you ask for the “Laser Report”.

Because the code uses a mix of Adafruit IO and If This Then That, it seems that you could just as easily set it up to use Alexa instead of Google, or pull data other than weather from all kinds of other places.

I also really liked this 1D tabletop pong game by GreatScottLab. The project uses two giant buttons, an Arduino Nano, and a length of Neopixels. You compete against an opponent to bat a little pixel back and forth, which gets increasingly faster. A little LED cluster near each players button keeps score.

I have a bunch of tips to share this week. I’ll go over them quickly, but remember you can find links for everything in this video down in the show notes.

Over on YouTube, Scott Wadsworth from Essential Craftsman has a 17-minute long video on drilling holes. Bits, materials, techniques, tools. It’s more fascinating than it sounds.

Bob Clagett has a quick video on how to use a speed square. The video is part of his new series called Bits.

Over on my channel, Maker Project Lab, I’ve got a project review of this 3D printed battery adapter designed by Jay Rugland. With it, you can run 18v Ryobi tools from 20v Dewalt batteries.

I’ve also got a video over on the Cool Tools channel comparing 5 different resistor assortment kits available on Amazon, comparing price, quality, and organization.

Maker Faires! Only two faires this weekend, including Vallejo California, and Halle, Germany. But if one of those is near you, don’t miss it.

And that’s it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe and give it a thumbs up or a comment. You can also get on the Maker Update email list to get video links and show notes sent out to you automatically.

And just so you know, I do this show because I love it and I volunteer my time to make it. If it’s something you appreciate seeing every week, you can buy me a coffee using the Buy Me a Coffee link down in the show notes. Alright? Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.