This week on Maker Update, catch with a robot, Arduino’s IoT cloud, sorting screws, making fabric, exploding darth, and the anti-drawing machine.

Show Notes

Project of the Week

Ball Balancing PID System by Johan Link
https://www.instructables.com/id/Ball-Balancing-PID-System/

News

Arduino IoT Cloud Public Beta
https://blog.arduino.cc/2019/02/06/announcing-the-arduino-iot-cloud-public-beta/

Hackaday take
https://hackaday.com/2019/02/07/arduino-enters-the-cloud/

More Projects

Screw Sorting Machine By AdrienR
https://www.instructables.com/id/Screw-Sorting-Machine/

Design and Print Fabric By poppy.oceanblue
https://www.instructables.com/id/Design-and-Print-Fabric/

Darth Vader By gzumwalt
https://www.instructables.com/id/Darth/

Anti-Drawing Machine by Soonho Kwon | Harsh Kedia | Akshat Prakash
https://www.creativeapplications.net/arduino-2/anti-drawing-machine-whimsical-and-imperfectly-characteristic-collaborator/

Github details
https://github.com/akshhack/AntiDrawingMachine

Tools/Tips

Last Week’s Maker Update
https://makerprojectlab.com/clocking-in-maker-update-111/

Raspberry Pi Store in Cambridge
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/guess-what/

Stereoscopic photography with StereoPi and a Raspberry Pi
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/stereoscopic-photography-stereopi-raspberry-pi/

Crowdsupply link
https://www.crowdsupply.com/virt2real/stereopi

Tested USB Soldering Iron Review
https://youtu.be/gIyykNaWrlM

Belt (single print, MMU design) by 3DWatsch
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3270948

Whale Wire Stripper (with Scraper razor blade) by LazaroFilm
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3394894

Cool Tool: Wire Stripper Shootout
https://youtu.be/5FcCeBGYOGo

Maker Faires

Find your local Faire:
http://makerfaire.com/map/

Bay Area Call for Makers
https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/call-for-makers/

February 16, 2019 Kalispell Mini Maker Faire
February 16, 2019 Jacksonville Mini Maker Faire
February 17, 2019 Roanoke Mini Maker Faire

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, catch with a robot, Arduino’s Iot cloud, sorting screws, making fabric, exploding darth, and the anti-drawing machine.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope everyone’s doing well. I have got a show for you today! So much to cover, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

If you ever wanted to play catch with a robot, Johan Link has this incredible guide on Instructables for making your own ball balancing platform.

The base of the platform uses 3 servo-controlled 3D printed arms to move the platform. The servos are driven by a custom Arduino-compatible board he made based around the Atmega32u4 microcontroller. It’s the same chip used in the Arduino Leonardo, which you can substitute.

But the real brains of the operation is a Python program on a nearby computer, connected to an overhead webcam that detects the position of the ball using OpenCV. Based on the ball’s position, the program calculates how to move the platform to stabilize it.

It’s a super cool project, and something that I suspect would drop jaws at a science faire.

It’s time for some news. Arduino announced their Internet of Things cloud platform last week. The IoT Cloud Beta, is now available and free to try out.

The one hitch is that you’ll need one of Arduino’s latest MKR boards to take advantage of it.

Looking at their demo video, it seems like a clean, intuitive setup. The challenge for Arduino is that platforms like Particle and Adafruit.IO already have a significant head start in both the Maker and Professional markets. Still, the more the merrier, and it’s great to see Arduino still in the game.

More projects! On Instructables, Adrien R shows how he made this optical screw sorting machine.

The project leans heavily on a laser cutter to create the light box and the robotic arm. Once activated, the machine lights up the nuts and bolts from underneath and takes a picture with an overhead webcam.

Using OpenCV software, each item on the light box is identified and the robot arm gets its instructions on where to put each piece. An electromagnet at the end of the arm does the lifting. Very cool.

For something totally different, Poppy Ocean Blue has a guide on designing and printing custom patterns on fabric using Adobe’s free Capture app.

Her process takes advantage of the kaleidoscope feature of Capture which can create patterns with your phone’s camera that you can export as a pattern tile.

The second step is really just uploading the file to a fabric printing service like Contrado or Spoonflower and using their online tools to transfer the pattern to the fabric of your choice. If you’re into making your own clothes or custom upholstery, this is a cool technique.

Greg Zumwalt is back with another inspired 3D printing project. This time it’s a motorized Darth Vader statue that explodes and reassembles itself over and over.

Greg makes it look easy, but there’s a surprising amount of complexity to pull off the effect. A single geared DC motor drives it all. Everything else is 3D printed, including the joints, turnbuckles, bolts, and of course Darth Vader.

Everything you need is in the Instructable, and I think it would be cool to see more designs adapted to explode out like this.

Last, but not least, check out this anti-drawing machine by Soonho Kwon, Harsh Kedia, and Akshat Prakash.

This box, with and Arduino and a series of stepper motors inside, detects when you’re drawing and deliberately moves the paper around on you to create unpredictable drawings.

The result is a frustrating, but hilarious drawing experience. Could be a fun practical joke or party game too.

I’ve got some tips and tools to share with you. First off, just a reminder that if you missed last week’s show, you can find it over on the Adafruit channel using the link in the show notes.

Also, if you’re near Cambridge England, the first official Raspberry Pi store just opened up there. From the video, it seems to look like an Apple store where they replaced everything with a Raspberry Pi. Looks nice, though.

Speaking of Pi, there’s a new Pi expansion board being launched on Crowdsupply that’s getting some attention. It’s called StereoPi, and you can use it to create 3D stereoscopic photos and videos.

The board starts at $70, with more expensive kits also available. What’s unexpected is that it specifically needs the new Pi compute module to work, because of the modules unique ability to run two cameras at once.

Jeremy from Tested has a video review up with his thoughts on the TS80 USB powered soldering iron. It looks like a good, but not uncomplicated option for a portable, virtually cordless soldering iron.

On Thingiverse, an unexpected new wearable — a 3D printed belt. This design from 3DWatsch prints all as a single, coiled piece, with print-in-place hinges. This particular design can take advantage of the Prusa multi material upgrade if you want to get that fancy striping through it.

I can’t imagine it’s the strongest or most comfortable belt out there, but it’s neat to see what’s possible.

Tyler here from Make showed me this clever whale shaped wire stripper designed by Victor Lazaro. You put a single edge safety razor in its head and the lower teeth take different gauges of wire.

Two options are available, one that uses a captive nut, and one with with a brass insert.

But for a look at the world of professionally made wire strippers, I’ve got a Cool Tools roundup video looking at 10 different options in a variety of styles. If your wire stripper is letting you down, this is the video or you.

Maker Faires! First, let me tell you that the call for makers is now open for Maker Faire Bay area in San Mateo, CA — the original and longest running Maker Faire. I’ll be there, and I encourage you to find a way to participate. The faire takes place May 17th, 18th, and 19th.

This weekend, though, we’ve got Kalispell, Montana; Jacksonville, Florida; and Roanoke, Virginia. If one’s near you, go check it out.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. Get on the Maker Update email list to get show notes emailed out to you automatically for each week’s show, along with a few bonus projects. And finally, a big thanks to my Patrons on Patreon, who keep this show afloat. Alright? Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week.