This week on Maker Update, rolling your own D-O droid, a heart sculpture that checks your pulse, a handheld sniffer, a magic chef, indoor swing, pferd files, and I’ll explain what this is.

++Show Notes++

-=Project of the Week=-

D-O Droid by Matt Denton
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTSAQ5KEjPVCldgA1t-KT1lRTKJdAY7er

-=News=-

Petit Qoobo
https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/228513

-=More Projects=-

Beating LED Heart By jiripraus
https://www.instructables.com/id/Beating-LED-Heart/

Particle Sniffer By rabbitcreek
https://www.instructables.com/id/Particle-Sniffer/

The “Magic Chef”, a 3D Printed Automata. By gzumwalt
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Magic-Chef-a-3D-Printed-Automata/

Plywood Indoor Swing by Laura Kampf
https://youtu.be/okF7YDdi0EM

-=Tips=-

Tom Sachs ISRU
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Z2beDnQ0z/

DiResta Steel Finger Joint Stool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSgAOqvNJlY

Adam Savage Answers Your Questions! (Live Q&A, Part 1, 2 & 3)
https://www.tested.com/art/makers/905731-adam-savage-answers-your-questions-live-q-part-1/
https://www.tested.com/art/makers/905783-adam-savage-answers-your-questions-live-q-part-2/
https://www.tested.com/art/makers/905812-adam-savage-answers-your-questions-live-q-part-3/

Shop Class Playlist by I Like to Make Stuff
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLice_sU_6Rfib7iG0VPeCwg81DVvHgJBo

Antisocial Art Show
http://antisocialartshow.org/

Pferd File Handles
https://youtu.be/u85iaV5TAJ8

Pfake Pferd Pfile Pfhandles
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4253103

Maker Update #169 (Adafruit Edition)
https://youtu.be/7oeCHBWXGxk

-=Product Spotlight=-

How to Solder Through-Hole Components
https://youtu.be/DJH7VLGJ4fs

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, rolling your own D-O droid, a heart sculpture that checks your pulse, a handheld sniffer, a magic chef, indoor swing, pferd files, and I’ll explain what this is.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another episode of Maker Update. I hope that you and your friends and family are doing well. And whatever your situation is, I hope this show can be a comforting distraction for you. I found a lot of cool stuff, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

On his YouTube channel Matt Denton has a 5-part video series on how he made this prop-quality, 3D printed, remote controlled D-O droid from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The little guy is sort of a spin off the BB-8 concept, in the sense that it’s staying upright with the use of digital gyroscopic stabilization and feedback. 

Matt’s droid is based on an original design by Michael Baddeley. Matt’s version uses the Arduino MKR family for the brains of the bot, including an MKR Wi-Fi 1010, an MKR IMU shield that adds a 14-bit accelerometer and 16-bit gyroscope. 

Finally he tops it off with an MKR motor shield that can drive four motors and four servos. Only two of the motors can make use of the encoder and current feedback he needs to keep the droid upright, but this particular design only needs two motors anyway. 

Oddly enough, the servos come in handy for providing some wiggly effects on the antennas, which is part of how this particular droid expresses itself. An Adafruit SoundFX board inside handles all the blips and squeaks.

It’s a cool, but incredibly intricate project. If you just have to make one for yourself, though, Matt’s series is a must-watch. Plus, there’s a Facebook group you can join called the D-O Builders Group, where a lot of ideas are being exchanged.

In news this week, something silly for a change. Qoobo is a Japanese companion robot that debuted in 2017 with the tagline — A Tailed Cushion That Heals Your Heart.

Well it seems the world can’t get enough of this headless, limbless robot cat because a smaller version, Petit Qoobo, has just finished a round of wildly successful crowdfunding in Japan. Its a smaller cushion, with a stubbier tail. 

I’m not going to pretend to tell you that I understand what it does, but I know that in these lonely, isolating times, a fluffy robot companion that doesn’t eat or poop, or require daily walks, is probably a good thing. 

As far as I can tell, it’s available only in Japan, but if you scroll down towards the end of the crowdfunding page you can see a few images of what’s going on under the hood. I bet with some popsicle sticks, zip-ties, a continuous rotation servo, and a sacrificial stuffed animal, you could frankenstein together your own tribble baby.

Now for a quick look at more projects. You can find links to all of them down in the description.

Freeform electronic mastermind Jiri Praus has a new heart-shaped circuit sculpture on Instructables. He includes a 3D printed form you can use for the brass wire. For the electronics, he’s using an Arduino Nano, a Lipo battery, 9 neopixel LEDs, and a heart rate sensor. 

The idea is, when you hold your thumb to the sensor, the lights begin to blink in time with your pulse. It’s a cool idea.

Rabbit Creek has a guide up on how to make your own handheld air quality sensor. The design is based around an $18 Honeywell laser sensor that reports back on PM 2.5 levels. These are the fine particles in pollution that tend to get stuck in your lungs. 

It seems like a useful tool, but obviously the best part is the 3D printed dog nose on the front.

Greg Zumwalt “Magic Chef” automata is a fun and surprisingly intricate 3D printed illusion. Inside, a concealed carousel of different doll house food options cycle around so that each time he lifts the lid, a new item is revealed. 

Aside from a 6v gearmotor, some CA glue, and some small neodymium magnets, everything else is 3D printed, including the gears, bolts, cams — everything. It’s incredible.

On her Youtube channel, Laura Kampf shows off how she made this ingenious indoor swing. It mounts to its own frame that slots together inside a doorway. This way there are no screws, no worrying about whether the door frame can support the eight — it’s non destructive. 

Of course, you or your kids wildly swinging through a doorway introduces some potential for human destruction. So, proceed with caution.

Now for some tools and tips. Artist and maker guru Tom Sachs has been doing a series profiles on his own and other people’s workspaces. He’s calling it ISRU, or In Situ Resource Utilization. You can watch the series unfold on his Instagram. I think it’s fascinating to see how other people arrange their tiny, personal workspaces.

Jimmy DiResta has a video up on how he made this stool using steel finger joints. It’s not a practical technique for most of us, since he’s using a CNC plasma cutter to get the precise shapes, and then going around and hammering each joint closed. But I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s a fun video to watch.

On Tested, Adam Savage has been doing multiple live Q&A sessions from his shop. They’ve been fun to watch, especially if you’re feeling a little down. They’re like a one-way Skype call from your energetic maker hero. 

About halfway through the second session, I appreciated how Adam got real about how hard it’s been for him to stay motivated during this time and why he thinks that is. It really spoke to what I’m going through at the moment, and maybe it will connect with you too.

On I Like to Make Stuff, Bob Clagett has a new series called Shop Class where he presents tools and workshop concepts to kids. It’s kid-friendly, but not in a way that’s annoying to watch as an adult.

Kelly from the Airigami balloon sculpture group — a staple of many of the flagship maker faires — has put out a request for people to submit photos of anything they’re making using the hashtag #antisocialartshow. It could be a thing, or a drawing, or a poem, or a song — whatever creative thing you might be up to. Maybe it’s something to do, or maybe you can check out the hashtag to get inspired.

On the Cool Tools channel, Sean Michel ragan shows his favorite set of file handles made by a german company called Pferd. They’re available in 3 sizes on Amazon, but Sean also includes his attempt at a 3D printable version that you can print and test out. 

If you’re feeling like we skipped a number since last week’s show, then you probably missed Monday’s Adafruit edition of Maker Update. Once a month, Tyler Winegarner gives the Adafruit channel it’s own Maker Update highlighting all the awesome projects and tips and news in the Adafruit world. If you missed it, go check it out.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, check out their latest video going over the basics of through-hole soldering. I know you might be a pro at this stuff, but maybe your kid, your partner or your roommate is interested in giving it a try and looking to you for advice. Not only does this present the basics, but it’s a reminder for those of us teaching someone, what the common mistakes typically are.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. You can also get on the Maker Update email list. A big thanks to my patrons on Patreon and to Digi-Key electronics for making this show possible. Thanks for watching, stay safe, and I’ll see you next week.