This week on Maker Update, Ian Charnas takes on Mike Tyson, a bike that’s possessed, Janksy, and cooking up a Pepper’s ghost.

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep.258]++

-=Project of the Week=-

I Put Myself INSIDE A Video Game! by Ian Charnas
https://youtu.be/07JibJJVNp8
https://reallifepunchout.com/

-=More Projects=-

The Bike Riding Skeleton By rc jedi
https://www.instructables.com/The-Bike-Riding-Skeleton/

Janksy by Shane Wighton
https://youtu.be/osUTMnDFV30

-=Tips & Tools=-

Peppers Ghost Tips by Joshua Ellingson
https://youtu.be/eB4kup3oKY0

Hooking An Old TV to HDMI Players by Joshua Ellingson
https://youtu.be/iq9scofun-s

Super Servo With ESC No Soldering. By rc jedi
https://www.instructables.com/Super-Servo-with-ESC-no-soldering/

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/garethbranwyn

Class A vs Class D Amplifiers – Collin’s Lab
https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/11/01/new-video-class-a-vs-class-d-amplifiers-collins-lab-notes-adafruit-collinslabnotes/
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/collinslabnotes

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

What is an FPGA? by Shawn Hymel
https://youtu.be/lLg1AgA2Xoo

-=Transcript=-

This week on Maker Update, Ian Charnas takes on Mike Tyson, a bike that’s possessed, Janksy, and cooking up a Pepper’s ghost.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well. I know sometimes I get a case of the post-Halloween blues, packing up all my skeletons. But I definitely find that keeping inspired and keeping busy with little projects helps me out. So I hope this show does you some good. Let’s start out with the project of the week.

Our friend Ian Charnas has outdone himself again. This time he’s made a version of the classic Nintendo NES version of Punch Out that you can play by actually punching and dodging.

Best of all, you can go play it right now by heading to reallifepunchout.com. By using real-time computer vision tracking technology from Google, all you need is your computer’s webcam to make this happen.

It’s a lot of fun, and you should definitely try it out. But to really appreciate all the work that went into this from a maker perspective, you have to watch his video.

Not only did he hack an original NES so that he could intercept the machine code from the game, but he then reverse engineered the source code so that he could slow it down. Because it turns out that your arms can’t move quite as fast as your fingers can press buttons.

For the cherry on top, he electrified things. At least, for his own personal version, he made it so that any punches your opponents land will send painful (but not deadly) zap to your arm.

It’s an inspiring project, and a hilarious video. And even though I love building stuff, I think it’s great that everyone can just go try it out and get a kick out of what Ian’s done here. Or a punch, I guess.

Now for more projects. Is it too early to start planning for next Halloween? Because I definitely want to make this remote controlled bike riding skeleton by RC Jedi.

It looks like pure magic, but it’s actually relatively simple. By outfitting a regular kids bike with a sidecar, you’re giving the bike stability and a hidden form or propulsion.

The sidecar, which is decorated to look like a bomb, includes a motor and wheel from a junked electric scooter. Then, the rest of the tube is filled with concrete for added weight.

The real trick is getting control of the steering. For that, they’re using a high torque 12v servo that runs around $70. Not cheap, but when you’re pushing around a set of steel handlebars, you’ll want that extra power.

A basic 2-channel RC transmitter and receiver communicate to the speed controller, just like you would with an RC car.

As for the skeleton. It looks like it’s doing a lot of work but really it’s just zip-tied to the pedals and handlebars. You could replace him with a dummy, or just ride it around with an empty seat.

For another spin on this, they made a tricycle version for a mini skeleton, which in some ways is actually creepier.

On YouTube, Shane Wighton offers his take on the graffiti bot. He calls his, Janksy, but honestly it’s the most professional quality large scale CNC plotter I’ve seen yet.

It’s also the most complex. There’s a massive gantry at the top that moves around a smaller gantry where all the action is.

But because there’s still a lot of play in how precise these gantry systems can be, Shane is using 8 motion tracking cameras to keep an eye on the location of the print head and adjust it within the gantry if the location doesn’t quite match up with where it should be.

It’s bonkers, but it’s a fun video, and I think what I value most from Shane’s videos is just tuning in to his mental frequency and seeing problems like an engineer.

Now for some tools and tips. For the past few years, artist Joshua Ellingson has been creating some amazing pepper’s ghost illusions and showcasing them on social media.

Recently though, he’s made a YouTube video that goes behind the scenes and reveals some of the tools and techniques he’s using.

From what kinds of plastic work best, or what shape of container, to the perils of using projectors — if you’ve ever wanted to give this illusion a try, there’s a lot of practical information here.

He also shares my obsession with old TVs. If you’ve wondered how to adapt an HDMI signal to an old antenna input, or coaxial, composite, or BNC, Joshua has a video outlining the different ways he’s pulled this off.

While I was looking through older projects from RC Jedi, the maker behind the RC skeleton bike, I found this other guide of theirs on creating your own heavy duty servo motor using just a few cheap components.

In this case, he’s linking the motion of a high-torque DC wiper motor to the potentiometer of a $5 servo tester. Essentially, you’re giving a dumb motor some positional awareness and remote control. It’s a cool trick.

It’s been awhile since I’ve given a shout out to Gareth Branwyn’s excellent Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales newsletter, but it’s still going strong and keeps getting better. In his latest issue he has tips on mixing paints to match a color, tips on 3D printing, a comparison of hole saws, an accessory for your glue bottle — if you like this tips section of the show but wish there was more, sign up for this newsletter.

And over on Adafruit, Collin Cunningham has a quick and useful explanation of the difference between Class A and Class D type audio amplifiers. If you’re new to the series or it’s been awhile since you caught up, I’ll include a link to the Collin’s Lab Notes collection. I always look forward to them.

For this week’s Digi-Key Spotlight, Shawn Hymel has a new video introducing and explaining FPGA chips and the boards you’ll find them in.

I’ll leave the explanation to him, but this is definitely an emerging technology we’re only going to see more of. It’s also the beginning of a multi-part video series from Shawn that explores FPGA and how to create custom digital logic using hardware description language.

If you’re ready to dive in, keep an eye on this series.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. Is there another video game you’d like to see get the Ian Charnas treatment?

If YouTube’s not your usual place and you’d like to keep up on each week’s show, be sure to sign up for the Maker Update newsletter. A big thanks to Digi-Key electronics for making this show possible. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon.