This week on Maker Update: a new way to get around, easy planters, an all-wheel drive bike, a new take on turn signals, building a workshop from scratch, a Tetris clock, DIY flipdots, professional framing at home, and building your own robot dog.

Guest host: Becky Stern
https://beckystern.com/

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep. 235]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Testing Ball-Shaped Wheels on an Omni-Directional Robot by James Bruton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKLMCO0-How

-=News=-

Siemens acquires Supplyframe (Hackaday, Tindie)
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-accelerates-digital-marketplace-strategy-acquisition-supplyframe

https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/05/24/the-future-of-hackaday-hackaday-io-the-hackaday-prize-superconference-and-tindie-we-will-ask/

Arduino Cloud rolls out support for ESP32
https://blog.arduino.cc/2021/05/28/arduino-cloud-now-supports-esp32-devices/

-=More Projects=-

Easy DIY Planters by DIY Huntress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvZRnRpSztI

2 Wheel Drive Fatbike by The Q
https://youtu.be/MJpqJFE5L-g

Motorized Turn Signals for a Bike by Tom Ouwerkerk
https://blog.arduino.cc/2021/05/24/super-compact-motorized-turn-signals-for-a-bike/

Arduino WiFi Tetris Clock by Brian Lough
https://www.instructables.com/Arduino-WiFi-Tetris-Clock/

Giant Rubik’s Cube Drawer Box by Justin Weiss
https://www.instructables.com/Giant-Rubiks-Cube-Drawer-Box/

MenuTriaxial Motorized Tourbillon by McMaven
https://www.instructables.com/Triaxial-Motorized-Tourbillon

3D Printed Flip Dots by Larry Builds
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/29/3d-printed-flip-dots/

Webcam Privacy Friend by Becky Stern
https://beckystern.com/2021/06/02/webcam-privacy-friend-3d-printed-eyeball/

Nova Spot Micro 3 Quadraped Robot Dog by Chris Locke
https://www.instructables.com/Nova-Spot-Micro-a-Spot-Mini-Clone/

-=Tips & Tools=-

Building my Dream Workshop by Ruth Amos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPbL-fosCaU

Garage Floor Upgrade by DIY Creators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-LEpiFFoa8

How To Professionally Frame Your Artwork at Home by Jen Schachter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wxpcfMB-qc

How to Turn Boring Projects Into Mesmerizing Videos by Zack Freedman
https://youtu.be/cusFLqzHc3k

Parsing Data From an API using ArduinoJSON by Brian Lough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYP_CxdYzLo

Transcript

This week on Maker Update: A new way to get around, easy planters, an all-wheel drive bike, a new take on turn signals, building a workshop from scratch, a tetris clock, DIY flipdots, professional framing at home, and building your own robot dog.

Hi, welcome to Maker Update! I’m Becky Stern, back again to guest host. Thanks for having me. I hope you’re healthy and safe, and ready to get inspired.

Let’s get right into it with the project of the week. 

James Bruton’s new bot with ball-shaped wheels can easily move in any direction. The ball shape is split into two hemispheres that rotate independently, sandwiched around a central driven axle. The custom parts are all 3D printed.

I’ve been a fan of James’ work for years because he’s passionate, thorough, and good at communicating the skills he’s using to make his impressive creations. This build is no different.

James’ latest video explains how it all works, from gathering inspiration from Osaka University researchers, to the trigonometry needed to figure out the variable speeds between wheels. Each wheel is driven by a geared motor with its own controller, connected to the axles with belts and 3D printed pulleys.

The brain is an Arduino mega connected to a wireless module which links up with his homemade universal remote control. James alludes to some of his ideas for what to put on top of this free-moving robot platform, such as a trash bin or other domestic helper.

Now for some news. Supplyframe, the company that owns Hackaday and Tindie, has been acquired by Siemens for seven hundred million dollars. From the press release, the acquisition will accelerate Siemens’ digital marketplace strategy by integrating Supplyframe’s Design-to-Source ecosystem. It doesn’t mention by name the properties us makers probably care the most about, being Hackaday and Tindie. But it looks like the Adafruit blog is taking on the mantle of investigative reporting on this one, so I’d keep an eye out over there for more info as it becomes available.

In other news, the Arduino IoT Cloud now supports the ESP32. They’ve adopted the Arduino Core developed by Espressif for ESP32 devices, which means you can easily program your board from the web editor and send and receive data from the cloud. The existing ESP8266 support was recently enabled for the free tier of Arduino IoT Cloud, so now’s a great time to try out this option for connecting everybody’s favorite wifi boards to the web.

More projects! If you’ll believe it, these gorgeous free-standing planters were built in just a weekend and with very few tools. DIY Huntress shows you how on her YouTube channel.

Also on YouTube, by the Q, check out this all wheel drive bicycle speed-build and riding demonstration. While not the first to make an all wheel drive bike, the succinct video is inspiring to watch.

Another bike project, this one spotted on the Arduino blog– Tom Ouwerkerk made this adorable motorized turn signal mechanism. Using 3D printed herringbone gears and some addressable pixels, it extends to the side only when you’re turning, and retracts to the middle otherwise. This thing is just too cute.

Over on Instructables, Brian Lough built an LED matrix clock where the time is drawn using falling Tetris blocks. He walks us through the hardware and software needed to connect up to these popular panels and build one for yourself.

Also on Instructables, check out Justin Weiss’ Rubik’s Cube drawer box. I love how each drawer is a different size and you have to impractically remember which panels are drawers at all, and the reveal of the compartment on the top just takes the cake. Awesome job.

Speaking of awesome, I’m certainly in awe of this complex motorized clock by McMaven. Watch nerds rejoice at the detail of this triaxial tourbillion, inspired by the Jacob & Co. Astronomia watch, all 3D printing files included.

Over on the Hackaday blog, I learned about this 3D printed flip dot display project by Larry Builds. He’s got four videos in the series right now, showing how he prototyped this four by four display including winding his own electromagnets. I’m excited to see where this goes.

I released a new project this week too, it’s a webcam privacy cover in the shape of an eyeball. When the motorized eyelid is open, the webcam can see you, and it’s programmed to close automatically after a period of time you set using the separate desktop control interface. My video walks through the design process and I published all the files and code you’d need to make your own.

And last but certainly not least is this impressive take on the Spot Micro quadraped robot by Chris Locke. His extremely detailed tutorial goes through all the custom upgrades he made to this community robotics project, so if you were thinking of building one for yourself, you can get a great idea of what’s involved.

And now for some tools and tips. On her YouTube channel, Ruth Amos constructs her dream workshop from the ground up. The video takes us through all phases of the construction of this timber-frame structure, which was loosely based on plans by Colin Furze. If you’re thinking of building a new structure to support your maker habit, Ruth’s workshop will get you excited and also informed. She details the constraints and workarounds for her back yard in the UK, including how she handled the inclement weather.

Maybe you’re not ready to build a whole new workshop, but want to spruce up your existing garage floor– Glen at DIY Creators did just that, installing a new PVC floor made from interlocking tiles. He goes into detail about the strategy for laying out the floor so that everything is aligned and even.

If you ever wanted to upgrade your artwork framing skills, now’s the time to watch Jen Schachter’s video on the Tested YouTube channel about professional framing at home. She explains the process of constructing the frame and also the specialized tools and techniques used in the industry, gleaned from her time working in a frame shop.

On his YouTube channel, Zack Freedman has a great guide for creating great project videos. He covers common pitfalls makers encounter when documenting their builds and techniques for improving the watchability of the end result, both in the filming and the editing stages.

And Brian Lough gets one more mention today for his excellent tutorial on parsing data from an API using the ArduinoJSON library. He demystifies the process of breaking down a JSON API response into data you can use in your Arduino project, like to display on a screen. If you’ve ever felt limited to just the sample sketches when creating internet-connected projects, this video could unlock a new skill level for you.

And that’s it for this week’s show. Be sure to like and subscribe, and please consider sharing this video with a friend. Sign up for the weekly Maker Update newsletter so you never miss a thing, and thanks for watching.