2020-09-04 (F) Weekly Summary

I have been to a couple of puzzle rooms, and they are a delight. Bringing that level of gamification to the home is a neat idea, and I found a YouTube channel that is all about that. This guy monitored Bluetooth signals from a connected Rubik's cube and used them to trigger a relay. He also demonstrated that it should be possible to start automation from any twist, not just recognizing a solved cube.

Not everyone can hear well, or at all, so lip reading is vital, even when we all have to wear masks. We probably don't think about it too much if we can hear folks, but it is a problem. Plus, we broadcast a lot of information, body language, with our mouths. Windowed masks are expensive, so I wrote this article about one that doesn't require sewing, to make it easy for everyone.

Whenever I talk about building a robot, it spirals quickly. If I start talking about building a little treaded roamer to patrol the house, I creep the scope until I'm talking about making a ridable hexapod with a paintball turret. This creator impressed me because they had a grand dream in mind, but they built it in stages. Each step results in a working bot, but still has a platform for the next step, which is brilliant for hobbyists because you don't toil away on a dozen problems all at once before it runs. Instead, you have a functional rig, and you keep developing it.

 

Eye-tracking is cool stuff. Most rigs point a camera at the users' eyes and map that to a Cartesian coordinate. This one reads electrical impulses, so you don't have a bulky thing in front of your face. The drawback is that is can only discern left, right, forward, and blinking. You can do a lot, and if you can't use your arms, that is a lot more than you could do before.


I like loud music, but I usually listen when I'm by myself. Not everyone has that privacy, and one dad built a teenager-friendly device to pause the music when someone in the room is talking. With this, no one has to shout over headphones or grab a shoulder to get attention. I wouldn't want to miss dinner because I was jamming out.
 

Badger Seal is a muzzle-like frame that holds a face mask snugly. If there is no air escaping, you'll do a better job containing your breath and filtering outside air. Not to mention this won't vent moisture-laden air right into your glasses. The name comes from the school mascot, where this design originates.

The rest of the summary posts have been arranged by date.

First time here?

Completed projects from year 1
Completed projects from year 2
Completed projects from year 3
Completed projects from year 4
Completed projects from year 5
Completed projects from year 6
Completed projects from year 7

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