We were recently contacted by a mathematics instructor, who suggested that it might be interesting to have a program like Snowflake, but with the option of picking and choosing different symmetry properties. Natural snowflakes have (approximate) sixfold rotation symmetry plus reflection symmetry. However, a lot of things that you can draw by hand have absolutely no resemblance to snowflakes at all– and it is somewhat fun to explicitly play with the rules. Our new program, SymmetriSketch, sticks to the same basic design principles as Snowflake: it’s cross platform, open source, and able to export a true vector drawing with a closed path. However, SymmetriSketch is a much more flexible program that allows you to play with different symmetries, and create all kinds of different things that would never be mistaken for frozen water.
You can download the code from this link.
Current cost sensors are
0) Main electricity sensor – clamp on incoming live cable
1) Gas pulse sensor – see entry below
2) light sensor – photo resistor (about 2M ohms dark to 100 ohms bright light) as sensor across the channel inputs on the Current Cost dev board.
Current Cost sensors are read by Arduino, displayed on 4×20 lcd module and uploaded to Pachube via Adafruit XPort shield every 15 minutes.
What this little guy lacks in stability he makes up for in simplicity. He only has three parts and can be made by just bending some metal. He’s kind of lazy and I haven’t figured out a way to get him to do any work. In fact mostly what he does is wander around in circles and often falls over. But he’s fun to watch. And since it’s a robot we don’t have to do an intervention for the alcohol abuse. Yes, there are may vibrobots and bristlebots but very few of them are cute and none of them are drunk. You need to be able to work with small items, and have about 20 minutes to spare.
On this day 40 years ago, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon. This was quite an achievement for mankind and a key milestone in world history. To commemorate this event the Command Module code (Comanche054) and Lunar Module code (Luminary099) have been transcribed from scanned images to run on yaAGC (an open source AGC emulator) by the Virtual AGC and AGS project.
Wheatfield – A Confrontation, Battery Park Landfill, downtown Manhattan, 2 acres of wheat planted & harvested, summer 1982 by artist Agnes Denes – Adafruit’s present day HQ is a few blocks from where this photo was taken. Looks like she’s at it again in London… (photos).
Open Softwear is the latest project at 1scale1. It is a free book (CC-NC-SA-2.5) introducing basic concepts about microcontroller programming through Arduino, and using it in when crafting interactive garments. The softwear book project is open and looks for collaborators to help with proofreading, adding new examples, translating it to other languages, or photographing your own projects for the printed version to come.
DIY shield for Arduino! Think you can do better? Design your own shield on the cheap with this DIY parts kit. You get a 3.2″ x 2.5″ (~ 8.1cm x 6.3cm) single-sided phenolic board with copper solder pads and mounting holes and a extra-special stacky header set. This one has one magical 8-pin header that has been bent so that you can plug it into the ‘not-quite-0.1″-spacing” arduino headers. Solder it any which way you want, lots of room for hacking! Get one in the Adafruit store, only $6.00 !
Breadboard supply A very low dropout adjustable power supply! This project details the design of a very low dropout adjustable power supply. A good power supply is essential to electronic projects. While there are many existing designs for adjustable power supplies, this one makes improvements that make it more useful for hobby designs
MIC2941 regulator has guaranteed 1.25A output
Low dropout, only 40mV – 400mV compared to 1.25V – 2.0V for LM317. This means you can use a wider range of output voltages including generating 3.3V from as low as 3.7V (such as 3 AA’s or a lithium ion battery)!
Short circuit and overheating protection
Input diode to protect circuitry from negative voltages or AC power supplies.
2.1mm DC jack and terminal connector for voltage inputs
Two indicator LEDs for high and low voltages
Output selection switch to select from 3.3v, 5v and Adjustable
Onboard potentiometer for adjusting voltage from 1.25V up to within 0.5V of the input voltage. (20V max)
On/Off switch for entire board
Heat sink included
Breadboard and battery clip or DC power supply is not included, you can use any DC power supply with 2.1mm plug (we have a nice one in the shop).
2. Spot valuable salvage- Not only knowing where to get it, but knowing it when you see it. Finding it isn’t too hard- curbs, alleys, and the classic dumpster dive. Deciding whether to keep it is the real trick: can it be broken down? Are there useful things inside (gears, motors, electronics, hardware, salvageable wood, springs, etc.)? Is trying to salvage parts of it a wise thing to do (upholstered items left outside are a great way to get bedbugs into your home)?
7. Know which glue to use, when- Elmer’s white, spray mount, Uhu glue sticks, JB Weld, cyanoacrylate, and two-part epoxy all have their uses.
13. Strip, splice, and terminate wire- Trickier than it sounds. You should be able to splice wire using a crimp splice, a wire nut, and heat shrink + solder (note: electrical tape is NOT on that list). You should know how to use a wire stripper to strip stranded wire without cutting more than one or two strands. You should be able to attach a wire to your project in such a way that it will still be attached in two weeks, two months, or two years.
18. Program a microcontroller- nothing fancy, just something along the lines of the Arduino. Just enough to make it spin a motor on a trigger or light an LED or sound an alarm.
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
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