Gadget Freak

When robots swarm

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:42:09 +0000

Run for the hills, the robots are coming!

Found this one on YouTube after looking into the work done at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

They came to my attention via an eye-snagging story on EDN, our American sister site - Robotic grasshopper leaps as high as 27 times its height. The researchers in Switzerland have apparently built a 5cm-tall robot, based on grasshoppers and locusts, that can jump as high as 1.4m.

Circuit Design Ideas - CMOS DACs act as digitally controlled voltage divider

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:31:35 +0000

Another Design idea to get your circuit synapses firing.

While digital potentiometers can make excellent digitally controlled voltage dividers in applications in which 8-bit resolution is acceptable, this circuit shows how to use a CMOS DAC as a voltage divider in applications requiring higher resolution.

The Design Idea begins:

"Millions of CMOS R2R (resistor/two-resistor)-ladder DACs have found use in attenuator applications in which an external op amp acting as a current-to-voltage converter forces one current-output terminal to a virtual ground. The reference input to the DAC can be ac or dc as long as the op amp can produce the desired output voltage. A phase inversion is normal between input and output, so the circuit requires dual power supplies."

Vote for Best Gadget Freak of the Year

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:07:09 +0000

During the past year, Gadget Freak has highlighted each month 12 unique and wonderful inventions, ranging from an alarm to remind you to close the fridge door through to a device that's specially designed to produce theatrical special effects, like a confetti rainstorm.

Now we put the fate of these gadgets in your hands. Have your say, and vote for your 'Best of the Year' Gadget Freak!

Best of luck to all the 12 entrants and be ready to witness the crowning of the first Gadget Freak of the Year!

Simply email webmaster@electronicsweekly.com and state the month of your choice.

Circuit Design Ideas - Programmable current source, Composite instrumentation amplifier

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:39:19 +0000

Possible sparks for your inspiration, when it comes to designing your own circuits. Two more Circuit Design Ideas that have been added to the site.

They involve an easy-to-build, easy-to-use, low-cost current source, and a composite instrumentation amplifier.

Programmable current source requires no power supply, courtesy of John Guy, National Semiconductor; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Composite instrumentation amplifier challenges single-chip device for bandwidth, offset, and noise, courtesy of Marián Štofka, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Manly speakers

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:19:47 +0000

Exploring around the Instructables site, this self-amended gadget caught my eye - Munny Speakers.

The phenomenon of modifiable Munnys ("The Greatest Do It Yourself Toy") has escaped my attention - perhaps the parents among you are already too familiar with these - but the application here is quite obvious.

"Give your speakers some extra personality by making them out of a vinyl doll. Kid Robot makes the easily hackable Munny doll and I've been meaning to cut one up. The combined need for some new speakers created a happy union of doll and speaker," writes fungus amungus.

Photographer triggers flashbacks

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:47:41 +0000

Photography enthusiast Nick Pagazani was hindered by the range and fixed location of his camera's flash.

Since his camera has no connector for an external flash, he needed a light-activated slave trigger to fire a remote strobe. It had to ignore the pre-flashes used for red-eye correction and fire only on the main flash.

His solution: Use a microcontroller to count pulses from a phototransistor and trigger the strobe at a switch-selectable count. Brighten up your shadowy background with this flashy accessory.

You can download the build instructions in this zip file.

This Gadget Freak originally appeared in Design News.

Circuit Description

For the microcontroller I decided to use the PIC12F629 for its small size and the fact that it has an internal oscillator to help reduce the part count. The main portion of the circuit is the sensing circuit.

Sign up for the newsletter

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:10:29 +0000

Having one of those days? Work driving you mad? Just can't seem to find the time to visit Gadget Freak as much as you would like to?

Well, don't stress, help is at hand. If you can't come to us, we'll come to you!

You can now sign up for the Circuits newsletter to ensure you receive the latest and greatest Gadget Freak news, hot and fresh, straight into your inbox!

Signing up only takes a second and then you can sit back and relax as we do the rest.

Winner announced - Gadget Freak's iPod shuffle compo

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:09:17 +0000

Thanks again for all those who took part in this competition - we had more than 700 entries in the end - but there can only be one winner.

Cue drum roll and dimming of lights...

Circuit Design Ideas - monitoring RS-232, protecting laser-diodes

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:20:22 +0000

Two more inspirations for designing your own circuits - taken from our Design Ideas section.

They involve a hot-swap serial-interface circuit allows two computers to monitor all the traffic on an RS-232 port and a laser-diode-clamp circuit that protects against overvoltages.

Hot-swap circuit allows two computers to monitor an RS-232 channel, courtesy of Jeff Patterson, All Weather Inc, Sacramento, CA; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Improved laser-diode-clamp circuit protects against overvoltages, courtesy of James Zannis, Baulne-en-Brie, France; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Solar radiation and a delta-sigma ADC

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:13:55 +0000

A device to measure the rays all around us, but it doesn't come under the 'tin-foil helmet' category. File it under delta-sigma ADC - it is a very detailed Solar Server project to measure the solar radiation striking Earth ("insolation"), recording the daily data to a file, which is then emailed.

The device used for measuring daily insolation is designed by Wichit Sirichote in Thailand. He introduces the project, thus:

"The total solar radiation is measured by a Kipp & Zonen CM11 pyranometer (pictured). The EMF output of 5.14 uV/W/m2 is fed to the 24-bit resolution Delta-Sigma A/D converter, LTC2400. The microcontroller circuit built with a PIC18F2550 controls the A/D converter and provides one second time base for data sampling period. The insolation is computed by accumulated summation of the converted data in a whole day.

How to submit your Gadget and earn £££!

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:47:31 +0000

If you've designed and built a gadget that features electronics as a core component and meets our criteria below, we'd like to feature it here on these pages!

Just email us at Gadget Freak with details on your gadget including:

A description of the gadget and explanation of the basic working principles
Detailed build instructions
Circuit schematic
Complete parts list

Feel free to provide links to related websites. And Gadget Freak judges may show unrestrained favouritism to those submissions accompanied by images and video.

If we decided to feature your gadget in Electronics Weekly magazine, as the monthly highlight, we'll ask for a photograph of you and your gadget and you'll pocket a cool £250.

LED Balloons

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:28:03 +0000

Describing itself as "the world's biggest show and tell", the website instructables.com features a number of interesting DIY projects. One that caught my eye was 'LED floaties'

'Nak' writes: "My friend from blastwave labs gave me a call a couple days ago and he told me grand plans for the LEDs and batteries I had stagnating in my closet. His female counterpart was leaving her job at party city, so it was the perfect time to obtain a bunch of balloons (not steal) and rent a tank of helium."

Check out the video below. The theme music? Almost inevitably, Nena's 99 Red Balloons. But don't let that put you off!

Another related posting, by 'Tetranitrate', reads:

480 entries and counting

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:00:38 +0000

The entries are still coming in thick and fast for the Apple iPod Competition.

We now have more than 480 entries for the comp, but note that the last day for entering is Friday June 13.

The winner is chosen at random, so there really is no reason not to take your chances and enter the competition.

Click here to enter and for more information.

Touch-switch decoders and other ingenious Circuit Design Ideas

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:42:36 +0000

More inspiration for designing your own circuits - the three latest Circuit Design Ideas that have been added to the site.

They involve implementing a touch-switch decoder with no external components, a simple RS-232-to-TTL converter that tests UARTs using a PC's serial port for power, and a bit-shifting-based method for fast integer multiplying, and multiplying by fractions.

Capacitive touch switch uses CPLD, courtesy of Rafael Camarota, Altera, San Jose, CA; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

RS-232-to-TTL converter tests UARTs with a PC, courtesy of Matthieu Bienvenüe, Malissard, France; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Bit-shifting method performs fast integer multiplying by fractions in C, courtesy of Aaron Lager, Panamax Furman, Santa Rosa, CA; Edited by Charles H Small and Fran Granville

Most Popular Gadget Freaks ever

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:10:33 +0000

This month sees the one year anniversary of Gadget Freak. During the past twelve months, this blog has seen everything from gadgets for your kitchen, to designs for your car, and we've even taken you to the outer reaches of the universe.

With such a variety of electronic designs nestled in these pages, we ~~did what all lazy journalists do~~ decided to take a walk down memory lane and find out what were the most popular Gadget Freaks since our launch - as chosen by you.

Buckle your seatbelts, everyone - you're in for a bumpy ride.