Felix takes his hand to the soldering iron, picks up Beagleboard.org's Pocket Beagle and assembles a drum sequencer with the help of the Bela Mini audio cape. With a laser-engraved case, hands-on assistance from S. Astrid Bin and a custom-designe...
Video killed the radio star, but podcasts revived him. Roderick Mann combined his love for podcasts with the beauty and tactility of old radios in Podtique.
Podtique has the body of a 1936 Goldentone radio, but most of its guts have been replaced by modern components. Roderick used a BeagleBone Black to store and play podcasts. He also used an Audio Technica codec, a Sparkfun amplifier and a cheap 4″ speaker.
As I said, the Podtique doesn’t stream audio from podcast feeds. Instead Roderick loads podcasts as mp3 files organized into playlists on the BeagleBone Black, then “tunes in” to them using the frequency switch knob on the radio. The beauty of Roderick’s work is that he simulated the sounds of switching between radio stations. As you switch from one playlist to another, Podtique gradually reduces the sound of the current playlist, adds static noise and then gradually increases the sound of the next playlist.
Get off my lawn and head to Roderick’s blog for more on Podtique. For those interested in using a BeagleBone for a similar project, Roderick says he’s willing to make a custom cape (a BeagleBone add-on board) that has a DAC, amplifier, LED interface, power management and battery charging if he receives enough demand for it.
A while back we featured a robot vehicle that was made to be driven by a parrot. This one’s meant for fishes. Image recognition specialist Studio diip made Fish on Wheels to showcase its prowess in its field. The vehicle moves by following the movement of the fish inside the tank.
A webcam positioned above the tank feeds video to a Beagleboard, which analyzes the position of the fish by contrasting the animal’s body with the bottom of the tank. The instructions are then sent to the vehicle itself, which is powered by an Arduino.
This summer, watch as Nemo is awakened from cryogenic sleep in 2099 to search for the remains of Wall-E under the ocean and use it to beat the tyrannical ruler Lightning McQueen in Finding Nemo 2: Cars 2: Wall-E 2: Judgment Day.
The BeagleBone might be just the piece of kit for the DIY set itching to boot Linux in 10 seconds, but the freshly unveiled BeagleBone Black packs an even greater punch -- and the same speedy start times -- at just half the price of its predecessor. The $45 credit card-sized package totes a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 3D graphics accelerator, a pair of PRU 32-bit RISC CPUs, 2GB of built-in storage, a microSD slot and 512MB of RAM. Connectivity-wise, the canine-themed board carries support for USB, Ethernet, micro-HDMI and two 46 pin headers. Those pining for hardware flexibility can make use of the platform's existing "cape" hardware add-ons. Though it ships from Texas Instruments with Angstrom Linux on board, it's also tuned to support Android and Ubuntu, and arrives pre-loaded with the Cloud9 IDE. BeagleBone Black is already up for grabs in limited quantities, but it's expected to ship en masse by the end of May. Hit the second source link to start ordering, or head past the break for a video tour of the pint-sized computer.
Laser tripwire security systems can be expensive propositions that don't always work as planned -- just ask Raytheon, which saw its $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System for JFK International Airport undermined by one wayward jet skier. Taking that as a form of dare, Justin Huynh and teammates at Liquidware have devised a much cheaper (if also much smaller) tripwire of their own. Any interruption of a laser pointer's beam is caught by an Arduino light sensor that promptly sends the alert to an Android-running BeagleBoard xM; if a toy like Bruce the shark dares cross the line, the BeagleBoard sends a Twitter message to let the authorities, or at least Huynh, clamp down on the trespasser. The invention won't replace Raytheon's handiwork anytime soon, although Huynh notes that additional or more powerful sensors could theoretically catch real, muscle-bound sharks and not just their plastic counterparts. The supply checklist and source code are waiting on the company's project page below, so those who'd like to ward off miniature invasions can get started today.
Arduino has shields and now BeagleBone has capes. The Cortex A8-based hobbyist board has earned a number of fans for its speed and affordability. Now it's adding simple versatility with 20 expansion capes, ranging from touchscreens, to cameras and even weather stations. Some have been available for some time, but the latest -- the Camera Cape -- allows you to easily capture 3.1 megapixel images. Obviously, the perfect partner cape would be one of the several displays available, such as the seven-inch 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen. Really, they're essential if you hope to preview your photos before snapping them. To check out all the available boards hit up the source link, and check out the PR after the break.
Quadrocopters haven't exactly opened the skies for DIY exploration so much as they have for acrobatic feats, but the OpenROV project is hoping to make the briny depths friendlier for aspiring explorers and educators alike. The open source rover, spearheaded by NASA engineer and researcher Eric Stackpole, sinks to depths of up to 300 feet (100 meters), runs on eight C-cell batteries for approximately 1.5 hours and can clip by at three feet (one meter) per second. Within the laser-cut acrylic frame, a sealed cylinder houses a BeagleBone, HD webcam and LED lights. This all weighs in at 5.5 pounds and is piloted using a web browser and video feed. The footage is then piped up to a laptop that tethers the vehicle to the shore. Pre-orders for OpenROV 2.3 kits will be taken through Kickstarter later this summer at $750 apiece, though there are plans to sell fully assembled units. For now, explorers can register their interest at the link below and impatient Jacques Cousteaus will be pleased to know that all files necessary to build version 2.2 are available to download now.
Have you ever wished that cameras could capture not only an image of the scene in front of them, but also describe it to you in plain English? Ok, what if it bypassed the whole "photo" thing and just spit out a slip of paper with words on it? Well, if you're still interested, the impressive Matt Richardson (of Make fame) has a project right up your alley. The Descriptive Camera is a relatively simple device really. A Logitech webcam is connected to a BeagleBone dev board, which is in turn plugged into a thermal printer from Adafruit. Obviously, the tech required to analyze a scene recognize the objects then convert that pile of pixels into a slice prose is outside of the budget and capability of your average DIY project. So Matt turned instead to Mechanical Turk, Amazon's marketplace for HITs or Human Intelligence Tasks. Images captured by the cam are uploaded via the BeagleBone, where an actual person describes what he or she sees and the resulting literature is printed out. For more details and images check out the source.
Felix takes his hand to the soldering iron, picks up Beagleboard.org's Pocket Beagle and assembles a drum sequencer with the help of the Bela Mini audio cape. With a laser-engraved case, hands-on assistance from S. Astrid Bin and a custom-designe...
