Project Logs

Collapse

• Downtown LA Mini Maker Faire

  Roger • 11/26/2018 at 22:25 • 0 comments

  DTLA Mini Maker Faire is this coming Saturday! Many Hackaday LA regulars will be present. Some will have booths, some holding workshops, some giving talks, plus combinations thereof.

  Come to Central Los Angeles Public Library to see all the fun, tucked in to various spaces in and around the library adding a little flavor of scavenger hunting to the experience.

• Hackaday LA + Tindie Bring-A-Hack Happy Hour

  Roger • 10/26/2018 at 08:07 • 0 comments

  For our October 2018 meetup, we gathered at King's Row Gastropub with our hacks and chat. Here are some of the projects that made an appearance.

  David bought the latest evolution in his exploration of 3D printing on flexible media.

  Tim brought his Hackaday Prize 2018 musical instrument challenge semifinalist "Stylish!"

  Emily brought her bird skull project. Two bird skulls (made by natural biology, not 3D-printing) now have their beaks articulated by Arduino-controlled servos. They move slowly at idle, but when the infrared sensor detects nearby motion, the birds become agitated. Plus a Numitron tube, just because.

  Merrick brought a ball-launching robot that was his school project years ago and being brought back to life. The school kept all the electronics, but that was fine because they'd be old and in need of update by now anyway, which is happening. 

  Jackie brought a big fluffy cloud lit from within by a color changing LED strip.

  Tod brought this circular screen displaying a moving eyeball (its iris responds to light level and everything.)

  Meneki Neko stopped by

  Jasmine brought a light-up corset:
  

  Laura is new to hardware hacking, but she's off to a great start with this project: a light level sensor that wirelessly feeds data to an light level indicator LED elsewhere in her house.
  

  Phoebe the autonomous navigating parts bin robot was also present. Due to risk of getting stepped on, Phoebe sat still on a table instead of running around on the ground. However, a laptop was set up so people can see a plot of distance data from Phoebe's spinning LIDAR distance scanner.

  Next up: the Hackaday Superconference!

• Hackaday LA May 2018 Meet

  Roger • 06/02/2018 at 01:46 • 0 comments

  This month we took a break from our usual circuits and electrons to explore cells and emotions. [Katie] opened the evening with events and other announcements. The Hackaday Prize is still ongoing, and the focus is just about to shift from Robotics Module to Power Harvesting. An exciting announcement for regular attendees of the meet delivered by [Dan] is that the venue, Supplyframe DesignLab, is turning its street-facing space into a design+technology gallery whose opening night will be a part of LA Design Festival.
  
  

  Dr. [Rajib Schubert] was our first speaker and he managed to capture this audience's attention by rephrasing his work in terms electronics tinkerers understand: technology and techniques for cell exploration are reaching the point where researchers like himself can start looking at individual neurons in the brain, manipulation them, and watch them react. This is akin to cutting open a microprocessor, modify a transistor, and monitor effects of the change while the computer continued running. Major advances in this field have taken place within the past 5-10 years and pace of advancement are not slowing down. He is very enthusiastic to spread this knowledge of the protein-and-blood field to the silicon-and-electricity field because he sees clear mapping between the two and he believes their convergence is inevitable. People with interest and skills in either field can ramp up on the other and join the cadre of pioneers.

  In the Q&A session that followed, some in the audience were very excited by the promise but some were concerned about applying this technology ethically and what the risks might be. Dr. Schubert is frank in that the ethics discussion is happening but is outpaced by tremendous technological development. This made for very lively discussions after the talks.

  On a similar vein of caution about technology, [Christine Sunu] presented stories about robots and people who form connections to them. Our brains evolved to recognize other people and recognize things. Robots show signs of both and this effect can be disconcerting. Human beings have become attached to these objects because they're no longer purely inanimate. What does it mean for society when people would treat their Roomba robot vacuum as a child, or invite Amazon Alexa into their house as a trusted advisor? It's not just a disembodied voice, it is an always present point of sale terminal for a retail giant. Are Amazon's interests necessarily aligned with the interests of their users?

  Our two speakers and their amazing talks gave us an evening of thought-provoking discussion. Keep an eye on the Hackaday LA Meetup page for information about future events. If you weren't able to make the meet, we do have a way for you to relive the talks digitally, but the lively intelligent debate afterwards has to be experienced in person.
  

  ---

  Dr. Rajib Shubert - Virus stamping for targeted single cell infection
  

  ---

  Christine Sunu - Emotive Robots
  

• Hackaday LA April 2018 Meet

  Roger • 04/18/2018 at 22:15 • 0 comments

  [Katie] opened this month's meet with announcements, local events of interest, and a reminder that Hackaday Prize is in progress. The Open Hardware Design Challenge is about to conclude and it'll move on to the Robotics Module Challenge in a few days.

  Our first speaker was [Susan Hough] who works for United States Geological Survey at their local Pasadena office. We received an overview of what geologists have been thinking about and looking for when examining earthquakes that might have been induced or triggered by human activity. Recent headlines focused on the sharp rise of small earthquakes in Oklahoma correlated with hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') for oil and gas production. [Susan] talked about her research looking into Southern California's past as an oil producer in the early to mid 1900s. There was a clear correlation between oil production and earthquake activity and there are lessons applicable to what's happening today.

  Part of helping us get an intuitive grasp of what might be happening in the grounds far below. [Susan] illustration how it's possible to increase pressure without increasing volume by taking a can of carbonated beverage and started shaking it. Fortunately for the front-row audience, she did not proceed to demonstrate pressure release.

  After being enlightened on earthquakes, we got to find out about the Willo project. Regular attendees of Hackaday LA meets at Supplyframe DesignLab have seen bits and pieces of this project around the lab over past months and now we finally see how it all comes together. It's great to have the DesignLab staff take the stage and talk about what they've done. 

  [Dan Hienzsch] opened with a project overview and iterating through early prototypes. Then he walked us through the process of fabricating Willo's aluminum base and all the lessons he learned on the way. 

  One highlight was seeing Findchips Pro in action. This is a product of event sponsor Supplyframe and seeing how it helps a project like Willo gives us an idea why supporting the Hackaday community is in Supplyframe's business interest. One day, the hobbyists and tinkerers will become customers!
  

  [Giovanni Salinas] then took the microphone and gave us an overview of designing for manufacturing, iterating through design of the product to meet all objectives from industrial design to making sure it can be built with the equipment at the lab. Then he dove deep into one specific part of Willo, and his trials and tribulations trying to meet all design objectives while staying within all his constraints.
  

  [Majenta Strongheart] rounded out the story with some of the tooling they had to build in order to help them build Willo. Tooling design is a part of any production, and these machines behind the product is rarely seen by the public and usually underappreciated. Today she made sure these unsung heroes got a turn in the spotlight.
  

  The table at the front of the room was set up with several of these (well used) tools, as well as Willo prototypes and some failed pieces that each taught their own valuable lesson on product manufacturing.

  Two sets of Willo were set up in the hallway so we could see the triumphant conclusion of all those sweat and tears.

  Keep an eye on Hackaday LA's Meetup page for information on our next meet!

• Hackaday LA Meet for April 2018 Set

  Roger • 04/11/2018 at 20:58 • 0 comments

  The April 2018 meet for Hackaday LA is coming up next week! RSVP on meetup.com.

• Hackaday LA March 2018 Meet

  Roger • 03/28/2018 at 09:08 • 0 comments

  We had another great meetup at SupplyFrame DesignLab for Hackaday LA. [Katie] opened the evening's official presentations with a warm welcome to all, followed by announcements with [Majenta]. The biggest item: inviting everyone to enter something fun, interesting, and "Build Hope" for 2018 Hackaday Prize.

  Our first talk of the evening was given by the people behind Conservify.org. They focus on building open-source solutions for conservationists all across the spectrum: from professional scientists to interested citizens. This work takes them all over the world, helping to document research expeditions, and the first speaker [Shah] took the audience on a globetrotting journey. Here he is talking about going into the Okavango with National Geographic.

  Their work collecting data and making it usable for both scientific analysis and public outreach storytelling attracted attention from more than the people of National Geographic. [Jacob] explained that from this and other projects, Conservify realized there's a need for an open-source platform to help others do the same for their expeditions. This grew into their FieldKit project whose development work is open and accessible on Github and [Jacob] took the audience through a high-level tour of its goals and components of its implementation.

  Then [Alex] took the microphone to talk through growing up with open software and hardware. A journey that covered early 3D printing, simple educational electronics, and his own multirotor aircraft design. Software story ranged from Blender (which was not designed for CAD work), to Solidworks (very NOT free), then Onshape (free though not open source) and OpenSCAD (free and open.) This journey of experimentation, discovery, and community eventually led to his underwater glider project which was the grand winner of 2017 Hackaday Prize.

  If you're in the Los Angeles area, keep an eye on Hackaday LA's Meetup page for information on the next event. If you're not able to make it physically, you can always attend digitally via YouTube.

• Hackaday LA for World Create Day 2018

  Roger • 03/19/2018 at 02:00 • 1 comment

  We had a fun gathering for World Create Day hosted by SupplyFrame DesignLab. People started congregating to discuss ideas before the event even officially started. When the start time rolled around, [Katie] did a quick introduction then encouraged everyone to resume brainstorming together. 

  Raw ideas don't photograph well, but thankfully some attendees brought projects as conversation starters. [Diego] of brought in the test rig for his MakerMuscle project. This particular unit has run approximately 50,000 cycles and will continue running until [Diego] learns which part fails first. MakerMuscle was Kickstarted a while back and is a candidate for integrating into a project for the Robotics Module Challenge portion of Hackaday Prize.
  

  In the spirit of Hackaday Prize Power Harvesting Challenge, we had the carcass of an old hard drive hooked up to an oscilloscope. The task is to determine how much power (if any) can be feasibly generated by spinning the hard drive motor with an external force. There were discussions around what we can use to turn this small motor-now-generator. From simple hand-operated crank to wind turbines built using salvaged fans.

  [Robert] brought in one of his projects, two beefy HVAC damper actuators controlled by an Arduino. The Arduino has a few temperature sensors and the program decides how to configure his home's air circulation path based on the inside & outside temperatures. The discussion at this table veered into how makers seeking to commercialize ideas (like a smart HVAC damper) have a tall legal wall to climb. From prohibitively expensive product liability insurance, to product certification like Underwriter Laboratories, there are a lot of problems to solve before a product can go to market. Nation of Makers was suggested as a possible venue for help in such things.

  [Kyle] brought in a small scale model of The Tet, a tetrahedral LED-lined frame. A far larger version is planned to be the centerpiece of an upcoming art installation, with its LED pattern choreographed with music and human performers.
  

  [Liam] brought his ISS Above project, which served as a starting point for discussions on projects that make space research projects approachable to everyone: help spread the love of all things space.
  

• World Create Day, March 2018 Meet

  Roger • 03/17/2018 at 01:13 • 0 comments

  Upcoming events:

  There are over 100 meets around the world for Hackaday World Create Day on March 17th, so naturally we would have one at our usual Hackaday LA location. RSVP on meetup.com

  After that, we will have our regular monthly event on March 27th. RSVP on meetup.com

• Hackaday LA February 2018 Meetup

  Roger • 02/28/2018 at 11:01 • 1 comment

  The theme for Hackaday LA's February 2018 meetup turned out to be Robots in Space, as both of our speakers hail from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

  [Michelle Easter] started off with adventures in actuators and specifically the Dual Drive Actuator developed at JPL for their Galileo mission and used in many missions since. The Hackaday crowd is exactly the right audience to geek out along with {Michelle} on nitty-gritty details of actuators like the strain wave gear (Harmonic Drive) mechanism at the heart of one. 

  After talking about spacecraft engineering, she switched gears for final few minutes of her talk and described her unconventional path to a career at JPL. After growing up on a farm and entering the world of fashion, she learned she loved engineering and made a big life change to pursuit that goal. Starting with taking college admission exams at the age of 27 followed by a lot of persistence and hard work to get to where she is. Her message: it is never too late to pursue what you love. In this picture, she described a project that helped bring out her love of engineering: a house for her dog that featured solar-powered ventilation.
  

  [Michelle]'s talk is available on YouTube, but hearing it in person has the bonus of seeing hardware bits up close. She passed around several intricate components that were designed for use in spacecraft but failed space flight certification for one reason or another. So now they're on their own second career as desktop fidget toy by day and Hackaday talk visual aids by night.

  After a spacecraft is built by engineers like [Michelle], they are sent to space and cared for by flight operations engineers like [David Doody]. He talked his audience through Cassini's 20-year mission to explore Saturn. From launch to its fiery end in Saturn's atmosphere, sacrificing itself to ensure no Earth microorganisms would contaminate any Saturn moons that hold promise for extraterrestrial life. Some of these moons are among the top of the list for exploration by future space probes thanks to Cassini's discoveries.
  

  [David] also brought some goodies for people who could attend in person versus watching on YouTube. There was a poster memorializing end of Cassini (with art style inspired by Roy Lichtenstein) that attendees can take home, along with prints of pictures taken by Cassini. There was also a scale model of the probe which we were welcomed to examine but not invited to take home.
  

  Sharing the back table with Cassini memorabilia are projects some attendees have brought to show and tell with other attendees present. These projects are always a fun part of a Hackaday LA meet.

  [Boian Mitov] brought his robots for demonstrating his Visuino development environment.

  [David Shorey] returned with further evolution of his experiments 3D-printing objects fused to various flexible media.

  We are sad that [Lucas Rangit Magasweran] is moving away to Berlin. To salve our pain, he brought in his collection of parts and projects not going to Germany. Tubs of free hardware touched off a feeding frenzy and Lucas is happy to see hardware going home with interested hackers instead of dumped into an electronic waste collection bin.

  Team members of [Robodox] from Granada Hills Charter High School brought their VEX Robotics Competition entry. It emerged victorious this past weekend against other competitors from across the state. They will advance to the next round and compete for international championship. We wish them the best of luck! If anybody wants to do more than wish them luck, additional mentors and sponsors are always welcome.

  After the speakers had finished their talks, [Robodox] gave a demonstration of the robot in action. This was operated under manual control because the robot's autonomous functions were tailored to the specific game board of the competition. For more game...

  Read more »

• Hackaday LA February 2018 Meetup Announced

  Roger • 02/16/2018 at 20:49 • 0 comments

  We have a date for the next Hackaday LA meet: Tuesday, February 27. 

  Get more details and sign up on meetup.com.
  

View all 20 project logs