Duas boas ideias, um Motor de Foguetão impresso em 3D, colheres de pau, e um Vuímetro

Isto é, sem dúvida, a melhor ideia que vi, este ano...

Reparem nestes Robots minimalistas, dica do nosso amigo Alan Metcalfe, muito bem-concebidos, que se auto-configuram, até formarem o que se queira:

A surprisingly simple scheme for self-assembling robots

Small cubes with no exterior moving parts can propel themselves forward, jump on top of each other, and snap together to form arbitrary shapes.

In 2011, when a MIT senior named John Romanishin proposed a new design for modular robots to his robotics professor, Daniela Rus, she said: “that can’t be done.” Two years later, Rus showed her colleague Hod Lipson, a robotics researcher at Cornell University, a video of prototype robots, based on Romanishin’s design, in action. “That can’t be done,” Lipson said.

In November, Romanishin — now a research scientist in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) — Rus, and postdoc Kyle Gilpin will establish once and for all that it can be done, when they present a paper describing their new robots at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

http://www.dpaonthenet.net/article/62316/A-surprisingly-simple-scheme-for-self-assembling-robots.aspx

"quem não tem que fazer, faça colheres de pau!" reza o Ditado, mas olhem que fazer estas colheres, é uma habilidade que pode ser muito útil, dadas as restricões de certa legislações abelhudas...

E porque é divertido fazer algo útil!

DIY: Hand-carved wooden spoons

Fairgoods

 Easy tutorial on how to make your own gorgeous hand-carved wooden spoon.

  WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• A piece of wood. Walnut is used for this tutorial, but any hard wood will do since they carve very nicely and can withstand pressure on the handle, which means they won't snap.
• Carving tools: carving knife and spoon gouges (which can be purchased at Lee Valley).
• Sandpaper of various grit size (320, 180, and 120 grit).
• Pencil
• Wood rasp (nice to have, but not necessary).
• Small rag and food-safe oil.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Hand-carved-wooden-spoons/

E para acabar por hoje, um Vuímetro analogo, com LEDs, para os vossos Projectos sonoros:

Led - VU Meter

Dufva

In this instructable, I will show you how to put together an analog VU-meter.
You can plug any light in (with the right voltage ofc) and it will work.

A Vu-Meter is simply measuring the volume of the sound, the bigger the voltages, the higher the light will go on the bar. :)
Though, getting it accurate takes calibrating and such, and I will not go over that.

This is as simple as it gets, and it's pretty awesome!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Led-VU-Meter-2/