Inhaltsverzeichnis für #73 in HackSpace

Robots are strange things because, in many ways, they’ve completely taken over our lives. But, on the other hand, it seems like they haven’t because as soon as a robot becomes common, we stop calling it a robot. 3D printers, automatic vacuum cleaners, even many cars, are all robots. They’re machines that are controlled directly by a computer. However, we don’t usually call them robots. This issue, we’re not skirting around the fact. We’re making robots, and we’re calling them exactly that. Raspberry Pi 5 makes a great base for a robot because it’s got enough processing power to churn through almost any sensor input you can throw at it. In this issue, we’re going to test this out by processing image data coming in from two cameras. If that’s…

We’ve got our robot hardware and electronics. Let’s put it all together and get our robot running. One slight issue with Raspberry Pi 5 is that the layout is a bit different to previous versions. Firstly, we want to make sure there’s space for the active cooler; secondly, the ribbon connectors for the cameras are in slightly different positions. This means we can’t just plug the HAT in normally. We could raise up the HAT, but it would have to be pretty high to allow the camera cables to pass underneath. Instead, we opted to simply use header wires to join the GPIO pins and the HAT. It’s not always obvious which GPIO pins are used by a HAT, but fortunately, Adafruit releases the schematics, so we can take a…

Nicola King is a freelance writer and sub-editor. Madly making things for a Christmas fair stall – her sewing machine, knitting needles, and pliers are working at speed. Eco resin is arguably the new kid on the block in terms of resins, with long-established epoxy resins having been popular for some time in the world of crafting. In fact, we’ve even seen makers embedding LED lights in the substance (hsmag.cc/LEDsInResin), to great effect. The difference with eco resin, however, is that it’s just a little kinder to both the user and the environment while still being strong and durable, and it is gaining traction as a go-to compound for makers of all abilities. It also gives a very different finished effect from epoxy resin, with a far more ceramic/stoneware effect,…

hsmag.cc/PipeOrrery Building an orrery is a brilliant way to combine the theoretical complications of maths and astrophysics with the practical elements of woodwork, laser cutting, or whatever other method of making you’re most comfortable with. In this case, the maker has used copper pipes to support the planets on their way around the sun. And it works brilliantly. There’s no motor or computerised element to this build: it’s just a laser-cut plywood base, wooden balls to represent the planets, and that glorious copper piping, T-joints, elbow joints, and end caps, all rotating around a central steel rod.…

ALEXATRON We’re lucky to live in a time when things are easy for makers. Unfortunately, this ease can sort of pigeonhole us into certain things. There are some off-the-shelf screens that are really easy to use, which is great, but it means that everyone’s projects end up looking the same because they’ve used the same screen. It was lovely to see Thomas Burns turning away from this and using an old-fashioned cathode-ray tube. I’m not sure if he’ll see this, but if you’re reading Thomas, it brought a simile to my face, so thanks. Aaron Leeds Ben Says: That really was a beautiful build. There is something a bit special about CRTs. I’m not sure if it’s just looking back to my childhood through rose-tinted glasses, or if it’s because…

As an electronics tinkerer, I get a thrill from perusing the shelves of local charity shops in search of old gadgets I can creatively revamp. I look for things to take apart to see their inner workings, and uncover the system of mechanical and electronic parts that make them function. On one such quest, I came across a dismissed landline telephone with chunky keys, which was practically begging to be hacked into something else. The moment I saw it, ideas started swirling in my head about how I could give it a new life. I initially focused on the keypad alone, thinking it could become a comically oversized numeric pad for a laptop (I might still do this). I would have then been left with a decent, spare speaker and…

Rob Miles has been playing with hardware and software since almost before there was hardware and software. You can find out more about his so-called life at robmiles.com. Rotary dial phones are fashionable again. You can even buy brand new ‘old’ ones based on the original design shown in Figure 1 below. These have dials, but not the weight or the authentic bell sound. The author was completely unaware of this trend when he picked up his red phone. The idea was to retain the external appearance and behaviours but bring the device up to date with all-new internals and some fun behaviours. It seemed to him that there should be room inside for a reasonable amount of computing power, and he was keen to hear the old telephone bell…

PIMORONI £34.50 hsmag.cc/PicoVision Connecting an HDMI display to a microcontroller is a pretty challenging task. The sheer rate of data that has to fly through the wires is daunting, and that’s not taking into account any processing you might want to do on the data. RP2040 manages to do this with its programmable input/output system which attaches state machines to the I/O pins and can shuffle data out without any processor involvement. We’re using the term ‘HDMI’ here because you plug in an HDMI cable and use it with an HDMI monitor. However, for the pedants among you, it is technically using DVI. HDMI is backwards-compatible with DVI, so this needn’t concern you in use. RP2040 is limited by how fast it can run, so you’ll probably find that PicoVision…

hsmag.cc/QRTE Have you ever been to one of those restaurants that don’t have a paper menu, instead inviting you to scan a QR code on your phone? If so, and if you found it as annoying as we do, you could take a leaf out of Guy Dupont’s book. He’s built this delightful machine, the A La QRTE, which scans the QR code, presses it into a simplified format, and prints out a menu on paper, as is right and proper. The device runs on a 12V battery, and uses a QR code reader from Useful Sensors, and an ESP-32 S3 from Seeed Studio to drive the printer module. There’s also a little bit of Python involved that scrapes data from the web and formats it so that it’s printable.…

Wheeled robots are simultaneously complex and simple. The basics of strapping a motor to a computational device and setting it running are usually fairly straightforward. Getting it to move in precisely the way you want, over the terrain you want, to the place you want, is a complex field of study that takes years to master. Everything starts with the motors. These are what drive your robot, so everything else fits around them. What motors you want to use will determine which chassis you want and what electronics you need. Small hobbyist robots usually use one of two categories of motor: plastic motors that are always (and for reasons we don’t understand) yellow, and metal ‘N20’ motors. Both are ‘DC’ motors that will rotate continuously when a voltage is applied.…

GET YOUR RASPBERRY PI 5 NOW! Want to get Raspberry Pi 5 sent to you right now, without waiting for stock? With Priority Boarding, you can order your Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB or 8GB) and it’ll be sent out right away. Raspberry Pi has set aside thousands of Raspberry Pi 5 computers for The MagPi and HackSpace magazine print subscribers to buy. Enough to guarantee every subscriber can get one without going out of stock. How it works! If you take out a print subscription to HackSpace magazine or The MagPi, we’ll send you a unique code in the next few days. Along with the code, you’ll get details of how to use it through our partners (Pi Shop in USA and Canada and the Pi Hut everywhere else). Get…

GAMEROOMSOLUTIONS $649 gameroomsolutions.com If you’re still holding out for a Raspberry Pi 5 retro gaming system, why not start on the enclosure? It’s one thing to get your Raspberry Pi up and running, but it’s a whole other set of skills to house your arcade system in a beautiful enclosure. And nothing looks better than a full-size arcade cabinet. Not everybody has enough tools or space to build a full-size arcade cabinet. But if you have the room in your house, you can still get your hands on a customizable, full-size arcade cabinet. These kits by Game Room Solutions offer a variety of shapes and customizability. And best of all, you don’t need any special tools to assemble them. You’ll still have to supply your own electronics, but in most…