Just like the garage computer explosion of the 70’s through the 80’s, which brought us such things as Apple, pong, Bill Gate’s hair, and the proliferation of personal computers, the maker movement is the new garage hardware explosion. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement.
Enthusiasts who want to build the products they want, from shortwave radios to personal computers, and to tweak products they’ve bought to make them even better, have long been a part of the electronics industry. By all measures, garage-style innovation remains alive and well today, as “makers” as they are called continue to turn out contemporary gadgets, including 3D printers, drones, and embedded electronics devices.
Making is about individual Do-It-Yourselfers being able to design and create with tools that were, as of a decade or two ago, only available to large, cash-rich corporations: CAD tools, CNC mills, 3D printers, low-quantity PCB manufacturing, open hardware such as Arduinos and similar inexpensive development boards – all items that have made it easier and relatively cheap to make whatever we imagine. For individuals, maker tools can change how someone views their home or their hobbies. The world is ours to make. Humans are genetically wired to be makers. The maker movement is simply the result of making powerful building and communication tools accessible to the masses. There are plenty of projects from makers that show good engineering: Take this Arduino board with tremendous potential, developed by a young maker, as example.
The maker movement is a catalyst to democratize entrepreneurship as these do-it-yourself electronics are proving to be hot sellers: In the past year, unit sales for 3D printing related products; Arduino units, parts and supplies; Raspberry Pi boards; drones and quadcopters; and robotics goods are all on a growth curve in terms of eBay sales. There are many Kickstarter maker projects going on. The Pebble E-Paper Watch raises $10 million. The LIFX smartphone-controlled LED bulb raises $1.3 million. What do these products have in common? They both secured funding through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that is changing the game for entrepreneurs. Both products were created by makers who seek to commercialize their inventions. These “startup makers” iterate on prototypes with high-end tools at professional makerspaces.
For companies to remain competitive, they need to embrace the maker movement or leave themselves open for disruption. Researchers found that 96 percent of business leaders believe new technologies have forever changed the rules of business by democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations. - You’ve got to figure out agile innovation. Maybe history is repeating itself as the types of products being sold reminded us of the computer tinkering that used to be happening in the 1970s to 1990s – similar in terms of demographics, tending to be young people, and low budget. Now the do-it-yourself category is deeply intertwined with the electronics industry. Open hardware is in the center in maker movement – we need open hardware designs! How can you publish your designs and still do business with it? Open source ecosystem markets behave differently and therefore require a very different playbook than traditional tech company: the differentiation is not in the technology you build; it is in the process and expertise that you slowly amass over an extended period of time.
By democratizing the product development process, helping these developments get to market, and transforming the way we educate the next generation of innovators, we will usher in the next industrial revolution. The world is ours to make. Earlier the PC created a new generation of software developers who could innovate in the digital world without the limitations of the physical world (virtually no marginal cost, software has become the great equalizer for innovation. Now advances in 3D printing and low-cost microcontrollers as well as the ubiquity of advanced sensors are enabling makers to bridge software with the physical world. Furthermore, the proliferation of wireless connectivity and cloud computing is helping makers contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re even beginning to see maker designs and devices entering those markets once thought to be off-limits, like medical.
Image source: The world is ours to make: The impact of the maker movement – EDN Magazine
In fact, many parents have engaged in the maker movement with their kids because they know that the education system is not adequately preparing their children for the 21st century. There is a strong movement to spread this DIY idea widely. The Maker Faire, which launched in the Bay Area in California in 2006, underlined the popularity of the movement by drawing a record 215,000 people combined in the Bay Area and New York events in 2014. There’s Maker Media, MakerCon, MakerShed, Make: magazine and 131 Maker Faire events that take place throughout the world. Now the founders of all these Makers want a way to connect what they refer to as the “maker movement” online. So Maker Media created a social network called MakerSpace, a Facebook-like social network that connects participants of Maker Faire in one online community. The new site will allow participants of the event to display their work online. There are many other similar sites that allow yout to present yout work fron Hackaday to your own blog. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement—although makers can be found everywhere in the world.
7,074 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mini Ultrasonic Levitation Kit Is An Exercise In Sound Minimalist Design
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/06/mini-ultrasonic-levitation-kit-is-an-exercise-in-sound-minimalist-design/
The kit itself is made using through-hole components, with an ATTiny85 as the core microcontroller to drive two TCT40-16T ultrasonic speakers, and a MAX232 drives the transducers
The whole device is powered through the USB connection, and the ultrasonic speakers output in the 40KHz range providing enough power to levitate small Styrofoam balls.
The project is, by design, an exercise in minimalism, providing a kit that can be easily assembled, and providing code that can be easily flashed onto the device, examined and modified. All the design files, including the bill of materials, KiCAD schematics, and source code are provided under an open source hardware license
https://olimex.wordpress.com/2022/10/12/ultrasound-levitation-soldering-kits-will-be-present-at-openfest-for-soldering-workshop/
https://github.com/OLIMEX/Ultra-Sound-Levitation
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/06/recycled-chairs-bring-the-subway-to-your-living-room/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/06/rope-core-drum-machine/
Rope memory is the read-only sibling to magnetic core memory, the memory technology used to build some beloved computers back in the 60s and early 70s. Rope core isn’t programmed by magnetizing the ceramic donuts, but by weaving a wire through them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LaserProjector V2
Battery-powered, ESP32-based laser XY scanner with auto-homing and wireless control
https://hackaday.io/project/188046-laserprojector-v2
LaserProjector V2 is a battery-powered, ESP32-based laser XY scanner using stepper motors to deflect the beam. It has auto-homing functionality, and can be controlled wirelessly (Wi-Fi & Bluetooth).
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/an-rp2040-powered-pick-and-place/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/overengineered-fume-extractor-version-2/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/smelting-solar-style/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Those NES DIP Chips Were Reduced To QFNs
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/how-those-nes-dip-chips-were-reduced-to-qfns/
The world of console modding leads us to some extremely impressive projects, and a recent one we featured of note was a portable NES produced by [Redherring32]. It was special because the original NES custom DIP chips had been sanded down to something like a surface-mount QFN package.
https://github.com/Redherring32/TinyTendo/wiki/Chip-Trimming-Guide
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dosimetry: Measuring Radiation
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/dosimetry-measuring-radiation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
M.2 For Hackers – Cards
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/m-2-for-hackers-cards/
Last time, I’ve explained everything you could want to know if you wanted to put an M.2 socket onto your board. Today, let’s build M.2 cards! There’s a myriad of M.2 sockets out there that are just asking for a special card to be inserted into it, and perhaps, it’s going to be your creation that fits.
Why Build Cards?
Laptops and other x86 mainboards often come with M.2 slots. Do you have a free B-key slot? You can put a RP2040 and bunch of sensors on a B-key PCB as an experimental platform carried safely inside your laptop. Would you like to do some more advanced FPGA experiments? Here’s a miniscule FPGA board that fits inside your laptop and lets you play with PCIe on this same laptop – the entire setup having a super low footprint. Are you looking for an extra PCIe link because you’re reusing your laptop as a home server? Again, your WiFi slot will provide you with that. Want to get some PCIe out of a SteamDeck? Building a M-key 2230 card seems to be your only hope!
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/09/clever-control-loop-makes-this-spinning-drone-fault-tolerant/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/08/3d-printed-shelf-connector/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/08/keebin-with-kristina-the-one-with-the-pumpkin-keyboard/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/08/ir-remote-tester-helps-you-crack-the-code/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.io/project/179020-10mbps-over-1km-on-a-single-pair-of-wires
Tomi Engdahl says:
LUXE Gen-6
A new breed of robotic hand
https://hackaday.io/project/180700-luxe-gen-6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sputtering Magnetron
https://hackaday.io/project/188141-sputtering-magnetron
This is a project where I built a sputtering magnetron to deposit thin conductive films on surfaces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/09/diy-spacenavigator-brings-the-freedom/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/09/1-pov-display-goes-round-and-round/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/10/automatic-candy-dispenser-takes-the-hard-work-out-of-halloween/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/09/detecting-radiation-for-fun-and-profit/
FNIRSI Radiation Detector – unboxing, test, teardown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TynpfXSBdhU
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/09/retrotechtacular-programming-by-card/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Overengineered Fume Extractor Project
Made an Overengineered Fume Extractor from PCBs, Fan is controlled by Attiny13, this setup has an onboard battery for wire-free operation
https://www.hackster.io/Arnov_Sharma_makes/overengineered-fume-extractor-project-1da466
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/10/a-diy-equatorial-mount-using-harmonic-drives/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/10/upgrading-a-line-trimmer-with-3d-printed-parts/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/10/dot-painting-graffiti-machine-is-wonderfully-simple/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/11/surface-mount-light-breathes-life-into-your-project/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/11/oh-snap-3d-printing-snapping-parts-without-breakage/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/11/09/increase-a-robot-arms-payload-capacity-by-relocating-motors/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.hackster.io/news/renze-nicolai-s-i2c-tiny-usb-firmware-rewrite-turns-a-raspberry-pi-pico-into-an-i2c-usb-adapter-3ce34137dc8f
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/cancel-pwm-dac-ripple-and-power-supply-noise/
Tomi Engdahl says:
James Bruton Finds Out If Walking Robots Are Easy to Build
The YouTuber thought he could do better than Tesla’s Optimus and this chonky robot is the result.
https://www.hackster.io/news/james-bruton-finds-out-if-walking-robots-are-easy-to-build-35d61b26fe29
Tesla recently announced a walking humanoid robot called Optimus, and is implying that it will actually build and sell the thing for around $20,000. That is almost certainly just hype and Optimus will likely end up as vaporware, but it does raise a question: how easy is it to build a walking robot? Technology has come a long way over the years and what used to be state-of-the-art is now within reach of hobbyists. The inspired YouTube roboticist James Bruton to construct the cheapest and simplest walking robot he could devise.
https://youtu.be/WJKhpGFg4uU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Patches for 6 0-days under active exploit are now available from Microsoft
Exchange, Windows, and a bunch of other Microsoft software all affected.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/11/patches-for-6-zero-days-under-active-exploit-are-now-available-from-microsoft/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.hackster.io/news/1-pov-display-5b7fd366a691
Tomi Engdahl says:
NVIDIA Launches New Isaac ROS Developer Preview with Open Source Robot Management
Based on the VDA5050 standard and MQTT, Mission Dispatch and Client aim to make management of ROS 2-based mobile robots easy.
https://www.hackster.io/news/nvidia-launches-new-isaac-ros-developer-preview-with-open-source-robot-management-2cf9e7ed0ec9
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/11/scratch-built-wind-turbine-makes-power-and-turns-heads/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/11/3d-printer-repurposed-for-light-duty-lab-automation-tasks/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/12/bicycle-inner-tube-becomes-rugged-pencil-case/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/12/bringing-up-an-old-motherboard-is-a-delicate-process/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/12/a-private-view-of-a-public-transport-sign/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.io/project/184164-ultimate-back-scratcher
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/13/go-fly-a-kite/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/12/protect-your-property-with-this-fire-breathing-billionaire/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/13/rfid-sticker-on-bike-helmet-grants-garage-access/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/13/diy-usb-charging-the-right-way/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/13/power-up-vintage-electronics-less-unsafely-with-a-dim-bulb-tester/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/13/dial-up-internet-over-whatsapp/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/12/diy-streamdeck-helps-you-professionalize-your-twitch-show/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Single Board Computer From A TV
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/14/a-single-board-computer-from-a-tv/
It is an annoyance for some members of our community, that it has become almost impossible to buy a TV that’s not a so-called “smart” TV. These units contain a computer as well as the display, and it boots into a locked-down OS with a user interface and a load of streaming apps. Can anything be done with them other than what their manufacturers intended? [Nina Kalinina] has managed it, taking the mainboard from a discarded LCD TV and liberating the ARM Linux board within.
Single-board computer from a TV
https://github.com/ninakali/chip_scavenger/blob/main/src/scavenge/008_tv/index.md
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/14/colecovision-barn-find-gets-wireless-makeover/