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.
6,973 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/hack-club-grants-encourage-open-source-pcb-designs-by-teens/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/math-you-can-wear-fibonacci-spiral-led-badge/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/rock-tumbler-doubles-as-ice-cream-maker/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/keebin-with-kristina-the-one-with-the-mouse-cropad/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Battery powered current sense amplifier
This device is used to amplify the voltage drop across a shunt resistor, which can be useful for measuring very small currents
https://hackaday.io/project/191566-battery-powered-current-sense-amplifier
Tomi Engdahl says:
2FA_Sidecar
A Mini Keyboard that types two factor one time passwords for you
https://hackaday.io/project/191580-2fasidecar
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/smart-sphere-or-magnetic-magic/
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https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/bringing-back-the-minitel/
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https://hackaday.com/2023/06/19/whats-in-a-slip-ring/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/20/hackaday-prize-2023-sleek-macro-pad-makes-2fa-a-little-easier/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Volumetric Display With A Star Wars Look And Feel
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/20/a-volumetric-display-with-a-star-wars-look-and-feel/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/20/modular-keyboard-and-custom-game-controller/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blood Pressure Monitor For Under $1
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/20/blood-pressure-monitor-for-under-1/
Medical equipment is not generally known for being inexpensive, with various imaging systems usually weighing in at over a million dollars, and even relatively simpler pieces of technology like digital thermometers, stethoscopes, and pulse oximeters coming in somewhere around $50. As the general pace of technological improvement continues on we expect marginal decreases in costs, but every now and then a revolutionary piece of technology will drop the cost of something like a blood pressure monitor by over an order of magnitude.
Typically a blood pressure monitor involves a cuff that pressurizes against a patient’s arm, and measures the physical pressure of the blood as the heart forces blood through the area restricted by the cuff. But there are some ways to measure blood pressure by proxy, instead of directly. This device, a small piece of plastic with a cost of less than a dollar, attaches to a smartphone near the camera sensor and flashlight. By pressing a finger onto the device, the smartphone uses the flashlight and the camera in tandem to measure subtle changes in the skin, which can be processed in an app to approximate blood pressure.
Ultra low-cost smartphone attachment measures blood pressure at home
Clever use of physics uses pressure on the skin and optics to track blood flow.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/06/ultra-low-cost-smartphone-attachment-measures-blood-pressure-at-home/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/21/no-frills-autonomous-lawnmower-gets-the-job-done/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/21/congratulations-to-our-op-amp-challenge-winners/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/21/3d-printed-machine-shows-how-braiding-is-done/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/21/dingoquadruped-is-a-cheap-canine-like-robot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/20/punched-cards-are-in-the-cloud-with-this-arduino/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/100064751314152/posts/pfbid0zTwRFopg8Rs3LoHjyfbPjCuDnTc1sDtdwCNKqu5BTbBVgftGd6Hps3Wo7Y12TP53l/
3D printing YouTuber made a fairly contentious claim in a video about the state of open source hardware and software: namely that it’s not viable “anymore”. You can watch his video for more nuance, but the basic claim is that there are so many firms who are reaping the benefits of open designs and code that the people who are actually doing the work can’t afford to make a living anymore….
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/24/open-source-and-giving-back/?fbclid=IwAR1wzhoftoNpXseI0m4cU2yV189a2zfl4NnpunRbbmURz56_bfKZQutQq5U
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.io/project/191085-braillerap-diy-braille-embosser
Tomi Engdahl says:
Geiger counter
Radiation measurement device w/ Raspberry Pi Pico and STS-5 tube
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.io/project/191626-pycoboy-picopad-clone
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM Devboard From a Used-up Temperature Logger
Turning a piece of electronic waste into a free ARM development board.
https://hackaday.io/project/191592-arm-devboard-from-a-used-up-temperature-logger
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/21/a-pico-based-zx-spectrum-emulator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/22/dual-channel-pov-display-also-has-nixie-tubes/
Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Making a PCB Motor spin 30,000 RPM FASTER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7GHqq28uU
00:00 Introduction
00:27 Brushless Motor Basic
01:27 Sensored
02:10 One-chip Sensored
04:48 Sensorless
09:24 One-chip Sensorless
12:04 Thrust
12:41 Slow PCB Motor
13:12 Conclusion
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/26/never-drill-in-the-wrong-place-with-this-camera/
http://johnmcnelly.com/drill-press-camera/
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How Hardware Testing Got Plugged Into A Continuous Integration Framework
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart leash
Simple navigation for pet robots
https://hackaday.io/project/188284-smart-leash
Tomi Engdahl says:
Echo Sounder Buoys: Upcycling Playbook
https://hackaday.io/project/190485-echo-sounder-buoys-upcycling-playbook
Echo sounding buoys are deployed in the tens of thousands annually. This page will show how to upgrade them for valuable marine research.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10kW (30kW pulse) Electronic Load
https://hackaday.io/project/191642-10kw-30kw-pulse-electronic-load
All we need to do get some big resistors and connect them up in different combinations, right?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dentist Tool Hardware Inspires Non-Slip Probe Tips
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/26/dentist-tool-hardware-inspires-non-slip-probe-tips/
Cross-pollination between different industries can yield interesting innovations, and a few years ago [John Wiltrout] developed some non-slip meter probe adapters. He recently used our tips line to share some details that you won’t see elsewhere, letting us know how the idea came to be.
It started with [John] being frustrated by issues that will sound familiar: probes did not always want to stay in place, and had a tendency to skid around at the slightest provocation. This behavior gets only more frustrating as boards and components get smaller. John was also frustrated by the general inability to reliably probe through barriers like solder masking, oxidation, and conformal treatments on circuit boards.
The Non-Slip Probe Tips make it to market!
https://community.element14.com/members-area/personalblogs/b/john-wiltrout-s-blog/posts/the-non-slip-probe-tips-make-it-to-market