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.
7,114 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/01/vintage-spectrometer-gets-modern-interface-upgrade/
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Tomi Engdahl says:
bbot
A 2-wheel balancing robot
https://hackaday.io/project/178789-bbot
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.io/project/178389-blind-motor
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/18650-brings-esp8266-wifi-repeater-along-for-the-ride/
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Open Source Smart Watch You’d Actually Wear
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/an-open-source-smart-watch-youd-actually-wear/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/cnc-chainsaw/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Code Your Own Twitch Chat Controls For Robots — Or Just About Anything Else!
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/code-your-own-twitch-chat-controls-for-robots-or-just-about-anything-else/
The great thing about Twitch chat is that it runs on vanilla IRC (Internet Relay Chat). The protocol has been around forever, and libraries exist to make interfacing easy. Just like the original streamer behind Twitch Plays Pokemon, we’re going to use Python because it’s great for fun little experiments like these. With that said, any language will do fine — just apply the same techniques in the relevant syntax.
SimpleTwitchCommander, as I’ve named it on Github, assumes some familiarity with basic Python programming. The code will allow you to take commands from chat in two ways. Commands from chat can be tabulated, and only the one with the most votes executed, or every single command can be acted on directly. Actually getting this code to control your robot, video game, or pet viper is up to you. What we’re doing here is interfacing with Twitch chat and pulling out commands so you can make it do whatever you like. With that said, for this example, we’ve set up the code to parse commands for a simple wheeled robot. Let’s dive in.
https://github.com/whatuptkhere/SimpleTwitchCommander
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking The Classroom
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/hacking-the-classroom/
With so many students attending class virtually these days, how can you give kids — or adults — some hands on experience with electronics projects? [Ben Finio] says you can by moving your lab to the virtual world using — of all things — Tinkercad. [Ben] should know something about a classroom since he is a lecturer at Cornell.
Of course, you could do this trick with any online simulator, but Tinkercad is nice because it is easy to use, looks real, and doesn’t cost the students a dime. [Ben] mentions there are some scenarios where it is especially useful like large classes or online classes. There are probably some cases where it doesn’t make sense, like teaching RF design, for example. Even then, maybe you just need a different tool.
How to Teach an Online Circuits Class With Tinkercad
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Teach-an-Online-Circuits-Class-With-Tinkerc/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Puida’s Logic Gate Is a Solid-State, Configurable Device for Logic Education
Configurable logic board can emulate any two-input logic gate — and includes additional NOT A and NOT B outputs, plus an AND carry-out.
https://www.hackster.io/news/puida-s-logic-gate-is-a-solid-state-configurable-device-for-logic-education-8433dc3efae7
Tomi Engdahl says:
The LucidVR Glove Lets Players Track Their Hands in VR for Cheap
LucidVR enables for more accurate hand tracking within VR games at a fraction of the cost compared to other devices.
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-lucidvr-glove-lets-players-track-their-hands-in-vr-for-cheap-c012c6e49fe3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-Cost 3D-Printed Microfluidic Bioreactor Proves Its Worth for Growing Tiny “Brains”
Powered by an ATmega328P microcontroller and with $5 3D-printed “chips,” this device is considerably cheaper than the competition.
https://www.hackster.io/news/low-cost-3d-printed-microfluidic-bioreactor-proves-its-worth-for-growing-tiny-brains-2bc94073b531
Tomi Engdahl says:
Biohacking on a Budget
https://www.hackster.io/news/biohacking-on-a-budget-1d16033159a1
EmotiBit brings high-quality, scientifically-validated biometric data sensing to the masses with their infinitely hackable wearable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/15/virtual-reality-gloves-aim-to-improve-interactivity/
Tomi Engdahl says:
bbot
A 2-wheel balancing robot
https://hackaday.io/project/178789-bbot
bbot is a 2-wheeled balancing robot. It is comprised of two stepper motors, a shift register, and an accelerometer. The chassis will be 3d printed and will sport a mounting mechanism for a harness system which will support iterative development without bbot toppling over completely.
All source code and CAD files will be freely available on my github repo, which is linked in the project.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mini Self-Balancing Robot – RasPi + Arduino
https://hackaday.io/project/179251-mini-self-balancing-robot-raspi-arduino
A two-wheeled, stepper-driven mini self-balancing robot using a Raspberry Pi Zero W and an Arduino-compatible Exen Mini microcontroller.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Wireless Serial Adapter Speaks (True) RS-232
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Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenAI-powered Linux shell uses AI to Do What You Mean
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Tomi Engdahl says:
This Pineapple Keyboard Is The Bomb
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Heads Up: Smart Glass Multimeter
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/18/heads-up-smart-glass-multimeter/
Sometimes it is hard to probe a circuit and then look over at the meter. [Electronoobs] decided to fix that problem by making a Google Glass-like multimeter using an OLED screen and Bluetooth module.
The custom PCB doesn’t have many surprises. A small board has a controller, a battery charger, a display, and a Bluetooth module. One thing he did forget is a switch, though, so the board is always on unless you arrange an external switch.
The CPU was pulled from an existing Arduino module which, we suppose, has the virtue of having a bootloader already set up, but we’d probably just use a new chip if we were building it. The optics require a mirror and lens so you can see the display in focus. Paradoxically, the display is in the back, allowing you to focus on it easily.
https://electronoobs.com/eng_arduino_tut147.php
Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Pi-Based Spectrometer Puts The Complexity In The Software
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Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/logic-flows-literally-in-this-water-adder/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A $50 CNC
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/a-50-cnc/
In theory, there’s isn’t much to building a CNC machine. Hook a bit to a motor and move the motor around with some lead screws and stepper motors. Easy. But, of course, the devil is in the details. [DAZ] made a nice-looking and inexpensive rig that probably isn’t the most precise CNC in the world, but it looks like it does a good enough job and he claims he spent about $50 on it. The video below shows some of the work it has done, and it doesn’t look bad.
This isn’t a rainy afternoon project. You’ll need to cut some wood and 3D print many parts. The drives use M8 threaded rod. Electronics is just an Arduino running standard software.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfFhh5kzQms&t=2s
Tomi Engdahl says:
Print Your Own Wireless 2.1 Speaker System
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/print-your-own-wireless-2-1-speaker-system/
Tomi Engdahl says:
RC Ekranoplan Uses LIDAR To Fly In Ground Effect
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Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/measuring-an-atom/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Pizza Compass Will Show You The Way
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Winners Of Hackaday’s Earth Day Contest: Solar LIC, Auto-Return Parafoil, & Water Flowmeter
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/winners-of-hackadays-earth-day-contest-solar-lic-auto-return-parafoil-water-flowmeter/
Tomi Engdahl says:
“There’s a lot of talking about open source, but not all the people understand very well what open source means, in many cases, it is sort of a synonymous with free so people just misinterpret the this concept.”
Our CEO Fabio Violante recently sat down with EE Times Europe to discuss the value and role of open source as well as the increased interactions between children and technology.
From Kids to Pros: Arduino’s Violante Pleads for Open Source for All
https://www.eetimes.eu/from-kids-to-pros-arduinos-violante-pleads-for-open-source-for-all/
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on a simplified hardware and software management system. Arduino provides many boards for every design target, and one of its latest boards is Portenta for the industrial market. At its heart is STMicroelectronics’ microcontroller, with a dual-core Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M4 on the chip.
In this video interview with EE Times Europe, Fabio Violante, CEO of Arduino, discusses the value and role of open source as well as the increased interactions between children and technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/05/a-wireless-speaker-pair-from-dead-earbuds/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to make and use a simple trimmer table
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxQPuQV1Oak
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 Amazing Woodworking Tools Hacks | Tips & Tricks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkhiAGO2lS4
Tomi Engdahl says:
A DIY Luxo Jr. Lamp That Any Pixar Fan Will Appreciate
This Pixar-inspired lamp tracks objects and turns on and off with a clap.
https://www.hackster.io/news/a-diy-luxo-jr-lamp-that-any-pixar-fan-will-appreciate-e919692270b9
At the beginning of Pixar animation movies, you’ll see a jointed desk lamp — known as Luxo Jr. — jumping around and shining light on the situation. It’s a fun idea, but what about making such a character in real life? While it might not jump (yet), Allyson’s heavily modified lamp is able to move in multiple axes, shining just a bit of light wherever its programmed.
The device is controlled by an Arduino Uno, which uses two servos near the light’s lamp shade to let it pan and tilt. A third servo is implemented at the move the assembly’s “elbow” joint, which raises and lowers it vertically. As shown, this joint is a bit underpowered due to budget constraints, though perhaps we’ll see an improved version in the future.
This setup enables it to perform pre-programmed movements, and Allyson even added a Pixy2 vision sensor to allow it to track objects in space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A $50 CNC
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/a-50-cnc/
Tomi Engdahl says:
LUNA Opens Up High-Speed USB Analysis and Hacking to Everyone
Analyze, emulate, and hack USB devices with an inexpensive tool from Great Scott Gadgets.
https://www.hackster.io/news/luna-opens-up-high-speed-usb-analysis-and-hacking-to-everyone-2cef1326442a