Month: April 2021

RaspberryPi Assisted ‘Anti-Mosquito Laser Turret’ Has Been Developed

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Russian computer scientist named Ildar Rakhmatulin produced a mosquito laser using Raspberry Pi and laser. An expert working on brain-computer interfaces at Russia’s South Ural State University claims that with his invention, he neutralized two mosquitoes per second.

” Raspberry Pi to kill mosquitoes laser ” online as a non-peer reviewed preprint in January. In it, he lays out a plan to snipe mosquitoes out of the air using a Raspberry Pi equipped with a Pi camera, a galvanometer that detects electrical currents, and a commercially-available laser pointer that’s 450 nanometers and one wavelength—powerful enough to kill a mosquito and blind someone looking directly at it, but not enough to burn skin.

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This Metal-Munching Robot Can Navigate Autonomously Without a Brain

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Researchers from University of Pennsylvania have developed a robot that feeds on metal and can navigate autonomously without a brain.

The single most important resource in the future will, without a doubt, be energy. Humanity’s energy needs have increased dramatically over the past couple of centuries and that trend will absolutely continue. We’re already experiencing an energy supply problem, as evidenced by our continuing reliance on nonrenewable fossil fuels. Energy storage is also becoming more of an issue as we attempt to move away from those fossil fuels. An electric car, for example, needs a heavy battery. More storage capacity equals more weight, which requires more energy to move — a catch-22. That problem extends to robots, which is why a team of researchers have developed a robot that feeds on metal and can navigate autonomously without a brain.

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Metroid Prime’s 2D fan remake is now playable

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Retro Studios’ GameCube classic,Metroid Prime, is getting a fan-made 2D remake called Prime 2D. The effort, which has been going since 2004 and called Prime 2D, is being led by a group called Team SCU. While screenshots of the game went up as part of an April Fools’ Day joke, the demo is in fact real, according a forum post by the creators.

The remake is the result of many years of love. In 2017, the team behind Metroid Prime 2D shared, “While public progress has appeared stagnant for the last 5 years, there has actually been a tremendous amount of foundational work being done in private.” Now, those following finally get to see just what the team has been up to.

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Jet Powered Go Kart Built with RC Gear

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Turbine cars never quite came to be, despite many experiments in the 20th century. Despite their high power output for their size, they’re just not well suited to land transport applications; even the M1A1 tank has been much maligned for its turbine power plant. That didn’t stop [Warped Perception] for throwing a jet on the back of a kart though, and it looks like a whole lot of fun. (Video, embedded below.)

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Automatic pool stick vs. strangers

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An automatic pool playing robot – how hard could it be? Turns out harder than I thought. It took me quite a while to work through all the difficulties of this project but when it all finally came together is so worth it. To my surprise the most interesting aspect of this project is using the cue to play real games of pool over the internet. Let me know if you think twitch plays billiards would be worthwhile…

3D-printed mobile robot based on the Arduino Due

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Although an Arduino can be a great way to provide computing power for a mobile robot, you’ll need a variety of other electronics and mechanical components to get it going. In his write-up, computer science student Niels Post outlines how he constructed a robotic platform that travels via two stepper motors, along with casters to keep it upright. Its round chassis is 3D-printed and runs on three rechargeable 18650 batteries.

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