Low-cost 3D-scanning system offers sub-30-micron accuracy on a cheap Raspberry Pi Camera Module v2.1, or 10-micron on the HQ Camera.
Thomas Megel is aiming to bring down the cost and complexity of accurate 3D scanning — and to prove it, he’s scanned a Raspberry Pi single-board computer using another Raspberry Pi single-board computer.
This is another article in know-how series, which focuses solely on a specific feature or technique and today I’ll tell you how to use neural network trained with Edge Impulse with new Raspberry Pico 2040. Also make sure to watch the tutorial video with step-by-step instructions.
Edge Impulse is a platform that enables developers to easily train and deploy deep learning models on embedded devices. You can read the full introduction in my first article of the series about TinyML. Now, let’s jump straight to action.
Resin 3D printers have a significant advantage over filament printers in that they are able to print smaller parts with more fine detail. The main downside is that the resin parts aren’t typically as strong or durable as their filament counterparts. For this reason they’re often used more for small models than for working parts, but [Breaking Taps] wanted to try and improve on the strength of these builds buy adding metal to them through electroplating.
Both copper and nickel coatings are used for these test setups, each with different effects to the resin prints. The nickel adds a dramatic amount of stiffness and the copper seems to increase the amount of strain that the resin part can tolerate — although [Breaking Taps] discusses some issues with this result.
While the results of electroplating resin are encouraging, he notes that it is a cumbersome process. It’s a multi-step ordeal to paint the resin with a special paint which helps the metal to adhere, and then electroplate it. It’s also difficult to ensure an even coating of metal on more complex prints than on the simpler samples he uses in this video.
Powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM, there’s also an Ubuntu version for $99.
The Raspberry Pi continues to be the most-popular choice for single-board computers, especially considering the very low price point. But what if you want a single-board computer capable of running Windows 10? The Hackboard 2 offers just that for a surprisingly low price.
Hackboard 2 was created by a team spread across Austin, London, and Shezhen. As The Hackboard website explains, the idea was formed very early in the coronavirus pandemic when Quantum Engineering CEO Mike Callow came up with the idea of “creating a small, low-cost, Windows-powered and Intel-based computer for children, parents, and educators who wouldn’t normally be able to afford one.”
PKWare, PKZIP, PKUNZIP, these are all names which mean something significant to me. For most of the 90s, the PK tools were probably the most frequently used in my toolbox. Compressing Doom from my mate’s PC across several floppy disks, creating my own VB installers, downloading data from bulletin boards or the early internet. It was an essential compression/decompression tool. But, the story of its origins is a little more tarnished than perhaps you would expect. If you’ve hard of SEA and their ARC file format, you might already know. Let’s dive in.
Written in Rust, Open Vehicle Diagnostics aims to reach feature-parity with expensive manufacturer-specific ECU management solutions.
Undergraduate student Ashcon Mohseninia has released a Rust-based open source tool, created for a final year project at the University of Reading, designed to offer engine control unit (ECU) diagnostics: Open Vehicle Diagnostics (OVD).
“I know there are some open source diagnostic software suites out there that work on Linux,” Mohseninia writes of the project. “However they are focused on the ELM327 adapter and OBD2, whereas this is focused more on the more advanced diagnostics, essentially building a utility which could have feature parity to OEM diagnostics software such as Daimler’s Veidmao/Xentry/Das or VW VAG software.”
CSAIL’s “LaserFactory” system automates the full process for making functional devices in one system.
From Star Trek’s replicators to Richie Rich’s wishing machine, popular culture has a long history of parading flashy machines that can instantly output any item to a user’s delight.
While 3D printers have now made it possible to produce a range of objects that include product models, jewelry, and novelty toys,we still lack the ability to fabricate more complex devices that are essentially ready-to-go right out of the printer.
Over the few years, there have been great steps in the development of functional prosthetic hands. However, even the most advanced hands lack a combination of high functionality and affordability. A new prosthetic hand has been designed and developed combining high functionality and affordability thanks to rapid prototyping techniques. This video presents the design of a five-fingered prosthetic hand that can be programmed to have multiple grip patterns using force myography (FMG) as a control signal instead of electromyography (EMG) signal. A novel FMG sensor was developed using strain gages and a high resolution ADC to detect mechanical muscle contractions from the residual forearm of amputees.
Having watched a gel strip dry, researchers have found a way to harness snap-buckling without the need for a manual reset phase.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Delft University of Technology, in partnership with the US Army, have published a paper detailing a way of giving materials the ability to propel themselves using only environmental energy flow — something the military is looking into for future robotics applications.
If you want to start an argument between technophiles, just bring up smart speakers. An outpouring of strong opinions is all but guaranteed to follow. Some will point to the conveniences of interacting with devices by voice command. Others will focus on the privacy concerns associated with having an Internet-connected speaker in your home, sending who knows what, to who knows where, to do who knows what.