Foone Turing is a Python programmer from California who likes to make strange and wonderful USB keyboards in his spare time.

In a recent project posted to Twitter, Foone used one button, one knob, an 8-segment display  and a Teensy to make an extremely minimal and inefficient approach to keyboard user interface design.

Foone’s single-knob keyboard uses a potentiometer to select ASCII characters based on degrees and an enter button to select the character. The selection is visualized in an 8-segment display  and all components are driven by a Teensy LC. In the video below, Foone writes his first “hello world” for the project with a post to Twitter.

A little while ago I threatened to make a keyboard based on a knob that you turn to select the letter, and a button to enter that letter.

And now I have built it! pic.twitter.com/AToxvqkfXq

— foone (@Foone) December 20, 2019

Foone further demonstrates his design at work in a recorded game of Zork, but cautions that it may not be the most ergonomic of products saying, “I recorded 5 minutes of it and now my hand hurts.” Some Twitter users pointed out that the design is reminiscent of the iPod click wheel designed by Apple in 1998 and used in the iPod Classic and the iPod Shuffle.

Aside from this design, Foone has made many unusual keyboards including one which has faux fur in lieu of keys and another which uses 7 switches and a button to allow users to select alphanumeric characters by inputting binary. Foone’s keyboard designs, which you can explore more of on his website, are a playful exploration of human computer interaction and user experience that makers and designers alike can delight in.

Sacramento-based Peregrine Developments has engineered a flight computer called the Randall FC using the Teensy 4.1.

Although rocket design has roots going back to thirteenth century China, modern model rockets have been a source of fascination for hobbyists and professionals alike since the 1950s. Early model rockets consisted of a simple 3″ motor built from a nozzle, case, propellant, delay charge, ejection charge and an end cap that amounted to a single-use engine. Today, model rockets can include complex assemblies such as onboard computer systems that allow users to steer and control rockets with great precision.

The system, which was designed for 74mm airframes, provides for the control of two 9g servo motors and two 4-amp pyro channels to control the flight of thrust vectoring-enabled model rockets. The system also has a system of onboard sensors for measuring orientation, acceleration, humidity, pressure, and temperature as well as four spare I/O connectors available for use. You can read more about the project and see the schematic and PCB layout on Google Docs.

Shane Wighton, the designer behind the well-known basketball hoop that won’t let you miss, has created a system for obstacle detection that uses the new iPad’s built-in LIDAR scanner.

The LIDAR system works by taking regular readings of a room by sending out tiny pulses of light at targets and measuring the time it takes to return a reflection. In this way, a scan can be taken of an entire room to accurately determine the location of objects and obstructions.

Wighton used the technology to make an app which not only harnesses data from the LIDAR scans at regular intervals but visualizes the data as an augmented reality overlay color coded to show the relative distance of objects. When paired with a custom 3D-printed tactile interface that attaches to the back of the iPad, the data can be translated through a mechanism that depresses or exposes a set of pins as an indicator of obstacle presence. In a video posted to YouTube, Wighton discusses his design process including how he decided to use the iPad’s LIDAR system and how he built the tactile feedback mechanism which uses two stepper motors driven by a Teensy 3.6. He also discusses the parts of the project he feels could be improved as well as his hopes for future iterations, especially if LIDAR were to be released for the iPhone. You can view Wighton’s other projects on his website and his YouTube channel Stuff Made Here.

 

Instrument maker and artist Greg Francke recently shared a project on Hackaday that uses binaural recording in combination with the Teensy audio library to produce a six channel wave synthesizer capable of generating “complex aural soundscapes.”

Binaural recording is a process that makes use of two microphones strategically located to create a 3-D stereo experience for the listener that replicates the experience of being in a room with a live sound performance.

The project features a TFT display GUI showing options for sound manipulation that include modulation frequency, waveform, duty cycle, center frequency, beat frequency, beat waveform, and beat duty cycle.

In his project posting on Hackaday, Francke mentions that his original plan for the synth was to use analog potentiometers for control but found that noise levels were too high leading him to scrap this feature.

Francke’s blog includes many other projects which explore everything from J.G. Ballard-inspired robots to USB-powered “Tesla Stress Relief” devices.

 

 

 

Few people are able to distinguish between a flu and a cold based on symptoms alone, but what if a device could do it for you? F°LUEX is an automated medical diagnostics device that uses the Teensy 3.2.

Designed by engineer and actual rocket scientist M. Bindhammer, F°LUEX is an automated medical diagnostics device that incorporates a medical-grade MLX90614 infrared thermometer to read human body temperature with an accuracy of ±0.2˚C. Following the reading, the patient is asked a series of questions displayed on an OLED screen about their symptoms. Based on their temperature reading and the patient’s responses which are input using the device’s controls, the thermometer is able to distinguish cold from flu within a certain probability based upon the same Bayesian statistic analysis process that is frequently used among modern medical practitioners. The device is powered by two 1.5 V AA alkaline batteries and all electronics including display, inputs (soft power switch and miniature joystick), and sensor are driven by a Teensy 3.2.

M. Bindhammer created the project to support his 8 year old daughter who frequently contracts the flu and whose pediatrician is often unavailable on the weekends when she usually becomes ill. In his design, he strove to use only a few easy-to-obtain components in combination with a 3D printed case so that others could replicate the project at home. The project is a winner of a 2020 Hackaday Prize and the full project description can be viewed on Hackaday.

Embedded technology is revolutionizing the way we engage with objects of importance in our lives.

An inspiring example of this is the Maccabeam, an automated light up Menorah designed by Samuel Goldstein that offers a modern take on the seven-branched candelabra that is traditionally illuminated over the course of Hanukkah.

Thoroughly documented on his blog, Samuel’s invention uses a GPS module connected to a Teensy 3.2 to deduce the time and location and calculate the Hebrew date.

If it’s determined that it’s time to do so, the WS2812 RGB LEDs in the menorah will illuminate stars cut in the menorah’s laser cut wooden structure in colorful animations along the branches, resulting in the corresponding “lamps” (miniature jars of olive oil) at the tip of each branch to be lit up by the laser diodes below. The Maccabeam also includes an LCD display noting details like the time for sun up and sun set as well as sound effects played through a piezo speaker.

Finding commercially available keyboards to be lacking, forum user smarrocco decided to create the custom keypad of their user-specific dreams as well as a corresponding TFT display.

On their blog, smarrocco discusses their design process in detail from identifying problems in existing commercial (including custom and gaming) keyboards to designing and developing his own vertical keypad to meet personal requirements. In the final design, the keys are grouped vertically placed in two sections according to their utility and an extra “thumb section” is added in consideration of left-handed artists like himself. Instead of printing labels on the keys themselves, he elected to use a TFT display in order to identify the buttons in order to allow the keys to be remapped in software without the user needing to move the physical components.

To drive the display and process the switches below the keys, he uses a Teensy 4.0 connected to an SD card reader that stores the settings. The project is an interesting study in producing custom interfaces as well as human-centered design approaches that consider how we can reinvent our electronics to be better suited for our needs.

A team of researchers from Saarland University and the University of Sydney have designed Tactlets, an approach that allows makers to easily add tactile feedback and control using printable inputs to everyday 3D objects.

The project—called Tactlets—introduces a new digital fabrication method of custom printing elecro-tactile elements using either conductive inkjet printed traces or FDM 3D printing using filament embedded with conductive material. The resulting tactlets can be arranged on everyday objects to form buttons, sliders, and other input systems providing a wide range of control. The touch sensing itself, which includes distinguishing between types of touches such as a hold, swipe, etc. is all programmed using a Teensy 3.2, making use of its built-in capacitive touch pins and touch sensing library.

The team highlights that tactlets could be extremely useful for product designers and engineers for rapid prototyping and user interface testing as they can easily be rearranged and quickly produced to test various designs for user interaction. For those who are curious to learn more about the project, the developers have posted a paper on the subject that includes the history of the project, its findings, and implications.

Peter Wiessenthaner has created an Electronic String Instrument in collaboration with Thomas Perizonius and Ulf Schaedla.

Peter uses a  Teensy 3.6 and a PJRC library for the PWM control, which allows a great amount of fine adjustment.  There are two pickups on the right and left of the string, allow composition to represent different overtone curves over the speakers. The fast movements of the motors can lead to highly rhythmic patterns. Peter posted about the project as well as uploading a demonstration to his YouTube channel.

In his latest robotics project, Youtube-renown maker and engineer James Burton revisits the question of how to design a robot which can successfully balance on a large ball.

This is Burton’s second version of the project which he started in 2015 with the invention of the robot BB-8. In lieu of brushed motors, this new version uses brushless motors and ODrive controllers granting the robot speed, agility, and accuracy. It also includes an MPU6050 inertial measurement unit module as well as a nRF2401 module for radio control, all driven by a Teensy 4.1.

Not only does the new version of the ball-balancing robot perform its task with great ease, but the robot’s appearance has also seen a striking upgrade. This current version is built to resemble Hal 9000 the sinister computer from 2001 A Space Odyssey featuring a glowing red light positioned in the center (it does not, however, address the user as “Dave”). In the hilarious video above Burton describes the making of the project and also demonstrates the robot balancing on an oversized disco ball.