Electric Go Kart
Posted: November 19, 2009 Filed under: Projects 1 Comment
A complete conversion from a gasoline powered go kart into an electric go kart featuring a full control system with feedback.
Pictured here are the four motors powering the vehicle, motorcycle batteries, brake lights, electronic speed controllers, and various other components of the control system.
The dashboard of the vehicle is outfitted with an LCD screen that displays current power being sent to the left and right drives. A potentiometer inserted into the steering shaft allows the system to dynamically alter motor speed based on turning.
Reprogramming the software running onboard the system.
The system uses a modified set of steering wheel/pedals from a racing video game. The system has variable speed control by use of this method.
The electronic bits that make everything actually work.
The Tech Junkies Episode #5 – Autonomous GPS R/C Car
Posted: July 20, 2009 Filed under: Vidcast Episodes 6 CommentsIn episode #5 of The Tech Junkies, Ben and Eric modify a $15 R/C car from Radio Shack into an autonomous, GPS navigated car. At the end of the episode the car must navigate down multiple roads using only the microcontroller and GPS module.
Mini GPS Autonomous Car for Under $100
Posted: July 20, 2009 Filed under: Projects 67 CommentsFirst off, if you haven’t watched episode #5 of The Tech Junkies, I’d have to insist you do that now:
Okay, so let’s get onto the details. As seen in the video, we hacked apart a $15 Radioshack R/C car for the purpose of outfitting it with a GPS chip. We ripped out the motor that was being used for steering and replaced it with a low-cost $10 servo. We also cut out the existing electronics so that only the wires coming from the battery and running to the drive motor we’re left. From here we took a breadboard and connected up our H-Bridge drive chip.
Beginning OpenGL on OS X
Posted: June 27, 2009 Filed under: Programming Leave a commentFirst I have to start with a quick explanation for people who don’t know what OpenGL is. OpenGL is NOT a language. In fact, OpenGL is merely a specification which is implemented in various languages. I have always used C++ and the GLUT library, it simplifies some things. Anyway, more info can be found with a quick google search if you are interested.
Today I am going to focus primarily on getting started using OpenGL on OS X instead of doing fancy things. A couple months ago I took a course on Computer Graphics at my university. The problem was that this professor was pretty much Windows only. Needless to say I was in trouble, I didn’t know C++ and had never worked with it. Here is what I learned about setting up a usable environment
Project: Ethernet Enabled Twitter Client
Posted: June 25, 2009 Filed under: Projects 3 CommentsFor my latest project I wanted to build a microcontroller powered device I could hang on my wall (or pin to at the time of writing this). I decided to build a Twitter reader, but not just any old “LCD connected to a PC” setup. No, I wanted this thing to be computer independent.
The Tech Junkies Episode #4 – WASP Bot
Posted: June 25, 2009 Filed under: Vidcast Episodes Leave a commentIn this episode of The Tech Junkies, Ben and Eric discover a large wasp nest in Ben’s shed. Rather than taking the risk of taking down the nest themselves, The Tech Junkies build a remotely operated robot armed with cans of RAID that drives into the shed and takes the nest down.
Episode #4 Release Date
Posted: June 22, 2009 Filed under: News Leave a commentEpisode #4 of The Tech Junkies has finally been completed and will be hitting the site on June 25th (this Thursday). For this episode we built a wasp killing robot that can take down an entire nest via remote operation. Make sure to hit up the site to grab/watch the new episode! We’ve also got some other footage filmed and are actively working on episode #5. Oh and if you haven’t checked it out yet, make sure to visit the TTJ forums (on the nav on the right). We’re looking for show ideas or any other general discussion you have about the show.
The Tech Junkies Episode #3 – WiFi Boosting
Posted: June 19, 2009 Filed under: Vidcast Episodes Leave a commentIn this episode we take a look at WiFi extension methods and put various methods to the test to see how much of a boost you can get from home-made projects.
The Tech Junkies Episode #2 – Lock Hacks & Control Our Junk
Posted: June 19, 2009 Filed under: Vidcast Episodes Leave a commentIn this episode of The Tech Junkies we show various lock hacks including bump keys, lock raking, lock picking, and the masterlock shim. We also give a tour of Control Our Junk and go behind the scenes to show you how it works.
The Tech Junkies Episode #1 – Internet Controlled Airsoft Gun & 110v Speaker
Posted: June 19, 2009 Filed under: Vidcast Episodes Leave a commentOur first episode features building an Internet controlled airsoft gun and what happens when you plug speakers into a wall outlet.
The Tech Junkies 