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Scientific instrumentation and computing hardware
Latest news in scientific computing and development of low-cost hardware for laboratory instrumentation. The pages in this section contain links to web sites with DIY instructions for building hardware, specialised components and open-source or low-cost software, with a focus on Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
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For the last few years, [Ytai] has been working on the IOIO, a device that connects your Android devices to the other homebrew peripherals. There’s a new version of this really cool board out now that includes a few much-needed features like USB-OTG and a lower component cost that is passed on in savings to you.
A few months ago, our own [Mike Szczys] caught a glimpse of this new IOIO...
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Everything you need to build a vacuum tweezers is laid out in this image. The parts should run you about $20 and when you’re done you’ll have the perfect tool for placing very small surface mount parts for reflow soldering.
This project uses the same concept as other fish pump tweezers projects but builds upon them with some interesting additions. The first step in the conversion process...
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Beer--it can do anything! For example, once you drink it, beer grants you the magical ability to make a camera from the can which contained it. That's what Matt Bigwood did:
The equipment is very simple – an empty beer can with the top removed and a hole made with a needle or pin, a card lid for the can held on with gaffer tape, and a sheet of 5’x7’ black and white photographic paper...
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With large companies such as Organovo and Autodesk teaming up to fabricate living tissue, you might think that bioprinting is out of the scope of the average DIYer. But when it comes to technology, human ingenuity is an incredible thing, and just because you don’t own an expensive piece of a equipment doesn’t mean you can join the organic 3D-printing revolution. Thanks to a modification by...
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In a Cool Tools review Karl Chwe explained how construction adhesive can be repurposed for the household with surprisingly good results; excerpts below.
Construction adhesive has a major role in building construction, but I have been using it as a household adhesive. It has a number of unique characteristics that make it possibly more useful than most of the alternatives.
It fills gaps...
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Arduinos are fun to tinker with, but there's one problem. Once you've built something cool, you pretty much have to tear it down to use your board for another project. Sure, you can always buy multiple Arduino boards or proto shields, but what if you want to turn your creation into something a bit more permanent and a lot more compact? Say hello to Permaduino, a small battery-powered Arduino...
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For those of you that can’t make a decision between buying an Arduino and a PIC processor, [Brad] has come up with a novel solution, the PICnDuino. We’ve featured him before with his [Retroball] project, but this time Brad has been full funded on Kickstarter, and is pre-selling boards for delivery in March.
[HAD], specifically I, was fortunate enough to be sent one of the boards to try out...
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This RFID card has a lot of nice features. But the one that stands out the most is the ability to learn the code from anther RFID tag or card.
You can see that the board includes an etched coil to interact with an RFID reader. This is the sole source of power for the device, letting it pick up enough induced current from the reader to power the PIC 12F683 seen on the upper left of the board....
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Throw some blinking LEDs on a project and it’s bound to make the front page of Hackaday. We do love builds of a more analog character, though, and this analog gauge stepper motor breakout board seems like just the ticket to make those projects a reality.
The idea behind the project is simple: take a stepper motor, put a needle on it, and connect it to an Arduino. Instant analog gauge,...
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The Raspberry-Pi has been a media darling as of late, and deservedly so. It’s a full computing platform that can do many wonderful things, all for less than a few day’s worth of Starbucks lattes. But what if you simply need moah powah?
In that case, you need the ODROID-U2 from Hardkernel. How does a 1.7Ghz quad-core strike you? 2GB of RAM, perhaps? With 10/100 ethernet, 2 USB ports, and...
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The OpenLabTools Project is a new initiative that will provide a forum and knowledge centre for the development of low cost and open access scientific tools at the University of Cambridge, with an emphasis on undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. The programme starts this year with a number of projects that will be offered to establish the core components required for such tools; these include data acquisition, sensing, actuating, processing and 3D manufacturing. Protocols, designs and tutorials will be published on the openlabtools.org website. These components will be form the basis of new open source instruments, developed and maintained by a community of undergraduate and graduate students of the University, and shared widely.
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The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in Cambridge by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The low cost hardware is finding a myriad of additional applications, including scientific applications. |
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Makespace is a community workshop in Cambridge for making things, meeting people, working on projects and learning new things. |
