Sunday, October 6, 2013

Prosthesis with temperature sensitivity

Our project is a actualization to the old mechanical prosthesis that exist know a day. There are a lot of prosthesis in the market that helps to recover the mechanical part of your hand but there is no prosthesis capable of getting you senses of touch and sensitivity to temperature back. For this reason we work in develop a system to get back all this senses. After a long thought we decide to publish this project so we can contribute with our part to the world. The idea is that with this we can help the people that lost this sense.

The way we manage to recover the temperature sensibility was placing temperature sensors to the hand (or Claw in the case of the prototype) and some RGB leds that lights up in different colors. By averaging the total temperatures we assign a specific color to each temperature. In this way when the object taken was between 0 to 10 degrees Celsius the hand its going to light up in a blue color, then when the temperature rises in 10 degrees the hand will become green, then pink, then purple and so on till it gets red in 100 degrees Celsius.

Our gripper was made from a budget of 130 dollars aprox, and was made from recycled materials, mainly aluminium and steel. The gripper was poured of resin and hand machined with a dremel to give the final finish.



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Khandvi, a snack from Gujarat

DSCN5384.JPGFor the Indian Cuisine Contest, I googled "what are some of Indian food". It came up a list of Indian food with pictures. Being not able to taste them over internet, color and shape of khandvi caught my eyes. After a brief study and research, I decided to make this Indian food and document the process and result.

Ingredients:
¦1/3 cup Gram Flour
¦1/3 Yogurt (sour would be better)
¦1 cup water
¦1” (approx.. when chopped aprrox. ½ tsp – ¾ tsp) Ginger peeled
¦2-3 Green Chilies (adjust to taste or omit if you don’t want it spicy. I didn't use it since my child can't stand the heat)
¦1 tsp lime Juice (opt. if yogurt not sour)
¦¾ tsp – 1 tsp Salt (adjust to taste)
¦½ tsp Turmeric

Tempering:
¦¾ – 1 tsp Oil
¦¼ tsp Mustard Seeds
¦¼ tsp Sesame Seeds
¦1 tsp cilantro, chopped 
¦2 Curry Leaves (I didn't use it)
¦2 Green Chilies chopped (I didn't use it since my child can't stand the heat)

DSCN5371.JPG¦Grind ginger to paste.
¦Mix ground ginger paste, salt, turmeric and gram flour  in a bowl.
¦ In a separate bowl whisk the yogurt.   Add lime juice, water to it and continue whisking it to make buttermilk. Add this buttermilk to flour and mix it using a whisk. Make sure there are no lumps in the flour buttermilk mixture.

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Hanging Air Plant Basket from Recycled Wine Corks

DSC_1239.JPGOne of my friends is obsessed with air plants and was moving into a new place, so I wanted to make a neat gift to welcome him to the new digs. Having just grabbed a huge box of wine corks left over from a wedding, I was eager to put them to use.

These little hanging air plant baskets feature two types of plants and can be hung in groupings or by themselves. They add a lot of charm indoor or out, and the plants are nearly impossible to kill. They make awesome gifts for your less-than-green-thumbed pals.

DSC_1227.JPGTOOLS:
- Hot Glue Gun
- Scissors
- Small round dish, like a tea light holder. The size of your dish will determine the size of your hanging basket and determine how many wine corks you will need.

MATERIALS:
- Thread. I used waxed linen thread that I had left over from another project, but any type will work.
- Wine corks. I used ten corks for each planter, but you can easily use more or less depending on how large you want your basket or how large the air plants are.
- Hot glue sticks
- Hemp or yarn (optional)
- Air plants. If you live somewhere that has a lot of airplants, it is likely that many of the branches that fall down during a storm or from squirrel activity have air plants on them that, if not picked up, will go right in the chipper with their fallen branch. I live in Florida and there are air plants littering the ground underneath every tree in my neighborhood, so hopefully you can find some free plants nearby your home. For my air plant hanging baskets I used Spanish Moss and this crazy ball-shaped plant.


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Ask an Expert: All About Repairing Your Gadgets

Say hi to Brett Hartt and Luke Soules from iFixit, the largest online repair community. They make it easy for you to fix things yourself with their step-by-step guides, troubleshooting tips, and community of technicians. Today they're lending their expertise on laptop, smartphone, and tablet repairability.

How much should you weigh repairability before buying? Which tablets are more (or less) repairable than others? When should you DIY fix, and when should you leave it to the pros? Brett and Luke are here for the next hour answering all this and more, so ask away!

The q&a is closed—thanks for all the great questions!

Have an expert you'd like to see participate? Email us.


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Internet Laundry

opening.JPGIn a world of increasingly intrusive technologies, one sector hasn't quite wiggled its way into our beloved hive-mind.  That sector, ladies and gentlemen, is laundry.  

Where would we stand as humans in the 21st century without the ability to feverishly check the status of the things we hold closest to our naked bodies - our clothes - while they tumble round and round in seemingly endless ecstasy?  How could we live, unsure of the availability of a washer or dryer for our wet and dirty garments, longing for redemption?

It is with great pleasure that I give to the world: open source Internet Laundry.

2 - AC Optocouplers (Lite-On LTV-418H) 1 - 56K Ohm Resistor 1 - 560 Ohm Resistor 1 - 1uF capacitor 1 - perf board (prototyping circuit board) 1 - Raspberry Pi + accessories (power, ethernet, SD card) a length of 4-conductor cable. 1 - 3 pin 0.1" female header Optional: male+female polarized connectors for connecting the 4-conductor cable to the perf boards Tools: Soldering Iron Wire Strippers Screwdriver Volt Meter

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When Creating a Plan That Requires Others, Minimize Their Burden

When Creating a Plan That Requires Others, Minimize Their Burden

When we want to get things done, and our ideas sit at the core of those tasks, we think and do a lot to make our dreams a reality. When we loop other people into our projects, however, they don't sit thinking about our ideas every day and how badly they want to complete them. You may sometimes find similar passion in others, but you'll always find more in yourself. As entrepreneur Derek Sivers points out, you need a plan that accounts for the nature of working with people.

He suggests any good plan involving other workers should include the following:

Don’t expect anyone to care as much as you.Don’t require them to think as hard about this as you have.Do expect them to change their mind and disappear.Make a robust plan that includes #1-3.
If you make a specific and detailed plan while accounting for the above, you'll have an easier time working with other people. Life happens a lot, so you have to hold people to realistic expectations. When you've worked on another's idea, you've likely missed a deadline, made mistakes, and failed to act perfectly on every occasion. You'll find less disappointment when people help you if you expect the problems we all regularly face.

Fragile Plan vs Robust Plan | Derek Sivers

Photo by Stella Caraman (Shutterstock).


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