Making Fun Videos

Spacecraft

Posted by jeff on June 30, 2014
Posted in: Arduino, Making Fun Videos, Raspberry Pi, Toys.

After I got the idea for the Mission Control Desk, it almost immediately occurred to me that we should have a spaceship of some kind to go with it. My son really did need a desk for school, though, and I had to finish that before starting on the spaceship.

This spacecraft is my favorite project ever. Not only was it challenging and educational for me, it will be great fun for the boys, while also encouraging them to work a lot of teamwork into their play.

You can read more details at the original post on the Makezine site.

House-Roaming, Color-Hunting, Christmas Tree-Controlling CheerBot

Posted by jeff on December 6, 2013
Posted in: Making Fun Videos.

Each Christmas, I like to participate in Cheerlights, an Internet of Things system for synchronizing the colors of multicolor Christmas tree lighting. To command the trees of the Cheerlights service, all you have to do is send a tweet with “@Cheerlights” and the name of a color. In the past, I built and modified a tiny desktop tree display. This year, I went all out, not only outfitting my big Christmas tree with color-changing lights, but also building a robot to roam the house and hunt for colors.

Read more details from my post on the Make Magazine site.

Computer Vision Hair Trimmer

Posted by jeff on October 4, 2013
Posted in: Arduino, Making Fun Videos.

Part of what makes me a maker is that I prefer to do things myself when I can. I even cut my own hair. Nothing fancy, mind you, just a quick buzz cut with a trimmer. The tricky part, though, is cutting a good line across the back of the neck. It’s not only hard to trim, even using multiple mirrors, but it’s quite obvious when I haven’t been keeping up. Usually I ask my wife to help me, but I like to be self-reliant, and decided to see if there was a fun and educational way to trim it myself.

Pondering this problem, the two things that came to my mind were computer vision and automated heavy equipment. I figured I could use computer vision to track my head and the trimmer, and besides, I have long been looking for an excuse to learn about computer vision. I thought of construction equipment as a model because some control systems for bulldozers use GPS to locate the machine, and then adjust the blade according to the requirements of the site plan. In theory, the bulldozer operator could just drive back and forth over the site many times, and the control system would handle the height of the blade to result in a perfectly sculpted site. I set out to build a trimmer that I could blindly run up and down the back of my neck, and have it automatically turn on or off in accordance with its position.

Read more details on my post at Make Magazine.

Pneumatic Transport for the Tooth Fairy

Posted by jeff on September 11, 2013
Posted in: Making Fun Videos, Toys.

Faced with a wiggly-toothed toddler, I realized that we’d be starting the old Tooth Fairy routine soon. Being a bit of a non-conformist, I began to dream up non-conventional ways that we might carry out the Tooth Fairy tradition in our house. I decided that the Tooth Fairy was probably getting overwhelmed by the increasing world population, and would appreciate it if we could send the teeth directly to her. I installed a pneumatic transport system in my house to make it happen.

PTS System Diagram

Check out the full post on Make for more details.

PiLarm, a Versitle, All-In-One, Raspberry Pi Alarm System

Posted by jeff on August 2, 2013
Posted in: Making Fun Videos.

In my latest “Making Fun With Jeff Highsmith” video, I demonstrate the building and use of a self-contained alarm system designed around the Raspberry Pi computer. The idea for the project occurred to me when my older son asked for help keeping his little brother out of his room. We had some great father-and-son time working on it. You can find a more detailed writeup, along with diagrams, flowcharts, and links to the code at the Make Magazine website. Here is the video:

Here is the circuit diagram:
PiNopticon Circuit Diagram full res

New Series on Make: Making Fun with Jeff Highsmith

Posted by jeff on June 8, 2013
Posted in: Making Fun Videos.

Make is my “desert island” publication. If I could only pick one website/magazine to bring with me while stranded on a desert island, I would pick Make. My hobbies and interests have quite a range, but I think that making fun things out of a variety of materials is what consistently interests me the most. I have been a reader of Make Magazine since the first issue, and their website has occasionally mentioned some of my projects. This month, though, I’m beginning to contribute on a more formal basis, with my own monthly video series titled, “Making Fun with Jeff Highsmith”. In it, I hope to use playful and fun projects to inspire folks to make things in the same vein or just to make things, period.

Make just ran the announcement of the series with nice bio of me. Here’s my first video, in which I modify a toy race car set to enhance it’s playability:

The code for the Arduino is on GitHub.