Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
The latest offering from the guys in Japan:
Sphelar® captures light from all directions, which means it can catch reflected light and diffused light. In addition, there is no need for the superfluous operation of tracking the sun. The spherical light-receiving surfaces achieve unprecedented high generation efficiency.
[via metaefficient]
Spherical Photovoltaic Solar Cell | Kyosemi Corporation
I was quite impressed when I learned that the sport of model rocketry was alive and well in the former Soviet Union. Every year in Baikonur, Kazakhstan the World Model Rocketry Championship is held. I stumbled upon a load of photos over at English Russian and decided to do a bit of research on the subject. I happened on the World Spacemodeling Championship website (Google translation here) that has information on the event. Looks like the next one is going to be on April 21. If you happen to be in the neighborhood you should plan on attending. Or you can read about what it’s like in this article on when Vernon Estes (namesake of Estes Rockets) visited there in 2006. Sounds like great event, not only do you get to see some world class model rockets fire off but you also get to tour some of the buildings at the famous Cosmodrome.
Today on Retro Thing I saw that there is a new on chip audio synthesizer on the market.
The Soundgin is a serially controlled Sound Synthesizer in a PIC.
It produces complex sound effects, synthesizer style music and English speech with an unlimited vocabulary.
For use in manufactured electronics and home projects. .
The Soundgin is an 18-Pin Microchip PIC18F1320 that has been programmed to generate complex sounds by incorporating six oscillators which can interact with each other in various ways. The oscillators are configured by sending short serial commands to the Soundgin via the RX pin. These configurations result in the Soundgin’s oscillators continuously generating sound. The Soundgin also contains presets that can be used to configure the oscillators to generate predefined sound such as a Gong, Steam Engine, Etc… The six are spit up into two identical units referred to as Sound Engines.
The sample on the page are quite good. I can see this as an easy to implement addition to a lot of DIY music projects or a speech synthesizer for robots.
[via retrothing]
Soundgin
Wow, these kits bring back some good memories. When I was a kid my dad used to buy these all the time. I was too young to solder but I could plug stuff in the box. I’m not sure if he built all the kits that he bought, I remember him saying they were a good source of parts. At least I know where I got that trait from. 🙂
A few of these show up on Ebay from time to time but if your looking for some quality vintage plans the owner of this site has graciously scanned in the instructions. Time to get building the neon ‘goofy’ light!
This is a great example of what you can do with the right parts a bit of know how.
This article describes the construction of a rudder-only controlled model airplane that weighs 2.5 ounces. Total cost was about $35. For sure, I learned some interesting things along the way, all of which are shared here. The good news is that the electronic modifications are working well.Perhaps there’s something in here that you will find useful for YOUR own Micro-Sizer / BitChar-G airplane powered hack.
[via DIY Live]
RC-CAM Projects: Micro R/C Car Hacks for Model Airplane Use
Ok, not exactly a weekend project but you could build this in about three of them. The results would be an impressive addition to any mad scientist’s lab.
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