[casafear1] has put out this video detailing how to build the “ground-breaker”, a zombie escaping from the grave. It is a simple frame for the arms and shoulders, with a couple pneumatic pistons to make it jerk as though it were pulling itself from the grave. He goes into a decent amount of detail explaining the physical construction, offering several tips to prolong the life of this prop. Unfortunately, he doesn’t enlighten us as to his control scheme. Is it manually controlled? Is it automated? Does it get activated by passers by or is it always going?
Last year,…

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Back in 2005, a member of a French robotics team named [Laurent] wrote a wonderful how-to that we somehow missed on using the Game Boy Camera as a vision device for a robot. The images above are actual shots from his project. The Game Boy Camera features a stunning 128×123 pixel resolution in a gorgeous 4 color gray-scale palette. Possibly the most attractive feature of this hack is that it is still possible to get a hold of these cameras for under ten dollars on ebay.
He connected the camera sensor to an Atmel AT90S4433 using a combination of…

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Sunday we saw robots playing pool and an augmented reality pool game. Today we’ll complete the pool trifecta: virtual pool using a real cue stick and ball in another vintage video from Hack a Day’s secret underground vault. The video is noteworthy for a couple of reasons:
First is the year it was made: 1990. There’s been much buzz lately over real-world gaming interfaces like the Nintendo Wii motion controller or Microsoft’s Project Natal. Here we’re seeing a much simpler but very effective physical interface nearly twenty years prior.
Second: the middle section of the video reveals the trick behind it all, and it turns out…

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Enjoy losing at pool? Well the folks at Queen’s University just made it a whole lot easier. The Deep Green robot was created with the purpose of playing a flawless game, allowing it to beat even the most skilled human players. More than a couple of research papers have been written on the project. A ceiling-mounted Canon 350D tracks the position of all of the balls, in addition to another cue-mounted cam (for higher shot accuracy). Using a bunch of calculations, and a computer (probably more advanced than an Arduino), the Deep Green is able to strategize and play. Very…

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Thanks to the technology available nowadays, you can instantly discover the full name, address and even background information about anyone by having only their phone number. This is done by using a “reverse cell phone search” – let’s take a closer look at how this is done.
As you might imagine, this type of service will usually cost a few bucks, but there is a way to get the same information for free.
With the phone number you want to get details about, go to Google and type in the number. Use the following format: “555-555-5555″ (make sure to include…

One of the most cost-effective ways of advertising and marketing is by requesting auto insurance quotes online. Compared to the traditional ways of asking for auto insurance quotes, online car insurance quotes can save clients as much as 30 up to 40 percent off of their vehicle premiums. However, there are still some people who have not done this before. With the accessibility and convenience of the Internet, this is a great time to explore this option. Take your time and do not be confused with all the offers and insurance packages that you see online. Moreover, you must also…

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Google Inc is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more.”We’ve been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on,” the company’s green energy czar Bill Weihl told Reuters GlobalClimate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.Google, known for its Internet search engine, in late 2007 said it would invest…

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One of the fastest growing Facebook Pages over the past couple weeks was a page developed by KZ Entertainment to entice users to fan the page in order to get the admin to name his son “Batman”. It’s not a completely original tactic as it has been used with varying degrees of success in the past, especially within Facebook groups. The real question though is whether or not this individual should be able to create a Facebook Page which is aimed at promoting a media company rather than accomplishing a legitimate goal.

Currently, Facebook arbitrarily disables publishing features of generic…

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