This week on Maker Update, a robot dog for attacking poison ivy, spray-on LEDs, Festo’s robot bird, a Pi-powered pet feeder, forging a sword, and mapping LEDs on a mask.

++Show Notes [Maker Update #186]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Poison Ivy Dog Robot by Sciencish
https://youtu.be/gm-EslOemfE

-=News=-

How to Add Spray-On Lights to 3D-Printed Parts
https://www.core77.com/posts/100532/How-to-Add-Spray-On-Lights-to-3D-Printed-Parts

Festo’s New Bio-Inspired Robots Include a Feathery Bionic Bird
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/festo-bioinspired-robots-bionicswift

-=More Projects=-

Auto PetFeeder By gilian13
https://www.instructables.com/id/Auto-PetFeeder/

GPAGD (General Purpose Automatic Grain Dispenser) by gtsianak
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2953499

How to Make a Sword by Essential Craftsman
https://youtu.be/YI9uI_x3Y-o

-=Tools/Tips=-

Maker Update #185 Adafruit Edition
https://youtu.be/ktj7Z1UW_HI

Adam Savage’s Favorite Tools: 4″ Calipers
https://www.tested.com/art/makers/909038-adam-savages-favorite-tools-4-calipers/

Best Task Light for Tools
https://kk.org/cooltools/best-task-light-for-tools/

Displaying Patterns on an Irregular LED Matrix by Scott Marley
https://youtu.be/zYZkbfmCuEY

3D Printing Basics: When things go wrong!
https://youtu.be/R-CMotQ-nqI

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

New Product Discoveries: iFixit and TubeDepot
https://youtu.be/bfHZHucQMmo

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, a robot dog for attacking poison ivy, spray-on LEDs, Festo’s robot bird, a Pi-powered pet feeder, forging a sword, and mapping LEDs on a mask.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope you’re doing well, staying cool, staying safe. I’m just happy to be getting better sleep after what has felt like an entire month of people lighting off fireworks. I have some cool things to show you, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

On YouTube, Sciencish walks you through his process for creating this remote controlled robot dog he designed to kill the poison ivy growing in his yard. 

The secret weapon is a 5v pump hooked up to his cute little googly-eyed reservoir face. For these demos it’s filled with water, but you could fill it up with weedkiller. You could also just keep water in there and actually have your dog help you keep plants alive. It’s up to you.

The robot is based around an Arduino Uno with four servos and a 3D printed frame and legs. With the remote control, you can have the robot lie down, stand up, turn, walk forwards or backwards, and of course, leak.

The mobility of the robot leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, if you’re going to build a gardening robot, you’re probably better off with something like a rover design (no pun intended). 

Still, I just love that this guy made a whizzing robot. It’s a feature that I’ll seriously consider adding to all my robots moving forward.

Now for some news. Through the Core 77 blog I learned about a unique process from the Bristol Interaction Group, for adding lights to your 3D printed projects by spraying them on. 

The headline here is a little deceiving because “spray-on” lights makes it sound like some convenient process. 

What’s actually going on here is that the object is printed partially in conductive filament that acts as an electrode, with basic filament used as an insulator.

Sprayed on layers are then carefully built up to create the LED light effect. The whole thing has to plug into power just like anything else.

It’s a neat idea, especially for making round or uneven surfaces that seem to magically emit their own light. The video kinda hints at this, but it could be a really cool technique to work into cosplay props.

In other news, check out this new video from the German robotics manufacturer Festo. It’s an ornithopter drone called Bionic Swift, and it flys around just like a real bird. 

Each bird weighs in at just 42 grams. One motor is used for flapping and two other motors actuate the wings and the spread of the synthetic feathers to control the steering. 

What’s even more impressive is that these are autonomous robots. There’s no human at the controls. Using GPS and wireless networking between birds, Festo has been able to get five of them flying at once in an enclosed space. 

By constantly reporting on their position and trajectory, they’re able to avoid each other and stay in the air for up to seven minutes. It’s incredible.

Now for more projects. On Instructables, I found this automatic pet feeder by gilian13. 

This design is based on a Raspberry Pi, an LCD screen, an Ultrasonic sensor to detect your pet, a stepper driver, and a load cell to report back on the weight of the food placed in the bowl.

There are a lot of automatic pet feeder projects out there. This one is clever, though you could argue that it’s a little overkill.

What’s interesting is that the core of the project is this 3D printed auger system by George Tsianakas on Thingiverse. 

This design uses a NEMA7 stepper motor to precisely drive the auger. There’s a feeder chute at the top. Aside from the motor and a few screws, everything is 3D printed.

I’ve been thinking of making an auger system like this either as an ice dispenser for my cocktail robot, or as a candy dispenser for trick or treaters. Either way I’m sure I’d have to adjust the sizing and spacing of this design, but all the STLs are here and it seems like a good place to start.

For something completely different, the Essential Craftsman takes a break from building an entire home from scratch, to show you how to make your own sword from carbon steel. 

I’ll be honest, of all the maker disciplines, blacksmithing is pretty far off my radar. And in terms of practical weapons in self-defense, swords are even further off my radar. 

But as a video, it is a real treat to watch this sword get smashed and carved and polished into existence. 

In the end, whether you’re making a robot, or making sword, or making a pizza, it comes down to process, tools, and technique. If you like seeing cool things take shape, without a whole lot of showing off, check out this video.

Now it’s time for some tips and tools. First up, with the new month comes a new Adafruit edition of Maker Update. Tyler Winegarner shows off some great new projects, including this RGB matrix slot machine by the Ruiz Brothers. Check it out.

On Tested, Adam Savage revisits his spiel about why he likes dial calipers over digital ones. This time, though, he adds a twist. Instead of a standard 6-inch set of calipers, he’s switched things up to a more compact 4-inch version that fits better in his shop apron. 

I had no idea these existed, but if you find yourself rarely venturing past a few inches with your calipers, you might find this smaller option more handy.

For another handy tool, I talked to Jordan Bunker about these magnetic task lights. They’re advertised as lamps that you can attach to a sewing machine, but Jordan has been using them on his drill press, or any tool where some extra light can help you out. 

They’re $16 for a pair and come with adhesive mounting discs to make it easy to attach them to anything.

On YouTube, Scott Marley explains how to create a custom LED matrix on an irregular shape.

For his example, he has some LED strip weaving all over this mask. By using the FastLED XY map generator, he’s able to translate an animation made for a perfect grid of LEDs to work on this irregular shape without losing the proportions or pattern of the animation. It’s a great trick to know about.

Also on YouTube, Thomas Sanladerer has been piecing together a great series for anyone getting started with 3D printing. His latest is called “When things go wrong!” and I think it’s essential viewing even if you’ve been printing for years. You’ll learn what to watch out for, and the most likely solutions for common errors.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, check out their latest video introducing two new product lines being distributed by Digi-Key: iFixit, and TubeDepot. I’ve had great experiences with both companies — tube depot for replacing vacuum tubes on my guitar amps, and iFixit for their great little toolkits. As someone who’s both into electronics repair and guitar gear, seeing both these brands on Digi-Key put a smile on my face. 

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up, or leave a comment. Tell how this show has gone downhill ever since I started talking about whizzing robot dogs. You can get on the Maker Update email list to stay up on each week’s show notes. A big thanks to my Patreon Patrons and to the awesome people at Digi-Key electronics for making this show possible. Next week, we have Sophy Wong joing us again as a guest host, so look forward to that. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon.