Lightweight Observer is an alternative to Announcement, the default Pharo implementation of the Observer Design Pattern. I started developing Lightweight Observer because I needed a small framework, with an implementation that can be easily converted to Javascript using PharoJS. I also wanted to be straight forward to use. I had in mind beginners such as […]
Noury
Arduino-Based Toys for Playful Cats: 3 Week-End Projects
In this selection of simple week-end projects, we target our furry friends. We provide a selection of three cool DIY projects using Arduino boards. Cats will love these electronic toys. They will cost you only few bucks, for hours of fun and laughter with your pet. Checkout the videos. They are hilarious! The first project […]
Farmers Market App: Find Fresh Locally Grown Food
If you care both about the planet and your health, the Farmers Market app is for you! This app allows you to find nearby markets, where you can buy fresh food directly from farmers. Most of the produce are grown locally. This means less fuel for transportation. So, by buying locally grown food you contribute […]
Green Websites: Solutions for a CO2 Free Internet
Green websites is the way to go for a carbon free Internet. By going green, content providers will contribute to fight climate change. The impact will be significant since the Internet energy consumption is ever growing. The communications industry could use 20% of all the world’s electricity by 2025, hampering global attempts to meet climate […]
iOS Current Location Usage Description in Cordova
Providing a clear location usage description is critical to have your iOS app approved. With the default settings of the Apache Cordova location plugin cordova-plugin-geolocation, your app is likely to be rejected by Apple. I experienced this first hand with the iOS version of the Farmers Market app. Apple reviewers sent me the following message: […]
How to Make a Large Lighthouse Using a Cheap 3D Printer
As a Pharo addict, making a 3D printed lighthouse is a fun week-end project. This idea is even more attractive. It’s a project that goes beyond what can be done using a small 3D printer, with a single extruder. The requirement are the following: The lighthouse can be taller than the maximum printing height. The […]
Robots To Collect Garbage Floating in the Water
A loft of plastic litter (bottles, bags…) end up in harbours, marinas and canals. WasteShark, a robotic boat by a Dutch company (Rana Marine) takes care of collecting this floating waste. The robot behaves the shark whale style to clean urban waters. Video 1 shows WasteShark in action. Video 1 shows WasteShark in action Plastic […]
Open Source 3D Printed Humanoid Robots
In this post we give an overview of major open source humanoid robots. Existing ones are interesting and seriously compete with the pre-built closed robots such as the Nao. One surprising conclusion is that going the open source route does mean cheap. Indeed humanoid robots have many degrees of freedom. Usually more than 20 servo […]
ArbotiX-M: The Arduino Compatible Board for Robots with Dynamixel Servos
The ArbotiX is an open hardware (GPL 3 license) Arduino compatible board that can control up to 30 Dynamixel servo motors. It is ideal for building robots of various kinds (Legged robots, Robotic arms, …). In the following, we provide you with a detailed description of the ArbotiX-M board and its characteristics. Our code samples […]
3 Super Simple Robots for Weekend Projects
Robotics is of great fun. But, making robots can take very long time… Or maybe not. Checkout the selection of videos below we have gathered for you. Those DIY robots belong to the so called BEAM Robotics. Robots made along this philosophy are based on simple analog circuits with inexpensive and more often scavenged parts. […]