Famous Circuits Blog: January 2014

IEEE Spectrum

Google Highlights Value of Patents in Motorola Sale to Lenovo
Video Friday: Hacked Anki Drive, Cereal Arms, and Rocket Launching Drones
Who’s Writing Linux?
Can Graphene Enable Thermal Transistors?
Profile: Aereo’s Chet Kanojia Is Bringing Live TV to the Cloud
Rudimentary Computer Built From Nanowires
How to Make a Better Invisibility Cloak—With Lasers

Google Highlights Value of Patents in Motorola Sale to Lenovo

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST

Google hangs onto patents to defend its Android system as it sells off Motorola Mobility to Lenovo

Video Friday: Hacked Anki Drive, Cereal Arms, and Rocket Launching Drones

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 08:07 AM PST

It's Friday, and you know what that means: Must. Watch. Robot. Videos.

Who’s Writing Linux?

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST

Corporations are paying for the world's most famous free operating system

Can Graphene Enable Thermal Transistors?

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 10:03 AM PST

Tiny cross structure of graphene laterally confines phonons to direct heat flow

Profile: Aereo’s Chet Kanojia Is Bringing Live TV to the Cloud

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST

The CEO of the embattled start-up is aiming at the heart of cable television

Rudimentary Computer Built From Nanowires

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 09:56 AM PST

Tiles of nanowires combine to make a finite-state machine

How to Make a Better Invisibility Cloak—With Lasers

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 09:01 AM PST

Direct laser writing creates metamaterial structures small enough to manipulate visible light

Trossen Robotics Blog

PhantomX Reactor Lends a Helping Hand (or Gripper)

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:01 PM PST

Forum member dburongarcia has been doing research and development for using robotics to assist people with cerebral palsy. He’s using a Arduino Uno with USB Host shield to control a pair of motors in a motorized wheel chair, allowing the user to control the chair with limited head movements. The system can even be controlled via facial recognition running on a PC.

What really caught our eye was the second half of his project – using one of our PhantomX Reactor Robot Arms to help the user feed themselves!

Using 4 pushbuttons, the user can pick food from 1 of 3 bowls, put the food back in the bowl, or get a drink of water. There’s also a version that uses facial recognition to feed the user – we’ll have the video of that up soon.

Projects like this really mean a great deal to us – we truly believe that robots are an amazing tool for assisting humans. When we see that our robots have been integrated into thoughtful designs like this, we know we’re doing something right. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing more documentation and details on this project.

RobotGeek Airsoft M74DP Mount Kit

Posted: 16 Dec 2013 05:02 AM PST

Introducing the RobotGeek Airsoft M74DP Mount Kit! Everyone always wants to shoot stuff with their robots, but hacking together a DIY Airsoft solution can be very time consuming. This kit provides an out of the box solution for adding an Airsoft gun to any robot project. The kit comes with everything you need and multiple mounting solutions. Check out the overview video below.

News post & update: eleccircuit.com

The logic gate without IC

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 06:06 PM PST

The past, we’ve used only a digital logic circuit by IC. But, in truth. We do not need any Ics, may use Switch or Diode or transistors connected as a logic circuit. Try to see Figure 1 which use switch and diode connected as AND and OR gate , To make us understand the meaning […]

IEEE Spectrum

Concept Art Hints at the Awesome Future of Drones
Bitcoin Investors Urge Restraint at Regulatory Hearing
European Union Fanning Offshore Wind Energy in India
Tech Giants' NSA Deal Leaves Start-Ups in the Shadows
Slideshow: A Day in the Life of Digi-Key

Concept Art Hints at the Awesome Future of Drones

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

It's nice to stretch our imaginations once in a while to see what the future of robots might look like

Bitcoin Investors Urge Restraint at Regulatory Hearing

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 12:29 PM PST

New York officials mull over how to regulate virtual currencies

European Union Fanning Offshore Wind Energy in India

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:51 AM PST

Europe planning to help India boost its offshore wind capacity in €4 million project

Tech Giants' NSA Deal Leaves Start-Ups in the Shadows

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:49 AM PST

New rules restrict start-ups on when they can reveal government requests for user data

Slideshow: A Day in the Life of Digi-Key

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:05 AM PST

With a million products in its catalog, the global electronics distributor caters to hobbyists, design engineers, and manufacturers alike

IEEE Spectrum

Modular Concepts at CES Hint at the Future of Mobile Computing
Modular Robotics' MOSS Kit Makes Building Robots a Snap
Deepest Underground Dark-Matter Detector to Start Up in China
The Mekong River by Satellite
‘Borophene’ Might Be Joining Graphene in the 2-D Material Club
How to Make Electricity With Bacteria-Coated Rubber

Modular Concepts at CES Hint at the Future of Mobile Computing

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 07:59 AM PST

The lifetimes of mobile electronics are woefully short, but the modularity seen in some futuristic CES concepts might be a solution

Modular Robotics' MOSS Kit Makes Building Robots a Snap

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 07:58 AM PST

Anyone can build a robot with these modular parts

Deepest Underground Dark-Matter Detector to Start Up in China

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST

The PandaX project will look for dark matter in the heart of a marble mountain

The Mekong River by Satellite

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 PM PST

Berlin-Hanoi partnership builds new ways to track rapid development in Vietnam's ancient delta

‘Borophene’ Might Be Joining Graphene in the 2-D Material Club

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:30 AM PST

For first time experimental evidence indicates that boron on its own could be made into a graphene-like material

How to Make Electricity With Bacteria-Coated Rubber

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:08 AM PST

Bacterial spores that respond to changes in humidity power a Lego generator

News post & update: eleccircuit.com

The experiment touch switch using JK-flip-flop as RS-flip flop.

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 04:24 AM PST

In the previous circuit, we use JK-flip-flop in as RS-FF. We will use pin R and S of flip-flops, by stores data of pin J, K and CK(clock). The experiment about the touch switch just to use your finger to touch them only also can turns ON-OFF circuit, this switch type is widely popular. We […]

Adding width of my old electronics workbench desk

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 04:19 AM PST

An electronics workbench desk is very necessary. I inherited from my father, are the old desk about the age for 40 year. I like it a lot and binding,it is still in good condition. But it has little to wide for me. (Compared to a typical computer) Figure 1 the my old desk from my […]