You’ve probably heard that a 3D printer is capable of producing its own replacement parts. Sometimes, that even includes upgraded or improved versions of the parts it was originally built with. But sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what improved really means. Think about air ducts that cool the part after printing. In theory, it […]
Before the age of lithium batteries, any project needing to carry its own power had to rely on batteries that were much less energy-dense and affordable. In many ways, we take modern lithium technology for granted, and can easily put massive batteries in our projects by the standards of just a few decades ago. While […]
Digital design is hard. But in the right environment, digital circuits are more forgiving than analog. That 3.3V signal coming out of the chip has to drop a lot along the way to not be a logic level at the destination. If you are trying to push the boundary then digital design has much of […]
I find that if I’m trying to make a point with a student or a colleague about a circuit, sometimes the Falstad online simulator is worth a few thousand words. You can draw the circuit, play with the values, and even see the current flow in an intuitive way as well as make traditional measurements. […]
NASA needed a small and lightweight computer to send humans on their journey to the Moon and back, but computers of the day were made out of discrete components that were heavy, large, complicated, and unreliable. None of which are good qualities for spaceflight. The agency’s decision to ultimately trust the success of the Apollo […]
In years gone by, trying out a new circuit probably would have meant heating up a soldering iron. Solderless breadboards have made that even easier and computer simulation is easier still, but there’s something not quite as satisfying about building a circuit virtually. [Thedeuluiz] has a way to get some of the best of both […]
Steel Battalion was released for the Xbox in 2002, and remains one of the most hardcore mech simulators of all time. It became legendary for its huge twin-stick controller covered in buttons, and for deleting your save game if you failed to eject in time. It took giant robot gaming to a new level, but […]