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Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

#81

Post by tobz »

dawnerd wrote: post #33
tobz wrote: post #3

I'm working on a headphone stand that has a USB DAC/headphone amplifier built in, along with circuitry to detect when the headphones have been hung up, thereby switching the DAC output to a line out (to drive speakers, or whatever). It's a shameless amalgamation of a DIY post on Reddit[1] and some design aesthetics from an existing DAC/headphone amp[2] that I really like. I'm currently at the point where the internal…

That's really cool. I've always wanted something that would seamlessly switch between headphones and my monitors.

Yeah, right now, I have some dinky 2.1 speaker setup, and there's a remote control box that feeds back to the subwoofer to control the volume and expose a headphone port. I have to plug/unplug when I want to switch, and the volume control button/wheel has low resolution because it's so small.

The Reddit link uses a Windows program to do it, but I wanted it to be universal because I dual-boot, so doing it in the DAC/amplifier seemed like a better approach. :)

Re: Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

#82

Post by jcoffland »

gravypod wrote: post #23
jcoffland wrote: post #2

I develop Open-Source software for CNC simulation. https://blog.buildbotics.com

You're doing some much needed work and I really hope you not only stick to this but win out in every way. I cannot understate how much I have been waiting for a good UX/UI on a CAM that doesn't require running HUGE closed-source packages.

That is exactly my goal. I'm trying to figure out how to make it more profitable so I can afford to focus on this software even more.

Re: Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

#83

Post by jcoffland »

abakker wrote: post #5
jcoffland wrote: post #2

I develop Open-Source software for CNC simulation. https://blog.buildbotics.com

If you're in the bay and need someone with a simple 4'x8' CNC router running mach 3 to test with, I'm game.

I am. I don't really have anything to test but it would be fun to meet up. My email address is linked in the last paragraph this blog post: https://blog.buildbotics.com/is-camotics-alive-3be83275493#....

Re: Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

#84

Post by stillsut »

Getting a drone to play ping pong.

More specifically using a tiny indoor quad to intercept a ping pong ball off the bounce. While I doubt it will be able to return the ball reliably, it could be used for beer-pong to defend your cups from a bounce shot.

The high-level idea is that something like Reinforcement-learning / openAI trained on a physics simulator should then be able to learn how to inctercept the ball, then be applied to the drone IRL. Right now I'm stuck on the hardware hacks: using an arudino to input control commands into a the hand-held controller, and using a mirror on the table to get a 3d position on the drone/ball.

Reply if you're interested, have ideas.

Re: Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?

#86

Post by chatmasta »

stillsut wrote: post #84

Getting a drone to play ping pong. More specifically using a tiny indoor quad to intercept a ping pong ball off the bounce. While I doubt it will be able to return the ball reliably, it could be used for beer-pong to defend your cups from a bounce shot. The high-level idea is that something like Reinforcement-learning / openAI trained on a physics simulator should then be able to learn how to inctercept the ball, the…

Cool!

How does it hold the paddle? I imagine a simple string on a winch might be sufficient to create a pendulum effect, so the drone can move side to side to swing the paddle, or reel in the winch to change height.

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