Tyler is a fairly new maker on the scene with one of my favorite new open-source hardware kits (an ambient-style GPS). Within just a few weeks a customer of his “upgraded” his kit all because it’s open-source. Tyler then made these cool badges to put on his product pages to show and share that it’s been improved by going open. This is a great example of some of the things I talked about in my recent article “The {Unspoken} rules of open-source hardware”.
The greatest part of selling open source hardware is what happens after the sale. I am constantly surprised by the things people do with the Coobro Geo. People have emailed me pictures of hardware hacks, and sent me code that takes the device in a direction I had never dreamed of or thought possible. I know I am not alone in this, and have a strong feeling that anyone who has released open source hardware has spent time digging through Google searches and forums looking for projects that have used their hardware in unique ways. Here at Adafruit, and at my company, Coobro Labs, we want to celebrate these open source hardware hacks and upgrades. We want to do a better job of showcasing the hard work and ingenuity of our customers and their projects.
In order to bring attention to these projects, I have created a couple Open Source Upgrade badges. Anytime someone modifies a piece of open source hardware and adds to either the code, or the hardware, we will attach one of these badges of honor to the project. If you have a project that took a piece of open source hardware and gave it an upgrade, feel free to add the badge to your pictures or blog posts. Our goal here is to increase awareness of projects that would not have been possible (or would have been much harder) without open source hardware. To show people who are nervous about open sourcing their hardware that this is what open source hardware is all about.
I currently have two large badges in .png and .jpg formats ready to download. I will have multiple sizes available soon. Download the badges here.
Here are the product improvements.
Coobro Geo owner and active user Gerard (call sign DL8SEL) has been pumping out updates to the Coobro Geo code and he is finally ready to show it off. We are blown away with what Gerard has done here. Here is the long list of new features he has developed:
- 32 breadcrumb coordinate storage in eeprom
- 32 geo coordinate storage in eeprom
- Active geo and breadcrumb coordinates shown on the distance LEDs in binary
- Activity logging: every time you turn on the device it logs the date/time/location of your start (10 revolving data logs)
- Read and write coordinates and breadcrumbs via serial communication (a write command allows you to store breadcrumbs lat/lon in a specific location in the table, a read command shows all non-zero breadcrums lat/lon)
- When you turn on the device, it will flash the software version in binary
- When you turn off, then turn on the device, it will return to the last coordinate you were navigating to
- The close-up distance display can be changed easily with a #define macro (from 5 to 10 or xx meter if you want to use it in a car)
- When you turn on the device, it will transfer all wp of the program code into the corresponding eeprom wp storage area if the corresponding storage field is empty
A special thanks to Gerard for all of his hard work on the code! This is what makes open source great.
Make sure to view the header in Gerard’s sketch for instructions on how to read/write to the Coobro Geo over serial. Download Gerard's updated code on GitHub.
Tyler is posting up bigger/different versions of the art too, I’ll post an update once they’re up.
Meet Simon Jansen, a software engineer by trade who likes building all manner of odd inventions and restoring old cars in his spare time. In MAKE Volume 29, Simon wrote about making the Better Nerf Gun, a metal foam-dart gun that blows away the standard-issue plastic Nerf gun.
What’s your background?
I am 38, actually nearly 39 now, a software engineer specializing in QA and testing. I work for the New Zealand development office of a U.S. software company. I live by myself in a tiny two bedroom house with two garages! One houses my MGB (my everyday car) and space for tools and building things. In the other, I am currently building an 1937 Austin 7 sports car. The house is full of my projects, past and present. TARDIS in the living room, Bender in the spare room, half finished N-scale railway on top of the dining table (soon to go IN the dining table), creepy Steed puppet on the back of a chair. You know, usual bachelor pad type stuff. I like making things, always have.
Why do you like making things?
I’ve always been good at it and I think it’s because I have a good imagination as well as good practical skills. I can pick things up quite well. I am a bit of a perfectionist which can sometimes be annoying, but I do like to do things well. The thing I find that makes me different from non-making-things people is the thought process I go through. A lot of people ask me how did I know how to start making something. I did’t. But I reason it out. I am good at picturing in my head, not just what I want to make, but exactly how I might go about making it, too. It is something you get better with after years of practice because you will have tried (and failed) at more ways of doing things so you soon learn what will work.
Tell us about your Better Nerf Gun project
The project for MAKE came about because we were playing with NERF guns in the office. I just though well, these are cool toys, but they could surely be better. The project was my first attempt and it is better in terms of range and accuracy but not really in terms of usability. I am sure the next one I make would be better still but I have already moved onto other things!
What are your upcoming projects?
Currently I dream of the car I’m building. I have restored one car previously, but I wanted to build a car that was totally how I wanted it. Learn how to coach-build a body the way they did in the “old days.” So I am building an Austin 7. I have an expert mentoring me in how to go about it. He suggests things but doesn’t tell me what to do and rather leaves me to it. I make mistakes. I spent all day today fixing one. But I am learning a lot and really enjoying it and I think the car should end up something quite special. Or at least certainly unique! A project like this is a big, long-term one so you really do need to keep focused on it. So many people start cars, usually get as far as pulling them apart but then they never quite get them back together!
Can you tell us about one of your favorite tools?
One of my favorite tools right now is the sliding bevel. A dead simple, dirt cheap tool but when you’re trying to build a steel frame for a car and need both sides to be (roughly) the same they are invaluable! My mentor was amazed I didn’t have one already and when I bought one I was wondering why I had never got one before!
Tell me about some of the other things you’ve built.
Most of my projects are online and linked to my original website. I also have a blog of smaller projects here.
The current project that’s taking up all my time is here.
My favorite is the steam powered record player. People complain is sounds terrible but that was kind of the point. I wanted it to sound like it was powered by steam. People seem to think this was something I would use every day so it needs to be perfect but it was just a bit of fun. That project came out exactly how I wanted. Not many people got the whole taking the piss out of steampunk though.
From the pages of MAKE Volume 29:
We have the technology (to quote The Six Million Dollar Man), but commercial tools for exploring, assisting, and augmenting our bodies really can approach a price tag of $6 million. Medical and assistive tech manufacturers must pay not just for R&D, but for expensive clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and liability — and doesn’t help with low pricing that these devices are typically paid for through insurance, rather than purchased directly. But many gadgets that restore people’s abilities or enable new “superpowers” are surprisingly easy to make, and for tiny fractions of the costs of off-the-shelf equivalents. MAKE Volume 29, the “DIY Superhuman” issue, explains how.
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