Nuts and Volts - September 2014

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been taking things apart and putting them back together; sometimes right, sometimes wrong, blowing fuses, and generally being intensely curious. I would always brag that there was nothing I owned which I didn't take apart to see how it worked. I never had much help or support, so I started teaching myself, finding unique ways to overcome problems for my builds through the years. About a year ago, I decided it was time to crawl out from under my rock and show the world what I was making ...

Underlying Technology: Power management and switching circuits, multicolor LED lighting, microcontrollers for sequencing and complex effect synchronization, sound effect triggering, and radio signal remote control via gesture and motion detection.

Alternate Uses: The power management circuits and LED lighting systems could be useful in solar power systems, off-grid power areas, and educational green energy models. Using microcontrollers to sequence or create complex reactions to input states can be useful in building alarm systems, monitoring water levels, or creating lighting macros for stage use. Radio control and motion sense systems such as the one used here could be adapted to detect a medical state (e .g., horizontal orientation could mean the wearer was incapacitated and the radio system could alert a central station about this.

What did we miss? Do you have other ideas we may not have thought of? We are interested in how the technology showcased in articles may otherwise be applied. If you have ideas or comments, please send them to editor@nutsvolts.com.

So, without further adieu, I introduce my Steampunk-inspired Rock Golem from the depths of middle Earth (a.k.a., my basement work room). This colossus measures in at 12 feet tall and weighs around 300 pounds. He is primarily built out of mattress foam over a PVC pipe skeleton.

My Golem has an impressive list of features: • Articulated head with servo-actuated/ smoke-spewing jaws, and Larson Scanner eyes.

• Right limb hand manipulator.

• Left limb dynamically-controlled spinning energy weapon.

• A working intricate chest cavity geartrain.

• Several hundred LEDs split among several lighting effect systems.

• Fully autonomous; powered by a 12V8Ahr SLA battery in each foot.

• Wearable as a fully walking costume. An operator enters via the back panel, locks into ski boot stilts, and assumes (almost) full control of this 100% self-sufficient costume.