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Tux Machines
Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 05, 2022
> For anyone who is new to the product, the Librem 5 USA is our premium phone that shares the same hardware design and features as our mass-produced Librem 5, but with electronics we make in the USA using a separate electronics supply chain that sources from US suppliers whenever possible. This results in a tighter, more secure supply chain for the Librem 5 USA. The Librem 5 USA uses the same PureOS as our other computers and so it runs the same desktop Linux applications you might be used to, just on a small screen. PureOS on the Librem 5 USA demonstrates real convergence, where the device becomes more than just a phone, it becomes a full-featured pocket-sized computer that can act like a desktop when connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, or even a laptop (or tablet!) when connected to a laptop docking station. All of your files and all of your software remains the same and follows you where you go. Applications just morph from the smaller screen to the larger screen when docked, just like connecting a external monitor to a laptop.
> Stepping on LEGO bricks is a meme for a reason: it really @#$%&! hurts. LEGO brick design is ingenious, but the engineers did not consider the ramifications of their minimalist construction system. We’ve seen people do crazy things for Internet points, such as walk across a bed of LEGO like they’re hot coals — or in Adam Beedle’s case, build a LEGO-firing turret specifically to shoot plastic bricks under a person’s feet.
> This project consists of two distinct sub-systems: the mechanical turret that launches the LEGO bricks and the targeting system that recognizes feet. For the former, Beedle devised a clever rubber band-based mechanism that cranks into position with a rack and pinion. An Arduino Uno rotates the pinion with a continuous-rotation servo motor. The pinion gear has a few teeth missing, so it releases the rubber bands and flings the loaded LEGO brick after a few rotations. Another brick then drops down from a hopper and the cycle repeats, resulting in automatic firing.
> Every car sold in the last few decades is equipped with an engine control unit, or ECU for short. Its job is to control nearly every aspect about the vehicle’s performance by reading various sensors and acting upon those inputs accordingly. However, some older rides aren’t nearly as performant as they could be, which is why YouTuber Robot Cantina wanted to modify their 1997 Saturn coupe for better fuel efficiency.
> To accomplish this goal, Robot Cantina created a lean burn system that works by making the ECU think the engine is burning more fuel than the actual amount, thus decreasing fuel consumption. They took a cheap air/fuel mixture sensor and connected its input to the engine’s manifold. Due to how it outputs a wideband, linear voltage, the signal had to be converted with an Arduino Uno into a narrow, lower voltage range via a lookup table.
> Those cheap wire-arm head massagers are great at giving your scalp a nice, relaxing rub. But they’re handheld implements that force the user to either manipulate the massager themselves or talk a partner into performing the task. David McDaid decided that the experience would be much more pleasant if a robot took care of the hard work, so he built this Stewart platform head massager.
> A Stewart platform is a dexterous manipulator often used with robotic end effectors or for orienting equipment. The standard setup requires six linear actuators, each with universal joints on both ends. The actuators mount between two plates in an arrangement that gives the top plate six degrees of freedom (DoF): pitch, roll, yaw, and linear movement in each of the three spatial axes. A Stewart platform is perfect for this application, because it lets the robot move the head massager in a variety of different ways that mimic manual movement.
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