-I got an internship! Working with such intellectual greats as Mickie Byrd, Dakotah Karrer, and Joseph Midura, I'll be writing the demos/tutorials for the Minio! (see below) The kickstarter is just kickstarting at the time of writing, and I'll soon be receiving an advance kit so that by the time backer presents start shipping, I'll have a decent portfolio of the Minio's functions ready to go.
-Minio, the next big step in phone hardware, and the DIY-on-the-go-er's best friend, is making it's debut. To give the condensed pocket-edition summary, abridged, of the Minio, it's an Arduino attachment for your Android phone. What you actually receive is a small circuit board, not much larger than a quarter, with a micro USB plug on one side and some pins on the other. Downloading the app then gives you the ability to write code for your Minio, which opens a whole new world of phone periphery. Essentially, when you have Minio, you have access to not only your phone's computing power for all of you projects, but you also have the ability to expand on that, for the sake of an upgradable phone. If you're an engineer on a budget like me, the prospect of upgrading phone hardware rather than repurchasing is one full of promise and endless possibility. And of course, a single paragraph couldn't begin to scratch the surface on the possibilities, I'm just saying what I've seen. To get one, go head over to the Minio website and don't forget to check out the kickstarter.
-I have a new design I hope to begin working on soon, for a holodesque virtual reality rig. Since the first rumors of the Oculus Rift VR headset, and even more so once the Leap Motion Sensor came about, people have been frantically looking to finish the VR Trifecta by allowing the player to move freely while not running into walls, mainly with omnidirectional treadmills. In existing designs, a good omnidirectional treadmill has always had at least one major flaw, like requiring a building-sized apparatus. Others flaws have been the need for specialized, expensive, hyper slick materials that are easy to damage and very hard against your foot, or the need for an awkward, strenuous motion. At present, the leading design seems to come from the Virtuix Omni, which takes the form of a large, curved platform with a waist brace.
Pictured: Impracticality and minimal planning
The inside of the curve is covered in either a slick surface, requiring special shoes as well, or small rollers. This design is popular since it only takes up about a square meter of floor space, and is small and inexpensive compared to competitors. Despite this, I am still not satisfied. Unlike the Oculus Rift, this piece of VR hardware is going to be planted in the corner of a room and stay there--there is no portability. It's also much more than a gaming peripheral, it's a piece of furniture, which is a trait that may make it popular with nerds but sadly, not the parents who's house they live in. Even if you're okay with it's other shortcomings, it would be nice if they at least made it disassemblable, so one may fold it up and tuck in it in a closet when not in use. Lastly, all of these designs require cameras coupled with complex motion tracking software or imprecise, easily confused accelerometers strapped to the user's legs in order to (poorly) detect movement. After all of this trouble, expense and unreliability even I was about ready to give up on the technology--but some late-night crazies gave me the insight to a design that simplifies the whole thing into (you're going to want to sit down for this) (this set of parenthesis is to further delay for dramatic effect) a pair of shoes. Or at the very least, a pair of shoes will be all you need to buy. These shoes will not only be comfortable and flexible, they will have minimal friction with whatever material you chose to use them on, because you get to decide what the base is. Got a thing for concrete? make a waist brace out of two-by-fours and drop it in the garage. Have some rotting support beams in the kitchen that make the linoleum oh-so-cushy? Wait for Mother's soap operas to come on and it's all yours. Or perhaps you'd like a dedicated rig with backup power, 5.1 Dolby surround sound and a locked door between you and your sister; In that case, only your ingenuity sets the limit. It will even be just like a gaming mouse, in that you can drop $500+ getting the best pair of gaming shoes on the market, or you can head to Staples, get a set of strap-on soles for $20 and nab some stale candy on your way out. Once I have a programmer and a little cash to build my prototype, it should only take a few weeks to get up and running, as 90% of the code required already exists. This will be something to keep an eye out for here on Contents Explosive during the next month or two.
-The same night I came up with my Gaming Shoes idea I also finally figured out how to make a cheap, reliable, hollow centered slipring with only basic tools. A later post will cover in-depth instructions, so check back often!
Now that you're no doubt riding a dopamine high from all the great things I just told you, I'm going to go ahead and cut that off by saying I lost all of my CAD files for Project Abraham. My entire hard drive was compromised by my chronic cranial activity deficiency (I did something dumb) and so the project is on hold until I have the patience to redo all of that modeling work.
The night carries on and so must I. It is with great excitement and hope for upcoming projects that I close this letter to you, my faithful Reader, and bid you a prosperous and enlightening time.
-K
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