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Exercise Bike Xbox 360 Controller

Saikat — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:46:27 +0000

Need help with your New Year’s resolution? Burn off the calories while playing your favorite racing games. The faster you pedal, the faster your vehicle travels. Learn how to build your own Excite Bike video game controller.

The project is built around an Arduino-based device that senses your pedal speed on an exercise bike and feeds it into the game console. The unique thing about it is that you can make it work with any exercise bike and the sensory feedback from the pedals. And we like it because it’s an open source project and can be built cheaply.

You’ll have to disassemble your Xbox 360 controller in order to hook up the Arduino set-up. For the most part, this is a simple matter of following the schematic and being brave enough to heavily mod your exercise bike.

The Arduino set-up is basically just sensors deciding which speed you’re pedaling at and relaying that to the proper trigger pressure setting. The schematic above has it all explained, as well as including LEDs so you’ll know which speed you’re pedalling at.

Inspiration: Rise of the Scrap Metal Robots

Saikat — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:42:21 +0000

They say that Michelangelo saw a masterpiece in every block of stone. Some of these creative minds see a robot in a pile of household junk. More precisely – a junk robot, or junkbot as they’re called. Little metal creations made from discarded appliances.

Don’t miss: Inspiration: Robotics and Steampunk Ray Gun Gallery

With sensitivity and imagination, these craftsmen have taken e-waste recycling to an art form. Instead of the trash can these robo figures can be placed on your mantelpiece. It takes a little understanding of electronics and little skill with the soldering iron. Beyond that, it’s all creative inspiration.

Miniature Motorcycles

These may not lap around the circuit but they have been fashioned from one. The sculptor has put together little motorcycle models from transistors and other electronic parts. Capacitors as handlebar mirrors…that’s an example of the careful detailing that has gone into these miniature bikes. These look ready to burn some rubber.

“Batteries not Included” Robots

Made from parts of old kitchen appliances, cell phones, computer parts, video game controllers and other throwaways, some of them can even blink back at you with their little red eyes. You almost wish they could come alive.

Sidewalk Sculptures
Let’s scale up and visit this auto parts shop in Moscow. These life size robots will make you pause just before you step into the shop. All made from old and used car parts, they look like they belong on the sidewalk. For these you might have to drop the soldering iron or the welder torch.

Even More Circuitry Art:

Trash to treasure sounds like a nice name and an eco-age art form. Check out some of the recycle art we have covered before. And do your bit for the environment.

DIY Wind Energy: The Green Electricity Turbine

Joe L — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:09:46 +0000

Using a motor from an old exercise treadmill and some PVC pipe, learn how to construct your own DIY wind energy turbine. While the electrical power may not be enough to get your home off the grid, but the project clearly explains in simple terms the technology involved in turning wind into free electricity.

Why Stop with Wind?

There are plenty of other ways to generate your own electricity and go green. Check out some of our DIY free electricity posts:

7 Magnificent Jet Powered Machines

Saikat — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:31:04 +0000

Let’s meet seven outstanding DIYers and their rocket propelled speeding machines. Two things have always fascinated man – flying and speed. The first has been achieved while with the second, man just wants more. While some call it crazy, we call it daredevilry and ingenuity.

Here we see adventurous bravehearts strapping on jet propulsion to their pick of wheels and trying to crash through the sound barrier. Crashing through any other barrier is unplanned . So let’s meet these intrepid sous:

The Jet Powered Portapotty

Paul Sender is in a tearing hurry because he strapped a Boeing jet engine on a portable toilet. The portapotty reaches a speed of 70mph and has a tail of fire that extends up to 30 feet long. Does the driver have to drive and answer the call at the same time?
Andy Tyler and His Shopping Cart

Some of us would have careened down the shopping aisle on one. But not with a jet engine on the back hurtling us at 50mph. Andy Tyler fished out a shopping cart from the river, followed the net to build a jet engine, put in a steering system and brakes (thankfully) and more fortunately took it to the open tracks for his run.
Nick Haddock and His Lawnmower

What do you do with a jet powered lawnmower? Use the jet exhaust to burn the grass? Nope…you race it. Check out how Nick Haddock built his Terbitrac tractor by marrying a gas turbine engine to a lawn mower.
Giuseppe Cannella and His Wheelchair

Encouraged by his wife of all people, Giuseppe Cannella used a spare jet engine and his mother-in-law’s discarded wheelchair to make a jet powered wheelchair. But this was all for a good cause as Giuseppe used it to raise awareness and money for Parkinson’s disease research. His mother-in-law is afflicted with it. She is not using her old wheelchair around the house by the way.
Bill Decambre and His Recliner

This jet propelled armchair is one for the couch potatoes. Those with a death wish perhaps? But Bill Decambre put his mind on his love and took it too far. The TV+remote alas, is not part of the package.
Joel King and His Racing Sled

Maneuvering a normal luge is difficult in itself. One with a small jet engine and going at 112mph requires Joel King. He did it and broke a street luge world record in the process.
Bob Maddox and His Jet Powered Bike

Nope they aren’t because they have a jet pulse engines melded to a street bike. 0 to 50mph before you can yell ‘human missile coming through’. Bob Maddox likes jet pulse engines so much that he has skydived with one strapped to his chest (seen above). He has also sold a few of his bicycle-jet engine combos on eBay. Guess that’s a normal day’s work for a guy who is actually an artist/cabinet maker from Oregon.

Awesome stuff! Did we miss any? Let us know. Check out other brave men and their jet machines:

Make a DIY Electric Bike from Drill Batteries

Joe L — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:32:13 +0000

We’ve see plenty of DIY electricity and going green projects, and here’s yet another to add to the collection. Check out the video to learn how to build your own electric bicycle out of some old drill batteries and common ingenuity. Check out our other post on electric bikes and also electric cars.

Project Specs (from the designer):

I chose a full-suspension mountain bike frame because the roads and even the bike trails here are so bad. I wanted to isolate the batteries, controller and my butt from the shocks. I also jump off curbs a lot.
I wired pairs of 36-volt Dewalt power tool batteries in series to get 72 volts and then wired each of these pairs in parallel. I can carry two, four, or six battery packs, depending on how long the trip will be.
I replaced my 36-volt, ten-amp controller with a 72-volt, 35-amp version. It also has immediate start, which means the controller does not wait until the wheel is rolling before it puts power to the motor. This lets me get through intersections faster and safer (although I have to be careful or my front wheel lifts off the ground).
I used a rear wheel motor because front wheels here tend to get bent by potholes and fixing one can be expensive if you have a motor mounted in it.
- More info in this article about the project.

Don’t miss these electric projects:

The Webcycle for the Internet Junkie

Saikat — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:27:25 +0000

Is your desire/addiction the web strong enough to pull you away from the information superhighway onto an exercise bike in order to keep you plugged in? The webcycle is a bicycle which controls your internet speed based upon how quickly you’re pedaling. It’s catchphrase is: the faster you pedal, the faster your internet goes.

The concept might remind you off the way couch potatoes use the exercise bike. Right in front of a television set. But the webcycle does one better (or worse) by making your browsing hinge around your pedaling. Here’s how the webcycle has been put together:

Wires on each pedal are connected to foil sensors on the bike which interfaces with an Arduino. The Arduino reads the RPM of the bike and transmits it to an old laptop running Ubuntu. The OS is installed with shell scripts and Wondershaper which is an easy to use traffic shaping script. It allows for browsing at reasonable speeds and streamlines uploads and downloads.

At HacknMod, we love Arduino projects and that’s why we have a whole lot of them in our Arduino section. And if you are a pedal pusher check these out too:

Incredible Bike Folds into a Wheel

Joe L — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:00:40 +0000

Wouldn’t it be nice to just hop off your bike, fold it up, and roll it behind you like luggage? This inventor created his own folding bicycle which does exactly that. Check out the fantastic demonstration video above and pay special attention to the way the front wheel folds into itself. Impressive stuff!

As you can see, the engineering on this thing is incredible. Basically, it’s all held together by various braces and screw-on items which allow the bike to be taken apart for folding. The inventor actually won an award from Dyson Vacuums for his ingenuity. Check out these other exceptional transportation hacks:

More transportation projects:

Open Source POV Bicycle Wheel Animation

Joe L — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:21:05 +0000

We recently covered a fantastic POV system which displays animation or pictures on your bicycle tires as you ride.� Instead of buying that kit, you can learn to make your own quite easily.� This open source POV bike tutorial walks you through the build process of making your own system.� As you can see in the picture above and the video below, the results are fantastic!� Here are a few specs about the project:

16 RGB (Red+Green+Blue) LEDs
Arduino compatibility (Supposedly)
Single layer printed circuit board, suitable for home fab
All through hole componentes, suitable for beginners
Hall effect sensor, for image synchronization
Least number of componentes possible
Unfortunately, only one side of the wheel is illuminated
Fits 26″ wheels for now

Above is the circuit board which attaches to your spokes.� Below is a video demo of the system.

Bicycle Wheel LED Video Displays

Joe L — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:30:53 +0000

Monkeylectric has just released the newest version of their bicycle mounted video displays.� Using four strips of� RGB LEDs on each wheel, you can display any video or image on your bike wheels while you ride.� A full video demonstration below walks you through the vast features of the product.� The technology used is similar to several other types of POV (persistance of vision) we’ve covered in the past:

The Enicycle: A Self Balancing Electric UniCycle

Joe L — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:19:41 +0000

If you’ve ever tried to ride a unicycle, most people would agree it’s pretty much impossible. However, with the Enicycle, a motorized unicycle, it’s dirt simple and you can learn in less than 15 minutes. The video above walks you through how it was designed as well as the balancing and steering mechanisms. It has built in gyroscopes and accelerometers (learn how to use a wiimote as a cheap accelerometer) along with microcontrollers and a 100W motor.

Our other balance/segway projects:

“The mini gyroscopes measure the vertical angle of the bike at a rate of 100 times a second, then feed the data to the processor, which drives the motor and in turn keeps you balance. Sounds complicated? Well, all you have to know is that you just lean forward to go and steer with your feet. Easy. To see just how easy, check out the video” – Featured on Gadget Show.

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