Ejaad-Nama 001: Corona Virus and other makers.
A bi-weekly newsletter about Science, Electronics, Makers, DIY, and everything technical. We talk about lemons, acid battery and everything in between.
Year 2020 does not seem to have a good reputation. The Australian fire has not even seen a proper ending, but the Corona virus has spread like a worse wildfire. The good news is that the East has seemed to have figured it out, and West is just starting to work a similar strategy. Moreover, This newsletter is also getting its start in 2020… oh well…
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Corona Virus:
— Mark Rober, an engineer from NASA ( and a true maker soul), provides an amazing insight in this video on how germs spread from few individual to our complete environment by showing you LITERALLY how germs can travel.
— When you have finished watching the above video, you might decide not to be a “Covidiot” and stay home for you and your families sake. If that is the case, then it’s an amazing time to learn something new (just like by reading this newsletter). It may be a good time to learn to cook, knit a sweater or browse this conveniently compiled list of free ivy league university courses.
— In the very recent times, there have been lot of push from maker community to help in these times of pandemic. It has certainly brought forward 3d printing in the mainstream. However, makers do love problem solving but need to take up the challenge with responsibility. If you have access to a 3d printer and/or lab, and have been thinking of helping out, you might want to read up this blog from Josef Prusa on how you can make use of your 3d printer. I would recommend reading it completely to understand why not all 3d printing is useful in these times.
— Makers from Pakistan: Syed Usama Aziz, an engineer based Multan, is making videos related to Robotics during Corona times. His content is really well organized and simple to understand. His robot based restaurant in yesteryears made quite some rounds in the local media.
Robotics:
— Speaking of Robotics and learning something new, here is a project which keeps on juggling the ping pong ball and perform other tricks :) It uses camera under the platform using openCV to keep track of the ball. I love the machining of the parts, although the maker has provided stl files for them too if you decide to make 3d printed version of it. The write up and documentation is complete which includes a BOM, STL files, and the all the development history. Oh, and do not forget to send pictures to me.
Electronics:
— When I started with making my own circuits, I would not know when my components would overheat. Datasheets usually provide a lot of information on how to provide that, but often I would know how to use that info. This electrical engineering stack overflow provides a very good answer. Making bad choices on component selection especially for resistors and capacitors can lead to serious consequences.
— Freedom Shield: It’s the truth. We almost live in the world of George Orwell’s 1984 where the CCTV and Surveillance is everywhere. Privacy is usually considered a basic right. This guy figured out how to exercise his basic right by creating a hat with IR LEDs sewed in to overwhelm the photodiodes in IR Sensitive cameras. I have to say, its ingenious.
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That will be all for this time. If you would like to send in your projects and hacks to be part of the newsletter, please do comment below, or email me: a.nadeem89@gmail.com.
For the rest: Keep yourself clean, healthy and make the time at home the most productive and do not forget to sign up for the next issue.