Sometimes, it can be difficult to visualize what is happening inside a computer and we need a bit of help from the real world in order to get the concepts clearly. Here is an absolutely brilliant way of visualizing how OR, AND and XOR gates work using dominoes.
I can’t imagine how long it took this guy to do this but I have to admit that I am impressed!
I grew up spending much of my summer cutting the grass. We had a very large lawn (about 2 acres!) and a push mower. I would typically start cutting Saturday morning and finish sometime Sunday afternoon. I also had a couple of other lawns that I cut for family friends.
But, being the techno geek that I was, I dreamed of ways to make the whole task easier. I even attempted a few such as harnessing our dog to the mower (that ended badly when a gopher ran across the lawn and into the flower bed) and pulling the mower behind our three-wheeled ATV (Do you know how performing tight turns on those things can rip up your grass?).
The remote controlled lawn mower was, in my mind, the Holy Grail. I could sit on the porch with a drink and get my work done. What could be better? Unfortunately, I did not have the means (i.e. no cash) or understanding (i.e. I didn’t even know where to start a project like this!) so this dream was never realized.
Fortunately, Terry Creer was able to overcome these limitations. He has put together a website with all of the plans for his remote controlled lawn mower.
Essentially, Terry took an old electric wheelchair, stripped out the guts, built a frame to support it and the push mower, and then attached a remote control hobby radio to the unit. He figures that the entire project cost him AUD$480 (about US$370).
So, for those of you whose lawns are presently under a blanket of snow, you still have a few months to get this done for the 2007 mowing season!
If you’re interested, here is Terry’s mower in action:
I ran across this a number of months ago. It is a walking robotic vehicle that was designed by the Russian military a Japanse company, Sakakibara Kikai (see comments below). It resembles a mecha from Robotech!
The Asimo robot is one of the more amazing developments in the robotic industry. It has gone through a number of incarnations and they keep getting better.
I grew up spending much of my summer cutting the grass. We had a very large lawn (about 2 acres!) and a push mower. I would typically start cutting Saturday morning and finish sometime Sunday afternoon. I also had a couple of other lawns that I cut for family friends.