News: June 2021 - My projects for the HackadayPrize 2021 - nerdiy.de - DIY, electronics, 3D printing and more...

The Hackaday Prize 2021 was announced a few days ago. It became clear to me relatively quickly that I wanted to try to submit a few of my projects again this year.

The schedule was pretty tight. I had already mentioned in the comments under the Article about the HackadayPrize I read that the deadlines for the individual "challenges" were quite tight.

This time, the Hackaday team has come up with the following five "challenges" for the HackadayPrize:

Rethink displays
Refresh Work-From-Home Life
Reimagine Supportive Tech
Redefine Robots
Reactivate wildcard

The application periods for the individual challenges will be "unlocked" one after the other. The application phase for the "Rethink Displays" challenge is the first in the series and runs from 18.05.2021 to 14.06.2021. Quite tight if you want to think about and implement a suitable project first.

Conveniently, I have already worked on two projects in the past, which I think fit perfectly into the "Rethink Displays" challenge. I would like to introduce them to you below 🙂

If you want to support me with these projects, I would be happy about a Like on the Project Logs on Hackaday.io. You can find the links here:

pxlDigit_24

The pxlDigit_24 is my implementation of a somewhat more modern 24-segment display.
For this purpose, 24 WS2812 LEDs per digit are installed on a circuit board behind a 3D-printed diffuser. The individual digits can then be used to display numbers and letters.

An ESP32 can also be installed on the board to control the connected digits. A display consisting of several pxlDigit_24 digits can then be programmed and supplied with power via the integrated USB-C connection.

I had the "idea" for the pxlDigit_24 after I saw the "pxlDigit" had built. This is a seven-segment dial that can be constructed from a 3D-printed frame and 14 WS2812 LEDs.

What bothered me at the time was that these seven-segment displays can (of course) only display numbers.
Why this bothered me: There is also an ESP8266 or ESP32 built into the display, which could show all kinds of data thanks to WLAN and the Internet. Somehow I thought it should be possible to display more data without losing the retro charm of these old display types.

While looking for a solution to this problem, I stumbled across some old 24-segment displays.
With the help of 24 segments per digit, these can represent letters as well as numbers. So perfect for solving my "problem." 🙂

If you would like to support me with this project, I would appreciate a like on the hackaday.io project log: https://hackaday.io/project/180130-pxldigit24-retro-style-character-display

Incidentally, this project is also the "still secret" project that I have already mentioned in the following articles.

Below you can see a few photos of the first prototype.

Of course, there are also a few initial notes on the internal structure. The construction article will of course follow 🙂

pxlBlck

The other project that I think fits the "Rethink Displays" challenge is the pxlBlck systemwhich I received in December here have published.

The pxlBlck is the basis for a home display system. The aim is to integrate displays unobtrusively into living spaces without attracting too much attention. As soon as the resident needs to be informed about new information, the displays are activated and provide information using icons, scrolling texts or sounds.

In this way, people with hearing impairments can also be informed visually about, for example, a doorbell, social media notifications (e.g. Whatsapp, Facebook, ...), call notifications on mobile and landline phones and much more.

If you would like to support me with this project, I would appreciate a like on the hackaday.io project log: https://hackaday.io/project/180023-pxlblck-an-unobtrusive-home-information-display

In addition to the current status, I would like to implement the following features.

Simplify the structure:
I would like to create an app to make the setup and, above all, the programming and configuration of the pxlBlck's easier. Everyone should be able to program and configure their pxBlck easily. Ideally even without a computer.
Implementation of functions for people with impaired hearing
At this point, I would like to be honest that I did not have this use case in mind from the outset. But during development, I realized that the pxlBlck's can also be used as an optical notification device. People with hearing impairments in particular cannot hear the doorbell or the ringing of the telephone, for example. A pxlBlck in every room or at special locations could visually indicate these events. As an alternative to commercial systems, I would like to equip the pxlBlck system with these features.
GroupWare status display
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I (like many others) was confronted with the challenges of working from home. Online meetings quickly became part of everyday life and of course the day came when I was sitting silently at my desk with my microphone activated and my girlfriend burst into the room unknowingly. By the time I had deactivated my microphone, my work colleagues had of course heard the first sentences. Not a big problem in itself, of course, but later we joked that something like an "on-air" display could be useful to avoid such situations. A kind of tiny display that signals when you are in a meeting. Only later did I think: "Wait a minute, you can do something like that with the pxlBlcks. All you need is a bit of software that controls the pxlBlck's accordingly." That's why I want to make this possible 🙂

WinDIY_2

After taking part in the HackadayPrize 2020 last year with WinDIY and even winning a prize, I was naturally overjoyed. On the other hand, it bothered me that WinDIY didn't work as planned.

I actually wanted to build a well-functioning wind turbine that anyone could replicate. However, I had not yet achieved this goal with WinDIY, which is why I decided to build a new version. You can see a few first impressions in the following articles and pictures.

https://nerdiy.de/news-mai-2021-aktuelle-projekte-und-entwicklungen/

If you would like to support me with this project, I would appreciate a like on the hackaday.io project log: https://hackaday.io/project/184849-windiy2-horizontal-axis-wind-turbine