Written by our very own electronics instructor, Paul!
This week felt like two meetups for the price of one, featuring some of the most amazing projects we’ve seen so far. First was Española GloveWorks, an incredible organization that not only fosters youth creativity and leadership, but does so through a project that helps people living with Parkinson’s disease.
They are called GloveWorks because the technology they’ve created is a glove that delivers low-level vibration to the fingertips, stimulating the brain in a way that can reduce the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s. The system is completely open source, and their research and technical documents are available on their website. From an electronics standpoint, it is an extremely elegant combination of off-the-shelf hardware (an ESP32 with motor drivers) and custom software, including a smartphone app that controls the vibration patterns. And it’s all packaged in a tiny 3D-printed box attached to the back of the glove. Wow!
Dr. Cox brought his whole team to Make, including interns who will be helping with glove production, as well as educators from the Santa Fe Indian School and Monte Del Sol Charter School, who will be working with their own students on this project. It was a lively discussion that explored not only the glove, but also the state of STEM educational projects in Santa Fe, of which Make is a growing part.
Other projects included the continuation of two projects by younger Makers: the radio-controlled submarine and a Bluetooth speaker being built from a kit.
Finally, Charles and Kevin brought in their latest generator prototype, which is now producing almost 100 volts peak-to-peak! This project continually reinforces the relationship between voltage, current, resistance, and power (watts). It also highlights why electricity is transferred over long distances at high voltage and low current to reduce transmission losses. 100 volts might seems impressive but connecting a load (a small incandescent lightbulb) showed that voltage is only one part of the power equation. Still, they have come a long way from their early efforts which produced only fractions of a volt. Plus, as you can see from the photo, their 3D printing and coil winding skills are excellent!