Check out this ">tiny laser engraver from instructables user Groover. Using easily sourced and salvaged parts including and a couple optical drives and an Arduino, Groover was able to assemble a unit that, though low power, is able to mark wood and cut paper.

I held off on “giant,” because, well, there’s really big, and then there’s giant. And, as cool as your Arduino-brained bubble blowing robot is, Instructables user zvizvi, the bubbles it blows are not truly giant IMNSHO. Check out zvizvi’s and the other winning entries in Instructables’ recent Microcontroller Contest.

• Giant Bubbles On The Beach
• Bubble Photography Tips And Tricks
• Out Of This World Soap Bubbles

Plus a little treasure from nature. From Mrballeng, Instructables user and craftsman. I have rarely, if ever, seen anyone use pick-up materials so creatively or so skillfully. Hats off to you.

More:

• Holga 35mm film adapter / modification
• HOW TO – Homemade Holga on a Canon 20D
• Homemade medium format camera

In the Maker Shed:

Stereo Pinhole Camera Kit

During the game children wear a Bee puppet wrist band with embedded electronics to allow for game play. The children have a finite amount of time (45 seconds) to collect and deposit nectar and a finite storage capacity of nectar (3 units). During the allotted time, a child runs from flower to flower and tries to collect nectar. A child can collect one unit of nectar from any given flower (if the flower is not empty) and will also be informed as to how much nectar remains inside the flower (via LED Array 1). A child may collect nectar from the same flower more than once. Once the child’s nectar stomach (represented via a LED array 2) has been filled, he or she returns to the hive and deposits the stored nectar. If time runs out prior to depositing nectar, the nectar is lost and is not counted. When a child’s turn is over, marked either by running out of time or by making a successful deposit, the bee puppet is passed to a teammate.

One of the team members, Ben Zaitlen, demonstrates the game and explains the technology:

[via Rob Faludi]

During the game children wear a Bee puppet wrist band with embedded electronics to allow for game play. The children have a finite amount of time (45 seconds) to collect and deposit nectar and a finite storage capacity of nectar (3 units). During the allotted time, a child runs from flower to flower and tries to collect nectar. A child can collect one unit of nectar from any given flower (if the flower is not empty) and will also be informed as to how much nectar remains inside the flower (via LED Array 1). A child may collect nectar from the same flower more than once. Once the child’s nectar stomach (represented via a LED array 2) has been filled, he or she returns to the hive and deposits the stored nectar. If time runs out prior to depositing nectar, the nectar is lost and is not counted. When a child’s turn is over, marked either by running out of time or by making a successful deposit, the bee puppet is passed to a teammate.

One of the team members, Ben Zaitlen, demonstrates the game and explains the technology:

[via Rob Faludi]

During the game children wear a Bee puppet wrist band with embedded electronics to allow for game play. The children have a finite amount of time (45 seconds) to collect and deposit nectar and a finite storage capacity of nectar (3 units). During the allotted time, a child runs from flower to flower and tries to collect nectar. A child can collect one unit of nectar from any given flower (if the flower is not empty) and will also be informed as to how much nectar remains inside the flower (via LED Array 1). A child may collect nectar from the same flower more than once. Once the child’s nectar stomach (represented via a LED array 2) has been filled, he or she returns to the hive and deposits the stored nectar. If time runs out prior to depositing nectar, the nectar is lost and is not counted. When a child’s turn is over, marked either by running out of time or by making a successful deposit, the bee puppet is passed to a teammate.

One of the team members, Ben Zaitlen, demonstrates the game and explains the technology:

[via Rob Faludi]