Prize Winners, Filament Displays, and Testing 50 kg Load Cells

Plus a wildlife cam and a music player with ePaper display [3602421454791242043.png] Wednesday, November 24, 2021 [FlowIO is the grand prize winner for the 2021 Hackaday Prize »]( FlowIO Wins the 2021 Hackaday Prize [FlowIO Platform]( a modular pneumatics controller for soft robotics and smart material projects, took home Grand Prize honors at the [2021 Hackaday Prize](. Aside from the prestige of coming out on top of hundreds of projects and bragging rights for winning the biggest hardware design challenge on Earth, the prize carries an award of $25,000 and a Supplyframe DesignLab residency to continue project development. Four other top winners were also announced at the Hackaday Remoticon virtual conference on Saturday evening. [FlowIO Gripper]( We tend to think of robots in terms of rigid frames with electric actuators. FlowIO Platform aims to change that thinking, and kickstart a design revolution in wearables, collaborative robots, and just about any task where a softer, gentler robot would be useful. The key to these applications is pneumatics, and FlowIO makes it easy to connect the pumps, valves, actuators, and sensors necessary to bring pneumatics projects to life. The FlowIO main module has five pneumatic channels, and connects up to other modules that support pumps, sensors, and general IO -- it's like a Lego set for pneumatics! FlowIO aims to make pneumatics as easy to add to a project as it is to spin up an Arduino and a couple of steppers. The principal on the project, Ali Shtarbanov, [came on our Hack Chat]( a few weeks ago to talk about the applications of pneumatics in soft robotics in general, and the niche in that ecosystem that FlowIO fills specifically. We can say confidently that there's a lot of pent-up interest in pneumatics, which seems to be due to the lack of an accessible, affordable integrated pneumatics platform. FlowIO changes all that, and with a well-earned Grand Prize under its belt, we're looking forward to a spate of projects that show just what pneumatics can do. Thank you to [Digi-Key Electronics]( and [Supplyframe]( for their generous sponsorships of the 2021 Hackaday Prize. 2021 Hackaday Prize Top Finishers 2nd-5th Place [project thumbnail]( [Stack-Chan - JavaScript Driven Super-Kawaii Robot]( Coming in at second place with a $15,000 prize is [Stack-chan]( an adorable, open-source companion robot. The palm-sized bot is the perfect desktop companion, based on the ESP32 powered M5Stack modular IoT development platform. Creator Shinya Ishikawa sees Stack-chan as a jumping-off point for robot butlers and companion robots. [project thumbnail]( [Flexible Circuit Wind Generator]( At third place with a $10,000 prize, Stuart MacKenzie's [flexible wind generator]( aims to explore the possibilities of "aeroelectrostatic" electricity. He uses folded polyester films with conductive decals to make wind-activated variable capacitors that can power small loads when the wind waves them around. [project thumbnail]( [Raspberry Pi Spectrometer]( In fourth place with a prize of $5,000, Les Wright's [PySpectrometer]( is easy to build, inexpensive, and open to hacking. We applaud its simplicity (at its heart, it is a Pi Cam looking at a diffraction grating) as well as its versatility. We also like how it puts the power of spectroscopy into the hands of students and hobbyists alike, all on a budget. [project thumbnail]( [My Machinery 2021: Direct Granules Extruder]( Rounding out fifth place with a prize of $3,000, Norbert Heinz, aka "Homofaciens" on YouTube, turned plastic waste directly into 3D printer filament with [his direct granules extruder](. The idea seems simple enough: grind up plastic waste, melt it back down, and extrude it directly in a modified 3D printer. But in practice, there were are a ton of challenges to overcome. Tindie Cyber Sale TINDIE SELLER DISCOUNTS THROUGHOUT BLACK FRIDAY/CYBER MONDAY WEEK [This Week Only: Tindie Cyber Sale]( This is the time of year when Tindie sellers discount their products to give us all an alternative to hitting the mall for our Black Friday fix. The cool thing about Tindie is that the people who designed the hardware are the ones selling it. A lot of Tindie sellers publish their prototyping and documentation information for each product right here on Hackaday.io. These are our people! So [check in on the sale page]( a few times this week as each seller chooses their own sale start and end dates, but Cyber Monday is usually the busiest. Jasmine will also be dropping discount codes and other bonus deals over on [@tindie Twitter](. Featured Projects POPULAR BITS [LED Filament Display]( [Wildlife Camera Uses Familiar Parts]( [Building a Digital Audio Player with an ePaper Display]( [Testing out 50 kg Load Cells]( Live Events MEETUPS, CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS [Open Hardware Summit, Apr 22 2022]( Virtual? In-Person? | Venue decisions for next year's Open Hardware Summit are still a bit up in the air, but planning moves forward and [the Call for Proposals is now open]( through December 17th. The conference focuses on all issues surrounding open hardware, from building the hardware itself, through to understanding intellectual property intricacies, running a business while embracing open hardware, and topics like the right to repair. 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