Hackaday Podcast 113: Python Switching to Match, a Magnetic Dyno, a Flying Dino, and a Spinning Sequencer

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams recap a week of great hacks. You won’t want to miss the dynamometer Leo Fernekes built to measure the power output of his Sterling engine, which is also DIY. In this age of lithium-powered multirotors, it’s nice to step back and appreciate a hand-built rubberband-powered ornithopter.

We have a surprising amount to say about Python’s addition of the match statement (not be be confused with switch statements). And when it comes to electromechanical synth gear, it’s hard to beat a spinning tape-head sequencer.

Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Direct download (~60 MB)

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Episode 113 Show Notes:

New This Week:

• Google v Oracle Ruling (PDF)

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

• You Otter Be Able To Stream That Audio: Open Hardware Eclipses Chromecast Audio
• Fan-tastic Misuse Of Raspberry Pi GPIO
  • RTL-SDR: Seven Years Later
• Sixteen Channel Retro Rotary Fader
  • Logic Noise: The Switching Sequencer Has The Beat
• Open Source Electric Vehicle Charging
• Flight Of The Pterothopter: A Jurassic-Inspired Ornithopter
  • Scratch-Built Ornithopter: Here’s How I Flapped My Way To Flight
• This Custom Dynamometer Is A Stirling Example Of Homebrewing

Quick Hacks:

• Mike’s Picks
  • Color-Changing Sutures Detect Infection
  • You Can Now Build Your Own Glowing LED D20 (with A Whopping 2,400 LEDs)
  • Playing Snake On A PCB!
• Elliot’s Picks
  • Music Production Studio In A Box
  • Solid Tips For Casting Colored Silicone Tires
  • Arduino Plots Your Portrait With Style

Can’t-Miss Articles:

• Death Of The Turing Test In An Age Of Successful AIs
• Python Will Soon Support Switch Statements
• Stack Overflow Users Rejoice as Pattern Matching is Added to Python 3.10 • Stephen Brennan