Eleven years ago one of those rare, brilliant moments emerged from the crack staff of Design News: Let’s put the tinkerers among our audience community to work in designing and building some truly wacky devices. And Gadget Freak was born.

William Ng

May 15, 2015

4 Min Read
Relive Gadget Freak’s Greatest Hits in Our ‘Volume 3’ E-Book

Eleven years ago (an eternity), a rare brilliant idea emerged from the crack staff of Design News: Let’s put the tinkerers among our audience community to work in designing and building some truly wacky devices, and we'll feature them. Gadget Freak was born.

Sponsored by Allied Electronics, Gadget Freak had a few simple rules: Invent something that incorporates electronic components and involves sensing, motion, timing, and/or networking elements, and include photos, a video, build instructions so that others can replicate it, and a parts list that included Allied Electronics parts.

Design News featured (and continues to feature) the most interesting Gadget Freak designs on designnews.com, in our monthly print magazine, and in our dedicated, twice-monthly e-newsletter. In 2014, we began honoring the best of the best -- as voted by members of the Design News community -- in our Gadget Freak of the Year contest.

We think now is the perfect time for a trip down memory lane to revisit some of these inventions -- some whimsical, all unexpected -- in our new e-book, The Best of Gadget Freak – Volume 3.

Who can forget Pete Lefferson’s The Window Watcher (GF Case #266)? One step ahead of ADT, Window Watcher stops the burglar before a B&E (that’s code for breaking and entering) rather than reporting one after the fact. Lefferson hooked up an infrared passive thermal detector to a loud audio sounder -- all powered by a 9V battery -- packaged it in a standard plastic electrical box, and mounted the Window Watcher above an innocent-looking window. Trip the detector, and you’re made.

“In a typical burglary attempt, the burglar will find a window where he (or she) feels secure and out of sight,” Lefferson wrote. “Now the burglar’s secure location no longer feels secure.”

In a single-handed attempt to bring back an ‘80s icon, Adam Berger turned an ordinary computer keyboard into a Midi Key-tar in a matter of two hours (GF Case #263). While playing with his band one time, Berger found that he and his mates could use a secondary synth, so he went to work. Knowing that a keyboard could be modded to send midi commands to music production software, he stripped the physical keys and replaced them with resistive touch-activated keys and LED backlit keys. The finishing touch was a guitar strap attached to both ends of the former keyboard.

We don’t know whether Berger’s band is a Devo tribute outfit, but surely, the cult synthpop legends would be impressed when he whips out at his DIY key-tar. And we’re sure he continues to jam on it to this day.

Before the machines take over, they will serve man, and in our case specifically, bottles of beer (or your beverage of choice) on a lazy hot summer day. The two-wheeled Drink Delivery Vehicle – Inverted Pendulum, or DDV-IP (GF Case #264), from four students at Colorado State University, is a self-balancing beverage-giver, winning our 2015 Gadget Freak of the Year contest.

The student group used accelerometers and gyroscopes to send positional and acceleration data to a PID controller on an Arduino Due board, which determines correction speed and direction to PWM motors to achieve self-balancing of the robot. The group also rigged its own PCB to run wiring to the Arduino Due. Body construction of the DDV-IP is extruded aluminum bars attached together with fasteners. The bot is controlled via a wireless joystick remote control using RF.

The point I’m making with all of those notable features of the device is that the Colorado State group impressed not only us but their fellow Design News community members with their gadget to win GFOTY. But don’t take my word for it; read all about it and 15 other great contraptions we highlight inThe Best of Gadget Freak – Volume 3. You’ll be amazed, and hopefully, inspired.

As always, Design News welcomes new projects and entries to Gadget Freak. Just follow the simple rules, and your device will be entered into the annual GFOTY contest and voted on, and you will be featured in an issue of Design News or on our website. Send your project with photos, build instructions, a parts list with Allied Electronics parts, and a short demo video to Executive Editor Jennifer Campbell for consideration.

Good luck!

Will Ng is a perfectionist who has been in business journalism for more than 15 years, many of which have been devoted to covering manufacturing, technology, and industry. A writer first, he loves to tell a good story and enjoys reporting on market trends and news.

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