Applied Technology Lab – Telegram
Applied Technology Lab
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Knowledge is power, but only if you apply it. DIY projects to improve your life.
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🛠 3D​ Printing​: Fixing Broken Pedals on a Tricycle

3D designed in SketchUp, printed in PETG plastic -​ 3D​ printing helps  extend the life of a bicycle whose individual parts are not sold for repairs...
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🎛 3D Printed Home Assistant Control Panel Prototype

When designing a 3D printed prototype, flexibility in the design is important. This control panel is made in sections, making it easy to print out different configurations, adding and subtracting buttons, switches and other features as testing continues.

The panel divisions also are used to separate rooms and floors, a new button was added in another room for a smart outlet controlling a fan.
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🌱Chicken waste > compost/soil building > container garden > dinner table...

It takes a while to get the soil-building cycle going, but once it starts you have a constant supply of soil to grow fruits and vegetables.

We're using 150L blue HDPE barrels for "hot composting."

Chicken manure, leftover chicken feed, hay, hedge clippings, and kitchen scraps go into the barrel which is rolled daily to mix its contents.

The composting process in the enclosed barrel creates lots of heat, speeding up the composting process.

Once it's full, it's left for a few months (up to 6 months) before the resulting soil is ready for use in the garden. A second barrel is filled and rolled daily in the meantime.

After a year or so you'll always have good soil on hand in one barrel to add to your garden while managing/utilizing organic waste locally in the second barrel.
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🔋 TECH NEWS: Nuclear battery small enough for use in commercial products, with a charge of 50 years, developed in China.

Such batteries use small amounts of nuclear material in a way entirely different than nuclear powerplants associated with danger and disasters.

The power density and charge of these new batteries are many times higher/longer than lithium batteries and could revolutionize both existing products and make entirely new products possible.

The article says:

Once mass-produced and introduced to the market, it will meet the long-endurance power supply needs of aerospace, artificial intelligence devices, medical equipment, microelectromechanical systems, sensors, small drones and micro-robots. If the power output is sufficient, mobile phones equipped with nuclear batteries will no longer need recharging, and drones will not need to return for recharging."

Link: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202401/16/WS65a68ff7a3105f21a507c9b7.html
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🧠💻 AI​ ADVANCES: Some examples of what modern AI is capable of;

AI that helps you code a game without you knowing how to code at all training AI equipped with a camera and a robotic arm to find items for you and do things simply by asking...

The power of AI is the ability to teach a system to do things or generate content (generative AI) without having to program it specifically to do so.

A robot in a factory today needs to be programmed to do a specific task. Every movement is guided by programming and sensors. These robots cannot do anything it isn't programmed to do.

The AI robot in this video is trained to look for anything you ask it to find, and perform certain tasks with the found items. None of these tasks are programmed into the robot, just training that enables the robot to figure out each task it's asked to perform on its own.

Video link: https://youtu.be/3pb_-oLfWJ4?si=0Sz6_CIonR-JWIL4
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🧠💻 Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Technology Tests Taking Place in US (Neuralink) and China

It is important that powerful technology like this is developed by multiple nations and companies, preventing a monopoly.

BCI can restore motor functions for the paralyzed, overcome neurological conditions and damage, and even enhance neurological functions.

Bridging the gap between the biological and digital have profound implications, with the potential for both good and bad.

We cannot "uninvent" this, but we can take ownership of it to ensure a balance of power prevents its abuse.

Link: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-02-01/Chinese-brain-implant-helps-paralyzed-man-recover-motor-skills-1qPEAkEdkpa/p.html

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💻 Google's​ "Gemini" is useful, but only if you ask the right questions...

▪️Many have been accusing Google's Gemini of skewing reality in favor of "woke ideology," yet my own experiments indicate it tries to produce content specifically for you;

▪️In other words, if you ask leading questions meant to tease out "woke" results, that's what you'll get. Ask objective questions and get objective answers;

▪️The real tragedy is that Gemini and other AI generative platforms available for FREE are being used to fuel a pointless and devisive social conflict when such platforms are capable of helping solve real problems;

▪️For example, I asked Gemini to produce conceptual images (attached) for an aquaponic system I want to build with simple materials anyone can find to grow food locally even without farmland - the results created in seconds  saved me probably days of conceptual development;

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Applied Technology Lab
💻 Google's​ "Gemini" is useful, but only if you ask the right questions... ▪️Many have been accusing Google's Gemini of skewing reality in favor of "woke ideology," yet my own experiments indicate it tries to produce content specifically for you; ▪️In other…
That said, it is important to look at these type of services as "starting points," not as a means of drawing conclusions. Take whatever information you get from AI services, do your own independent research, and then draw your own conclusions - just like using Wikipedia or any other source of information online...
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📚 Applied​ 3D​ Printing​: Adding and Subtracting Study Aid

▪️For pre-school children to grasp the concept of adding and subtracting with a hands-on approach;

▪️Took minutes to design, the 3D printer did the fabrication which allows you to do something else for the hour or so it took to print, then several more minutes to assemble;

▪️The cross-supports are made from spare bamboo chopsticks;

▪️I'm sure this could be done using entirely spare objects around the house, but 3D printing produces a finished, manufactured look, is consistent especially if you have more than one child you need to make one for;

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📚Applied 3D Printing: 3D Printed Adding & Subtracting Aid for Pre-Schoolers

I have uploaded the 3D files (STL files) on Thingiverse where anyone can download them for free and if you have access to a 3D printer, print them out.

This design is a complete set, no additional materials are necessary (except super glue) for final assembly.

LINK: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6518820

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💦🌱 Aquaponics: Compact Food Production

In its simplest form, aquaponics is a fish tank, a water pump, and a grow bed with porus grow media other than soil. The media harbors beneficial bacteria that convert fish waste into nutrients for the plants and returns clean water to the fish tank.

It works, but only on a very small scale.

Larger scale operations for serious growing either for yourself or a small business requires additional systems like filters to separate/treat solid waste, a biofilter to convert chemical fish waste into plant nutrients, a sump and a number of different kinds of grow systems to suit different plants.

We are designing the latter, hoping to document and share our progress with others who want a home garden for themselves or a small scale, local commercial system.

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💦🌱 Aquaponics: old prototypes

We're not starting from scratch.

I've built several successful but small-scale aquaponics systems in the past - proof-of-concepts deep inside Bangkok's urban environment using balconies.

I learned a lot about how to manage water flow (simple aquarium pumps and PVC tubing), lighting (LED grow lights), grow medium (lava rock) and even custom-built steel mesh-reinforced concrete containers (to minimize the use of potentially harmful plastic).

I dug around for old photos of these systems from years ago so people can see what was done vs. what is being built now.

For all the old articles tracking our original aquaponics project see here.

There's a lot of info on the fundamentals of how aquaponics works and the lessons learned from these prototypes.

FYI my landlord still uses the large concrete fish container I made for this old system to grow an aquatic tree in front of the building I used to stay in all these years later!

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