Maths and magic
By Andrew Gregory. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
A stereographic projection is a way in which a round shape (such as the earth) gets mapped onto a flat one (such as a map). As things that are curved become flat you get distortions, which over the centuries have given map-makers cause to squash and stretch different countries of the globe to either over-emphasise the importance of the global west or to make navigation easier, depending on your viewpoint.
This stereographic projection, by Thingiverse user Henryseg, goes in the opposite direction: it takes a grid of squares and deforms them into a basket, revealing the original shape in shadows when a light is placed directly overhead. Clever.
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In issue 7 of Hackspace magazine we spoke to Helen Steer, who’s making all sorts of things to show kids, and curious adults, that real things don’t have to be complicated to be beautiful and functional. Our favourite of these is this programmable unicorn. It’s a simplified kit to help kids build and program their first robot (to the extent that it uses continuous servos rather than motors, so kids don’t have to learn what an h-bridge is).
Like real unicorns, this one has a 3D horn printed out of reactive filament which changes colour from white to purple when it’s exposed to sunlight.
Features Editor Andrew trawls the internet for Cool Stuff while keeping the magazine running smoothly.
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