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The original Cylons are from TV's Battlestar Galactica. They are humanoid robots with a scanning red visor where their eyes should be. If you are unfamiliar, try Google or YouTube.
I call this a tinyCylon because it's, well, tiny and because it is based on Atmel's ATtiny family of microcontrollers. My tinyCylon is a small, electronic device which simulates the red scanner. Add some chrome and you're halfway there!
Where some people look at my little invention and see a Cylon, other people see KITT's scanner from TV's Knight Rider. I guess a lot depends on how old you were when these TV shows were first aired.
The tinyCylon is available as a kit that you solder together or already assembled and tested.
| tinyCylon Kit version |
$9.95 |  |
| tinyCylon Assembled |
$14.95 | |
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You can also buy some of the individual parts of the tinyCylon kit from me. I will be posting links to them soon. In the meantime, you can contact me about availability and pricing of the individual parts and I will let you know how much everything will cost.
tinyCylons are available in different configurations (kits, assembled, a la carte) from these fine folks:
SparkFun Electronics (kits)
BG Micro (kits, assembled)
MAKE Magazine's Maker Shed (kits, assembled)
Fun Gizmos (kits)
Curious Inventor (kits, assembled)
Pololu Robotics & Electronics (kits)
Quickar Electronics (multiple formats)
To build the tinyCylon from a kit, please read these instructions (337 KB, PDF).
The tinyCylon is a completely open source project. You are free to use it in any way that you see fit. It is my gift to you.
This design is neither licensed or copyrighted in any form. I place it all in the public domain with the hope that it will make the world a little more interesting.
I finally get around to building a separate tinyCylon page. This is a big step, as I am usually too lazy to update my web site at all. Please let me know if you're looking for something here and can't easily find it.