Newson's Electronics' Self Catching Projectile Machine launches a ball bearing, moves a catcher to the predicted landing point, and catches its own projectile.

It reads the launch angle and calculates the range using projectile speed and gravity. An Arduino then moves the catcher along a rail to the calculated target position and returns the mechanism to its home position for the next shot.

Mark Rober invited engineers and makers to CrunchLabs Casino to build and test devices for cheating at casino games. Cheating itself was allowed, but getting caught was not.

The creations included a remote-controlled robotic poker chip that could move a roulette bet after the wheel stopped, dice whose internal weighting could be changed with heat, and a concealed wearable card-counting assistant. Another contestant hid a pinhole camera in a sleeve and used computer vision to reconstruct the order of a deck.

Motion Mosquito Swatting Game is a motion-controlled game in which the player swings a StickS3 like a flyswatter to hit mosquitoes flying around a PC screen.

The StickS3's gyroscope tracks hand orientation and swinging motion, using them both to aim the on-screen reticle and detect the swatting action. The project was created by Hujunfeng.

Super Valid Designs built a semi-automated ski lift to live-catch mice in a chicken coop and carry them down a hill. Each gondola doubles as a mousetrap: bait lures a mouse onto a ceiling trapdoor, which drops it into the car.

The occupied gondola then travels downhill, where another trapdoor opens over a brush pile to release the mouse. The lift was assembled largely from wood and parts on hand and was made to transport and release the mice automatically.

Natasha Dzurny built an Arduino UNO Q cyberdeck inside a fuzzy orange hand puppet. Opening its mouth reveals a five-inch display and keyboard, while there is still room to put a hand inside and operate it as a puppet.

The computer can play a local collection of audio and video, and a small webcam on a telescoping rod can be used to monitor puppetry practice on the built-in screen. Close the mouth and attach the strap, and the whole device also works as a furry shoulder bag.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering's WorMa is a worm-like robot that adapts to land and water by pumping internal water between tanks in its head and tail, shifting its center of mass. The 50 cm, roughly 1 kg robot has five links, with a central pump moving about 300 g of water.

Moving the water forward improved traction on slopes, while shifting it toward the tail made swimming faster. To climb steps, the robot moved the water from head to tail and back again while changing posture, allowing it to clear steps up to 15 cm high.

SAM is a flying robot inspired by the autorotating motion of a falling maple seed. It uses a single motor to spin its whole body for lift, with the same actuator responsible for both staying aloft and controlling direction.

Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design added predictive control and tested the robot on circular and figure-eight paths, under fan-generated wind, and with a 5 g payload. Rather than adding the multiple rotors used by conventional drones, the team improved accuracy while keeping the machine to a single moving part.

The Black Thunder Driven Development device monitors token usage in AI development tools such as Claude Code and automatically dispenses Black Thunder chocolate bars when usage reaches set thresholds. An indicator shows progress against the five-hour usage limit, with a full limit corresponding to five bars.

When a reward is triggered, the machine cuts open the wrapper and presents the chocolate ready to eat. A robot arm also replenishes the stock. The project won the Blackathon hackathon and was built by YS_beaver, Yota Saito, Mikihiro Urano, and Tomoki Banno.

Issen Boy is a 1.1 cm-square handheld game console built around the world of Issun-boshi, combining light, Japanese-inspired design, and electronics. The tiny circuit board implements the functions of an actual game console, including an input method that makes it genuinely playable.

The project was created by Yugi Tech Lab and won the grand prize in DigiKey Make ONE Challenge 2026. Its ProtoPedia page also lists the team's roles, including overall software, hardware, planning, and implementation by Yugi Tech Lab, AI work by KIRA_YTL, and 3D CAD work by mackey_YTL.

la machine is a new take on the Useless Machine: flip its switch and an arm emerges from the box to switch itself off again.

But it does not turn itself off the same way every time. The arm may emerge immediately, hesitate, move slowly, or combine its movements with different sounds. Sometimes it resists interaction; at other times, when left alone, it may extend its arm to seek attention.

Thousands of behaviors are available, and the machine is designed to develop a different “personality” over time as it is used.

RoboSwap is a prototype in which a single robot arm can switch between tools such as grippers and pipettes for different laboratory tasks. The first working version picks up an electronic pipette, aspirates liquid, and transfers it between containers.

The maker does not have a laboratory, so the prototype is tested in a kitchen using soy sauce and saucers. The pipette also lacks automated tip ejection, so the robot presses its ejector against a stool to remove the tip. The system was prototyped by RoboDrop.

A wrist-worn synthesizer and 16-step sequencer attaches like an old-fashioned slap bracelet. Its transparent enclosure contains an ESP32-S3, display, speaker, and rechargeable battery, while brass contacts along the side can be touched with a stylus to play notes.

Instead of a custom spring mechanism, the wristband uses a curved strip of steel measuring tape wrapped in clear tape. Combined with the transparent PETG enclosure, the result deliberately recreates the translucent gadget aesthetic of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was built by maker 3DSage.