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Ask Slashdot: a Good Geek Project For My Arthritic Grandfather?
An anonymous reader writes "My grandfather is a retired electrician whom I've been trying to keep mentally busy. Together we've gotten an Arduino kit and have been working on some simple projects. He does the wiring and I've been writing the code. Recently his arthritis has been getting worse and he's been unable to work with the tiny components that the Arduino projects require. Does anyone have a recommendation for something similar we could work on together that would be easier for someone with his compromised manual dexterity?"
As an early 40s person who already experiences some of these problems due to 3 decades of arthritis and worsening hand tremors, I'm also interested in geek projects folks can recommend the asker. Especially if they are things I could also work on with my pre-teen sons.
something that doesn't require the use of his hands?
While I freely admit to knowing next to nothing about it, maybe an electromechanical computer of some sort? There are a bunch of them around, some of them are quite famous too, maybe that?
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
Depending on how bad his arthritis is, you could take over the wiring and he could start writing the code.
Jesus saves and takes half damage.
My pain in the arse grandson has been hassling me me pointless electronics projects that are wasting away the precious few years I have left. How can I get out of them without causing offense?
Tell him your arthritis got worse and you can no longer handle the small components.
Just like popular electronics magazines from the 1950s - just do the wiring with big blocks of wood and brackets and discrete through-hold transistors. You might be able to build something so awesome it's capable of blinking a few LEDs.
Really though - you're asking "help my arthritic grandpa do something that absolutely requires working manually with small components"... good luck with that.
You can always buy a $50,000 pick-and-place machine.
My grandfather reminds me of my 2 year old nephew. Slightly crazy, slightly racist, and has terrible fine motor coordination.
So I let him build the pirate ship one! Yaaaarr!
http://littlebits.cc/
Saw these on a TED talk, looked pretty neat. (They are very expensive, though)
If he can use a keyboard/mouse for a while, he could build things, but also work on circuit design (redstone) as well.
Was there not a recent article about building a Turing machine out of Legos? I would think the big block version would be something he could handle...
Your grandfather should be addressing the arthritis in his hands first and foremost. A simple exercise to maintain muscle control and strength as well as keeping the joints flexible is simply squeezing a soft (foam) ball for 5-10 minutes several times each day. As for electronics projects maybe look into electronic kits with larger components aimed at children.
As a side note there is an article titled "Omega -3 Fish Oil, Krill Oil Better Benefits for Rheumatoid Arthritis suffers." http://www.topix.com/forum/health/rheumatoid-arthritis/TG6V6EVP9GONAUVJM
I'm not sure what level of arthritis we're dealing with here but I'm guessing he can't use a keyboard for extended lengths of time. I've seen companies that make devices that all the user to put a headband on that has a reflective dot on it (you can google for it, I'm not going to plug a product). This, in turn is watched by a camera mounted on or near the monitor and the user can then direct the mouse using the direction of their head. So, decide which of these has the best support for your needs and treat it like an input device. Then you could get two buttons (one for each thumb) and think of novel ways to implement the input from these two buttons. One simple way would be left click/right click. But you could also write a driver and some software that allows him to click into a word processing application and, say, does Morse Code to type with his right thumb and can click once with his left thumb to go back a space. Maybe give him a foot switch to toggle between modes of operation of his two thumb buttons? From that point, he might be able to slowly contribute to code.
Is this a practical input device? Probably not. Is it going to be you doing all the initial wiring and coding while your grandfather learns like a guinea pig? Probably. Is he going to look like a moron using it? Definitely. But if it keeps his mind active and allows him to contribute even a little bit to the code portions of your future projects, maybe it's worth it?
My grandfather was more mechanical than electrical and as such he would love to work on engines and things with me. Well, one day he had laid out all these parts in his living room (it was winter) and was working on something when he got up in the night, slipped on a small motor and broke his hip. So please, exercise caution in whatever you're doing and check with his doctor/physician to make sure that you are in no way exacerbating his arthritis!
My work here is dung.
Like dragon or whatnot may enable him. Also, i second the tube amp . Older electronics were bigger, if yuo started making GOOD stuff (not the planed obselence suff on shelves) thatd also boost confidence and all him to spread his work (small sales or gifts) which would help more joy come his way
i m assuming hes dying
Help him to build an electro-mechanical exoskeleton!
Smivs on the intertubes!
Pinball games have bigger parts
My mom healed her artritis with homeopathy. ... Ok, ok, hear me out!
Yeah, yeah, I know. Magic, unscientific nonsense, jada-jada.
The fact is: You could *watch* my mothers joints move back into normal position and the build-up disapear once she had found the 'right substance' ( ... don't ask, it's this crazy homeopathy thing).
Placebo effect or whatever, it worked. She's 72 now and does regular garden work. She says without homeopathy and - probably more importantly, her homeopath - she'd be dead by now, and I believe her.
I don't believe in homeopathy as much as she does in her day to day life, but I do believe in astonishing placebo effects. Maybe this would be one.
Bottom line: Help your grandpa to exercise, a healthy and lean diet and get him 'hoocked' on homeopathy. It's cheap, shouldn't have any side-effects other than him getting a little 'new-agy' ;-) and chances are he'll get better. Actually, physically better. I've seen it on other people with my own eyes, it's definitely worth a try.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
grandfather is a retired electrician
Almost painfully obvious answer is "teach grandson how to do home electrical work".
Attention to detail is kind of important in this line of work, and a second set of highly experienced eyes is probably very helpful.
A noob can't do a worse job than the average illegal alien construction worker, so doing it yourself is not going to be any more dangerous than your average new McMansion subdivision. No time constraint and no need to nickel and dime to make the boss more profit means you can methodically make it right.
Obviously if you live in a nanny state where you require endless licenses and union membership to plug in an extension cord, this doesn't work so well, but in a free area its not too unreasonable.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Model rockets are a lot of fun, and there are larger kits now that use "D" and "E" engines from Estes, and are capable of using much more powerful engines from Aerotech. The bigger the kit, the less tiny manipulation. You can assemble the motor mount, he can trim and shape the fins, glue the fins, and give a fine coat of paint to the rocket. You assemble the parachute assembly. He helps steady the rocket body while you place the internal components.
IF you're really feeling fancy, get a ham radio license and find some transmitters that give altitude, acceleration, latitude and longitude, etc. Or find some other means of tracking and recovering the rocket.
I would also advise considering radio controlled cars and planes. Much less time building them and more time using them, which should be easier on the hands.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Seriously... There's a lot of cool things to build and the bricks would probably be a lot easier to handle.
You're a good grandson.
Arduino Grande
Enormous components
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Since your grandfather's dexterity is compromised, how about an X-10 or Insteon home automation project so that he might control his home using an Android tablet or iPad?
Restore a pinball machine. Mostly large components solenoids, motors, lights, mechanical components - lots of wiring - and quite often replacement of components on the motherboard etc. A very tangible project and very exciting if you like that kind of thing.
The placebo effect from homeopathy is pretty neat, but on the downside you have to be a fucking idiot for it to work.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
A coffin. He's going to need it soon anyway, and will save the family some money when it comes time to plant him. Win-Win!
The placebo effect from homeopathy is pretty neat, but on the downside you have to be a fucking idiot for it to work.
You make it sound like a religion
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
More of these
http://www.arthritissupplies.com/easy-grip-slant-tip-tweezers.html
The placebo effect from homeopathy is pretty neat, but on the downside you have to be a fucking idiot for it to work.
You make it sound like a religion
Prayer works for the same kind of folks, too.
Amazing! Here you see natural cures do what chemical medicines cannot do (actually remove a disease rather than just cover up symptoms) with your own eyes no less! Yet you refuse to believe that it worked, you sir or ma'am have amazing faith in chemicals, I admire your religious belief in them. I am flabbergasted.
Im in my 40's too, and I love to build with electronics. I really dont need SMD components for my prototyping, through hole components works just fine.
Collect gazillion various cheap surplus NOS components from eBay and youll have all the fun youll ever need. Get some old 8x51 Mcus, theyre easy as pie to code for and an old Serial port based PC, and you have your programming station for life.
I shake quite a bit from time to time, dont know if I have arthrities or beginning parkinsons, but Ive always been too unstable for SMD components without any diagnosis on my body (doc says Im as healthy as they come, but I can hardly hold a camera steady despite 30 years with an soldering iron).
Through hole components are just like LEGO, big and fun to build with.
http://www.glucosamine-arthritis.org/glucosamine/boron-arthritis.html
Cherry Juice. Get the good natural stuff that's not full of processed sugar and drink a glass each day. At our Chiropractic clinic a lot of senior patients have gotten really good results with reduced arthritis pain in their joints from this.
Then there's also the geek project to solve the problem... build a small robot system together that he can use for soldering. Something that can tolerate slightly trembling hands while still offering solid and precise control. I imagine a simple robot arm that can attach a soldering arm, controlled by a joystick system with varying motor speed for more precise movements. Add in a large magnifying glass and an adaptable vice to hold the board and you have a precise soldering workshop.
I'm just a software guy who never could get his mom to use a mouse in part because of her arthritis. Maybe you could build a voice-command manipulator with a magnified viewer. You might need a helper to build the first one (see 'outsource' above), then just keep improving them. After a few generations you should be able to sell it to arthritic surgeons. With voic commands, what could possibly go wrong?
> Ask Slashdot: a Good Geek Project For My Arthritic Grandfather
Pam: Auto-Jerk Hand! Auto-Jerk Hand! Auto-Jerk Hand!!!
Jim: Good one.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
You're looking in the wrong problem space. Ask your grandfathers primary care physician about Tramadol [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol] and Dimethyl sulfoxide [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmso] . These could help decrease his pain, and improve his fine motor control.
I know a man in his sixties who had such bad arthritis that he had to stop working.
Being a cognitive therapist he decided he needed to do something to get his mind off the pain, so he started a garden in his backyard. This turned out really well for him because the pain sensation was reduced while he was busy, and eventually because of the physical exercise his muscles got stronger and better support his bones (not sure how that works) and he has a lot less arthritis now.
So a project with some labor in it may help with the arthritis.
A occupational therapist, they have all kinds of interesting ideas on what is best solution for your grandfather, since it really should be done by a professional who understands your grandfathers unique needs and not a bunch of youngsters who think their opinions are more important than any professionals.
Try Ham Radio. You no longer have to learn Morse Code to get a license. It allows some room for tinkering with equipment. I'm sure you can find local groups who can help you get started, and find cheap equipment on craigslist. Once you're started, you can hook up cheap used logic analyzers to look at signals and stuff. Hell... you can even spin the hobby toward radio astronomy. Need a further challenge? See who you can find on 5 watts or less... 1 watt or less!
"False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
HAM Radio can be fun. All kinds of gadgets you can build too...
My larger dog (~90 Lbs), has severe arthritis in his hip and back knees. He used to require regular doses of Duramax just to walk around. We started him on ~1500mg of glucosamine w/ MSM. He's now up to 4500mg twice a day, and hasn't needed a Duramax in months. (Once we ran out of the glucosamine, and within a day, we was in pain again) We have to crush the pills over his food to get him to take it.
Is there a placebo effect in dogs?
*Note. This are much, much larger doses than any of the glocosamine trials I've ever seen in humans. YMMV
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
If you have a home stereo you may want to consider replacing some of the components with kit-build vacuum tube ones. Most kits comprise of point to point soldering rather than circuit boards and the components are larger. Still lots of wiring though. Check out Bottlehead.com - I've built several kits from them and learned enough about tubes in the process to start building my own circuits from scratch.
If he can use a keyboard/mouse for a while, he could build things, but also work on circuit design (redstone) as well.
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of an electronics simulator, like Circuitlab or SPICE. That way, Grandpa can build a virtual circuit using a mouse and keyboard. He can completely test and debug it. Then, when all is ready, the circuit can be emailed to a company that will print/etch the circuit board and solder on all the components.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
get-off-my-lawnmower?
The funny thing about the placebo effect is that it has been measured, and it works!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/22/placebo-effect-patients-sham-drug
Even if YOU KNOW that it's a placebo. Although I could just hear that conversation. Go to a Dr, complaining about migraines.
The Dr looks at you and says "OK, your headaches don't look that bad. I'm going to give you a sugar pill that I'm supposed to tell you is a pain reliever. Now, I'm letting you know that this is a placebo, just so you don't get mad IF it doesn't work, but based on the facts about what I see about your "migraine" this should be all you need."
Either you'll deck the Dr. for being so insensitive, or you're going to take the sugar pill and possibly feel better.... The study suggests that the effect is the same weather the Dr lied to you and said it would work, or if the Dr is honest and just sounds like a prick for not believing your symptoms.
The only question left is would PEZ cure more ails if it cost more?
I used to build electronics and intricate physical things when I was young. If computers had been available those years I would have written programs. These two crafts are similar in creativity and attention.
Lego Mindstorm provides a programmable controller that can then be linked to various other lego-based components (and even with a little work very un-lego components) in a way that makes it much easier for somebody with lesser dexterity to operate. While designed to help younger folks learn about robotics, there are a wide range of projects and hacks that can be easily searched out, providing an almost endless set of possiblities for you to build and learn.
The same design characteristics that makes it great for children also make it great for folks who are not able to do the fine, steady hand work of wiring bare controllers for similar projects.
If his hands are too shaky, what about using one or two robot arms to do the tedious work of populating and soldering the circuit boards (and possibly also direct wax-to-board painting for etching). Could turn into a nice automated electronics production line from home.
That ought to keep the two of you busy for a while. Serious suggestion, though. There's not that much open source software around to allow you to do this sort of thing, so there's definitely geek points to be had by making this.
I have my case and it is severe enough. They say osteo arthritis won't kill you but they are wrong. People who are hurting do not exercise. They gain weight. And from there are kinds of bad things happen like diabetes and heart disease.
Maybe the best thing to do for seniors who are disabled by arthritis is to organise and get bother government and businesses to actually support a finding of a cure and also treatments that will do some good in the mean time. Right now in Florida our doctors live in fear of writing a script for pain killers. Getting our legislature to stop trying to save people from over doses while using pain killers as thrill pills is not a legitimate act. If anything we might want to make it easier for recreational drug users to OD and die. They are causing innocent people real pain by saying that it is ok to get high.
Both model rockets and HAM radio will not require too much dexterity. For myself, both hobbies also bring back memories of when I was young and just beginning to discover the world of science. Very nostalgic.
How about a euthanasia machine?
HAM radio. you can run a keyer easily with severe arthritis. Plus a lot of it is larger scale and not micro mini scale. There is a huge community around it and you get to actually talk to people.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I don't know if it exists where you live but have you looked into volunteering support for a local school robotics competition team.
I'm sure some team would love to have the assistance of a real electrician.
Electricians are needed for cheap, open hardware controller designs for solar/wind/water. A good design could include PV, wind and water inputs, variable storage setups, wattage, etc. Most commercial designs are way too specific to a particular setup or must be expensively customized to each site. A good design might not make him rich, but he could be famous.
If he just needs help assembling small bits 'cause his hands don't work as well as his mind, any Maker group would be happy to have someone with solid electrical experience for doing/checking AC work and such. See what's in your area and look around makezine.com, get friendship and helping each other benefits. (and maybe more open designs!)
Habitat for Humanity might need a supervising electrician or two as well.
older geeks are often fine, fun people,
I are one.
anon
Say grandad likes reading but has difficulty fingering book pages... ...Build a book reading robot, possibly with magnifier. Fiddling around with small change in his purse is difficult... ...explore low-tech solutions. Want to make a 'contraption'? How about a robot-arm soldering iron controlled by foot pedals. (You could even do it with bicycle brake cables - no soldering needed!) Turn yourself from a technologist into an *engineer*.
The only question left is would PEZ cure more ails if it cost more?
That depends. Does the PEZ contain the appropriate dose of 2,3-dimethyl placebohydromethane (generally regarded as the most effective form of placebo) and was it washed down with the appropriate ammount of dihydrogen monoxide?
Perhaps a solar panel or wind turbine for a consumer home. Nice large components, still techy.
Build a telescope. There are many links to plans, here's one: http://www.telescopemaking.org/
There are lots of opportunities for electronics with a telescope: motor mount, autoguider, goto integration, etc.
Plenty of kit building and experimenting fun. Most kits use through hole components so those might be an option. Ten-Tec kits are very good, well documented. Also building antennas and matching networks use very large components (e.g. butter fly caps, 2 inch diameter inductors, etc.), stuff that can be built with a soldering GUN!
I recommend beekeeping. I think it is geeky, even though it has nothing to do with electronics. It will keep your mind sharp, because in order to keep your bees alive with todays parasites and polutants you have to learn a lot. He will meet other beekeepers and those guys are the nices paople. Also, bee stings are good for arthitis (if you get stung it is most of the time your own fault and perfectly avoidable). More info at your local beekeepers club.
Get into something constructive that doesn't require the fine motor skills or dexterity that he is losing, but allows him to be creative. I was going to suggest pottery, forging, or knife making, but maybe those things require too much strength as well.
http://picocricket.com/
most of the connectors are lego pieces (2x2), not sure if this is good enough, but better than breadboards :)
I can't see any reference to it, but I'm sure a certain AV product we all know and hate played a part as well ..
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
Arthritis sufferers that I have talked with have described rheumatologist reactions to AP (Antibiotic Protocol) ranging from "Couldn't hurt, might help" to actively hostile to the idea. In my family, the rheumatologist we're working with is (fortunately) in the former camp.
I've done some research on this AP treatment and I don't see how it could hurt - at all. One of the things they suggest is Minocycline (which is used for teenagers to treat acne (excerpt: "This antibiotic has been in use since the 1970's and is a great acne therapy")
Anyway, check out what people say about it (check the reviews on Amazon), or this site: roadback.org for some more background info (roadback.org's discussion forum is pretty good).
The thing of it is, mainstream medicine doesn't have an arthritis cure. Their conventional arthritis "treatments" are just about symptom management and do nothing to deal with the underlying
I just can't think of much good to say about things like gold salts, plaquenil, prednisone, methotrexate.
One last thing to consider, if grandfather's arthritis isn't cripplingly bad (yet), why not try to get the jump on it?
(Ok, one more last-last thing: if your grandfather is on prednisone be hugely careful if he decides to stop taking it; it is really important to taper at a reasonable (slow) pace to give his adrenal glands time to come back online, cutting off suddenly from larger doses can be fatal. If this applies to his situation, his health care advocate needs to do some research before starting to cut back).
It is complex, cool, good for local crops... and his arthritis will be gone after a while if you believe the folk lore.
My father in law used to keep bees - he said folks with arthritis would come over and pay him to let their hands be stung. Which seems insane to me.
Another one for my quote book...
Have him build a Tesla Coil! That's what I'm doing and it's fun AND potentially dangerous! What guy wouldn't like that?
Why not build things that require big current / power stuff?
Rail gun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4pL2fZQBo&feature=related
Tesla Coil: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Tesla-Coil/
Jacob's ladder: http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_spring2005.web.dir/kenneth_sweet/
You could totally over-build the stuff so it looks awesome and lasts a few generations!
Also, on a non-electrical note, these: http://www.en.boehm-stirling.com/ are totally awesome and come in kit form.
Every rule has more than one consequence.
Get him a Waldo of the subtype homo sapiens? Have him use his brains and direct someone else's hands.
Maybe a kid, as that would allow him to mentor someone, utilizing his knowledge, and the kid could learn a lot, too.