Ask Slashdot: a Good Geek Project For My Arthritic Grandfather?

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Ask Slashdot: a Good Geek Project For My Arthritic Grandfather?

Posted by timothy on Wednesday June 20, 2012 @01:13AM from the spy-on-the-neighbors'-lawn dept.

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?"

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Non-grandfather here also interested by RagManX · 2012-06-20 01:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

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.
1. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by JoeMerchant · 2012-06-20 01:17 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Virtual designs - software - FPGAs, get frustrated by the build environments instead of your soldering iron.
2. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by trum4n · 2012-06-20 01:24 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Build a damn tube amp. Build lots of them. You can make a killing selling them to audiophiles and guitar players.
3. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by Hatta · 2012-06-20 01:27 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  What about a tesla coil? Those should have big enough parts and will be really impressive to an 11 year old boy.
  
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4. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by PCM2 · 2012-06-20 01:28 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Build a damn tube amp. Build lots of them. You can make a killing selling them to audiophiles and guitar players.
  This is totally true. Musicians love kit that's not off the shelf from Guitar Center. A friend of mine plays in a couple death metal bands and he's constantly amazing me with the home electronics projects he posts to Facebook: fixing up old amps, modifying pedals, etc. He gets tons of requests.
  
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5. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by Joce640k · 2012-06-20 01:35 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  LEDs come in Jumbo sizes.
  
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6. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by PopeRatzo · 2012-06-20 01:59 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I have arthritis in my hands that has altered a lot of things for me, the best "geek" project I've found has been learning to play jazz on the chromatic harmonica. Now, I've been a musician since very young, but the chromatic harmonica was the only instrument I have found that does not require a lot of digital dexterity. There's one button on the side, that's it, and it can be pressed in lots of ways - with the tip of the finger, at the joint, even the side of the finger.
  And if you've ever heard the music of Toots Thielemans or Gregoire Maret or Larry Adler (or even Stevie Wonder) you know that you can make some extremely sophisticated music with the chromatic harp. Personally, I play jazz, standards, ballads, but I know players who are into classical, blues, Brazilian music. It's easy to start, but you can spend a lifetime learning it, and there's nothing like learning some music to extend the useful life of the brain. The intellectual part of learning music engages like few other things. It's like mathematics, except you can dance to it.
  And chicks dig musicians. No matter how old your grandpa is, that's always a bonus.
  
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7. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by MagusSlurpy · 2012-06-20 02:15 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I was going to say the same thing. And if a tesla coil is too pedestrian, there are plenty of other "macro-scale" electrical projects to build, like quarter shrinkers or Marx bank capacitor set-ups for crushing cans. Check out 4HV and the Geek Group for ideas and communities to bounce other ideas off of.
  
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8. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by dmbasso · 2012-06-20 02:18 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The obvious geek project: a gripper/manipulator that discards jitter in its input. I believe I read something about robotic surgical tools using this strategy. It has the added benefit of enabling scaled-down control, so you could e.g. write something on a grain of rice.
  If I had the time I'd do it myself!
  
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9. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by trum4n · 2012-06-20 02:32 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Tubes are the exact opposite of "sound quality." Check the THD's on tube amps. They are honestly terrible. But then again, an opera house is also "terrible" for acoustics. It's the even order harmonics that make it distorted, lowering quality. However, even order harmonics sound "good" to most people. I have an amplifier that is about as good as it gets (Denon, THD 0.009% at rated power(80wpc)), and most of my friends hate it. It has been described as "Brutally Honest". Maybe too honest.
Electromechanical computer? by f3rret · 2012-06-20 01:16 · Score: 2

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?

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Switch by Newander · 2012-06-20 01:16 · Score: 5, Informative

Depending on how bad his arthritis is, you could take over the wiring and he could start writing the code.

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1. Re:Switch by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-20 01:30 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That's not the American way. Outsource! A small Chinese boy can be purchased for cheap. With his tiny fingers he can manipulate even the smallest components.
2. Re:Switch by DdJ · 2012-06-20 01:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Depending on how bad his arthritis is, you could take over the wiring and he could start writing the code.
  You beat me to it! Let me elaborate on this by suggesting that each of you should spend time teaching the other the missing specialty. Don't just take over the wiring, have him teach you how to do it right, while you teach him to code.
3. Re:Switch by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-06-20 02:11 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That's not the American way. Outsource! A small Chinese boy can be purchased for cheap. With his tiny fingers he can manipulate even the smallest components.
  That's true, but hand transplants aren't that advanced yet, dexterity-wise, and even once they will be, it will be quite a hefty medical bill to pay.
  
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Dear Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-20 01:17 · Score: 5, Funny

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.
1. Re:Dear Slashdot by Joce640k · 2012-06-20 01:37 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Maybe he'd perk up a bit more if you started cruising for hookers together...
  
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2. Re:Dear Slashdot by ari_j · 2012-06-20 03:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  All joking aside, the answer is to find out if your grandfather is working on these projects because he wants to wire arduino boards or because he enjoys spending time with his grandson. It's probably the latter. Now, if you don't have other things to do together, then keep at it and maybe take others' suggestions to work with tube electronics or something else with relatively large components (warning, though: tube sockets can be just as tedious to wire and solder as IC sockets). But if you do, then try those things instead.
LittleBits by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-20 01:19 · Score: 5, Interesting

http://littlebits.cc/
Saw these on a TED talk, looked pretty neat. (They are very expensive, though)
mobility by Smivs · 2012-06-20 01:35 · Score: 3, Funny

Help him to build an electro-mechanical exoskeleton!

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Pinball games have bigger parts by Joe_Dragon · 2012-06-20 01:42 · Score: 4, Interesting

Pinball games have bigger parts
Teach grandson how to do electrical work by vlm · 2012-06-20 01:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.

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1. Re:Teach grandson how to do electrical work by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-20 02:48 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Thirty years ago when I was a child I helped my Dad, a lawyer in the UK, to wire and plumb our house. He paid to have it all tested by the electricity and gas boards, and everything was good.
  I recently moved into a new house and the experienced electrician (he looked to be in his fifties) had fucked up the strappers (one light with two switches). Nowadays it would be illegal to fix it myself. The law is bullshit.
Lego Mindstorm? by david.emery · 2012-06-20 01:50 · Score: 2

Seriously... There's a lot of cool things to build and the bricks would probably be a lot easier to handle.
Not entirely relevant, but... by meowris · 2012-06-20 01:51 · Score: 5, Insightful

You're a good grandson.
Half seriously but who knows ?... by Yvanhoe · 2012-06-20 01:52 · Score: 3, Informative

Arduino Grande
Enormous components

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Re:My mom healed artritis with homeopathy. No joke by 19thNervousBreakdown · 2012-06-20 02:02 · Score: 3, Funny

The placebo effect from homeopathy is pretty neat, but on the downside you have to be a fucking idiot for it to work.

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Talk to... by ZonkerWilliam · 2012-06-20 02:44 · Score: 2

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.
Model Rockets and HAM radio by airishtiger · 2012-06-20 03:32 · Score: 2

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.