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

Posted by timothy on 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?"

15 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Non-grandfather here also interested by RagManX · · 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 trum4n · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Build a damn tube amp. Build lots of them. You can make a killing selling them to audiophiles and guitar players.

    2. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by PCM2 · · 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.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    3. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by PopeRatzo · · 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.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Non-grandfather here also interested by trum4n · · 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.

  2. Switch by Newander · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Switch by Anonymous Coward · · 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 · · 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 · · 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.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  3. Dear Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · 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 ari_j · · 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.

  4. LittleBits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://littlebits.cc/

    Saw these on a TED talk, looked pretty neat. (They are very expensive, though)

  5. Pinball games have bigger parts by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Pinball games have bigger parts

  6. Teach grandson how to do electrical work by vlm · · 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.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  7. Not entirely relevant, but... by meowris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're a good grandson.