Month: April 2025

RaPenduLa: Una Video piattaforma FaiDa Te Per Studiare Oscillazioni Meccaniche

/ Danilo Roccatano / 1 Comment

AGGIORNAMENTO: Nel maggio 2025, il progetto ha ottenuto riconoscimento vincendo il 1° premio nel concorso Instructables All Things Pi. Un grande grazie al team di Instructables!

Qualche giorno fa ho pubblicato un nuovo progetto educativo sul mio sito Instructables. Il dispositivo, che ho battezzato RaPenduLa (dalle iniziali in inglese di RaspPi Pendulum Laboratory), è stato ribattezzato in italiano CAMPO (Computer Analisi Moto Pendolare Oscillante) grazie a un suggerimento di ChatGPT. Ma, come direbbe Shakespeare, ‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’: il cuore del progetto è infatti una piattaforma video per lo studio delle oscillazioni meccaniche. Utilizzando un Raspberry Pi Zero W2 dotato di modulo fotocamera, il sistema registra ad alta velocità il movimento dei pendoli. Poi, con un’analisi video basata su Python e OpenCV, RaPenduLa è in grado di tracciare il percorso preciso della punta del pendolo, visualizzandone il comportamento oscillatorio in 2D.

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RaPenduLa: A DIY Video Platform for Exploring Mechanical Oscillations

/ Danilo Roccatano / Leave a comment

UPDATE: In May 2025, the project achieved recognition by winning 1st prize in the Instructables contest All Things Pi. A big thank you to the Instructables teams!

I have recently published another educational project on my Instructables website. I called the device RaPenduLa for the RaspPi Pendulum Laboratory, and it is a video platform for studying mechanical oscillations. It uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W2 equipped with a camera module to record the motion of pendulums in high speed. The interesting part happens through video analysis: using Python and the fantastic OpenCV library, RaPenduLa can track the precise path of a pendulum’s tip and help visualize its oscillatory behavior in two dimensions.

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Easter 2025: Exploring Egg-Shaped Billiards

/ Danilo Roccatano / Leave a comment

It has become a recurrent habit for me to write a blog on the shape of eggs to wish you a Happy Easter. Not repeating oneself and finding a new interesting topic is a brainstorming exercise of lateral thinking and a systematic search in literature to find an interesting connection. This year, I wanted to explore an idea that has been lurching in my mind for some time for other reasons: billiards.

I used to play snooker from time to time with some old friends. I am a far cry from being even an amateur in the billiard games, but I had a lot of fun verifying the laws of mechanics on a green table. I soon discovered that studying the dynamics of bouncing collision of an ideal cue ball in billiards of different shapes keeps brilliant mathematicians and physicists engaged in recreational academic studies and important theoretical implications.

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I received a surprise gift, and I want to express my gratitude for your unwavering support!

/ Danilo Roccatano / Leave a comment

Today, I was pleasantly surprised by a message from WordPress. It announced that a very generous reader had gifted a subscription. This gift covers the cost of my personal plan and website domain.

First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to this undisclosed reader for their generosity. You are the first to make such a donation. Your support has given me a great boost of encouragement to continue writing. If you wish, I would be happy to acknowledge you on this page.

This blog began as a personal space to share my work as an educator and scientist. Over time, it has also become a place for reflections on my past experiences and long-standing hobbies. I enjoy exploring a wide range of scientific topics that spark my curiosity, and I write simply for the joy of sharing my enthusiasm for science. My endless curiosity drives my fascination with the natural world and the universe around us. I started this journey with no particular expectations—just personal fulfillment. Now, I’m delighted to see the readership growing and grateful that some of you find this blog valuable enough to support it.

***THANK YOU***

I have written this post in English. I do not know the donor’s primary language. This ensures my gratitude reaches you. If English is not your main language, inform me. I am happy to express my thanks in Italian or German.
Spero tuttavia che il mio messaggio sia chiaro anche ai tanti connazionali che leggono le mie pagine in italiano o ai lettori di lingue latine che possono comprenderlo, e li ringrazio di cuore.

Und ich hoffe auch, dass viele deutschsprachige Leser meine Seiten auf Deutsch verstehen können – so gut es geht! 😊