Robotics Under the Stole

Merry Chrismas

2011-12-23T20:55:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Since we moved last summer, I haven't had a lot of robotics time. The only exception is working with our school's robotics' club, The GatorBots.

Maybe I will get a bit of time to get organized soon - that means unpacking my lab!

Yuk! Yuk?

2011-06-10T16:53:00.002-05:00

A little fun on Friday afternoon....

More Merit Badge Info

2011-05-06T09:33:00.001-05:00

Field Trip to NASA

2011-04-09T20:45:00.002-05:00

My daughter's seventh grade class just went on a field trip to NASA, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. I was one of the chaperons and I think I had more fun there than the kids! I got some great souvenirs, which included a NASA cup (established 1958 - same year as me!), and a patch.

While we were there, we saw lots of cool stuff. I saw the Robonaut, a humanoid torso, developed to help astronauts with assembly in hazardous conditions. I also got to see what the called a spider which is a multi-legged crawler for surface exploration of other worlds. What a great trip. Thanks Mrs. T! See some web photos of each below.

(NASA's Robonaut - developed with GM)

(NASA's Spider)

Robotics' Merit Badge

2011-04-09T19:46:00.012-05:00

The Boy Scouts of American have added a Robotics' Merit Badge to their more than 120 badges. It will be announced officially at National Robotics' Week. The new badge promotes learning in science, technology, engineering and math or STEM.

Ken Berry, who helped developed the requirements for the robotics' merit badge said, "There's a low floor and high ceiling with regard to robotics. It is very easy to get into, and you can go a long, long way."

The image on the merit badge is of the Mars Rover and was used with NASA's permission.

According to Ken Gracey, Vice President at Parallax, Inc., the Boe-Bot , which many of you have seen repeatedly on this blog, is a qualified robotics' kit for the new merit badge.

S2 Robot: Updates and Features

2011-04-01T19:35:00.002-06:00

Parallax's new S2 Robot is fantastic. I've been playing with mine for a while and have not posted nearly enough about it. Here is great intro from Jessica at Parallax. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:09:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Hope it is a year with some fun projects...

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-01T14:06:00.001-06:00

Sorry the post is late (still within the the twelve days though), but I loved this retro-Christmas robot picture when I found it. Merry Christmas!

New Blog Header

2010-11-30T12:52:00.006-06:00

As you have noticed, Robotics Under the Stole has a new header. The art was done by my pal, Ben, a.k.a., Mr. Austin, over at Robot Portraits. It all began with the sketch above and ended up with the finished drawing at the left. To see a video of the header being drawn, click here. The title of sketch is 113-Whit-v2 because it the second one I've had done. If you like it, go visit Robot Portraits and get one yourself. The prices are very reasonable!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:14:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Robotics Under the Stole. Hope you had some turkey, some time with family and some time to play with your favorite robot!

Back to School

2010-08-10T22:49:00.007-05:00

Next week, my kids and I begin a new school year. Fifth grade for my son and Seventh grade for my daughter. I will be back doing morning chapel services, teaching middle school religion and heading up the robotics club again.

Here is a video about a new student at Carnegie Mellon University - home of one the country's best robotics' departments. For more information about CMU's robotics, see here.

Note - Cognitive Learner is actually a short film made in the Art, Animation, and Technology class at Carnegie Mellon University. That means that this is just clever animation and not a real robot.

A Sheet of Stamps

2010-08-10T19:36:00.002-05:00

Everybody who has ever seen a program about how the U.S. Treasury prints sheet of bills knows how impressive a sheet of uncut bills looks. I had a similar experience this summer when I travelled to Parallax in Rocklin, California. There, on one of the tables, was a uncut sheet of fully assembled BASIC Stamps.

Across the room, I got to see the cutter, where they are cut by hand to ensure a very high finish on the edges. I'd love to have an uncut sheet of bills, but more than that, I'd like to have a beautiful uncut sheet of BASIC Stamps!

Photo - Picture of a sheet of BASIC Stamps from the August issue of The Parallaxian (top) and a picture of a sheet of $20 bills from Life Magazine (bottom).

The First Church of Robotics

2010-08-10T09:35:00.014-05:00

My friend Stacey e-mailed me the following from The New York Times:

OPINION
August 09, 2010

Op-Ed Contributor: The First Church of Robotics

By JARON LANIER
The concept of artificial intelligence clouds our view of the world.

Stacey said in the e-mail, "don't have time to read this but Church and Robotics are your subject!" It was very interesting and got me thinking.

Jaron Lanier is the author of You are Not a Gadget. He lives in Berkeley, California and his homepage is here. Lanier is and innovator and technologist himself, but is also a harsh critic. In the Op-Ed piece, he asserts that, at times, those working in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence approach their work with a religious zeal that encourages the belief that our machines can can become like us - or more than us - or replace us. Lanier believes that this also leads us to think of ourselves in less human terms and more like the machines we build. This degrades our uniqueness as human beings. We should not confuse what is human with what machines can do. Lanier believes that this way of thinking is a new sort of religion or belief system.

The article expresses a fear of technology or rather a fear of the way we think of our technology, that is different from the standard - Robots are going to take over the world! - motif. It did get me thinking about something that I noticed on our summer vacation though and until his article, I never thought of myself as working for competing camps!

So, I decided to write him. I explained that I was a priest and roboticist. Here is a portion the an e-mail I sent to Lanier:

I recently felt the tension expressed in your article though while on our family vacation this summer. We traveled from Louisiana to California so that I could officiate at the wedding of a former youth group member. On our return trip, we took our children to Disneyland. In Tomorrowland, there was an Honda ASIMO demonstration presentation. ASIMO brought in the paper, played with the kids, helped out around the house and so forth. I remember feeling frustrated by the presentation. I knew ASIMO could not do those things in reality. I also knew that so much of what ASIMO really can do was not presented. The amazing technology of the real robot was not shown, and instead a vision of a C-3PO like helper was demonstrated. Your article wrestles with these issues and points toward some of what I was feeling.

I hope that religion and technology are not competing fields, but can be partners. But as you point out, we must first be honest about what is actually possible and the limitations and areas of expertise of each field.

I do understand though a generation of technologists and engineers who long for a robotic companion and workmate. The vision that they (we?) saw in Star Wars as children may spur them to get us closer to that reality some day. Our love of such machines, like our love of cars, says more about who we as human beings are than about the machines themselves.

He will probably think I am a goof-ball. His article and these ideas are definitely some things to think about! Maybe doing so will make us better human beings and better roboticists.

Photo - Lanier from his homepage.

Update - I just got a reply from Jaron Lanier. It said:

thanks much and good luck to you in all your roles- jaron

Lab Expansion and Reoganiztion

2010-08-09T16:37:00.008-05:00

For those of you who follow Robotics Under the Stole, you will remember when I first made my lab. See here. Then I expanded it a bit - see here. It is great to have a dedicated space to work.

Well, I've been at it again this summer! I expanded and reorganized my lab. These photos show the changes. If you look closely, you can see that I added some plywood on my table top to provide a better surface on which to solder. I also reoriented my bookshelves (to the rear above my glass dood storage cabinets) and gained some more space for books.

Now, if I can only keep the junk from piling up!

Photos - Show the work side (top) and the storage side (bottom).

Another Reason I Love Parallax Products - Open Source

2010-08-09T11:25:00.002-05:00

The majority of the products created at Parallax include design files that are distributed, free of cost, from their web page. Parallax encourages others to freely use and modify the circuits that they have designed and to integrate them into their own projects, whether for personal or commercial use. Parallax resources for schematics, books, and code examples are fantastic! It is all free to download from their website.

Parallax has been releasing code for the Propeller under the MIT license, and all code posted on the Propeller Object Exchange, whether originating from Parallax or a third party, is required to be released under the MIT license. (See http://obex.parallax.com/license/) The MIT license explicitly allows redistribution of software, but it does not apply to hardware designs. This is one of the things that make the Propeller Chip so much fun to use. Many objects are available at the Object Exchage. This means that someone has written a piece of code to do a particular think - like operate and read a Ping))) sensor. You can add their code to your code through the MIT license.

To encourage the reuse of their designs, especially in open-source hardware projects, Parallax will begin to release design files, whenever possible, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. (See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/) This will allow anyone to use, modify, and distribute the designs without explicitly receiving permission from Parallax. Now, the same great sharing that has happened with code will happen with hardware too.

Parallax supports its users like no one else.

Note: This information is taken from the Parallax website.

Another California Souvenir

2010-08-04T17:36:00.007-05:00

Another surprise on my trip to California was Fry's Electronics. I had heard lots of people talk about Fry's on the Parallax Forums, but I had never actually been to Fry's.

It has all things electronic - video games, t.v.s, etc. But the best and most amazing part to me was the true electronics' section. They had many Parallax products (and other robot kits), an almost endless couple of isles of electronic components, dozens of multimeters, oscilloscopes, function generators and more. It was all right there to look at, hold and study. For someone who has gotten almost everything I have from catalogs or websites, it was truly amazing! I saw many things that I had only seen in pictures or read about. I could have stayed for hours, but I was with my family and friends and it was near closing time.

Not to be denied a souvenir of some sort, I found the perfect thing - a Fry's Pocket Protector! Not only is a pocket protector the symbol of nerds everywhere, the Fry's version features "Charlie the Chip" and was only $1.99!

I guess it is lucky that I don't have one of these stores too close! I could have spent LOTS of money at this place. It was also early in the trip and I still had my trip to Parallax ahead of me - so I didn't buy anything else.

The good news is that if I really get the urge to go shopping, there is a Fry's in Dallas!

Photos - My Fry's Pocket Protector "installed" and a couple of other nerds.

The Unofficial Tour of Parallax

2010-07-31T17:29:00.008-05:00

Most of you read about my visit to and tour of Parallax. Here is a video made by their intern Maddie. Her blog is called PBASICally Maddie. Her "Unofficial" tour shows almost everything I saw. Enjoy!

ASIMO at Disneyland

2010-07-26T21:41:00.002-05:00

On our recent family trip to California, we took the kids to Disneyland. As we walked into Tomorrowland, I saw a big banner that said - "ASIMO - Here today!"

ASIMO was on tour and Disney had a demonstration that lasted about 30 minutes. I think my family had as much fun watching me as ASIMO. The demo was cheezy, but the robot itself is very impressive. I know that it gets a lot of criticism, but sitting in front of it and hearing the servos whir and seeing the incredible finish and precision of its movements - It is amazing! ASIMO danced, climbed stairs and ran, but all the context of visiting a family and helping with household chores.

I wish they presented robots more from the engineering side - showing what is really possible now. That would be interesting. But, not many people would enjoy it as much as seeing ASIMO dance and imagining having their own C-3PO.

Photo - ASIMO on stage at Disneyland.

My Visit to Graceland!

2010-07-26T20:22:00.012-05:00

As any Elvis fan knows - "Graceland" is the place to visit if you are one of the King's faithful.

For a someone like me - the place to visit is Parallax. Maybe it is because my first robotics' gear came from Rocklin, or maybe because they keep making exactly what I want and provide what I need to teach others. For me, a visit to Parallax is like a visit to Graceland.

I was in Northern California to officiate at the wedding of a former youth group member on July 16th. We made it into a family trip. We got to visit with lots of friends and we took the kids to Disneyland on the way home (I got to see ASIMO in Tomorrowland!). Everybody got to do something fun and something they wanted to do. I got to go to Parallax.

Not only did I get to meet all the great people (everybody from the educational folks, shipping, manufacturing, marketing, kitting, front desk and sales) - I got the grand tour from Ken Gracey. It was great to see parts being made on the CNC machine, BASIC Stamps being cranked out and a warehouse full of stuff that would make any of you drool. Not only are the individual items cool - seeing stacks and stacks of them is unbelievable - Like a wall of QuadRovers!

Just like Graceland has the Jungle Room - Parallax has the Chip Room. I stood in the cage surrounded by silicon and got to hold a box full of Propeller Chips and have the pics to prove it. They don't really keep Chip Gracey in there...

Thanks to everyone at Parallax for the great visit. It was so good to meet you all and see everything!

As one of the Parallax Forum members (Rich, aka W9GFO) said, "Maybe it should be called "Graceyland!" I wish I had thought of that!

Photos - Jessica, me, Steph and Andy, The Education Department - above. Me in the Chip Room - right. Both photos were taken by Ken Gracey.

My Father's Day Gift

2010-06-19T08:46:00.018-05:00

Because my daughter is heading to camp today, I got my Father's Day gift a bit early!

It is a Fluke 87 V Multimeter. It is just about as good a multimeter as there is. The 87 V is extremely heavy duty, very accurate and completely made in the U.S.A. I also got the C25 soft case.

The features of this amazing meter include:

True-rms ac voltage and current for accurate measurements on non linear signals
Selectable filter for accurate voltage and frequency measurements on motor drives
0.05 % dc accuracy
6000 counts, 3-3/4 digits
4-1/2 digit mode for precise measurements (20,000 counts)
Measure up to 1000 V ac and dc
Measure up to 10 A, 20 A for up to 30 seconds
Built in thermometer lets you carry one less tool (TC probe included)
Frequency to 200 kHz and % duty cycle
Resistance, continuity and diode test
10,000 µF capacitance range for components and motor caps
Min/Max-Average recording with Min/Max Alert to capture variations automatically
Peak capture to record transients as fast as 250 µs
Relative mode to remove test lead interference from low ohms measurements
Auto and manual ranging for maximum flexibility
Touch Hold to capture stable readings avoiding noisy signals
Large display digits and two-level bright white backlight for increased visibility
Analog bargraph for fast changing or unstable signals
Input Alert provides audible warning against wrong use of input jacks
Improved selectable sleep mode for long battery life
Access door for fast battery changes without breaking the calibration seal
"Classic" design with new removable holster with built in test lead and probe storage
Lifetime warranty - Holy Smokes!

Here is the link to a video review of the Fluke 87 V from David L. Jones' EEVBlog.

Happy Father's Day Weekend!

2010-06-19T08:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day! I found this photo on the web - I thought it was good for the occasion. My daughter and I went to a Father/Daughter Dance this year!

Fellowship of the Traveling Junkbox

2010-05-17T19:39:00.006-05:00

It all started with a post by Jeff, aka Oldbitcollector over at Savage Circuits. Here's what he said,

The Fellowship of the Traveling Junkbox.
===================================
The idea here is to keep a box of interesting electronics parts, etc moving from participant to participant. Here are the OFFICIAL guidelines for participation:
===================================
1. You must live in the United States. This keeps the cost of participation to $10.70. (The cost of shipping a medium-flat-rate box in the US.)

2. When you receive the box, you have 1-week to take what you please (being mindful of others) and replace items with parts which you think others will enjoy. Parts should be useful to those working with Propeller, BASIC STAMP, or robotics. Good Examples include, electronics parts, resistors, relays, LEDs, a game controller, circuit boards with useful parts. Bad Examples include, chemicals, a cdrom drive, network card, the DVD movie of "Twins".

3. You will need to transfer all of the remaining contents and new items to a fresh box of the SAME SIZE and TYPE. The post office has these boxes free. They can be picked up or delivered upon request of the USPS website. As much stuff as will fit in the box will ship for $10.70. The box needs to ship to the next person by 1-week of it's arrival.

4. Add your name to the log included in the box. Name, forum alias, city, and comments.

5. Report back to the forum. You might include a picture, or video. Let us know what surprises you found and what you added. Under NO circumstances list the inventory of the box in the forum. If you find items which you feel are dangerous, (chemicals, etc) or items which you feel violate the spirit of the Junkbox, please contact me by PM for instruction.

6. By registering to our group, you accept these rules and allow that your NAME and ADDRESS is allowed to be posted within our private group so that members know where the box is shipping to and where it needs to go next. If we reach the end of list, the box should return to the top of the list to be refreshed and keep moving.

7. Have fun! This is a fun project!

Anyway - a bunch of us signed up and the game is on. I received the box on May 11, 2010.

The Traveling Junkbox continues its journey after I mailed it on May 17, 2010. It is on it way to "Potatohead" in Oregon.

I took some of Microcontrolled's LEDs and PS2s (plenty more remain!), a mouse PCB with two encoder wheel detectors, a Parallax Servo, a Piezo Speaker, and few other bits and pieces. By the way - I loved the photo Microcontrolled included in the log book. It inspired me to include my own. See above - it'a me opening the junkbox when it arrived.

I added some nice goodies, a surprise, some fun hackable items and the photo of me opening the box (which I added to the log book along with my Robotics Business card).

The box was stuffed full! The woman at the Post Office said that if it wasn't the Flat Rate $10.70 Box - it would have cost me over $20.00 to mail!

Thanks OBC and all who have contributed. I can't wait to hear of the box's continued journey.

Nation Robotics Week Photos

2010-05-08T22:24:00.004-05:00

Photos of National Robotics Week are available on Flickr here. To see just the GatorBots Demonstration Day photos click here.

It looks like there were some great events around the country. The second annual National Robotics Week will be April 9-17, 2011. See you then!

Accidental Find

2010-05-07T21:34:00.006-05:00

Tonight my wife, the kids and I took a ride. We ended up at an Atwood's Ranch and Home Store in Crossett, Arkansas (about 30 minutes from home). It is like a farm supply and hardware store.

As we walked along the asiles my wife spotted some robot toys. There were three key wound motor robots. The Space Robot is made by Schylling - http://www.schylling.com/

As the robot walks he lights up with sparks inside. It is really cool! See the pic and info from their website here. The price at the store was the same as online - $19.99. The Box was almost as cool as the robot. Neat huh?

Stingray Alpha at Demonstration Day

2010-04-21T20:01:00.001-05:00

The Grace Episcopal School GatorBots had a Demonstration Day and end of the year party on April 13. This was done in conjuction with National Robotics Week.

I took my Parallax Stingray Robot and let it "roam" around. The kids were very impressed. The loved the size, which looked huge compared to their Scribblers. I am starting to make some head way on this great robot. A picture from the Demostration Day is posted above. The current version has 5 - Ping))) ultra-sonic sensors and a Parallax 4 x 20 LCD display.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T07:33:00.001-05:00

Happy Easter friends!

Dual Voltage Power Supply

2010-04-03T07:52:00.001-06:00

I picked up one of Brian's (http://ucontroller.com/index.html) Dual Voltage Power Supply Kits to use with my Propeller Education Kit. It supplies 5 volts and 3.3 volts to a breadboard and uses a Parallax standard 2.1 mm center positive connection to a 7-9 volt wall wart. I includes and on/off switch and an LED to indicate when it is on. There are alterative pin locations to adapt to breadboard variations.

The PCB boards are very nice and screened clearly. The documentation is simple and clear and it is a cinch to put together. I don't know if I got lucky, but mine is dead on. The 5 volt side provide 5.000 volts and the 3.3 volt side provided 3.305 volts on my meter. Can't beat that.

It is a nice little kit and sure beats using batteries! My son even helped me put it together and learned about the parts, how to place them and got to watch some soldering.

Update: I added some heat sinks that I found in my junkbox to the voltage regulators. (This is not shown in the photo)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T13:13:00.003-06:00

National Robotics Week

2010-03-12T15:12:00.001-06:00

The first annual National Robotics Week is April 10-18, 2010. The purpose of National Robotics Week is to:

Celebrate the US as a leader in robotics technology development
Educate the public about how robotics technology impacts society, both now and in the future
Advocate for increased funding for robotics technology research and development
Inspire students of all ages to pursue careers in robotics and other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math-related fields

Why is robotics important?

Robotics technology is a growing industry which creates high-tech jobs in the US
Robotics technologies are helping to improve healthcare, national defense, homeland security, energy, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, agriculture, education, consumer goods, and many other sectors
Robotics provides an exciting, hands-on way for students to learn Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

You can find more information at http://www.nationalroboticsweek.org/

A Little Inspiration from R2-D2

2010-03-12T14:55:00.001-06:00

Sometimes it seems like my robotics projects take a long time to be what I want them to be. Progress is just so slow. Other things happen to slow things down. This video gives me great inspiration and reminds me that some things take a lot of little steps.

Scibbler Robot Scribbling

2010-03-05T12:22:00.002-06:00

I've posted before about the Scribbler Robot Camps that I am doing with the Monroe City School system. After the students learn the basic functions of the Scribbler (demo, sound, LEDs, motor control, etc.), we have a contest. They are to make their Scibbler play "Charge!", draw one of their initials, and then play "tada!" They have to stay on a piece of 22" X 28" poster board.

They have to work on making the Scribbler run straight, the time duration of the strokes in the letter, turning the proper angles, etc. They get to work on this for about 20 minutes one day and then get about 20 minutes the next day. The work is done based on what they have learned at that point and trial and error for lengths and turn angles and other issues.

This video is of one of the student's work at Carroll High School. Her "K" was the most complex letter chosen. We had Ts, Ls, Ds for instance, but this capital K is impressive. Multi-stroke letters (where they have to back-track) are the hardest. This one was a winner!

By this time the contest is held - the students have had less than 5 hours experience with their Scribblers and robotics!

Pretty neat, huh?

Robotic Priest Post

2010-02-15T15:12:00.010-06:00

I saw this today on a blog called Ration Reality and couldn't resist posting it here...

When I was a child, someone showed me the Chicago Bulls logo, upside down, and pointed out that it was, in fact, a robot sitting on a park bench reading the bible. My little mind was blown. 20 plus years later, I look at the logo and no longer see the bull. Just an upside down robot priest…

You, dear reader, have seen the proselyting robot menace, haven’t you?

I’ve made an art to clarify the danger we face:

I prefer to think of "it" as standing at the altar. Pretty funny, huh?

The Path of Innovation

2010-02-15T08:04:00.007-06:00

Last night, I was sending a message to erco, one of my Parallax Forum buddies. I used the term Robotier, which is misspelled and misused because that is actually the level on the Love Boat specifically for robots. It should be spelled Roboteer (like muska- or mouseka-).

Later I wondered - Is that a commonly used term? Perhaps it should be added to the robotic vocabulary. Was I perhaps the unique person to coin the term? Could it be that I would find a nitch the the history of robotics?

I wrote erco back to see if he had ever heard the term used. Then, I decided to google it...

Never mind... See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roboteer Crap! Its hard to be an innovator.

P.S. I really do like this term, even though somebody else thought it up and gets the credit in the great and storied history of my beloved hobby.

Just for Fun...

2010-02-12T13:35:00.002-06:00

Stingray with Pings)))

2010-02-06T08:52:00.003-06:00

Here is the latest picture of my Stingray Robot. I have added three Ping))) detectors and three rack handles for bumpers (like Parallax's Chris Savage did on his prototype). Parallax has a kit to do this (less the rack handles) and you can see it here. A video is also at this link.

The test code that I am using is giving me some problems and I haven't figured it out yet. The left motor spins in reverse when it should go forward. Some people are correcting this by reversing the connections, but I want to understand what is going on first. I will post my own video of it roaming when I get it working.

Update: I have it working now! I've made a lot progress understanding the code and how it works. Thanks to all the Parallax Forum members who helped! Video will follow...

Louisiana Tech Robotics' Club

2010-02-05T11:19:00.002-06:00

The Louisiana Tech Robotics' Club is up and running and off to a good start this year. Their new blog can be found here and will include meeting times, activities and other info.

I tryed to attend these meetings last year, but the meeting schedule was irregular and so I only made a couple. I hope they have a great year! I also hope that I can make some of the meetings too. I know I can learn a lot!

Another Scribbler Robot Camp

2010-01-28T18:01:00.003-06:00

We just finished the third of six Scribbler Robot Camps for the Monroe City Schools. This week, Jody Moorhead, of Instructional Technology, and I were at Wossman High School. We had another full house of fifteen students and some great teacher support. It is always so much fun to see the students figure out all the little robot can do.

This year, we will have three Jr. High camps and three High School camps.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:56:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year and happy roboting in 2010!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T09:40:00.003-06:00

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given... - Isaiah 9:6

I saw this image on one the robotic sites that I visit regularly and saw it as a Modonna and Child (Mary and the Baby Jesus). Compare the image below and let me know what you think!

Merry Christmas! Hope you find something to fun to play with under your tree.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T22:11:00.001-06:00

Did a little Googling and found this cool Turkey-Bot at a blog called A Bit Dotty. The drawing is used with the artist and author's permission. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Scribbler Robot Camps - Part Two

2009-11-14T21:45:00.001-06:00

I am getting ready to do another set of Robot Camps for the Monroe City Schools. This time we will also run the camps at each of the Jr. High Schools. That will be six schools with about fifteen students at each school, plus a group of teachers.

This year I thought a maze might be fun to solove - so, I built one. Here is video of my Scribbler running the simple maze. Students will be asked to write a program to solve this particular maze. It shold be a fun excercise.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T19:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween from Robotics Under the Stole. Check out this cool robotic pumkin!

Name that Bot!

2009-10-23T20:44:00.006-05:00

What in the world do all these parts make? The new Parallax Stingray. The Stingray is a Propeller powered mid-size robot. I got one of the first 50 produced. It was really fun to put together and I look forward to posting more as I get it up running. Next step - sensors. See the assembled pics below from Parallax's website.

Photo - Stingray from above and side. Note the cool omni-directional tailwheel.

The Great Robot Race

2009-09-14T13:31:00.004-05:00

This is a video from the P.B.S. Series NOVA. The episode is called The Great Robot Race. Though I do robotics on a completely different level, this is exactly why I find robotics so much fun!

Officially a Nerd!

2009-08-03T14:57:00.017-05:00

Most people agree that you are officially an nerd when you get an oscilloscope. Well... I just got a Rigol DS 1052E, 50 MHz, 2 Channel Digital Storage Oscilloscope. I'm really having fun learning to use it. The manual is very good and has some fun Chinese to English translations! For example the warranty card is addressed to the "Honorable Customer."

Its an award winning scope because of its combination of low price and advanced performance at an entry level price. The 50-MHz portable oscilloscope provides a 1 Gsample/s rate, which puts it in the same category as big-name competitors. It then surpasses them by providing a full 1-Msample memory — as much as 40 times more than competing units.

The unit has a very bright, full color 5.7-in. liquid-crystal display, USB host and device ports, and a range of advanced triggering functions (such as edge, slope, pulse, alternate, and video) and mathematical signal-manipulation capabilities (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and fast Fourier transforms). All things you would expect in much more expensive scopes.

The real surprise is the price - the 50-MHz version is priced at just $595 (retail). I got mine on E-bay from mib_instruments shipped for free directly from Hong Kong for just $420 (plus $10 insurance)! I also have a soft case coming, which I ordered elsewhere.

The scope comes with power cord, two probes and a CD with the manual (in pdf) and PC interface software. Here are the specs:

Here is an online review from the EEVblog (Electronics Engineering Video Blog) on YouTube:

Strange Coincidence

2009-06-18T16:13:00.016-05:00

It is a strange coincidence that theme of our Vacation Bible School this year has a robotic mascot! Each year, we combine forces with St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and Christ Episcopal Church in Bastrop to do Vacation Bible School. We always use Concordia Publishing's materials.

This year, the theme is GADGET'S Garage and features the robotic mascot named Gizmo! Several year's ago, before I got seriously interested in building robots, we did another V.B.S. that had a robotic mascot. I made a 4 foot tall "robot" out of Christmas light and junk. The kids liked it. I ended up giving it to the local library. As I was posting this, it occurred to me that I might have a picture - so here it is too!

The basic idea of this year's theme is that in GADGET'S Garage they make new things out of old stuff. In robotics, that is called re-purposing. I guess I never thought of Jesus as a hacker!

Camp Fun

2009-06-17T11:20:00.006-05:00

Here is one picture of the Monroe City School's Scribbler Robot Camp students playing with their robots. They were letting their robots follow each other around the line on the poster board. As you can see, the lead robot is lost and looking for the line. If I remember correctly, pictured from left to right are Brittny, Franz and Kaitlin. Those are the student's names - I don't remember what they named their Scribblers ;-). I hope that more pics will follow.

Addition to My Lab

2009-05-08T20:23:00.006-05:00

Many of you who follow my blog will remember my post on my Robot Lab. I've just made a really cool addition to my lab thanks to my wife. Her business had some old glass door metal storage shelves that they were getting rid of and she got them for me!

I have been looking for something like this for a while, but these are better that anything I could have hoped for. They look like something out of IBM headquarters during the early days of computers.

Now all my robots, equipment or whatever I put in them can be out of the dust and at the same time where I can see them and show them off. It is a combo storage space and display case. Super cool, eh?

Robot Camps Underway

2009-05-02T20:00:00.008-05:00

Last week (April 27-30), we held the first to the Monroe City Schools' Robot Camps. It all began at Wossman High School and I think the students had a great time. I know they learned a lot about their Scribblers! Each of the students left with their own Scribbler Robot, a workbook, a USB adapter and cable, a padded lunch box for storage and a flashlight (for light following)!

This week (May 4-7), we will be a Neville High School.

Jodie Moorhead from Instructional Technology is my partner in running the camps and he got some great pictures and video. I will try to post some of them later.

Monroe City Schools' Robot Camp

2009-02-06T19:17:00.004-06:00

I am working with the folks in Instructional Technology at the Monroe City School District to conduct a Robot Camp at three High Schools this spring.

We will be using Parallax's Scribbler Robot and will introduce about 50 students to robotics and programming. We will hold 3 one week camps at each of the three high schools.

I will post more information as we firm up our plans.

Scribbler Encoder Success!

2009-01-05T22:00:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year! On January 3, 2009, my buddy erco announced, "Success! I made several test runs with the finished encoders today, and it's quite rewarding to see the Scribbler actively correcting itself to drive a straight line. I posted a video... which shows the robot driving a small square and ending up pretty close to where it started. I have finished the encoder hardware installation to my satisfaction, but my software is very preliminary."

Here are photos of erco's encoder installation. As he explained, he built it on a tiny piece of single-sided perfboard in a non-standard way as you can see in the photos. The board is a tight fit between two molded ribs in the top body shell. The encoder sensor is mounted in a raised position on the non-copper side so that it can stick through a mostly square hole in the case. All other components are mounted on the copper side so that he could flush-mount the non-copper side to the housing inside using a drop of hot melt glue. The Optical gap between encoder and wheel is ~0.150. erco aligned the sensors to read the outer rings of his encoder wheels, and mounted it horizontally from axle in the top body shell. Each encoder circuit has 3 wired connections: +5V, ground, and output. He disconnected photocells on the front of the Scribbler to use the encoders. Photocells are also mounted in the top body shell on a small green PC board under a black plastic light shield. Nothing was removed, erco just unsoldered the green wire from P4 on the circuit board to disconnect all 3 photocells. The green wire becomes the ground connection for both encoders. He connected the left encoder output to pad P3 and the right encoder output to pad P1 on green photocell PC board. Stamp-wise, the left encoder is IN2 and the right encoder is IN0. The +5V connection is taken from the 6-hole "Hacker Port" header on main PC board.

See erco's impressive video below. With the pattern on the floor, you can clearly see the Scribbler keep itself running straight and it returns almost perfectly to where it began.

Photos and video courtesy of erco.

Piezo Film Vibra Tab Mass as Encoder

2009-01-01T18:10:00.007-06:00

Another experiment in the Scribbler wheel encoder project that erco and I are working on.

This slightly dark video is a proof of concept video using the Piezo Film Vibra Tab Mass Sensor as a possible wheel encoder on the Parallax Scribbler. It uses the Scribbler's wheel spokes to trip the Vibra Tab as the wheel rotates. It is like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

The Scribbler's wheel has 8 spokes on each side, actually 8 high spots and 8 low spots. That is 16 positions for one turn of the wheel. The wheels are 3-1/8" in diameter (approximately). The circumference is computed with the formula, circumference = pi times diameter, or C= π d. The circumferece is 9.82" or 9-13/16". For each 16th a turn, the wheel has travelled 0.614" or 5/8".

An issue might be the time the Vibra Tab is bent during contact with each spoke. I don't know yet if it sends one message when it bent or continuous messages.

But, as the video shows it does work (at least in concept).

Parallax Scribbler Encoder Project

2009-01-01T10:58:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine, erco, from the Parallax Forums and I are working on an encoder project for the Parallax Scribbler. A wheel encoder keeps up with the turns of a wheel. It "counts" the rotation speed by reading teeth (like a gear), notches, or black and white stripes with an optical or mechanical reader. By doing this, you can tell how fast a wheel is turning and how far it has turned (for example, if the wheel turned once and you know its circumference - you know how far you have traveled). This lets you measure the distance the robot has traveled and lets you correctly keep it running in a straight or curved direction. The thread of our discussion on the forum for this project is here.

As a benchmark, my buddy, erco, wrote a simple test program to show how the Scribbler runs forward and backward through a range of speeds. This is a video of my Scribbler running the test program. This shows the difficulty of the Scribbler running straight consistanly through its speed range. Prior to the test, I reset the Scribber with its original program. There is no correction via the Scribbler Program Maker GUI by the calibration routine. The calibration routine lets you make a single correction to one motor to equalize its speed to match the other motor.

As you can see, the Scribbler does not run very straight without some sort of correction.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T22:24:00.004-06:00

Ho! Ho! Ho! Here's hoping that we all find some fun robot stuff under our trees this year.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

I am looking for few fun projects this year and may try to rack up on a few after Christmas sales too!

Robotics Club at Louisiana Tech

2008-10-17T20:15:00.006-05:00

Under the leadership of Louisiana Tech professor, Dr. Ben Choi, student leader, Okoye Chuka and with the help of Dr. David Hall; Louisiana Tech is getting its Robotics Club up and running again. The attached image is a flyer for the upcoming meeting. They are including others, like me, who are outside the university, but interested in robotics. I really hope this becomes an ongoing group. It will be great to have some others locally to learn from and talk to.

Propeller Professional Development Board

2008-09-25T20:42:00.016-05:00

My Dad used to always say, "When you have some spare money to play with - you don't have any time and when you have some time to play - you don't have any money." That's kind of where I am right now.

I have been really busy with work lately doing some extra work at my children's school, so I have some money, but no time to play. But, I just ordered a new toy. I hope I can find some time to play when it comes in. It is the Propeller Professional Development Board (PPDB) from Parallax and their website describes it as "a high-quality, fully-integrated development platform for the Propeller microcontroller. A wide variety of typical I/O (LEDs, Buttons, etc.) devices and circuitry are built into the PPDB, providing the developer with an ideal platform for rapid Propeller project development." They had a special on some slightly blemished models and are selling them at a discount. Take a look here. They were about 25% off.

This will be lots of fun! It will give me a great way to prototype ideas and check them out (other wise known as playing). Can't wait till it gets here.

Too Busy!

2008-09-20T10:40:00.004-05:00

Just a quick post to say that work is seriously impinging on my play time. I only get a bit of time here and there, but I am making a plan...

I am also working with a few folks on getting a robotics club going in the area. That could be very fun!

More news as it developes.

Improved RCA Audio/Video Connection

2008-08-11T20:38:00.010-05:00

Just wanted to show some pics of a homemade RCA Audio/Video Connection I made to use with my PEKit. I used info from OBC's Propeller Cookbook and the pdf for the RCA to Breadboard Adapter. The RCA board was one I scavengeed from an old VCR and I made a set of pins to stand in up in the far left ground bus. Video is tied (through resistors) to the standard pins - 12, 13 and 14. Audio is tied (through capicitors and resistors) to pins 10 and 11.

I attached them to a broken DVD player (as mentioned previously). I have a 12 volt power supply and the display and speakers work great. So all the parts and display are junk I had in my junk box.

I have tested the Graphic_ Demo, TV_Text_Demo, the SingingDemo and the SingingDemoSeven from the library in the Propeller Tool. They work great!

Now that it is working and tested, I may consider tight-wiring it, so it takes up less space. I'm really enjoying playing with Labs and learning my way around the Prop.

Monitor Test for Propeller Education Kit

2008-08-07T22:01:00.011-05:00

I have assembled the Propeller Education Kit Platform. I went through the Set-up Lab and tested all the wiring and function. I have been playing with some Spin coding and hardware set-ups. I built a simple RCA video and audio output and tested both (Thanks to The Propeller Cookbook and pdf and sample code for the RCA to breadboard adaptor).

The video below shows the Graphics Demo Program on the Propeller Tool (which is used to send program code to the Propeller). The program itself is the code seen on the computer monitor. Next you see the Propeller Education Kit wired with the RCA Video adapter and and running the graphics demo program. The TV signal is sent from the Propeller Chip through its I/O pins. For my monitor, I hooked up one of my children's broken DVD players. The DVD player is broken, but the monitor works great and has a 3-1/2" X 6" screen. I have a power adapter for it and the screen angle is adjustable. In the video, you can see the Graphics Demo Program running on the monitor. All of the display hook-up and LCD display are junk that I salvaged.

Cool, eh? The Propeller is really fun to play with and incredibly powerful. I have just barely scratched the surface.

Moving to the Parallax Propeller

2008-08-03T22:54:00.016-05:00

Well, I finally made the leap up to the Parallax Propeller. The Propeller chip is fantastic step forward in microcontrollers. Its eight processors (cogs) can operate simultaneously, either independently or cooperatively, sharing common resources through a central hub. The eight 32-bit processors (COGs) allow real simultaneous multi-processing! The chip is the result of eight years of work and was designed at the transistor level. The Propeller chip is programmed in both a high-level language, called Spin™, and low-level (assembly) language. With the set of pre-built Parallax “objects” for video, mice, keyboards, RF, LCDs, stepper motors and sensors, a Propeller application is a matter of high-level integration. The Propeller Chip represents the first custom all-silicon product designed by Parallax.

To learn about the Propeller, I chose to buy the Propeller Education Kit - 40 pin DIP Version. This is a complete kit with everything you need to get started with the Propeller microcontroller. Parallax's website has educational labs that you can download the free. The Propeller Education Lessons and Labs utilize the parts in the kit, and new Labs will be released periodically. This kit features breadboard-friendly versions of the Propeller chip, EEPROM and other core components making it easy and inexpensive to learn about the Propeller. If you mess something up it doesn't cost much to replacce parts as needed.

I also bought the Propeller Manual. The Propeller Manual contains detailed Propeller chip architecture information, along with complete syntax and reference guides for both Spin and Propeller Assembly languages.

For spending more that $100, Parallax was offering a free gift of the Propeller Proto Board (Serial Version), so I recieved it too. There are some really fun and educational resources for the Proto Board avaliable on the Parallax Forums produced by user "Oldbitcollector." These resources include the Intro to the Propeller Proto Board and The Propeller Cookbook.

Learning all that the Propeller can do will be a slow process, but there is a lot of help avaliable on the Parallax Forums and at the Propeller Object Exchange. This exchange includes other users solutions to common programming problems which are shared freely on the web. I've already had several folks offer to help me learn or share their code with me. That's one of the reasons I enjoy this so much!

Note: Photos and much of the info above is courtesy of Parallax's excellent website.

Robotics Logo by Chuck McManis

2008-07-10T10:02:00.004-05:00

I found this logo on Chuck's Robotics Notebook. It is an online journal by Chuch McManis, who is the president of the Home Brew Robotics Club of Silicon Valley. He explains how he designed it on the introduction page. It really captures what I enjoy about robotics. Robotics is a combination of electronics, programming, and mechanics - creativity will real world constraints.

McManis says, "Because I'm a slow learner, it has taken me about 8 years to put together a robotics logo that I'm happy with. Well suffice it to say, this is it! The one true robotics Logo! Capturing in a single design what it is to be a robotics experimenter, hobbyist, scientist, and entrepreneur. Programming, Mechanics, and Electronics all combined around a great idea to form a complete whole. Yup, that's what it says : Robots." He adds, "Roger Gilbertson and I were tossing around ideas for logos at an HBRC meeting a long time ago. We wanted something that combined the essence of robots which is really a triple discipline activity. This even has a name of sorts, "mechatronics" but that fails to capture the programming aspect of it. Anyway, I wanted to represent each of the disciplines used in robots in such a way that you could make it into a patch, further the patch could be worn in such a way that your "best" discipline would be on the top, or if you were good in two disciplines you could wear it with two sharing the top spot. That way during the "random access" time of the meeting you if you were looking for help with programming just look for folks with the programming section on top. Neat huh?"

Well, I know I think it is neat.

My New Desktop Buddy

2008-06-21T20:09:00.003-05:00

Well, I broke down and bought a small Wall-E action figure for my workspace desk. It is very detailed. I will probably get a robotic Wall-E at some point or maybe even try to build one like my friend 4mem8 over at Robocommunity.com. Take a look at his thread on the construction of his Wall-E with tons of detail here. Can't wait for the movie, although it comes out while I am away at camp!

Solarbotics Compact L298 Motor Driver

2008-06-20T18:18:00.010-05:00

Solarbotics Compact L298 Motor Driver allows control of 6 to 24 volt motors, with up to 4 amps of drive current. It comes in kit form. I assembled the unit and have attached photos of the test set-up and a video so you can see it in operation (the photo of the driver by itself is from the Solarbotic's site). Four LEDs indicate motor direction. The driver uses eight Shottkey diodes to shunt back EMF generated by the motors.

With a Basic Stamp, you can control motors of higher voltage with 5 volt signals and simple programming. The code I used was a test sample available on the Solarbotic's web site. The code runs both motors forward, runs both in reverse, stops each motor separately and then runs one forward and the other in reverse and vice versa. It is both simple, yet amazing.

CBA Robot Kit

2008-06-19T19:40:00.005-05:00

The CBA (ChiBot Alpha) robot kit is a club robot for the Chicago Area Robotics Group (ChiBots). It is sold through BudgetBot.com. It was designed to be a suitable beginner robot. I wanted to get so that I could get the experience of putting the components together myself (especially soldering the components on the PCB). It features a Parallax Basic Stamp 2e OEM, so it is compatable with all my other Parallax goodies.

I had one glitch assembling it. I mounted the crystal about a 1/16" above the board. I did this because it is heat sensitive and I used a heat sink to protect it. As it turns out, this kept the Basic Stamp from being identified by its software. Luckily, the technical support for the ChiBot is excellent and with the help of Mike, it is working fine (he said he had never seen this problem before!).

I finished the rest of the assembly today and have had it running around on the floor. The kit has some accesories like a line following module and wheel encoder module also available from BudgetBot (these can be viewed at the web site).

I have attached a photo of the overall bot and a detailed photo of the assembled PC Board. My son has dubbed it the 2W Bot - (of 2 Wheel Bot).

Lab Remodeling

2008-06-17T16:28:00.007-05:00

I picked up a used computer from a friend (for free) and added it to my lab space. It is very handy to have a computer right in the lab (the keyboard and mouse slide right under the flat panel monitor for even more work space). Please note the cool Wall-E wallpaper on the monitor too. I also added a wire shelf above my desk to give me more desktop space. I holds tools mostly. The shelves at the side have gotten taller. They contain books, files, some parts and completed projects. To see a picture of how the lab used to look, check my original post on this subject here. I have lots more in the space and more desktop too!

Of course to remodel the space, I also had a lot of cleaning to do. This took the most time. I consolidated boxes and stored parts where I hope they will be easier to find. Take a look at how clean and neat it is. It really makes it easier (at least for me) to start a project if everything is clean. I am trying to decide now what to start on to get it dirty.

I also enjoyed the Habitat for Hobbies - Part I article by Vern Graner in the June 2008 Nuts and Volts. Can't wait for Part II.

555 Flashing Circuit

2008-05-23T21:01:00.005-05:00

This is actually more of an experiment to see about uploading video. I built this 555 Flashing Circuit a while back. It was a little project to play with bread-boarding. The frequency of the flashing LED is controlled by a potentiometer. In the video, I say I designed it, but I actually just built it. The circuit came from Electronics for Dummies and a schematic is shown to the right.

My daughter got a new digital camera that can shoot short video clips as well. So, now I can upload video to my blog. Pretty cool! Check it out below. By the way, my daughter is helping with the demo.

Success (in Robotics)

2008-05-20T19:40:00.002-05:00

I heard this quote by Sir Winston Churchill at a commencement ceremony. "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

Seems to apply...

Louisiana Tech Robot Championship

2008-05-16T19:58:00.002-05:00

On May 9, 2008, I attended the Louisiana Tech Robot Championship. It was hosted by the Computer Science Department in the College of Engineering at Tech. The focus was on programming, but the hardware was well done too. Most were hacks of toys or pre-built robots. One of the simplest and best was a hacked toy truck, which used simple logic chips instead of programming.

There was a maze competition and a couple of demonstrations. Dr. Ben Choi said the competition began when he had a student who wanted to do an independent study in robotics.

Photos – Dr. Ben Choi, photo by Michael Dunlap at the New Star, www.thenewsstar.com and a photo I took of the hacked truck which was one of the winners.

Freshman Design Expo

2008-05-08T07:48:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was Louisiana Tech's Freshman Design Expo. Thirty-two teams presented some very interesting projects. Some were wacky, some things that are already being done,and some were very original and very impressive. I was asked to be a guest judge by Dr. David Hall and it was a great pleasure to help.

They have a program at Tech called "Living with the Lab." Each freshman has a Parallax BOE-Bot of their own. It is a engineering lab that they live with. Check out the impressive video below. The Design Expo allowed them to creatively use what they had learned over the course of the year and was part of their ENGR 122 course.

Each project had at its heart (or brain) the Basic stamp and a BOE. A host of other Parallax products including Servos, Pings))), Hall effect sensors, Flexi-force sensors, PIR sensors, Accelerometers, IR's, RFID readers and tags, EMIC text to speech SIP module and LCD displays were also used.

Parallax provided prizes (thanks to Ken Gracey) that were awarded to the first, second and third place teams. Certificates were also given for Can Do (difficult to accomplish design), Rolex (best crafted), da Vinci (most creative), Shoot the Moon (technically difficult, might not have fully achieved), Patient Pending (original patient worthy idea).

It was fun to be a judge, I got to meet some great people and got to see a lot of interesting work. Thanks for inviting me David!

Here's the video!

Birthday Bots and Gizmos?

2008-04-24T11:21:00.005-05:00

Today is my birthday! The big 5 - 0. I am hoping to be a successful late bloomer in the world of amateur robotics or a least have fun trying.

I will probably not have my official party until this weekend, but everything on my list was a robot part, gizmo, book or electronics' tool. I will post a complete list later (I hope...). In the mean time, enjoy this cool card.

The Great Internet

2008-04-20T07:34:00.007-05:00

My son's designs and posts were coming so quickly that we decided to make him his own blog. He named it The Great Internet, Notes of a boy and his Dad who both love the Internet. You can visit it here.

It should be fun to read and contain lots of Lego designs, robot sketches and interesting insights on many, many things.

Stay tuned, I'm sure a blog is coming from my daughter too! (Editor's Note - looks like this blog may be delayed - It is too difficult to think of a really cool name!)

Parallax Digiencabulator

2008-04-01T12:27:00.004-06:00

According to this thread on the Parallax Forums the new Parallax Digiencabulator is almost completed. No pictures were posted, but there was this exciting picture of the mounting bracket. Looks pretty interesting!

Mattracks

2008-03-27T14:11:00.027-06:00

I got this Hummer H2 with Mattracks on sale after Christmas. It was only $60. I wanted the Mattracks, which I have now found out that I can order by themselves from Radio Shack (two sets are about $60). I now have three pair.

Lots of folks are using these for
tracks on their robots and they are what my friend StampNut2 is using on his WALL-E robot which you can read about here. It takes a little work to hack them to fit, but they work really well once you do. You can see good picture of them mounted on a BOE-Bot here.

Here is a litte video too that shows the Mattracks in action. This was made by another person who attached them to their BOE-Bot.

Mini Lego WALL-E

2008-03-27T13:25:00.006-06:00

I had to post this mini Lego Wall-E that I found while I was surfing the web. I don't know if we have all the parts to make it, but my son would obviously love it. See it here on flickr.

New Robot Designs

2008-03-24T19:50:00.007-06:00

Now my son is designing robots like crazy with his Lego parts. Here are his two latest. The first is the Four-legged Walker (the name is self-explanatory).

The second is the Security Sweeper. I like this one the best. The body is a barrel chair from the Krusty Krab Restaurant set. The top (a security camera with dish transmitter) is from one of the Mars Mission sets. Best of all the locomotion (at bottom) is the broom used to sweep up the Krusty Krab. Obviously another pair of ingenious designs.

My son has also taken to commenting on posts here. Look for some of his comments!

Additions to My Library

2008-03-15T19:41:00.012-06:00

I picked up a couple of new books this weekend while on a trip. They're intended to be funny, but educational. Daniel H. Wilson, Ph.D. wrote How to Survive a Robot Uprising while working on his doctorate, and How to Build a Robot Army after earning his Ph.D. from at the Robitic's Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Wilson says on his website, "I wear a tie and glasses to look very smart and intimidate people who visit my website."

Both books are illustrated in a campy graphic novel style by Richard Horne. The website for Robot Uprising (linked here) will give you an idea of the book's style, content and how they mix current robotic reasearch with the sci-fi fears about the rapid developing technology. Be sure to check out the e-cards. The books are a lot of fun and filled with great information about the current state of robotics. You can find them here at Amazon.

Playing Around

2008-03-04T15:40:00.006-06:00

I was playing around the other night with a custom header for this blog. I made this, but I couldn't get all the kinks worked out. Still - it was cool enough to post. I made it from a picture of Parallax's 2x16 Serial LCD. I erased the original text and added the new text in Microsoft PhotoDraw.

Irony

2008-03-04T15:14:00.008-06:00

It is ironic that I did not start my robotics hobby until I moved to rural Northeast Louisiana. For the previous decade and a half, I lived in the San Francisco Bay area. That is right, minutes from San Francisco, or a short drive to silicon valley, and a few blocks from U.C. Berkeley. Now, my connection to all this things is via the internet. When I see something like this, it is particularly difficult.

RoboGames is the world's largest open robot competition (even the Guinness Book of World Records says so!) The best minds from around the world to compete in over 70 different events. It will be held this year at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Combat robots, walking humanoids, soccer bots, sumo bots, and even androids that do kung-fu. Some robots are autonomous, some are remote controlled - they're all cool! Check it out here.

Then again, if I lived in the Bay Area - all my money would be spent on gas and housing. Wonder if my wife would be interested in a "romantic" San Francisco vacation?

Note: The RoboGames description comes from the site linked above.

My New Wallpaper - WALL-E

2008-02-29T13:22:00.024-06:00

I just added this image as the new wallpaper on my computer. This is from Walt Disney's upcoming movie titled WALL-E. It is a Pixar film. The Internet Movie Database has this information about WALL-E which is scheduled to be out in June 27, 2008. This movie should be fun for me, my wife and kids (especially me)! See the trailer here.

I also found this, which is a Pixar creation. It is an ad for a WALL-E robot, made by Buy-N-Large (This is a link to their "website" - very funny). Enjoy...

This got me thinking that it would be fun to make my own WALL-E - then I found this just a hour or two later on the Parallax Forums. My friend and fellow robot builder StampNut2 (his site is Robotic Madness) posted his WALL-E here. Check out his beautiful craftsmanship shown in the pictures and read the discussion. It would still be fun to make one!

Edit- My son made this drawing of WALL-E's arch enemy, TALL-E. As you can see in the sketch, TALL-E has legs and according to my son, laser eyes. Yikes! WALL-E be warned.

Robot Design - TRSBot

2008-02-18T13:00:00.009-06:00

Not to be out done, my daughter had to design her own robot in response to my son's design posted here. Notice the tank tread locomotion and the two grippers on the body. Another excellent design.

You may check out the sound this bot makes by clicking Gabcast! - TRSBot Sound

My Robot Portrait

2008-02-04T18:49:00.000-06:00

I was surfing some robotics' sites the other day and found a great link to Robot Portraits. Ben Rollman is an artist in Austin, Texas who does some very interesting work. Ben takes photos of people and transforms them into robots (see his U.S. presidents) . I had to have one of these for my blog! Check out some more of Ben's work here on flickr.com. After an e-mail or two with some attached photos - Ben went to work and made the drawing above - complete with the Episcopal Church's shield.

Ben also makes a video of each piece of art being created along with music of Ben's choosing. The You-Tube link is below also. The music attached to my file is Soul Man by the Blues Brothers. Incidently, in Dan Ackroyd's T.V. series, Soul Man - Ackroyd was an Episcopal priest.

The 5"X 7" original art is mailed to you, the digital artwork and video are posted on Ben's blog for the world to enjoy. The price for all of this is only $15.00. Amazing!

Thanks for your great work Ben!

Balancing

2008-01-20T14:43:00.000-06:00

It is always hard to have balance. On January 14, I was supposed to begin classes again at Louisiana Technical College. I was going to take Comprehensive AC Circuits (ETRN 1150). The best part would have been learning to use an oscilloscope. Between the children, church and all the demands of full-time ministry, I decided I could not commit to a regular schedule of class each day. It was difficult making the regular schedule day in and day out during my last semester. I also really like to do well (if I going to take a course). It is all part of the balancing that everyone has to do between what you must do, your work and your play. It was a good decision. I did go to the school and formally withdraw and I went and talked to my teacher to explain. I am welcome back any time.

I have committed myself to study on my own at least an hour or two everyday. I am going to try to work on some new projects to learn some specific things - like the Understanding Signals Course from Parallax (which involves learning to use their USB Oscilloscope).

Leonardo's Lost Robots

2008-01-13T14:01:00.000-06:00

I'm reading a very interesting book called Leonardo's Lost Robots by Mark Elling Rosheim.

Here is a portion of the description from the book's rear cover - "Leonardo´s Lost Robots reinterprets Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical design work, revealing a new level of sophistication not recognized by art historians or engineers. By identifying his major technological projects, the book revisits Leonardo's legacy of notebooks, showing that apparently unconnected fragments from dispersed manuscripts actually comprise cohesive designs for functioning automata. Using the rough sketches scattered throughout almost all of Leonardo's papers, Rosheim has reconstructed Leonardo's programmable cart, which was the platform for other automata: a Robot Lion, a Robot Knight, and a hydraulically powered automaton for striking a bell. Through a readable, lively narrative, Mark Rosheim recounts his adventures rediscovering and reconstructing da Vinci's designs.

Rosheim attended the University of Minnesota, studying mechanical engineering. He has developed robotic technologies for NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy, and is the founder and president of Ross-Hime Designs, Inc., a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based mechanical design company. He holds over 20 patents in robot technology, and has published and lectured extensively around the world on the topic of robot technology and history.

In the preface, he describes how in 1965, he received a Lost in Space Remco Toy Robot. When its arms didn't move by themselves, he declared to his Dad, "But it's a Robot. They're supposed to move on their own." His quest to build such a robot and to understand the mechanical principles of human motion and dexterity led him to investigate the anatomical and mechanical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Utilizing a new approach, he began to reconnect the tell-tale fragments into a cohesive whole. Rosheim's website http://www.anthrobot.com/ is worth a look too.

Rosheim has another book, called Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics, which I have on order. It is supposed to be very good too!

Herbie the Mousebot

2008-01-01T16:22:00.000-06:00

I assembled another one of my Christmas presents today. It's the Solarbotics, Herbie the Mousebot. Originally invented by Randy Sargent, Herbie was built from spare parts as an entry for a robot competition. Herbie is such an elegant, clever design using very few parts, it's been featured in as a construction project in "Junkbot, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels", "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Robots" and "MAKE" Magazine. When I connected the battery after assembly, nothing happened. I began to look the little bot over and disovered that I forgot to solder the tabs to the 9-volt battery hook-up. Oops! Two quick solder connections and everything worked perfectly.

Solarbotics has enhanced Herbie a bit with functional whisker and tail sensors, so it doesn't get stuck in corners while it chases around. Herbie the Mousebot is a 9-volt battery-powered robot that loves to chase flash light beams. If there are several Herbies in the same area, they can be configured to chase each other! (I did not install this feature yet, as it uses additional power and can shorten the battery life a bit. It basically involves installing and infra-red LED on the back of Herbie as a tail-light, which another Herbie can chase). Solarbotics says, "These little robots are so quick, you have to run to keep up to them!" They are not kidding!

Herbie documentation can be found here.

Note - much of the above is taken from the Solarbotics site at the link above.

Troubleshooting

2008-01-01T10:04:00.000-06:00

My son loves to put things in his mouth, especially remote controls. This is obviously not good for electronic devices. His T.V. remote has been broken for a while. Today, I took it apart and did a little testing and troubleshooting. Current was getting to the Infra-red LED. Upon a closer look, the leads were rusty and one was rusted into.

A broken remote, lots of electronic tools, a lazy New Year's Day, and just enough knowledge to be dangerous - What did I have to loose? I first tried to replace the LED with one from another old remote. The LED looked different and didn't work. So, I took it back out. Next, I added some leads from the printed circuit board of the remote and connected the original LED to the new leads. After re-assembling the remote, it worked perfectly. All were amazed (including me, I have to admit)!

As I told my wife, "Now, this hobby is finally paying off." ;-)

Robosapien

2007-12-31T16:28:00.000-06:00

I picked up a Wowwee Robosapien at Wal-Mart last night. When they first came out, they sold for about $100 - I got it for $35. It is cute enough for kids, but sophisticated enough for adults.

Robosapien is the first robot based on the science of applied biomorphic robotics. Robosapien is designed by Mark Tilden. Tilden is a robotics physicist who has worked for NASA, DARPA and JPL through Los Alamos National Laboratory. He developed the basics for biomorphic robotics in 1988; Robosapien is the first commercially available robot based upon this principle. Tilden is best know for his BEAM robotics.

Robosapien is ready to go right out of the box (just install batteries). Robosapien can be operated or programmed via remote control. It has a set of pre-programmed functions or you can program your own sequence of functions.Robosapien is packed with many features (especially at the price). They include:

Fluid motions and gestures: fast dynamic 2-speed walking and turning; full-function arms with two types of grippers.

67 pre-programmed functions: pick-up, throw, kick, dance, kung-fu, fart, belch, rap and more; 3 demonstration modes.

Fully programmable by remote control: Up to 84 program steps with 4 program modes for advanced operations; programmable “reflexes” to sound and touch stimuli.

Fluent international “caveman” speech.

Extended battery life.

One of the best parts is that there are many hacker sites available for the Robosapien. Check out these two - ROBOSAPIEN.tk and Hack a Robosapien Instructions.

Note - Much of the info in this post is from the Robosapien site linked above.

New Robot Design - TRobot

2007-12-28T09:16:00.000-06:00

My son just presented me with a new robot design. It is hard to tell from the drawning exactly what the internal workings are, but it does make noise. It is saying, "Tweep, beep, beep!" Looks pretty cool to me.

To hear the "Tweep, beep, beep!" sound, click below.
Gabcast! - Tweep, beep, beep!

Microbug - More Soldering Practice

2007-12-27T17:19:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons I got some of these little kits for Christmas was to work more on soldering and construction neatness. Today, I assembled this Velleman Running Microbug (MK127), purchased from Electronix Express. I did this with three kids and the new puppy all playing around me - something I could not imagine doing a year ago.

I don't know why it amazes me, but, it worked the first time. The Microbug chases light with its two open chassis motors. Light sensitivity can be adjusted with the two pots on front and the LED "eyes" indicate driving direction. It runs on two 1.5V AAA batteries, can be switched on and off and stops moving in total darkness. The assembly instructions and a schematic are here. This little kit is only $12.75.

Christmas 2007

2007-12-26T11:01:00.001-06:00

Apparently, I was good boy this year. I got lots of goodies from my wife and kids, even though the kids didn't know what most of it was. Everytime I opened a box, my kids would say, "What in the world is that?" to which I replied, of course,"It's cool robot stuff." Oh," they would say. Herbie the Mousebot is pictured above right. Here's the list with the links:

From Parallax:

BOE-Boost - had to try it out. It is basically a fifth battery holder for the BOE-bot that lets you run rechargable batteries (takes 5 rechargables [1.2V X 5 = 6V] to equal 4 [1.5V X 4V = 6V]alkaline batteries). I already have a 5 cell holder which I got here.

ServoPAL -can't wait to play with this. This maintains a PWM signal to servos, so the Basic Stamp Microcontroller can do other tasks.

SoundPAL and PIEZO speaker - for fun! This is small sound module that can play canned and programed sounds.

Educational CD - Basic Stamps in Action - to show kids for classes or Robot camp (and for me too!)

Plus, thanks to Parallax's agreement with Radio Shack, my wife also surprised me with another Ping))) Ultra-sonic Sensor and a PIR Sensor Module. These items are available in the part asile at Radio Shack anytime locally!

From Solarbotics:

Make Volume 06 Solar Roller Bundle - this was a BEAM Roller featured in Make Magazine.

Herbie the Mousebot Kit (in red) - a little mouse-bot and light chaser (shown above).

L298 Compact Motor Driver Kit - I may use this motor driver on Robot 1 (my first robot).

I also got some misc parts (capacitors, 1381 voltage triggers).

From Electronix Express:

Microbug Kit - this kit is made by Velleman and is a light chaser too.

A few tools like this Soldering Iron Tip Cleaner (and a replacement pad), 7" Curved and 7" Straight clamps and Lead Bend Gauges (one for 1/2 and 1/4 watt and one for 1 and 2 watt size).

My wife also found this Solar Panel at our local Academy Sports. Mine is a 6 volt model (the link is to a 12 volt model).

No coal this year! Needless to say, I'll be busy...

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T12:37:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! Hope you find something fun to play with, put together, program, or explore your world with under the tree. (I hope I do too!). If I do, you can count on a full report here - with pictures and links.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

By the way, this image is avaliable as a card here at Retro Junction.

Electronic Cricket - A Little Soldering Practice

2007-11-11T21:32:00.000-06:00

Just for fun and to practice soldering, I put together the MK104, Electronic Cricket from Vellman Inc. The catalog says it can be used for fun (read practical jokes) or to simulate a hot summer night. It automatically comes on when it gets dark. The cricket repetition (time between two crickets), effect and tone are adjustable. The kit also has adjustable light sensitivity. A schematic and assembly instructions are avaliable here.

It has five resitors (only three are shown on the downloadable schematic), a photo resistor, a couple of diodes, an IC socket (for the IC, a CD4093), a transistor, four capacitors, four potentiometers, a piezo speaker and 9V battery holder - all mounted to a small (41 X 56 mm) PCB (printed circuit board). I can help be amazed that after you solder all that little stuff together that the thing actually works! Good practice and fun to boot. Whenever I turn it on and it starts chirping, my son yells, "How rude!"

To hear the electronic cricket and to hear the commentary, click below.
Gabcast! Electronic Cricket

Robotic Monk

2007-10-26T07:17:00.000-05:00

I saw this article and photo on BotJunkie last night. Here's what it says, "This industrial robot, called Kuka, is busily writing out the full version of the Martin Luther Bible by hand. Or I guess you’d say by robot arm, but it’s actually doing very precise calligraphy with a pen... I think it’s pretty cool to see an industrial robot doing something so delicate and (okay, okay) beautiful. There are a few more photos available on here on flikr."

The company that makes Kuka has a nice website and it is linked here. Nice calligraphy, but can it chant? Or is it a beautiful as the St. John's Bible?

BEAM Trimet

2007-10-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Today, I made this little BEAM Trimet (a symet, short for symmetrical, would have 4 capacitors). It was featured in Volume 6 of Make Magazine. I got all the parts from Solarbotics. The Trimet link is here. It was a fairly intricate soldering job, but it works great. Attached also is a schematic that shows how the charge, trigger and discharge works for the voltage triggered 1381 based solar engine.

It was my first time to try "freeforming" which is soldering the componets directly to each other without a board. The solar cell is attached to the postive supply ring (a paperclip) will some tackless poster sticky. This lets it be removed to look at the circuit. The motor runs intermittently - charging the capacitors and dumping over and over. There is no on/off switch.

I left it sitting under a light most of the day just going around in circles. I love the idea of this little thing scooting in cirlces all alone by itself when no one is around.

The Spider by the Bathroom Window

2007-09-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

This morning while I was brushing my teeth, I saw a little spider by the bathroom window. It was very small, maybe a sixteenth of inch long. I put my finger down next to it and it backed away. That little spider is more complex than the most sophisticated robots around today. It is completely independent and responds to all sorts of conditions in its environment. It feeds itself. It has multiple and sophisticated sensors and is even able to reproduce. Will we ever achieve anything so fantastic or beautiful?

It's Alive!

2007-09-07T22:32:00.000-05:00

This uOLED from Parallax (4D Systems makes the unit) is really cool. The demo programs are amazing and the color is brilliant. My only surprise was that when I had the uOLED plugged into the breadboard on the Basic Stamp BOE, the display was upside down. You will see the rigged-up connection I made so that I could really watch the screen. Hook-up was a breeze and everything worked perfectly the first time (except the upside down part ;-p ). The connection diagram pdf is here. Now on to figuring out some details. It is hard to get a photo that shows how great and bright this little display is!

Robot Face

2007-09-07T20:30:00.000-05:00

I just started a new project. I want to make a robot face using the new Parallax's new uOLED (micro OLED). I will draw bitmaps and will switch between bitmap drawings of a face as relates to what is happening with the robot. Say the robot bumps into something, it looks startled or it blushes.

For my proof of concept project, I am using Sonny's face from iRobot. The bitmaps will be 128 pixels square (screen size). I chose a black background to minimize power usage. I may mount it to a bracket with a Ping))) ultrasonic sensor, so it turns and looks with the Ping))). You could even add speech with a synthesizer and match it with mouth movement.

Here is a copy of the blank face. I know I want to make one where Sonny winks, and the blush. A friend suggested that it yawn when inactive for a bit. Other ideas?

Laws...

2007-09-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

Three Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Jesus’ Summary of the Law

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

There's a sermon in here somewhere...

Fearlessness

2007-08-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I like so much about the people who are into hobby robotics is their fearlessness. There is virtually no fear of failure among the group. They are adventurous and willing to try new things. A failed experiment is just as good as or better that a successful one because it teaches something. They are willing to abandon an old idea when a better one comes along, even if they have much invested in the old one. They are willing to share all of this information with others admitting to both triumph and disaster. When something works, they give the answer away unselfishly. When something bombs, (sometime literally going up in smoke) they continue to work undaunted having learned at least one way that will not work.

Without fear, without selfishness, there is only the love of the work itself and the learning. Failure teaches as much or more than success. Failure seen this way is success, for it moves the process toward the goal along its way.

Many of the folks who share their ideas on web forums have mottos attached to their signatures at each post. Things like – “There's nothing like a new idea and a warm soldering iron,” or “Never give up when things go wrong.” or "The first rule to being successful is 'Learn from your mistakes', The second rule is 'Be willing to make mistakes.'"One of my favorites is – “lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)”

Fearless! I find great hope in trying to live this way.

By the way, this is what is attached to my signature line - "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

HEXBUG Micro Robotic Creature

2007-08-25T21:57:00.000-05:00

I was on a trip this weekend and my wife picked this up for me at R a dioShack. It is a pretty neat little toy robot. According to their website "HEX BUGS feel their way around sensing objects in their path and avoiding them. And they can hear! You control where they scurry through a hand clap, loud noise or table slap." The website also has some video. As you can tell from the description, it has working whiskers which are wire springs mounted around a post. When the whisker bumps something, the spring deforms and touches the post, switching to backup mode. Also a clap is registered through the bots "ears" and it backs up too. When going forward, it crawls fairly quickly on its six legs.

There are five different models. I have the "Alpha." Pretty amazing for $9.99!

Mythbuster Robotic Hand

2007-08-09T23:45:00.000-05:00

I was watching Discovery Channel's Mythbusters last night and saw Jamie and Adam build a really neat robotic hand. It used motorcycle chain for the joints. I found a great link to a video of the hand on YouTube. What an elegant and simple idea. One day...