FastRobotics Robot Shield

FastRobotics is now marketing a line of Quickstart Shields that utilize the Parallax Propeller Quickstart Board. The announced the new line on the Parallax Forums and offered new customers a free T Shirt with a purchase.

What I will get is their first product!  The Robot Shield, Revision A, connects to the Quickstart and they are marketing it as "a great board to get quickly get your Robot up and running."  The Robot Shield was initially developed for David Gitz's Masters Thesis. Now they are making them to sell to others. They will soon have a Kickstarter and will be releasing the B Revision. 

Here is a photo of the Robot Shield, Revision A, mounted on a Parallax Propeller Quickstart Board and a photo of the T Shirt too.

By the way, the T Shirt is printed by CustomInk.com - the same company that printed the Robothon T Shirt I posted previously - Seems like a very cool company.

Measuring Customer Service

I was lucky enough to have purchased Parallax's original 12 Volt Motor and Wheel Kit (featured in this old thread on the Parallax Forums) that Parallax sold. It featured the encoder wheels and sensors shown below. This was the unit used on the Eddie Robot Platform and I think the original MadeUSA Platform. Encoders are used to keep wheels running at the same speed so that a robot continues in a straight path and to measure the distance the robot has traveled.

Original 9 Tab Encoder Wheels

Later generations of the Motor Mount and Wheel Kit (Aluminum) (in addition to adding a less expensive Motor Mount and Wheel Kit - Molded Plastic) and now the new Arlo Robotics Platform System include the much more precise 36-Position Quadrature Encoder Set. Compare the old 9 tab wheel to the new 36 tab wheel!

Newer 36 Tab Wheels

I wondered if the new encoders and sensors would work on the original 12 Volt Motor and Wheel Kit and asked a question on the Forums in this thread. 

Not only did I get a quick reply from Ken Gracey, the company's president - Parallax sent me the upgrade at no charge! This usually sells for $39.99! 

Parallax provides the best customer service I have ever seen! My new 36-Position Quadrature Encoder Set is just one measure of that service! Thanks Parallax!

Robothon 2014 T Shirt

The Seattle Robotic Society's Robothon 2014 is almost here! It will be held on September 20th at the Seattle Center Armory from 9:30 to 5:30. You can go to robothon.org or seattlerobotics.org for rules and descriptions of all the competitions. 

Obviously, this is way too far from here for me to go, but I've followed the event for years. Thanks to Carol Lynn Hazlett, who is a contributing editor for Robot Magazine, robot builder extraordinaire, and a member of SRS, I got this year's T Shirt. Her only stipulation was that I had to wear it on September 20th! 

Thanks Carol!

By the way, this shirt was made by a great company called CustomInk. Check out their website. I know where I'm going the next time I need T shirts made...

Robotic's Lab 3.1

My robotic's lab is set-up again and ready for some fun. I got it finished at the tail end of the summer and am back in business after a big mess and long hiatus when we moved.

I began at our old house with just a table in my bedroom - I'll call that Lab 1.0. Then, I moved my lab into the corner of our den - that was Lab 2.0. Lab 2.1 was a slight remodel when I got a computer, just for robotic's work.  My wife found the great glass door storage cabinets (say 2.1.5) and then I re-arranged in the same location - That was Lab 2.2.

When we moved to our new house, we unpacked mostly, but the Lab was still really not set-up, so Lab 3.0 wasn't really functional and just sat there unused. Ugh!

This summer my son and I decided enough was enough. So... Here are the photos of Lab 3.1. Standing in the middle of the room and turning clockwise, here are four views. I can find everything now.

Now to to get it messy again - but this time in a fun way.

Main Work Area

Storage Cabinets and Book Case

Desk and Raspberry Pi 

Storage Cabinet and Tool Chest

Play Time...

More info to follow...

Fun Parallax Robot Header

Parallax posted this neat new Robots header on their site, which features some of their best. Visit them at www.parallax.com. They really are the best and their customer service is outstanding!

IHMC in Pensacola

Visiting Pensacola - wish this place had regular tours... This is a video of their open house from this year's National Robotic's Week. Their website is here.

This video is where I first heard of them.