Roboteer

Another word to add to your vocabulary... Read about what a  "Roboteer" is at the Wikipedia article  - here.  Are you a roboteer? *

See here and here for more info on the great photo above.

* Yes - I believe I am!

Dance Off

Robbie and B9 bust a move! Hat tip to erco (again)!

Just Fun to Watch!

Who wouldn't want one of these? Thanks to Parallax Forum pal, erco or Eric Ostendorff for pointing to this. Seems like they would cost thousands of dollars...

Grand Endeavor

I recently posted a video on facebook about Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and it's projected completion.

In reply, I had the following discussion with my friend and fellow roboticist, Carol Lynn Hazlett. 

Reprinted here - so you can read it better...

Carol Lynn Hazlett It is quite a stunning project but why do the people think they need such an elaborate and expensive building to worship in? Wouldn't all the time and money be better used for hospitals, schools, libraries, day care and such things?

Like · Reply · March 22 at 8:13pm

Thomas Whitfield Stodghill III "Wouldn't all the time and money be better used for hospitals, schools, libraries, day care and such things?" Carol Lynn Hazlett - This is (of course) the exact same question that many ask about the space program and the exploration of our universe. I believe we are fundamentally explorers. We are in search of answers. Grand endeavor - in what ever form - helps us in that quest. We learn not only about the unknown or unknowable, but about ourselves.

My reply really encapsulates my personal creed - Our questions drive us to do great things!

AxiDraw

Amazing!

Pulling Together

From the smart folks at Stanford University's Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab (lots of fun stuff to look at on their pages). Thanks to erco over at the Parallax Forums for pointing this video out to me and others. Another great article over at Hack-A-Day too - it is here.

There is a sermon in there somewhere too!

LED Dot Matrix Printer for S2

I've been working on something like xanadu's cool light printing (Parallax Forums) with the S2 using only an unmodified S2 and the GUI (tape to cover the Power LED and DB9 for Light Bleed) - Two column LED pass for the top of letters, a 180+ degree with correction turn and alignment, and a Three column LED pass for the bottom of letters. I am working on alignment now and then will shoot a long exposure photo - fun stuff (trying to do more with less via erco!). I was also going for HELLO! - 5 LED high (column) X 4 LED wide (row) matrix per letter, two column gap between letters.

Okay - here is the best effort yet on the EXTREMELY low-tech LED Dot Matrix printer for the S2. Again, the only modification to the S2 is tape over the programming port and Blue Power LED to stop light bleed.

Code is written entirely on the GUI and uses Sub-routines for different LED configurations. The time-lapse photo is a bit shaky because it is over 2 minutes long. Remember to that this is a pass left to right for the top of each letter, a turn and a pass right to left for the bottom of each letter - alignment and rotation of that critical turn are done by trial and error - only in the GUI!

See photos. (Software version 2, Trail 3.1).

Edit: Just noting that the gap on the "O!" is on the side following the turn - so, to fix this - the turn should be tighter and less final rotation - that way, the "O!" should be more closed and the "H" will not be compressed. Otherwise - alignment is pretty good.