Throughout the week after receiving my PCB, I was able to start rebuilding SBot 1. So far I have been really happy with the results. Here are the shields I am using (Left to right, Arduino Pro, Custom PCB, Ardumoto, Xbee) The build: At a glance the robot looks very similar but the main difference is that it has much cleaner wiring and it has the Xbee shield on top. I added an IR switch in front for basic object detection. The new custom circuit includes temperature sensor, light sensor, and speaker output for playing melodies. While designing the circuit board I added a JST header for some line following sensors I bought a while back when I ordered parts for Sbot 2. They …
Finally, it has arrived! (Late Post)
It was the afternoon of November 25, we had finished our Black Friday shopping and had finally gained some needed sleep. I was anxiously awaiting for the mail carrier to deliver my order from BatchPCB. I checked the mailbox to find my anticipated package had finally arrived. I hurried inside, ripped open the envelope, and found not one but two beautiful PCB’s. Being it the Thanksgiving weekend and wanting to take good pictures, I wasn’t able to start using the boards until Sunday evening. Because playing a new Xbox title took precedence. With the weekend coming to a close I had to at least get something completed. My photographer (fiance) was able to take pictures before I started going at it with the soldering iron. Here are the boards, untouched: After testing the …
BatchPCB Windows Gadget
After obsessionally refreshing BatchPCB’s stats page I got the idea that a Windows Gadget would be perfect and would let me see the latest stats at a glance. This was my first attempt at a gadget but decided to try my hand at it this past Saturday afternoon/evening. I was supposed to be working on my code for Sbot 1 but wanted to see if I could do it. After lots of Googling and trying various things here is what I came up with. Simple but it works. You can download version 1.0.0 here: BatchPCB Gadget The only limitation is it only shows the first panel. If there are more in the queue like on the weekend or evenings it doesn’t show them. I …
Back at it
After a long break I am back at it and time to make some serious progress, on Sbot 1 anyway. Since coming back from my Ohio trip, I had yet to come to a solution with Sbot 2, so I decided to take a break from it. Well, a few months have passed and I have returned to Sbot 1. I decided to finalize and polish it as a finished robot. (If there is such a thing as a completed robot, ha!) About 2-3 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to learn Eagle CAD so I needed a simple project to get me going. I took a look at my Sbot 1 and decided it could use a custom PCB …
Special Post – Life Changing Weekend
I don’t usually post about my personal life as this blog was created to document my hobbies and projects but this past weekend warranted a post. A few weeks ago my partner and I had Veterans day off so we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to getaway for the long weekend. We decided to take a trip to Santa Barbara. During our travels from southern to northern California, we make it a point to stop there. It has become our “spot.” We’ve wanted to plan a weekend trip to the area for quite some time but we never had the time or the funds (robotics add up!). While there, our plans were to do some hiking, wine tasting, and tour the city overall. But I also …
Ti Chronos Airplane Data Logging Results
I am back from my trip from Ohio and I finally have some time to catch up to get settled back in my routine. Part of my trip was to do some data logging with my shinny new Ti Chronos Watch. I thought this would be a perfect first project. I ended up not using the stock data software as it doesn’t log acceleration. I used the code and app from here: http://ruditronics.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/data-logging-using-ez430-chronos-watch/ If you decide to try it, make sure and read the comments. I found a lot of useful information to get the code compiled. Of course you can also post here for help. During take off and landing of each leg of the trip I logged: AccelerationTemperatureAltitude A …
Windows 8 developer preview (download now)
Windows 8 Developer Preview is available for download now! From Engadget Got a brain full of Windows 8? Can’t stop obsessing about it? Fret not — as of 8PM PT this evening (just under eight hours from now), you’ll be able to download a copy of the Windows Developer Preview to your 32- or 64-bit x86 machine (no activation required) from dev.windows.com. Sorry, ARM hopefuls! Per usual, we’d recommend doing so on a separate partition (or a spare machine altogether) in order to prevent unforeseen conflicts, and we’d also suggest having a stiff glass of patience waiting nearby. Something tells us Redmond’s servers are going to be hammered.”Update: The download is live! Click here to try it out yourself, while the slightly less daring can hang …
Blogging from 37000ft with GoGo Air!
Just wanted to drop a quick post, just to say I have blogged from 37000ft. Currently flying over Utah to Dallas from San Francisco with a final destination in Dayton, OH. Thanks to GoGOAir I am able to do this. Their service works pretty well and enjoying it. I do have to say that web browsing is great but doing a speed test not so much. I was getting less then .3Mbps which is nothing compared to normal mobile broadband which is what you are supposed to get. Of course it could be just the amount of people using internet right now. Its a full 737 so lots of people on board. Currently we are traveling at 540Mph. I will have WiFi on my second leg and on the …
Ti Chronos ez430
Yesterday I received my Chronos sport swatch from Ti. I saw a post on HackaDay about Tideals.com. At half off of the original price, I just couldn’t pass up ordering a new gadget to play with. After doing some research before I ordered it, I ended up getting the Ti LaunchPad for $4.30 as well. A MSP430 dev board. For the price, why not? Plus both included shipping. Here is the LaunchPad: And the Chronos: Now just to figure out want to do with them. I started messing with the Chronos last night and it defiantly isn’t as easy to get started as the Arduino but I am sure I will get comfortable with it after some time. I was thinking since I will be flying next week, …
Week of 08/14/2011 & 08/21/2011 – Motor Stuff
On a mission to solve this motor problem I was up late one night doing research. After some calculations and research of different motors I ended up ordering a few. The difficult thing was finding a motor that was the same size and low power requirements but having more torque than what I had. Fast forward to this week of 08/22/2011 and my motors have finally arrived. I spent the evening swapping the front two motors and testing the results before I replaced the other two. To my disappointment they seemed weaker than the originals. The next day, I decided to put the originals back in. Wow! Such a pain to end up at square one. I ended up breaking 2 tabs, one on each motor. It was frustrating. But …