The Omni-directional Wheel - so cool!

I'm just starting this post now - i'll update it later.

But the Omni-directional Wheel, which i saw on PrimeTV  - "Prototype This" - Thursday 30dec2010 was So Cool i HAD to make an entry about it.. This was the AirTrax version used for the guys' straddle-&-park machine.

There's a blog entry about it here.


That said - Happy New Year!

Last Rites (for this year anyway)

Well, that's that for this year - bombed the course, but i hope i can get back next year; all depends on StudyLink - the Graduate Exporting Scheme (aka the Student Loan Scheme) is not, it seems, adequately discouraging people from educating themselves & staying here to spread it around a bit.

Just chatting to the bloke on the computer alongside of me.. explained the Graduate Exporting Scheme to him, along with aspects of our Electoral System - i don't know anyone with half a gram of intelligence/common sense who wants to get rid of MMP:  it's the only thing that stands between us & the old-style electoral dictatorship (effectively a one-party state, since the Opposition was absolutely powerless), of which the late (&, to my mind, unlamented) Robert Muldoon was a prime example: his Cabinet was for the most part frightened of him, he was afraid of no-one, & in those days, if you controlled Cabinet, you effectively ran the country; & he did, his way, & brooked no opposition, to the point where, when Marilyn Waring threatened his one-vote majority in the House by crossing the floor on the Anti-Nuclear issue, he spat the dummy & called a snap election - & lost!!


As it turned out, we got tossed out of the frying pan into the fire - we got Rogernomics, but that's another story..


This stuff really belongs in my blog 'JaneMareesFWIW' but it's in here anyway..


Toodle-oo for the year.  If i get back next year, i'll start another blog on Project Management, & re-enter this one in Semester Two, when i hope to repeat this paper.


Bye 4 Now
Jane-Maree

.

Task: Lego Robot software

Well - i've got the Lego-bot assembly to the point where i can now do something with it.

Now that i have access to the software, i've been experimenting with motion, loops, sound, the little screen that's on the Lego-bot controller, & generally i think i've got a handle on it.


Now to make it do something interesting!

.

Task: Start "Mr General" Assembly..

..which has turned out to be harder than i thought it'd be!

The following problems have emerged:
 1) we no longer have an electronics lab - the heavy-duty electrical engineering people
     now have that room for their stuff;
 2) i'm using a make-shift lab-spot, sharing with all the people
     in the 3rd-year project room;
 3) the lighting's bad in there & i can't see f**k-all;
 4) there's a trick to soldering components into those teeny-tiny holes in the PCBs,
     & it took me ages to work out how to do that & to fix my c**k-ups;
 5) i'm missing a little pack of 8 small nylon washers,
     which i normally wouldn't worry about except that they look as if they're for
     insulating metal spacers from the main PCB surface

Possible solutions (in no particular order):
 1) i have a $2 cyclist's 'headlight' to illuminate the work i'm doing;
 2) i have a $2 magnifying glass whose handle i can wedge into the 'headlight' strap,
     so i can see better;
 3) "Mr General" is no longer essential to my project - Peter says
      i can use the Lego-Bot for both project items;
 4) any number of hardware-y places must surely sell
      little nylon washers of some kind;
 5) I still think i can do this! 
     That must count for something (psychologically if not marks-wise)..




.

Task: continue with Lego Robot Assembly_part 2

Aha!!  When all else fails (where have i heard that before..?),
read the instructions (so far, so OK)..

..from the beginning!!

As in Start at the first page (duh!)!
On the first & subsequent pages were instructions for connecting the Battery Pack.
And YES, there was a detachable lid covering the opening for the battery pack.
I plugged it in..
..didn't follow the instructions carefully enough..
..wondered why certain components wouldn't fit back together again..
..took it apart..
..seated the battery pack properly this time..
..reassembled it &..
..Bob's Yer Auntie!!

It didn't do anything  to begin with, then suddenly came right, took it into its tiny little brain to switch on, & now all i have to do is work out how to program it!!

YAY!!

Task: continue with Lego Robot Assembly

Well, I've assembled as much of the Lego robot as i can, but there's a snag:
---the battery pack doesn't fit on, & i don't know why {grrr!!}..
..it just won't.  I suspect that:
--(1) the programming panel is the wrong sort;
--(2) there's a panel on the bottom of the above which is stuck;
--(3) the battery pack is the wrong sort;
--(4) i'm making some unknown c**k-up in the assembly!


Given the fact that the previous user left bits assembled, 
& the parts all over the shop (which meant i had to do
an inventory before i even got started on assembly!),
& there seem to be 1 or 2 spare little bits (small part redundancy?),
maybe it's just an unsorted mess!!


I'm miles behind, & getting anxious :-(


I just need to get this sorted!


Tomorrow, in class maybe..


..meanwhile there are other things to do:
"Mr General" for one.  Due to my notorious inability to mentally 
attune myself to calendars (having spent a good part of my working life 
with irregular hours, irregular holidays, irregular jobs), i decided to 
stay home sick (snuffly) for what turned out to be the last day of the term.
Missed Ashley-the-Tech..
Came in on Monday - workmen, darkness, welding & painting..
..done it again!  I just don't get with holidays, as in i-never-know-until-it's-too-late!
(not the first time either).  So..


..no "Mr General" until tomorrow!


{si-i-i-igghhh}..  :-(  :-(

Problems, problems..

Task 5: 6-part Lego robot lesson

Task4 : Lego robot Videos

Task 2:

Task3: some non-Arduino robots..

The non-Arduino robots presented here are Picaxe-controlled..

1. Mr Random
 By MarkusB @ June 6, 2010who says:

"Drives around randomly, dices if he hits an obstacle, emits strange sounds

Cost to build: $50

Time to build: 20 hours

Weight: 280 grams

• Actuators / output devices: beeper,
  7 LEDs, 2 continues rotating servos
• Control method: autonomous
• CPU: picaxe 08M
• Power source: 700 mA, 4.8 V NiCd
• Programming language: Picaxe basic
• Sensors / input devices: tactile sensor"

 Picaxe is Arduino's very basic competitor, good if you want a cheap micro-controller & don't mind programming in Picaxe BASIC.  The 5 LEDs on top are the electronic die, triggered to "throw" by either (or both?) of the 2 bumpers you can see on the front..
I think i've got an old 9v-battery-powered electronic die @home somewhere.. i should look it out & see if it still works..

Task unspecified - a whinge..

Yes, a whinge.  About schlepping round the Net.

I'm not going to sprinkle my ID details all over the Net like confetti, not least because i'm a sh*t liar, & can't be doing with having to recall what i told A, B, & C when signing up to D.

So what do i do when Megaglomerus-dotcom asks me more questions than a Nigerian scam site (i actually collect those purely for their amusement value) before letting me register to have my gold half-crowns ripped out without anasthetic (or whatever!)?

It's idiot-o'clock in the morning & i'm going home.
I'm too tired to do any more..
I can't see a 3-slide PowerPoint happening in a hurry either,
but i'm more than happy to talk ad-lib on the Neural Network Arduino robot - that really impressed me.

{sigh} where's my {sigh} icon people, you know i'm a klutz at graphics..

Task 1- Arduino Robot YouTube videos

Here are some YouTube videos:

1. Easy Arduino Robot

   ArduinoFun | July 03, 2009says:  

   "Easy autonomous arduino robot. 

   Can be built in a short amount of time. 

   Great learning project. 

   More Arduino Fun at: http://www.ArduinoFun.com"
 It has a scanning proximity or IR sensor that seems to control the steering, enabling it to avoid obstacles before actually running into them (& having to back away, or whatever).
 Steering & power seem to be by independent motors powering the two rear wheels. 
 I think the single front wheel is just a caster.
 I could use that arrangement; looks nice & simple.
I've just realised that if you gently alternate the advance of the L- & R-hand wheels, you can make the caster sweep to-&-fro, with the scanner mounted on it!
Even better than i first thought..

2. Arduino robot controlled by Neural Network

planmix | December 03, 2009 says: 

"My first attempt in neural networks. I connected 1 adruino mega,
3 servos, 1 analog infrared receiver, 3 contacts and 2 encoders
from an old printer.
I use a genetic algorithm that trains the 5-7-2 neural network (5 inputs,
7 neurons in the hidden layer and 2 in output).
The 5 inputs are the 5 areas that the IR scans using the third servo,
and the 2 outputs are the speed of each wheel servo."


I'm actually quite interested in Neural Networks.  
 planmix has given a fairly complete description.
 I'd like to know more about the NN but i can't read Greek!

 I understand the basics of NNs: planmix has 5 inputs 
from a scanning IR sensor & some contact sensors 
(watch it backing into the walls), 
generates its own NN algorithms, 
evidently has a selection-of-the-best process,
& outputs speeds (+fwd/rev) to its 2 wheels.
Its behaviour looks bizarre, even idiotic, at first,
but it does learn!
The video's been speeded up AFAICS, but go to the 6th minute to see its "trained" actions.
 The point about the NN is, it hasn't a blue's clue what it's doing at first; every time a contact sensor sends an input, the NN being currently tested gets a message to 'avoid'.
Watch for the blue LED on top - when it flashes, testing of a new NN variation has begun.

I'd really like to know more about this, especially the mutation/genetic-mixing process, because that's what generates the New Improved versions of the algorithm.
Must have another look @ "Blondie 24" - a checkers-playing NN that 'learned' its way up to Expert rank.  Its makers gave it a fictitious online ID (a 24-year-old California blonde student), & set it playing against online opponents.  Great stuff!

3. Simple Arduino Robot

BatistLeman | April 25, 2008 says:

http://www.coded.be

"This device just goes forward, turns and so on. (in a loop)"

This is dead simple!  I like it.

BatistLeman has mounted  a breadboard on a wooden base, 

 which has the wheels mounted underneath, & the rest is all done on the breadboard.

 It's another tricycle, but it's movements are controlled by a PS2 mouse!  Not as sophisticated as the NN-controlled tricycle above.

4. Arduino Robot

retardokiddo | August 28, 2009 says: 

"Biped robot using arduino, r/c micro servos and icecream sticks
Visit http://retardokiddo.blogspot.com/ for details and view/leave comments!
Also on : http://www.instructables.com/member/c..."
This is a bit of hoot, but it's too complicated for me.
 Building something like this takes more dedication than i can muster, but if you're doing it for fun, just to see if you can make it work, then the motivation'd be there, for sure!

5. My First Arduino Robot

themattmitch | December 08, 2008 says: 

"this is a short vid of my first arduino robot."

Seems to be another tricycle-movement, scanning-proximity-sensor machine, but the video's too short to learn anything about how it works..
One thing i DO like: it seems to have been built into one of those plastic snap-lock boxes.  I'd definitely try that!

2010 Second Semester - Automation & robotics - a design challenge

This semester is about Robotics & Automation.

We had a visit from Tania, a clothes designer, who works with kids who have Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) & enjoy, or feel safe & calm, in a "crush" or "squeeze" situation.
The challenge is to design 'crush clothing' that the kids can wear, which can be programmed for different 'crush' areas, e.g. shoulders, stomach, arms, back, chest etcetera, slowly releases the 'crush effect' over, say, 20 minutes, & logs the time, duration, kid's name, crush areas, & the like.

It sounds interesting.

I like the idea of:
* an elastic wind-&-pull mechanism,
* programmable tensioner selection,
* slow-release friction-brake,
* data-logging (maybe external EEPROM for each kid),
* 2-wire I2C from a USB connector.

Another idea is the use of compressed air-pockets.
Also mentioned were "air muscles', which sound good, especially if combined with elastic - one "muscle" could pull several coordinated threads..

Designing this could be fun..