FINAL -- duh!! -- so far..

Well, a final mark of 57 (C) was a bit underwhelming, but at least it's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick!

i wish i knew how to make Georgia Bold my default font on this blog but..

& i'm not going to stop playing around with these things, but i've got rather a lot on at the moment, & i need to get thees out of my hair: 

the leaks in my hall roof; 

dealing to the undergrowth that is my yard (majorly chopped with a grunty weed-whacker, but still in need of further 'treatment') - i have an abiding hatred of grass - the agricultural kind, not friend Mary Jane - which i regard as suitable only for football & other sports to be played on & livestock to shit on; as a domestic ground cover it sucks enormously;

my feeble-minded computer - the poor wee thing does its best, but with the equivalent these days of a pre-frontal lobotomy (half-a-Gig), it desperately needs me to take pity on it & beef up its RAM (to at least 2 Gig);

there's a thing out the back masquerading as a shed; needs replacing or turned into a workshop-type thingy..;

a giant, non-producing, plum tree out the back needs topping ( i know it's a plum because it actually has delivered one or two plums occasionally (i'm not joking!), one of which has grown into a smaller, equally non-producing, tree - i need some arborist's/orchardist's advice maybe;

the inside of my house is a f*****g tip - it really needs sorting!

& NO i haven't made any poxy New Year's resolutions either!

(except maybe to bow to the inevitable & sign up to Facebook - not because i've any wish to dump myself online, but various friends keep asking me, & i'd like to be able to access their stuff.)

Test Schedule

Well, to start with, here's some test information. Bit scary.. i had the erroneous impression it'd be next week, but it isn't!

Here's some hardware pics & the ATmega328 datasheet..
..& the pin-mapping between the ATmega328 & the Arduino..

We're getting lotsa questions on this.
Here's a schematic of the Duemilanove..
..& the Uno schematic.
 .

Tasks 40-41 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 8

• 40.. Copy the Timer0 Polling routine
           given to you in a previous post,
  and run it with some tidying up.
  Show your tidy code.
  ~

• 41.. Repeat the program in 40,
           but this time make it work a one second LED flash
  using an Interrupt Service Routine.
  ~
  
  
  

TASKS 37-39 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 7

     37.  Integrate the new eeprom library from the link here.
            You should be able to #include this new library this.

38. You were issued with an eeprom 24LC64 IC.
      This is a TWI memory that you connect to SCL and SDA on the Arduino.
      Run the program from the blog.
     Show your code changes and the serial monitor output in your blog.

39.  The problem with the program above is that

       it can only handle about 30 bytes at a time.
     Overcome this problem so that any amount of data can be sent

     up to the capacity of the chip.   

    Write up your findings.

TASKS 30-36 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 6

• 30.  Write a paragraph about the two hardware interrupts on the Arduino
         and how to use them.
  ~
• 31.  Carry out the interrupt experiment from the Interrupt post.
         Change the code you find here.
  ~
• 32.  Find the post on the Triple Axis Accelerometer.
        This is an example of a sensor we have to deal with.
  Find out more information about this sensor and compose a schematic illustrating how you would use an Arduino to real acceleration in three dimensions and display the outputs.
  Your blog output should contain a schematic and code.
  ~
• 33.  Find a pin-out of the XbeePro.
         Using just Arduino's Tx, Rx ,Gnd and 3.3 VCC draw a quick schematic of how two Arduinos would talk to each other without wires.
  ~
• 34.  Use the above two tasks to produce a schematic of  a circuit
         that would read the accelerometer 's three axis readings and then output to an Arduino and then broadcast out to another Arduino that would send the data to a serial terminal for saving in a file.
  ~
• 35.  Write the Arduino code for the sender that reads the accelerometer
         values and sends them via the XbeePro.
  ~
• 36.   Write the Arduino code for the receiver that's attached to the PC.

TASKS 24-29 -- Automation&Robotics: Schedule 5

• Tasks

  Please respond to these tasks in your blog using the same reference numbers.
   
  
• 24.   Use the example given in class
          to write your own two wire protocol that can deliver 8 bits
  on the data line and use the clock line to indicate valid data.
  Test with a colleague's Arduino and write up your results.
  ~
• 25.  Same as 24 but this time use a four-bit data path.
  ~
• 26.  Plan a TWI between two Arduinos.
  Scan a diagram, or illustrate in some other way, how the connections will be
  set up and which is master and which is slave.
  Have a look at http://absences.sofianaudry.com/en/node/10  or at 
  http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/MasterWriter for some example code.
  ~
• 27.  List the main functions of the Wire library.
         Say what they do with examples.
  ~
• 28.  Construct a real TWI between two Arduinos.
         Take a photo and publish your code and any issues you had.
  ~
  
• 29.   If I had three Arduinos, is it possible to produce an RS
  ~

TASKS 18-23 -- Automation&Robotics: Schedule 4

Tasks

Please respond to these tasks in your blog using the same reference numbers.

• 18.  Get your new motor mini-board to spin in one direction.
  ~
• 19.  Get it to spin in both directions.
  ~
• 20.  Get it, using PWM, to spin at different rates.
  ~
• 21.  Output, using the photo-interrupter,
         the number of revolutions per second, your motor spins at.
  ~
• 22.  Same as 21 but this time using the PWM to raise and lower
         the speed that is reported on the screen.
  ~
• 23.  Same as 22 but this time add a comment with each speed output      
         to indicate which direction it is spinning.
  

TASKS 15-17 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 3

 

Tasks
Please respond to these tasks in your blog using the same reference numbers.

• 15.  Write a subroutine to output a byte using the RS232
         soft-serial protocol using 8,N,2 at 9600.
  ~
• 16.  Input bytes into a colleague's Arduino using the soft-serial
         from your pin to the Rx of your colleague's Arduino.
  Write up your code and take a photo of the set-up.
  ~
• 17.  Write a soft-serial input, Rx, subroutine that takes bytes
         from a normal 5v RS232 Tx output at 8,N,2 at 9600.

TASKS 7-14 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 2

Tasks

Please respond to these tasks in your blog using the same reference numbers.

• 7.  Connect up your RS232 Tx to the Rx of another Arduino.
       Output an "A" every second so that the input screen of the other Arduino writes this when it checks and prints the input serial screen.
  Take a photo of your set-up and publish it in your blog along with the code for Rx and Tx Arduinos.
  Reverse your roles with your colleague's Arduino. That is, swap the Rx/Tx duties.
  ~
  
• 8.  Write a function called Hello()
        to output "Hello, world." when it's invoked.
  Call this function 10 times in your main loop().
  ~
  
• 9.  Write a function DoubleInt to double an integer.
       Call it like this: Serial.println(DoubleInt(myInt)).
  Call it twice; once with a number and once with a variable.
  ~
• 10.  Write a function to add B0111 to a byte passed to it.
         Call it 256 times in loop() using 0-255 as the parameters.
  ~
  
• 11.  Write a function to AND a byte with B01
          and output the result to the screen.
  Test this in the main loop().
  ~
  
• 12.  Write a function to say "yes" if the LSB (least significant bit)
         is a 1 or "no" otherwise.
  Test in the main loop.
  ~
  
• 13.  Write a function to left shift a byte in the parameter position
         two places to the left then output the original and the final byte.
  ~
  
• 14.  Write a program to output the bits, one by one,
         to the serial monitor screen from an arbitrary byte.

Tasks 1-6 -- Automation&Robotics: schedule 1

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tasks

Please respond to these tasks in your blog using the same reference numbers.

1. Find two Arduino based robot YouTube videos that appeal to you.
   Put the links into your blog
   and be prepared to share the videos with the rest of the class.
2. Find a diagram of our Arduino board or similar
   and indicate with arrows where the Tx and Rx pins are
   on the Arduino I/O pins as well as on the microprocessor itself.
3. Write a program to display the ascii table in the serial monitor.
   Publish a screen shot in your blog.
4. Wind up the baud rate in program 4 and report how fast you could get it.
5. Write a program to take a key press and output the key and its codes
   in binary, decimal in hex.
6. Repeat 5 but this time use another serial monitor, perhaps Bray++.
   Screen shot required

Course info

Lecturer: Peter Brook, peter.brook@op.ac.nz, Principal Lecturer, H100

          Course Dates

Term 3 (7 weeks)	18 July – 23 September
Mid semester break	26 September  – 7 October
Term 2 (9 weeks)	10 October– 21 November

Learning Outcomes

At the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1.       Discuss comprehensively the range of application areas for robotics, automation and ubiquitous computing.

2.       Understand core electronic and mechanical principles of robotics/automated systems design.

3.       Analyse and select appropriate software development platforms for robotics/automated systems implementation.

4.       Design a simple robotics/automated solution to a specified problem following sound principles of interaction design.

5.       Use an appropriate software development platform to implement simple interactive robotics/automated systems.

Indicative Content

·         Discussion of historical development of automated systems

·         Survey of application areas

·         Robotics simulator work

·         Hardware of robotics/automated/ubiquitous systems

·         Development software – options and issues

·         Interaction design – human factors and machine design principles

·         Project work – Design and construction of interactive robotics/automated systems

Assessment

Assessment Activity	Weighting	Learning Outcomes
Blog, essay, presentations, industry cases	15%	1,4
Exams/quizzes	15%	2,3,4
Project Work	70%	2,3,4,5

Assessment Events

Students are obliged to keep a blog  where responses are made to tasks set in class.  A mark out of 15 will be allocated to this part of the course.  

The blog will include a review of good robotics sites, 

industry examples and a short history of robotics. 

There will be one test at the end of the course. 

This is worth 15 marks too and will take place in the week starting November 8.

There will be four projects required:

                A software investigation                               10 marks              due 13 Aug

                A motor project                                                10 marks              due 20 Aug

                A  minor project                                               15 marks              due 24 Sept

                A major robot project                                    30 marks              due 15 Nov

All the above projects will be negotiated in advance with the lecturer.

The assessment methodology will include 

* peer assessment, 

* self assessment and 

* traditional assessment.