We went so long without cold weather, and without precipitation of any form, that it seems people forget where we live.
I watched a SHAW truck almost take out my car because he kept pinning the accelerator, which just makes more ice under your tires. (Oh truck 4556, one day you’ll learn the hard way)
It’s not really all that cold, but the wind is a bear. Most of the impressive piles of snow are a result of the wind instead of actual accumulations.
We’re staying home and letting the fools of the neighborhood plow the routes clear. Some pictures:
lusciouspandora: Link: Maxim Makes Mortal Kombat Announcer Say “Tickle Him!” – Voice Talent – Kotaku – This is far more amusing to me than it has any right to be…
The box behind the little motor is a test tool I made initially to test servos. In the hobby store, these kinds of testers sell for about $100. Not only did this one only cost a grand total of $50, but it does much much more than just a motor tester. Simply hook to USB and reprogram it to do whatever you need it to.
So far, this is what I have programmed into it:
LCD Tester
Servo Tester – 5 points
Servo Tester – continuously variable
Voltmeter – 0 to 5 volts
LED tester
Power Supply
Joule Thief. Excellent little piece. Takes dead batteries and pumps up the voltage to drive a nice and bright white LED. We have it in our bathroom as it makes a great nightlight using our old, would have been thrown out batteries.
Technically my first robot, although he has gone through 3 revisions already. Right now I have a mechanical engineer helping me to produce a commercial grade chassis for it. He currently navigates rooms with basic obstacle avoidance. This last rev added a tilt to the distance sensor so that he may scan in 3D. Future upgrades with the new chassis coming include the ability to mount a WIFI camera and view images seen from his vantage point remotely.
I had received a handy board and decided to push what I could do with it. He is functional, avoids obstacles and races along until he encounters an object at which time he can slam on the brakes. Functional accelerometer meant to check for crash angles. Ultimately the handy board could not provide enough resolution nor processing speed to keep pace with this particular RC frame, so what was learning from him will be applied towards my treaded robot.
This is Meowchi. He made it into a rev 2 and was a functional line follower that was created by hacking another robot platform’s motherboard. It was more of a proof of concept and worked well, but ultimately his motors gave their life to our new electrically controlled blinds in our bedroom.
This is my mini sumo. Although fucntional and works fine, it turns out he’s a little wimpy for competition. (Only because for some reason they won’t let me compete with 10 year olds, even though I am at the beginner level.) I’ll have to either beef him up or tear him apart and rebuild him ala the Six Million Dollar Man. (We have the technology)
Our local robotics soceity has relaunched their website, with a fresh new mantra.
The main site will be blog style, based on the popular Wordpress software. Forthcoming will also be a Wiki which will allow society members and the public at large to post projects, and even collaborate and share.
I may have had a small hand in facilitating their transition, but it will be the society members that ultimately either make or break the concept.
Time will tell- until then, I’m looking forward to being a part of something less static, and whatever skills and concepts can be brought forward by it.
