Awesome video. Saw this posted by newsboy
Awesome video. Saw this posted by newsboy
The 2009 Robot Games are now done!
Yours truly came in second in the Minesweeper event, and missed out the top 3 slots in both Mini Sumo and Line Follower.
Was a great time and looking forward to next year’s already!
Videos have been posted; both on Facebook, and the WCRS Website.
Can’t even describe how great it was to be close enough to feel the blast of air hit us.
The Diesel fumes a bit much, and with the turbine its one screaming loud engine, but it was pure awesome the entire time.
Or what I have been doing for the last 3 months.
I’ll tell the story with pictures:
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:
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.
Stop by and have a look at the new WCRS website!
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, except my robotic mouse.
The Atmels were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nick, could debug them in pairs.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While versions of “C” code scrolled through their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Snuggled in bed, downloaded code samples to adapt.
.. That’s as far as I got.
Happy hacking holidays!
Had a blast in Banff this weekend.
Quick recap of the events:
Friday head up to Banff, met Roger Kingkade who was our host on the bus. 2 free beers on the bus.
Check into Hotel, grab some food, head back to catch bus up to Norquay.
Secret Broadcast opened show – great set. Still Selling their CD for $5.
Matt Good – great live show. I highly recommend a small venue and 299 of your closest friends for checking him out. More beers there, met some guy named “Trevor”. Lifelong friend now after an initial wrong identity. Also met some couple who seemed to really enjoy chatting.
Head back and crash at hotel.
Saturday – Bum around Banff at the usual hangouts. Went to Tony Roma’s for a bite to eat.
Went down to Wild Bills about 8pm. Chatted with couple we met from night before, Matt Good impressed with Secret Broadcast and apparently asked them to also open for him down in Medicine Hat. Unconfirmed.
Mobile opened up the evening – again great show. Not everyone showed for some dumb reason so it was maybe 150 of us for Mobile.
Met Jay Osborne, relive horrible Bert Church High School days. Ran into him a couple of times later on in the evening. Friendly guy.
Chris Cornell – Freakin amazing as expected. Band threw out a guitar pick to the audience which I am keeping as a souvenir. Great set including 2 solo acousticals, and an encore featuring a Led Zep cover.
Apparently Chris Cornell almost didn’t happen – something related to divorce. Somewhere during the night someone stole the USB cable for my phone, which is funny because its not a standard cable. I have a MicroSD adapter, so except for hacking my phone, the cable is not at all useful, even less useful if they don’t have an Instinct.
After the show we hung out and got tipsy. Great songs being played in the bar included Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, Gorillaz and more. Met Lead Singer to Mobile who apparently loves Western Canadian People. Hope you got your rest man. I would love to check them out if I ever make it to Montreal.
Met Christian Hall, but someone else had him mixed up with Frasier, and 6 degrees of separation only works when there is actually something to connect. Still a cool guy, and again friendly. Can’t say enough great things about the X92.9 crew.
Apparently my Samsung Instict takes incredibly bad low light photos, and the microphone is so sensitive that the videos are oversaturated on the audio end. The phone also stores the videos in a horrible .3g2 format (Playable by Quicktime) so any salvageable audio is lost.
I briefly attempted some cleanup but its no hope. I’m still posting it all, cause I have the website, and I’m going to use it!
Bus Ride Up:
Secret Broadcast:
Matt Good:
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Mobile:
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Chris Cornell:
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More links to check out:
http://www.x929.ca/shows/osborne/?p=757
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47864&id=502768512