Rattle Can Makeover

Impatiently awaiting my Dremel from Amazon, I made an executive decision that Clocky’s bright orange motif had to go. Clocky already had some big rims; sort of like my SS. Sort of too like my Yukon. Hmm…black and chrome…sort of a no-brainer.

Step 1: teardown / spray paint

tear down
parts

Step 2: Re-assemble

bringin sexy black
sum of parts

Much better. Hoping to have the little guy rotary-drilled and souped-up before too long. Check back in soon.

Project Preview

My new IOIO project is in the ‘bunch of pieces’ state.

ioio on wheels
alligator-y

It also happens to be in the ‘my effing hardware works’ phase as well..

I’ll keep mum on this for the time being…a bunch of coding and refinement remains to be seen. Stay tuned for this one…

Messy Lab is Messy

Demolition phase: complete

messy
wait...what was I doing?

I feel like a space cadet…too many things in flight. Component central over here.

Arduino Solar Cell Night Light Concept

So, I’ve formalized the solar cell project I have been poking at for a while. I managed to clean up my code and mess with some initial conditions, etc., and now have a fairly solid proof of concept for a solar cell-centered night light.

lighty
you may want to ramp up that LED a bit

As was the case in my first few runs, my sketch incorporates a five second initialization phase. This acts to set both relative minimum and maximum values which act to provide “full light on” and “full light off” values, respectively. The generated power from the solar cell is read in to the Arduino via analog input, and the LEDs are driven via digital outs. The rest is some simple math that transforms the range of the analog signal into a digital range of zero to two hundo fifty five.

It’s giant-ass-text-having snippet time!

// Solar LED IO
// Joseph Swanson | https://swantron.com
// 2011

// Define constants
const int sensorPin = A3; // Solar cell Pin
const int ledPin = 5; // varuiable LED Pin

// Define variables
int sensorValue = 0; // wipe read value
int sensorMin = 0; // set initial min
int sensorMax = 1023; // set initial max

void setup() {

// turn on Pin 11 LED…indicates calibration period begin
pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(11, HIGH);

// stay lit for five seconds
while (millis() < 5000) { sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin); // adjust for real max if (sensorValue < sensorMax) { sensorMax = sensorValue; } // adjust for real min if (sensorValue > sensorMin) {
sensorMin = sensorValue;
}
}

// end Pin 11… calibration period finito
digitalWrite(11, LOW);
}

void loop() {
// read the solar cell analog
sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);

// apply a little calibration to the sensor reading
// bit from example sketch at http://arduino.cc
sensorValue = map(sensorValue, sensorMin, sensorMax, 0, 255);

// set constraint for outliers with respect to min/max
sensorValue = constrain(sensorValue, 0, 255);

// fade the LED from one to 255
analogWrite(ledPin, sensorValue);
}

Pretty straight forward. On to the vid…


It’s web2.0-too-many-script-ass-calling embedded video time!

Not too bad. Again, I used an Arduino Duemilanove and a Solar World panel. I might try to further this concept by incorporating my 120V switch and getting a lamp up in here. Stay tuned, as always.

Airsoft Hack Kickoff

I’m working on a project to control an airsoft pistol via my Arduino. The end result is to enable web control of this thing…

pew pew pew
pew pew pew

So far, I have checked off one step of two. My steps are as follow:

Step 1) Tear apart item
Step 2) Hack the crap out of said item

Stay tuned…

Found: My Dream Robotics Project

+1 Android
+1 Arduino
+1 Voice Recognition

I found this guy over at engadget…called truckbot, it packs the aforementioned awesome things I love.

cellbot
I want to build this so badly

Truckbot is autonomous…the little sucker won’t drive off the edge of a table, even if user prompts it to. This may be a violation of one of Assimov’s robot rules…go look it up.

No time to blog…must continue drooling over this.

Weaponized Robot = Aggressive

I’m not one to be down-and-out-self-deprecating-bummed-out about things in general, but iRobot has just made my tri-colored LED progress look like peanuts. Tri-colored peanuts, but peanuts nonetheless.

Hats off to you all, iRobot dudes. This is awesome.

robo laser
maxximum pew

From spectrum.ieee.org:

iRobot released today new video of its Warrior robot, a beefed up version of the more well-known PackBot, demonstrating use of the APOBS (Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System), an explosive line charge deployed by a rocket, with a small parachute holding back the end of the line. The APOBS, iRobot says, is designed for “deliberate breaching of anti-personnel minefields and multi-strand wire obstacles.” Although it may concern those who don’t like the arming of robots, it makes great eye candy for those who like robots, rockets, and explosions.

For those who like robots, rockets, and explosions?

Throw in Katie and Old Milwaukee Light, and that is me to a T.

Arduino Tri-Colored LED

Tri-Colored LED Arduino control. Check.

I’m bringing sexy back.

led
them other boys don't know how to act

Sadly enough, it is basically a ground coupled with a Red, Green, and Blue lead. Nonetheless, I’m pumped.

Meeting Robot | I Need This

Best idea of the week…a robot to attend your meetings.

right there
Robot Weenie is Better than Humanoid Weenie

From dailymail.co.uk

Fed up with attending endless meetings when you’d much rather be at home? Step forward the QB from Anybots – a robot who can go to the office for you.

Developed by Bob Christopher, the brainchild behind the Pleo dinosaurs, the cute looking robot is essentially a teleconferencing system on wheels.

The robot can alter its height from 3ft to 5.7ft and weighs 2.5st, with a main computer and several mini-computers on board. It has an LCD monitor mounted on its head which feeds a webcam image of the telecommuter.

It ‘sees’ via a 5MP video camera in one eye, and a lower resolution camera on the head that points downwards. It ‘hears’ via three microphones that feed audio to the telecommuter, and has high-quality speakers for audio in the other direction.

Alright, nicely played. This thing costs 15K, however. I’m pretty sure I could do the same damned thing with an HTC Incredible, broom, Arduino, and an electric wheelchair motor. I would need an area to put some tattoos and earbuds, however. And somehow mimic my general sense of ‘leave me alone before I effin snap’ to be fully effective/reflective of me in a meeting situation. And a strong odor of coffee…definitely need that.