Well, I finished T.R.A.P.'s base and have mounted the arm onto it. All I have left to do now is mount and hook up the electronics. I also need to weigh down the base so that the arm doesn't tip over when it's fully extended. I hope to have T.R.A.P. going soon. Here is a link so you can see a picture of it: http://madcybo rgscientist.tripod.com/

Hi, I finished putting my robotic arm together today, actually just the arm itself and I still have to build the base and mount the electronics and then start programing my OOPic-C microcontroller. Yes, I have decided and bought an OOPic-C microcontroller for this robot and I am going to program it in C. I am calling this robotic arm T.R.A.P. which stands for "Testbed Robotic Arm Platform." I am going to build the base from dark-blue sintra. I don't know how I am going to weigh it down so the arm doesn't tip over but I got to find a method of doing this. The board that I am using is a Mini Atom Bot Board. First I am just going to do some simple motor control programs and then I will advance to other stuff. Also I am going to control it with a PS2 controller. I also have a Sharp GP2D12 IR Sensor that I am going to use as a sensor for the arm to know when an object is present. After that I hope to buy a CMU Vision System and experiment with it. I hope to get somewhere with this project very soon. I'll hollar at ya later.

Hail Dr. Who! Long live the show!!! I love it a whole lot and will always watch it. I love British stuff anyway but I really love the show because of the doctor and the robots and other tech. I am one American who is sold on the show.

I love Doctor Who! Marev, are they playing the new season there already? Just curious. I hate they got rid of the old doctor though, he was cool and fun. I can't wait for the new season to start anyway, but the new guy doesn't seem as good as the old one.

I have added some pictures of some of the robots to flickr.com. Here is the address:http://flickr.com/photos/madcyborgscientist/ I will probably add more soon.

I am not doing any robot work at the present moment but sometimes this week I am going to start on my projects again. First I am going to build the Turbot named Flip-Flop or Triad, I haven't decided yet. The Turbot is going to use a PT Solar Engine that is operated on a 1381C Trigger. The body I have already made which is cut from a peice of dark blue sintra that I bought from solarbotics.com. I can't wait to finish the bot and it should turn out nice. Next inline after that is a few more projects that I have planned. One being a Pummer and the other being a Photovore, maybe. I am going to start on my arm soon and I keep saying it but I have to keep telling myself to get done with these other robots before I start. I really want the thing to be cost affective though. I guess I will have fun with my BEAM bots intill I get to the point and made final decisions for the arm. Tonight I have to go help set- up sound equipment for my church since I will be the sound guy. Well, I'll keep you posted as new developements take place. Bye for now, my fellow roboticists.

I am doing robotics again, finally! I just got one BEAM robot done which is a solar roller named Blau for blue of course in German. Next I am going to build a Turbot and I am probably going to name it Flip-Flop. I haven't decided what circuit I am going to use but I thought about using some kind of solar engine with a light sensor so the Turbot would move towards light but also have caotic movement instead of just flipping forward. In the mean time I am still looking at ideas for my robotic arm. I haven't fully decided on what microcontroller to use. I want something that is somewhat powerful and has a built-in servo controller. Also, I want something that is like a developement board so I can try circuit out and other stuff. The mini Atom board that I looked at has this neat PS2 controller port and shows you how to program it to control a robot with a PS2 controller and the thing has a built in controller board for up to 16 servos. It is a purdy powerful controller too, the Basic Atom. I do not know all the spects on all the controllers but it is more powerful than the Basic Stamp. The only think about the mini board is it doesn't have a power jack or a developement area, it's all pins and no I/O buses with connecters. I could buy the board for the Basic Atom that is the developement board but then I wouldn't have the servo controller built in or the PS2 port. Maybe I can find a way to connect it to the developement board. Well, recently I built a Jacob's Ladder. I have been wanting a Jacob's Ladder for some time now. I bought me a 11000Kv neon sign power supply off of ebay. I paid $20 something counting the power supply and the shipping cost. It puts out a decent purple arc that is about 2 inches long. I just used a piece of wood my dad cut me off and made the V part out of some 10-guage copper wire. The V shape part is about a foot long minus the part below it that supports it in the air. Well, I hope to have some more bots going soon. Maybe I will come up with my ideas soon for the arm and the others and be ordering me some parts soon. The arm is really going to deplete my funds though. Its going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 or $500 when I am done with it. Who knows, it may end up being $600 or more, but I doubt it. Well, I'll hollar at ya later.

Thanks for your suggestion andycamach. I totally haven't even thought of a basisX for this robot. I of course have heard of them and even thought of using one in a project before but I haven't thought about them for a while so I totally fogot about it. I think I will be using the Basic ATOM though because of the servo commands and the onboard servo controller or which is basically like a servo board anyway. I am going to use servos so I thouught and still think this board would be good for this project. The only thing I don't know is if this controller is compatible with a CMU Vision System which I would like to add later on. I have been wanting to get my hands on one since I started robotics. -Botnerd-

What have I been doing lately? I have been building a few BEAM robots. I am also waiting for payment from selling my BASIC Stamp Discovery Kit on ebay. After I receive the money I can then buy the parts for my robotic arm that I am going to build. I still haven't fully decided which microcontroller I am going to use but I am thinking about using the Basic Atom. I still do not know about it though. If I don't do that I will probably go with a AVR or something like it. I just want to build a robotic arm for a testbed for programing so I can learn programing as I go along with the robot but also I just think it would be a fun and cool project. I still do not have a name for the arm yet. I do not have much time though because I will be leaving for the Navy. I hope to build a few more robots before I go though. Hopefully I will still be able to build them while in the Navy but I will probably not have much time. I hope to do somekind of robot project in college. I plan to build a few more BEAM bots before I go because I just find them fun but they are not the main things that I hope to do. I hope to build this arm and get a purdy good ways with it before I go but also I hope to build a few more bots. I hope to get somewhere soon.

Hi, Right now I am trying to sell my BASIC Stamp Discovery Kit because I decided to use a different controller for my robotic arm. If anyone is interested in buying it you can follow this link to where it is for sell on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/BASIC- Stamp- Discovery- Kit- With- BASIC- Stamp-2- Serial_W0QQitemZ260013377106QQihZ016QQcategoryZ50915QQssPage NameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Also right now I am waiting for my parts from solarbotics so I can finish my BEAM robots. Its been two weeks since I ordered my parts and they have went past the 8-13 days that my shipment was suppose to come in. It's taking forever. It might endup being a month in all once its all said and done.