robots.net blog for currentc

19 Nov 2012

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:08:25 GMT

Wow, has it really been over 6 years since my last post? Working and homeschooling my sons has taken most of my time and energy. As a result my hobby projects took a back seat.

Now that my boys are old enough to understand the basics of robotics, I have started buying kits and incorporating it as part of their schooling.

My oldest has a Lego Mindstorms 2 kit. And my youngest a Parallax Scribbler. We also have a couple of Boe-Bots for them to transition to when they are ready.

4 Feb 2006

Sat, 4 Feb 2006 01:27:38 GMT

My Lynxmotion kit arrived last week and I managed to find time to do the initial assembly. I programmed gates for a sudo-dynamic walk, reverse and turning in place.

My new MeLabs serial programmer works great. It could have saved me a lot of trouble if I had not waited.

My other robot will need a new set of servos and wheels. I was not as carefull while packing it for the move as I should have been. Luckily the electronics and sensors are all still working.

Don't have a lot of time to work on projects right now. I have been in classes for my EMT-Basic certification. Finals and state tests are next week!

23 Jan 2006

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:16:36 GMT

Been spending alot of time at work lately. As a result I have not finished my workbench or work on my robot much. Another problem is that some of my boxes were not treated well in the move. My robot was damaged and I have not yet repaired it. I ordered a quadrapod kit from Lynxmotion to experiment with a legged robot. My old PIC programmer is not working well with my new computer, so I have another one on order.

7 Oct 2005

Fri, 7 Oct 2005 00:51:39 GMT

I haven't been able to do much with my robot projects recently. I have been busy with buying a house and moving. I am looking forward to having a space to setup a decent workbench. The kitchen table was not working well anymore.

6 Sep 2005

Tue, 6 Sep 2005 05:27:46 GMT

I have been using my current robot as a platform for testing new ideas. I learned to program in PBP and have been working on new sensor ideas. I decided not to design a new chassis for it. The current one works well for testing.

I have been thinking about building a mini-sumo robot and ring. I think that I should by a kit and then build one from scratch. This would allow me to run test battles. Just an idea, I don't know if I will even build one.

30 Jul 2005

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 03:33:45 GMT

Finally got around to my robot again. Found a problem with the code while tweaking the speed settings for the servo motors. I had reversed all of my left/right ports while converting to the PIC, oops. I hope to get around to the new chassis this week.
Also added ramping to the servo speed/direction changes.

17 Jul 2005

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 00:03:09 GMT

I finished porting the software for my robot from the OOPic to PICBasic Pro. I am happy with the improved speed of the code. I had a problem with the ADCin command, so I had to do it manually. I feel this was probably a good thing as it forced me to deal directly with the PIC registers and read the datasheet.
Next I need to build a better chassis. The current one was just for testing and is held together with double sided tape and velcro.

16 Jul 2005

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:46:46 GMT

My most recent robot is controlled by an OOPIC II and will wander around my house trying not to get stuck. He has three front mounted sharp range finders, and two front bump sensors.
I would consider it a good starting point for me. I have recently started learning to program with PICBasic Pro. I am working on porting the software from the OOPIC to a PIC 16F874 for practice.