High-Low Tech

One of the advantages of traveling is finding the “best of the best” and not being restricted to one city.  Of course, it’s never easy finding the best stuff and having it match my travel schedule.  Yesterday, I attended the “Drawing the Electric Synth with Sam Jacoby from MIT” class at SparkFun Electronics in Boulder, …

Continue reading ‘High-Low Tech’ »

BlueBot Brings Home the Rookie Award

BlueBot brought home the Rookie Award!  Check out the classy styrene rain jacket, too.  A local authority (Peter’s Wife) observes that “Peter’s robot is awesome.” BlueBot did well in the AVC but did not finish.  The ‘bot successfully extricated itself from encounters with rocks, sticks, dirt clods, pine needles, and curbs.  The wheels, however, ended up …

Continue reading ‘BlueBot Brings Home the Rookie Award’ »

Compass Integration

After far too much pain and effort, the magnetic compass is integrated with the robot.  Calibration is a bit finicky, and I don’t think the SYNC signal is implemented properly.  But, the compass works, and the heading matches my mechanical compass.  Here are a few lessons learned: RTFM.  Set the pin data direction (DDRQS) because …

Continue reading ‘Compass Integration’ »

So much to do, so little time

Here’s a new video showing off obstacle avoidance. The robot manages to avoid walls, chairs, tables, couches, and a dog (although the dog usually runs away, probably because it knows the robot’s secret world domination plans). Much work remains, and not enough time remains. I’ve replaced the motors to increase torque.  The old, faster, lower …

Continue reading ‘So much to do, so little time’ »

Robot Websites

Here’s a compilation of links relevant to my Sparkfun AVC entry. First off, here are several competitors with blogs.  Please let me know if you find more blogs, and I’ll amend this list. Team Hellhound Flake Labs Autonomous Tools Geeknight [added 3/16/2010] Scott Harris [added 3/31/2010] Second, here are several interesting ‘bot websites: Kenneth Maxon …

Continue reading ‘Robot Websites’ »

GPS

The GPS is an amazing piece of technology.  Think about it.  For less than $100, you can determine your position within a few meters anywhere in the world.  One hundred years ago, you needed a compass, sextant, clock, and luck to estimate your position.  I’ve used a Garmin Etrex Vista extensively for field checking during …

Continue reading ‘GPS’ »

Robot Mechanics

My build for the Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition continues.  Slowly.  I intended to be busy with system integration by now, but I haven’t even built the physical platform. Mechanical design is difficult because there are many inter-related factors to consider.  For example, the motor selection partially determines weight which in turn partially determines motor selection. …

Continue reading ‘Robot Mechanics’ »

SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition

I’ve run off and entered the SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle competition in April.  The rules are pretty simple: Create a vehicle that can autonomously navigate around the SparkFun building Autonomous vehicles (robots!) fascinate me.  But, there’s a problem:  I don’t have a robot.  I have assorted parts and plenty of ideas but no robot.  My personal goals …

Continue reading ‘SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition’ »