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Makelangelo Pen Holder Research & Development

I’ve been posting developments with the Makelangelo pen holder R&D as it’s been taking place on Twitter.  Then I come back here and make a summary for those of you who don’t want to follow me.

Yesterday was all about working on the new pen holder.

The small green wire runs under the pen and out at the front. when the motor turns it pushes straight out and lifts the pen… and it works great! …but now the pen tip drags behind and it really affects quality of the drawing. So I tried changing the strings to see if that helped…

… yeah, not really. I need a way to do the same pen lift thing in a frame that’s half as long. Maybe the servo can go under the pen and then I won’t need so many batteries as a counterweight. Work, work, work. Good think I love my job!

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New shop item: 5.5*2.1 female power plug

Shop for the 5.5*2.1 female power plug here.

We’ve had these in stock and in kits for a while. Perfect for plugging a power supply into a motor shield to drive a robot. It was only yesterday when I offered one to a client that we realized it wasn’t on the site. Then there was a knock at the door. Oh, look! It’s Opportunity! Let him in, get him a drink, we like visitors.

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Download Mini Sumo Sketchup files, source code, and pictures

Marius, creator of the fantastic Wall-E robot, has generously shared the design files and source code for the sumo robots his kids put together. It even includes a couple photographs from different angles so you can piece together the bill of materials. If you build one, please share your story in the forums. I know I’ll be reading your words with undivided attention.

Download MiniSumo files here.

Bill of materials is as follows:

• 5x IR reflectance sensor
• 1x Arduino Uno
• 1x stackable DC motor shield
• 1x LCD with 6 button shield
• 2x 50:1 micro motor
• 1x motor mounting bracket
• 1x 6v2200ma battery
• 2x wheel
• 2x analog distance sensor

Maybe instead of 5 ir sensors try this 6-sensor array, save $2.50 and time soldering.

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CanDos now more affordable than ever!

CanDo line following robots were $75 + tax & shipping.
As of today for the next 30 days they are $55 + tax & shipping.
Enjoy!

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Vancouver Robotics Club monthly meeting, January 2013

This month’s meeting of the Vancouver Robotics Club was great! I showed off my Stewart platforms and got to see all kinds of nifty creations.

Aaron made this awesome sumobot from a LEGO mindstorms kit. It doesn’t follow sumobot rules, but who cares? It can out-push anybody there today.

There was also this great string of addressable LEDs. One light per address is exactly what I needed to build my ticker clock. Consider me sold! Even better, this string is run from an arduino connected to a linux box hooked up to a website running html5 sockets. What does all that mean? you can change colors on a web site and the string of lights changes to match. You can even see other people’s changes. Color Fight!

The same inventor made this cone of blinking LEDs. I wish I’d made video so you could see the patterns.

Marius and his two kids showed up with their home made sumobots. So nice! Meet YELLOW MONSTER and FLOWER HUNTER. I told them what I tell anyone: if you get me design files and schematics I’ll sell it in my store and give you 50% of the profits.Edit: They did!

The dad made this incredible Wall-E robot. It has all the range of motion and uses a kinect sensor to SLAM (Simultaneous localization and mapping) it’s way around a room.

As long time readers will know I like building virtual models of my robots before I invest in the real thing. This is the first time I’ve seen someone do the same thing, and it’s very clever. It even simulates the lag from the Kinect

I love the details int the head motions.

The challenge for next month is to build a line following robot. We have 12″ tiles with 3/4″ black lines that snap together to make a course. The challenge is to see which robots can follow the entire line. If more than one succeeds we’ll have a race. One of the newest club members promptly bought a CanDo line following robot. I like his moxy!

Next months’ meeting is Sunday February 10, 2013 at 10:00. See you there!