Feb 13, 2010
Class
Introduction to AVR Programming - Jef Mangelschots
Here is a link to download the lecture notes.
Business
Next classes
March or April: Alex Brown on "Leaf Microcontroller"
June: Bruce Weimer on "Programming in Lisp"
Contests
March: Line Following
April: Pick-up-the-can
June: Hallway competition
Business
Jef proposed to contact vendors of robotics-related products for donations of competition prizes
Contest
This month's contest a was mini-sumo contest. Read more about it here.
Show & Tell
Bruce asked the audience whether anyone knew anything about STRABO Pathfinder robot mapping software. It is about $50. It is a Windows application used for robotics mapping. From their website:
With Strabo's new built-in in scripting engine, you can now write you own Strabo functions to integrate your robot's hardware and software. Visual Basic programmers now enjoy the ability to extend the Strabo platform to integrate sensors, motors, displays, etc. Strabo Scripting provides direct access to Strabo Pathfinder maps and opens the world through thousands of available ActiveX componants. ActiveX componants are a core componat of the windows environment and generally provide access to devices through a defined interface. ActiveX componants can be written in a variety of languages, including Visual Basic.
John Waters showed us how to finish aluminum sheet with Scotch-Brite drill mounted sanding disks.
Dr Rainer Hessmer showed us a vision-controlled Lynxmotion robot arm used to playing tic/tac/toe. Here is more information about his project. The software is written in C# and OpenCV. He used the SSC-32 motor controller. His software architecture is based on a hierarchical state machine inspired by Rodney Brooks. A webcam is pointed at the playing field. A simple algorithm determines whether a square is occupied, based on the white-vs-black pixel count. It does not recognize shapes, rather it remembers who's turn it is to distinguish between oh's and x'es. To position a piece, it translates the target position's (X,Y) coordinates into arm movements using inverse kinematics.
Thomas Messersmidt talked about Arduino platform and sensors. Here he is demonstrating a sound sensor connected to the Arduino.
The group discusses range sensors. Please read more about this discussion here.