[chbot] next Meeting Wed 21st july 2010

Thu Jun 17 05:45:27 BST 2010

I have seen this project and it is very well done with the little
resources used.

On 6/16/10, william <fleetwil at gmail.com> wrote:
> for the next meeting I would like to show everyone some projects I have
> done.
> if you don't know me, I am william47316 on bright sparks and I have done a
> few interesting projects involving 08M picaxe-s and shift registers. by the
> time the next meeting comes around I may have finished my second prototype
> and my 60mm high large proto
> currently my second prototype needs a replacement display and some finishing
> touches and I need parts for my large one
>
> the displays use an 08M controlling nine 8 bit shift registers using a 595
> for addressing the other 8 strobe lines with common data and clock rails
> total of 4 outputs controlling 64. the picaxe receives 8 bytes of serial
> data and processes them to the display eg the ASCII numbers and a few
> letters get processed as display codes the rest can be for custom displays
>
> the driver shift registers are ucn5841's which can be used on inductive or
> other power loads and have Darlington outputs
> they work quite nicely on the 08M and will drive common anode loads also a
> plus that they are extremely robust
>
>
> I can bring along my initial version, and the other two when they are
> completely finished, my first version has a picaxe based clock I made too.
>
> I may also bring along some other things I have eg a fan heater which I
> replaced the mechanical thermostat with a Dallas temperature sensor and
> picaxe controller which also displays temperature and function on my
> display. and my old toshy which I have made some software which can control
> the display via the serial port
>
> to control the display you can send it at least 8 bytes of ASCII numbers or
> other codes at 4800baud
> to plug in you will need a two wire cable with either a DB9 female connector
> or 3 pin header with wiring on the outer pins (of the header) or ground on
> pin 5 and data on pin 2 for the DB9 plug. and a plug which connects to the
> serial port output on your project/device
>
> for other info check http://www.brightsparks.org.nz/#/forum/33/topic/8961/
>> Meeting Report Wed 16 June 2010
>>
>> Sixteen people attended and the collection raised $17 for which
>> Science Alive will be very gratefully received. Our next meeting will
>> be on Wednesday 21st July 2010 in the Science Alive Seminar Room. I
>> have a fancy screwdriver that was left in the room, and King has
>> misplaced a laptop power lead. Please get in touch via the mailing
>> list if you can help get these back to their owners.
>>
>> Mark suggested we move to monthly meetings and a majority thought this
>> was a good idea. Science Alive have agreed and the room is available
>> for the remainder of the year, so we now meet on the 3rd Wednesday of
>> every month.
>>
>> Kay showed us incredible jointed moving models of dragon, cat,
>> trebuchet, and a remote controlled model Roman Galley. Constructed
>> from scratch many using his home made electric scroll saw, and
>> intricate carving. Must be seen to be appreciated.
>>
>> Peter brought along the MKII lawn mower prototype electronics and a
>> huge motor platform on which they run. Now based on ATMega328, state
>> machines drawn in Dia and auto generated code, FET Motor control, with
>> HM6532 compass module. The platform wiggled across the room nicely on
>> a set bearing. Peter also mentioned that it is very good at turning
>> towards large metal filing cabinets. I think it should be called Luke
>> as it uses the force.
>>
>> Robin spoke about his 32 channel automatic watering system hosted on a
>> Linksys WRT54G wireless router running openwrt. The system is web
>> controlled using json objects delivered to a browser that overlays
>> control rectangles over a satellite image of the property for the gui
>> control interface. The web server uses open source
>> http://code.google.com/p/mongoose/ which readily integrates the
>> control function calls. The same json file delivered to the browser is
>> also used in the server to associate the 1 wire IC addresses with the
>> active areas on the gui. The water solenoid valves are controlled
>> using 70c triacs, driven by 1 wire chips that interface to the wrt54
>> via a serial to 1 wire converter avoiding the need to write kernel
>> drivers. A current transformer protects the well pump by shutting down
>> the system if the water solenoids are not drawing the appropriate
>> power demanded by the system.
>>
>> Sachin presented his work using genetic algorithms. He showed a
>> demonstration of a genetic algorithm approach to generating a
>> photographic image using ascii art. Then a demo of using genetic
>> algorithms to evolve a player for the  open source game Tenix. Each
>> solution was iteratively refined using a fitness score, mutations were
>> found to be counter productive above 0.5%. Eventually Sachin wants to
>> teach his crab hexapod to learn how to move using the  genetic
>> algorithm approach. Sachin has posted his open source projects on
>> Google code here: http://code.google.com/p/neural-network-classes/ and
>> here http://code.google.com/p/tennix/
>>
>> Charles brought along his half size Dalek to be used at a wedding in
>> February. Charles spoke about the journey towards making the Dalek
>> involving glues and PVA not setting when sandwiched between
>> polystyrene, completing his CNC machine, a vacuum forming jig that we
>> saw last time, and different paint and shape choices. The Dalek is
>> looking very impressive.
>>
>> Thanks to all those who came and especially those who presented their
>> work.
>>
>> Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 21st July at 6.30pm.
>>
>> Photos here :
>> http://picasaweb.google.com/113134050398543502524/ChchRobotics16June2010?feat=directlink
>>
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>>
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>
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