Hi Charles, hello Christchurch Robotics<br><br>Thanks for the ideas and feedback Charles and begrudgingly I think I must admit that the blinking light does indeed include a component of necessity. <br><br>One idea I'm chewing over (as a result of Charles' feedback) is to use the blinking light example to build a basic animatronic head (with blinking lights from the first article being used for eyes), the servo gives movement to the head in the second article and the LDR's/IR's gives tracking for the 3rd article.<br>
The end product may end up being a 'head' on a servo where the maker can decorate/manipulate the 'skin' to their desire and it follows passers by. Heh, that just makes me laugh my evil laugh just thinking about the applications of such a monstrous thing and it's opportunity to scare the daylights out of my better half.<br>
<br>Having said all this, I suspect even the most basic project will be hard pressed to fit into a few mag pages so if anyone has any ideas or comments (positive or negative) I would be most appreciative of your opinion.<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Tim<br>MindKits Chief Ninja<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:37 AM, Charles Manning <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:manningc2@actrix.gen.nz">manningc2@actrix.gen.nz</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
You must include the blinking LED. It is a rite of passage. It is an offering<br>
to the Embedded Gods. If you do not make it then you will have a hard life<br>
with lots of blown chips etc. Like any journey you mist start out right! :-)<br>
<br>
Getting the led blinking means you've got all the toolchain, cables and<br>
programming working. Enough for the first article.<br>
<br>
But you want to make something a bit more interesting quite soon. Preferably<br>
something that has some action.<br>
<br>
A few cool(ish) ideas:<br>
<br>
* 2 LDRs as On/Off touch switches. When you cover the LDR the ambient light is<br>
blocked and the output turns on/off.<br>
<br>
* 2 LDRs mounted on a servo that can track light.<br>
<br>
* Digital lock using DS2401 single wire serial number chips as keys. Save<br>
a "database" of keys in EEPROM.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
On Monday 03 August 2009 23:00:01 Tim Carr wrote:<br>
> Hi all, I'm hoping I may be able to help me with some ideas. I've been<br>
> asked by APC Magazine in Australia to write a series of articles related to<br>
> getting started with Arduino. APC have picked up on the growing popularity<br>
> of the platform and I've been tasks with writing a complete beginners<br>
> article that gives them an interesting grounding in Arduino in just 2-3<br>
> magazine pages and followed on by one or two more advanced articles.<br>
><br>
> The challenge I see is not so much in the technology but in picking an<br>
> interesting first project that leaves them with the desire to experiment<br>
> and extend their knowledge. As a result I'm loath to start with the<br>
> blinking light 'hello world' as I imagine there must be better options that<br>
> haven't been thrashed. I must admit though, at this point it really does<br>
> seem to be the best fit. Please prove me wrong....please.<br>
><br>
> So, my question is this: When you started building robots, what really took<br>
> your fancy and what do you feel may be a good starting 'micro-project' for<br>
> others to start with?<br>
><br>
> One aim (that may be asking too much) is to develop the howto in such a way<br>
> that the initial article demonstrates the key essential elements of Arduino<br>
> setup and use while being easily extended in the second article to produce<br>
> something fun and functional. So perhaps the first may be setting up a<br>
> servo to move and the second may make it follow the light (I'm not sure if<br>
> that's too hard for newbies but you get my drift).<br>
><br>
> Thanks in advance for any thought you can share on this.<br>
<br>
<br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Regards,<br>Tim<br>MindKits Chief Ninja<br>