Rein's Cyberspaceplace » Theo’s Mechanic Ape http://www.velt.org PHP, electronics, embedded software, Mechanic Apes and more.... Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:25:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Vlieger luchtfoto’s uit Katwijk http://www.velt.org/archives/116 http://www.velt.org/archives/116#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:21:37 +0000 Rein http://www.velt.org/?p=116 These pictures where taken with a Flycam HD camera, a kite and 200 meters line above the beach of Katwijk aan Zee.
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
Vlieger foto's Katwijk aan Zee
]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/116/feed 0 TMABot 1.0 released http://www.velt.org/archives/102 http://www.velt.org/archives/102#comments Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:09:39 +0000 Rein http://www.velt.org/?p=102 The TMABot is a small robot we have built to learn more about robotics, collision avoidance and detection, path planning, etc… This document describes how you can make your own copy of TMABot and how to modify it. 

The latest version of this document is available from http://mechanicape.com/tmabot

Table of contents
Introduction

The TMABot is our newest robot and is developed to learn more about different kind of sensors, collision avoidance and path-planning. We built the robot with parts we had available in our lab.

Functional requirements

We have a few functional demands:

  • The robot must be easy to build
  • It should be easy to modify to robot
  • The robot should be able to avoid obstacles and be friendly to the environment
  • The robot must be connected to other devices (microcontrollers, communication, etc) to extent the possibilities
Technical design

Below is a picture of all major components

Parts

Below is a list of the parts we used for the robot with supplier and estimated costs in euro’s

Part Manufacturer Type Supplier Estimated cost
Arduino duemilanove Arduino 2009 Sparfun.com euro 20
Ardumoto Sparkfun — Sparfun.com euro 15
DC motor (x2) various — conrad.nl euro 25
Battery 12V various — conrad.nl euro 50
Sonar (x2) Sparkfun SRF02 Sparfun.com euro 15
IR distance sensor Sharp — conrad.nl euro 15
Microswitch (x2) various — Sparfun.com euro 1
wires & connectors various — conrad.nl euro 5
Wheels (x2) various — conrad.nl euro 15
Wheelhub (x2) various — conrad.nl euro 10
Putting the parts together
  1. Find a piece of flat wood (triplex, multiplex, MDF) size: 25x25cm
  2. Connect the motors to the bottom side.
  3. Connect the wheels and wheelhub to the motor
  4. Attach the arduino to the upper side.
  5. Attach the battery
  6. Attach the Sonar sensors (front-left and front-right)
  7. Attach the Sharp sensor (front-center)
  8. Attach the Compass on top (as far from the motors as possible)
  9. Attach the Microswitches to the front-left and front-right side of the wood. They will be used as bumpers
  10. Connect all devices to the Arduino (see electronics diagram)
Electronics

Below is a picture of the Arduino Duemilanove microcontroller with the connected devices/sensors. Please consult the datasheet of your hardware to check the pins before you connect them to the Arduino.

Software
The latest version of the software is free available from http://mechanicape.com/tmabot
]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/102/feed 0 Augmented reality experiments part 1 http://www.velt.org/archives/98 http://www.velt.org/archives/98#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:48:32 +0000 Rein http://www.velt.org/?p=98

]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/98/feed 0 The PHP ElePHPant gadget http://www.velt.org/archives/91 http://www.velt.org/archives/91#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:21:48 +0000 Rein http://www.velt.org/?p=91

The ElePHPant gadget is based on the PHP ElePHPant. It is a plastic ElePHPant-shaped casing containing an Arduino microcontroller board, some sensors and actuators. It is currently in the planning stage.

The ElePHPant gadget will be developed in coorporation with PHPBenelux. The design, hardware and software will be published under the Creative Commons License.

Please contact us if you want to join this project. We will appreciate it very much.

]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/91/feed 6 Robot Mobility Module design published http://www.velt.org/archives/85 http://www.velt.org/archives/85#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:31:33 +0000 Rein http://www.velt.org/?p=85 Yesterday, i published the first version of the design for the Robot Mobility Module. You can take a look at the documentation and feed us (the Mechanic Apes )with your comments. Now we started building the chassis for this robot (as specified in the design documentation). We will show you some photos within a couple of days. Stay tuned…or join us at the Alexander Gogelweg 12 in The Hague, NL

]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/85/feed 1 Arduino autonomous flightmachine firmware published http://www.velt.org/archives/38 http://www.velt.org/archives/38#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:57:26 +0000 Rein We are currently busy building a autonomous flying robot. Yesterday we published the first version of the software and firmware at our software repository.

The documentation is lacking at this moment, but within a week or two we will publish all documentation and specifications.

Please contact us for more information. We will be pleased to help you.

Read more

]]> http://www.velt.org/archives/38/feed 0 Supralogica maps browser http://www.velt.org/archives/68 http://www.velt.org/archives/68#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:00:51 +0000 Rein Last weekend i made a prototype for a new webapplication. The application makes it possible to browse and zoom old maps created by the famous dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu. This application is a prototype and should be optimized in the near future, so don't complain when things are not as fast as you expected.

You can see the working application at http://supralogica.com

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