Around the Web

A blog I keep for my own projects and to bookmark posts relating to tech, robots, programming, and messin' around with a Go Pro.

[kineticblissdesigns]

Work in Progress:  SAMURAI

3/4 length black coat with sleeves and detachable hood with samurai armor imitation artwork.  I’ve always wanted to do something armor-like, so I am thoroughly enjoying making this one!

[the-tuckers]

Today's unbelievable flying drone video

[the-tuckers]

My first attempt at time lapse video using the Raspberry Pi and Pi Camera. I followed the great tutorial by fotosyn

Everything worked right away, the only thing I noticed was that the Pi Camera caused the RPi to crash with a "Disabling IRQ #32" error, which I found was due to me using a weak power supply. The wall adapter was rated at 5 volts 550mA, when the Pi model B needs at least 700mA to function properly. 

Enjoy the track at least, as there is not much going on with the cat mostly sleeping all day long. Ah, the life...

Music by Worakls - Porto (Original mix)

[the-tuckers]

Quick video of me training for a performance for the Heineken NYE 2014 Countdown in Saigon, Vietnam

[the-tuckers]

First LilyPad LED project newbie questions

I am trying to add LED decorations using the LilyPad board and LilyPad micro LEDs to this amazing costume made by my wife, and have some beginner questions that was hoping to get some help with. I have played around with the Arduino before and know how to code it, but I am new to figuring out the hardware and all the Ohm's Law values. Any help in answering some basic questions would be much appreciated.

How many LEDs per LilyPad petal?

According to Leah Buechley's design for her turn signal jacket, you can string 7 LEDs onto one petal on the LilyPad:

But according to the specs on of the LilyPad Main Board the DC current per I/O Pin is only 40 mA. Assuming that each LED will consume around 20mA of current, how is it possible to string 7 of them together onto one petal?

Unless each LED is eating way less than the 20mA's?

Which lilyPad board and battery do I need? For my project I would like to use around 40 LEDs per LilyPad. I had originally thought of going with the LilyPad Main board and some AAA batteries, but then ran across the lilyPad Simple with the built in JST connector for a LiPo battery. As far as I can tell these are the same, just less petals on the Simple one, plus the JST connector.

Can the Simple board be used to blink or strobe LEDs as well as the Main one of three petals?

For the battery, If each LED consumes around 20mA, and I have 40 of them, then I do I need a LiPo with at least 800mA output? And more since the conductive thread has a resistance that I need to account for?

Ohm's Law Not sure how I would use Ohm's Law here. I know that I will need several feet of conductive thread (will use one that has 9 ohms per foot resistance) So if I have 3 feet, at 9 ohms, then If I do all the calculations, I get the following:

Voltage (E): 21V Current (I): 800 mA (assuming that’s how much I need for 40 LEDs) Resistance (R): 27 (3 feet * 9 ohms per foot) Ohms Power (P): 17.28 Watts

I know that these values are wrong (21V!) but not sure what should I be using Ohm's Law to calculate in the first place?

Any help (in the comments) in regards to any of this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

[the-tuckers]

The Cubli: a cube that can jump up, balance, and 'walk'

This work was done at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich, Switzerland and was funded in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), grant number 146717. For more details visit: http://www.idsc.ethz.ch/Research_DAndrea/Cubli

[itsok2geek-blog]

COOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!

[the-tuckers]

I am starting to learn the rope dart myself. Here is an expert. Very beautiful.

[twicr]

This robot baby dinosaur is amazing and adorable but where could this kind of technology take us? That’s what makes it super creepy at the same time. 

[buckyprojects-blog]

Overview Geometric Lotus - Originally designed and built by Ian Keller for his senior design project.  Donated to the KOI Buners of Cincinnati, Ohio after Scorched Nuts 2011 (Ohio’s official Burning Man regional.)  This video is after it was reprogrammed from Ian’s senior thesis code (colors analogous to the BP logo) to the original “Full Rainbow” code.  Effectively, I am it’s caretaker.  The only improvements I’ve made to the hardware were some mounting arms on the back so we could wall mount it, and some hot glue to keep the wires secured to the Arduinos. Background Arduino Powered: 1x Arduino Due, 1x Arduino Duelminalove provided to replace Ian’s by a KOI Pound member.  The project has two brains because Ian uses the hardware PWM channels (6 each, 12 total) to drive two rings of common cathode RGB LEDs mounted on the back of the lotus structure.  Each arduino has slightly different code that starts the RGB fade in a different spot in the sequence, such that the flower pushes color from inner most LED ring to outermost.