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Monthly Archives: December 2011
GIRC Distance Commands
In the above illustration, the first Command Element has a command code of 44, which tells us that it is a Move command, and that we are to move 360 plus whatever is in the second Command Element minus 33. … Continue reading
GIRC Turn Codes
Here we make a 76 degree right turn in GIRC, and this information has to be sent over the USB/Serial cable to the microcontroller aboard the robot. This communication is done with a control code pair. As shown, the first … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged control codes, GIRC, processing, robotics, serial, serial port, turn
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GIRC Path Data Conversion
The user inputs path data to GIRC by clicking points on the screen. Processing then draws segments between the points and calculates x,y coordinate data. This data is then converted into distance and turn data which will then be sent … Continue reading
Five Stages of Programmer’s Grief
I knew this, but I forgot it yesterday when I was working on GIRC. This convention of inverting the y-axis for screen display isn’t peculiar to Processing, it’s common to many programming languages. There is a way to change the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 6 x 9, five stages of programmer's grief, GIRC, processing, screen coordinates
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GIRC Path Calculations
(ATTN Google Searchers: Click here for Generation Starship Orinoco.) The user guides the robot in GIRC by creating a path. The path is composed of segments which are created by mouse clicks. The program calculates the length (or distance traveled) … Continue reading
Arduino Cheapbot gets a Mini Breadboard Makeover
Videos of delivery guys gone wild may be viral these days, but Santa Zero was good to me and delivered these presents intact and on time. They will help in making my cheapbot kit a reality. I’ve only just browsed … Continue reading
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Tagged arduino, arduino internals, cheapbot, mini breadboard, phototransistor, robot, robotics
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GIRC data display with Processing
GIRC (Graphical Interface for Robotic Control) is a program (aka sketch) that is written in Processing and enables the user to graphically program my robot to follow a course. The poor little microcontroller doesn’t understand computer graphics, so I have … Continue reading
Arduino robot with phototransistor mode switch (attempt #1)
I have a program (aka ‘sketch’) which steers my arduino robot (ie, cheapbot) in a square path. I revised it to use a phototransistor as a mode switch between standby and act (ie, move) modes. Originally, I used the delay() … Continue reading
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Tagged arduino, cheapbot, mode switch, phototransistor, robot
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Starship Orinoco
Starship Orinoco is a generation-type starship. It is fusion powered and has a cruise velocity of five to ten percent the speed of light. Hence it takes decades to travel to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to our sun. The … Continue reading
Engineer Zero 