Blogroll
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- March 2023
- February 2023
- November 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- April 2021
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- December 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- February 2017
- June 2016
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
Meta
Monthly Archives: January 2012
Arduino reads screen flashes with phototransistor
This is the first test of the communication system as described in the previous entry. The flashes are one millisecond, followed by a one second delay. The serial monitor informs me that the microcontroller is able to count them. Here’s … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arduino, communications, phototransistor, processing, robotics
Leave a comment
Computer/Arduino Communication Via Phototransistor
Here’s the basic idea: I’ll send commands to the Arduino by flashing a rectangle on the screen and having a phototransistor on the Arduino read the light level. The above photo shows the test bed set-up. This is very similar … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arduino, Atmel, communications, phototransistor, robot, robotics, serial-ttl
1 Comment
Time to Clean Out My Spam Filter
I have a new hobby, collecting spam bot comments. Yes, I’m mystified too. Bear in mind that spam bots attack blogs because they want their comment published with its embedded link that will help the spammer promote his product. Since … Continue reading
Robot Chassis with Plastic Ball Caster
This is the 1″ plastic ball caster that I ordered from Robotshop. The white ball pops out of the black holder, which has three bolt holes to secure it to the robot chasis. I positioned the holder on the wooden … Continue reading
Casters for a Small Robot
Poor little cheapbot is undergoing surgery this week. The purpose is to change the caster wheel, but in the end the whole chassis will be replaced. Because I’m trying to build my ‘cheapbot’ robot out of readily available parts, I … Continue reading
GIRC test drive on blocks
GIRC (Graphical Interface for Robotic Control) is a ‘sketch’ written in Processing that enables user to draw a path file, save and reload, and transfer control codes to an Arduino-brained robot. The magnitudes of the turns and distances haven’t been … Continue reading
Disorganized workspace, organized mind (I hope)
Today I verified that the Arduino sketch still runs the servos, and then I did some organizing and planning. The note card on the left shows the listing for GIRC control codes (so far). On the right, I wrote out … Continue reading
A problem with Arduino arrays?
For days now I’ve been trying to troubleshoot why my computer and arduino won’t talk over the serial port. Finally, I took to commenting out all the arduino code and adding it back one line at a time. I assumed … Continue reading
PC to Arduino: Serial BOF and EOF control codes
(First of all, I’ve tried to train myself to refer to the data sent over the serial port as ‘command codes’ but I always find myself lapsing into calling them ‘control codes.’ So I give up for today.) Here’s what … Continue reading
Engineer Zero 