Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

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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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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

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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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Real, Photoshop, or Movie CGI?

Answer is here.

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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

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Phototransistor as robot mode switch

Here’s the thing about cheapbot: as soon as you program it, it wants to go. It really needs a mode switch with two modes: one to accept commands, and the other to execute them. Also I want to be able … Continue reading

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Arduino and Phototransistor

Here is the experiment with the photocell replaced with a phototransistor, the NTE3034A. Here is the flashlight OFF data from the Arduino IDE serial monitor: Here is the flashlight ON data: This phototransistor is actually designed for infrared, so I … Continue reading

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Arduino and Photocell

This is an experiment out of the Getting Started with Arduino book. As you can see, an analog port is connected to a circuit with a photocell (Radio Shack part 276-1657) and resistor (220 ohm). I used a flashlight to … Continue reading

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Arduino Monster Robot

For Halloween, I thought I would try to make a glowing monster mask for my budget arduino robot. Here’s the original, somewhat overly ambitious plan that I made: Since I already had the robot, the first thing I had to … Continue reading

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