Robots and Physical Computing

From Nursery Rhymes to Algorithmic Art: A Maker’s Journey with Sonic Pi For many in the STEM community, the "A" in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) can feel like a high fence. We are comfortable with logic gates, sensor arrays, and Python loops, but "music theory" often feels like a foreign language. I will be the first to admit: I have zero musical ability. I don’t play an instrument, and sheet music looks like an encrypted text to me. However, I do understand code. And that is why Sonic Pi is such a revelation for the maker and educator community. It turns music into a physical computing project where the "wires" are lines of Ruby-based code and the "output" is an immersive soundscape The Entry Point: Deconstructing the "Hot Cross Buns" Every maker starts with "Hello World." In the world of music education, that equivalent is often "Hot Cross Buns." It’s a simple, three-note descend...

Most read posts on the Robots and Physical computing Blog Popular posts from this blog Make yourself a virtual gallery -  March 06, 2021 This short post builds on the previous posts (below), unless ... Eggbot 2- the drawing crumble junkbot. figure 1 An earlier post    https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2021/04/junkbots-2-eggbot2.html  discussed the start of the deve... Speech Recognition in Scratch 3 - turning Hello into Bonjour! The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently released a programming activity Alien Language , with support Dale from Machine Learning for Kids , tha... Junkbots 2 - eggbot2 A new iteration of the junkbots project or more accurately the Crumble-based eggbot sub-project ( https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspo... WebVR 3 Playtime: Augmented Reality I am going to try to persuade you that using A-Frame it is not hard to do some simple Augmented Reality (AR) for free, via a browser, but th... Scratch Robot Arm It is not physical but...

figure 1 An earlier post    https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2021/04/junkbots-2-eggbot2.html  discussed the start of the development of a two motored Crumble (from Redfern Electronics) based 'junk-bot'; based around controlling vibrating motors   ( https://amzn.to/3mtxEy9 )  to move the bot. This post focuses on addressing some of the issues raised in the earlier post. The motors are now glued, via a glue gun, onto the plastic egg (figure 2) and four felt-tip pens are also glued on (see figure 1 above) so there is a firm connection to the egg. Setting the pens in the right positions is the trickest part of the process and you are probably best to experiment with tape / sticky tack before finally gluing them in place. figure 2 figure 3 I like the Crumble for this task because it is designed to control two motors using a simple graphical programming language, without any extra hardware. figure 4 The program shown in figure 4 is trying out a lo...

A new iteration of the junkbots project or more accurately the Crumble-based eggbot sub-project ( https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2017/10/crumble-based-junk-eggbot.html ) is underway.  Previously it has been built around a single vibrating motor, 'controlled' in the loose sense by a Crumble Controller. ( https://amzn.to/3dNl09e ). The new development is to use smaller vibrating motors but two of them, controlled by the Crumble.  This post looks at the early stage of the development and suggests where to go next.  Currently,  two vibrating motors ( https://amzn.to/3mtxEy9 ) have been attached horizontally to half a plastic egg (figure 1), the kind you can find in dispensing machine with plastic toys, but Kinder Egg ones can also be used. A Crumble is used to control the motors separately (figure 2) by changing the motor's direction. Health warning: It is never going to accurate control but that is part of the charm. Figure 1 Figure 2 The Crumble code (...

Popular posts from this blog Make yourself a virtual gallery -  March 06, 2021 This short post builds on the previous posts (below), unless you have used A-Frame before please have a look at these: WebVR playtime 1: Basics of setting up, images and rotating blocks. WebVR playtime 2: video, 360 video and objects Using Glitch  ( https://glitch.com/ ) as a web development and hosting tool. We are going to create the start of a virtual Gallery, essentially 4 rectangles that images can be posted on, a cylinder that also images can be wrapped around and the floor and the sky. To do it following is posted into the index.hml <html>  <head>     <script src="https://aframe.io/releases/1.2.0/aframe.min.js">   </script>  </head>  <body>      <a-scene>          <a-box position="-1 2 -1"  rotation="0 -30 0" color="white" depth="2"  height="4" width="0.5"...

Code Bug has been around for a while, and it is incredibly cute, When it first came, it was a very interesting piece of kit - and it is still is and fun to play with. It spec means it is still a very useful piece of kit. 5x5 Red LED display 2 buttons 6 touch sensitive I/O pads (4 input/output, power and ground) Micro USB socket CR2032 battery holder Expansion port for I2C, SPI and UART Blockly-based online programming interface CodeBug emulator for checking code before downloading In 2020 Code Bug launched and successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codebug/codebug-connect-cute-colourful-and-programmable-iot-wearable ) for a new version the Code Bug - CodeBug Connect with a serious upgrade.(and the name Connect is highly appropriate with USB tethering and Wifi capability in this version. The technical specification (taken from their site https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codebug/codebug-connect-cute-colourful-and-programmable-iot-wearable ...