Robots and Physical Computing

How do you fancy, building and programming a Batmobile? A recently fulfilled Kickstarter project from Circuitmess allows just that  https://circuitmess.com/products/batmobile ;an autonomous 'car' kit, programmable and controlled through a separate controller. It can also be programmed through their  CircuitBlocks environment based on MakeCode and Blockly - this approach is the starting point for this first play. There is not going to be discussion on the building of the controller and the batmobile, in this post; Circuitmess have provided detailed instructions here:  https://circuitmess.com/blogs/resources/batmobile-build-guide   Below is a video showing it off a bit and some of the functions produced by the manufacturers. The video largely shows going through the controller to interact with the Batmobile. You can as well start coding through  https://code.circuitmess.com/  the Circuitmess coding app mentioned earlier, and choose a sketch. The controll...

In previous post I looked at a few on-line robot simulators (see links below) Programming VEX Code Programming  iRobot Simulator Programming Lego EV3 simulator A recent addition to these is the Edbot Studio Virtual Playground https://studio.ed.bot/;   a preview of simulation technology for  Robots in Schools Ltd  Edbot robots.  Two Edbot robots are shown in a gym; you can select actions for the robots to carry out, including Gangam-style dancing and Head Stands. This is really a preview of the tech, rather than a programming option - at the moment . Robots in Schools Ltd, who make the Edbots, say the Virtual Playground will be part of their Edbot Studio a browser-based Environment to allow both coding in Scratch, Python and JavaScript, of both virtual and real robots. I am really curious to see the full Edbot Studio in action when it is released, but for the moment getting virtual robots to dance and kick is still really good fun. The physical robots -EdBot are...

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... PS3 Controller to move a USB Robot Arm Guest Blogger Hiren Mistry, Nuffield Research Placement Student working at the University of Northampton. How to use a PS3 Controller to... Scratch Robot Arm It is not physical but CBiS Education have release a free robot arm simulator for Scratch.  Downloadable from their site  http://w... Tinkercad and Microbit: To make a neuron The free online CAD (and so much more) package Tinkercad  https://www.tinkercad.com/ under circuits; now has microbits as part of the list ... Escape the Maze with a VR robot - Vex VR You don't need to buy a robot to get programming a robot, now there are a range of free and relatively simple to start with robot simula... Easy, Free and no markers Augmented Reality - location based AR For a few years...

The last of the posts on the Hug avoider and the 4Tronix's Eggbit 4Tronix's Eggbit (in fact I bought three of them  https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/collections/bbc-micro-bit/products/eggbit-three-pack-special   :-) recently) is a cute add-on for the microbit. In three previous posts I looked at eggbit using microcode to  produce a hug avoider - warns when people at too close. - https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2021/12/hug-avoider-2-4tronix-eggbit.html -  4tronix Eggbit - cute and wearable - hug avoider Hug Avoider 3 - experiments with Python and 4Tronix Eggbit In this post using the buttons and adding (via Microbit V2 with its speaker) simple speech 1. Buttons Pins for the buttons pin8 - Green button pin12 - Red button pin14 - Yellow button pin`6 - Blue button     if pin12.read_digital()==1:         #Red Button         blank_it()     if pin8.read_digital()==1:         #Green but...

via GIPHY 4Tronix's Eggbit (in fact I bought three of them  https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/collections/bbc-micro-bit/products/eggbit-three-pack-special   :-) recently) is a cute add-on for the microbit (see above).  In two previous posts I looked at eggbit using microcode to  produce a hug avoider - warns when people at too close. - https://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2021/12/hug-avoider-2-4tronix-eggbit.html -  4tronix Eggbit - cute and wearable - hug avoider This post replicates  some of this, but this time using Python and shows the stages of the build Get the ultrasound to find the distance; Produce smile and surprise on the eggbit's 'mouth'; Produce rainbow on the neopixels or all the pixels turning red; Bring it all together so if the person is too close, less than 30cm it reacts.   1. Ultrasonic detection Probably the most challenging bit of this was getting the ultrasonic distance measrement working. It actually is not that difficult; e...

In an earlier post this year (   4tronix Eggbit - cute and wearable - hug avoider ) I played with 4Tronix's Eggbit (in fact I bought three of them  https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/collections/bbc-micro-bit/products/eggbit-three-pack-special   :-) recently). In that one I used a microbit V1. In this post, I am using a microbit V2 and replicating the idea but with adding a sound; when people get too close as a bit of fun and surprise for relatives at christmas.  The code written using Makecode for Microbit ( https://makecode.microbit.org/ ) and the extension for it 4Tronix's developed (see  https://4tronix.co.uk/blog/?p=2485 for more details)   is shown below: Essentially the device goes on; puts a message on the LED display "Hug Avoider 2" and then puts a rainbow on the neopixel syle LEDs and a smile on the small 'mouth' - if the ultrasonic sensor doesn't pick up anyone in front. If the ultrasonic sensor picks up anyone in front; LEDS change to red, a sped-up v...

Easy, Free and no markers Augmented Reality - location based AR For a few years, I have been a fan of Aframe and AR.js - these are fantastic tools for creating web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality.  CrowPi2 - Raspberry Pi laptop and much more. Elcrow in 2020 released on kickstarter and now in pre-order their own site , an interesting take on the Raspberry Pi laptop - 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... June 2021 - 10 Most viewed Blog posts on Robots and Physical computing Blog . Tumbling Turing 1 - initial play with the Turing Tumble @TuringTumble A product that has kept  popping on to my radar has been the intriguing Turing Tumbles    @TuringTumble   Explaining the Tinkercad microbit Neural network In a previous post, I looked at developing a neural network in Tinkercad around the ...