Robots and Physical Computing

I wanted to contol the CBiS micro:Bit Car via gestures whilst holding another micro:Bit (see Figure 1) I went for: - Button A in combination with moving the micro:bit left or right, moves 'Car' forwards or backwards; - Button B in combination with moving the micro:bit rotated forward or backwards, turns the 'Car' left or right; Perhaps not the most logical combination but fun. Figure 1: CBiS micro:bit car and 'controller' micro:bit The inspiration from this remote car idea came from four sources - CBiS Education site and seeing them demonstrating it; - Technology with Save Us Micro:bot Radio Control website  ; - DrBadgr blog on the Lunch Box robot ; - A twitter conversation @jobadge @scottturneruon #simples pic.twitter.com/1pXJEyNrSn — Lorraine Underwood (@LMcUnderwood) May 1, 2017 The approach taken is simple; the Controller micro:bit has the following operations (see Figure 2 for the PXT code) Buttons A+B ...

As a bit of fun some videos using Anki's Cozmo. Did really mean for this one to be as dark as this. Moody Cozmo - Normally happy, but just don't put it on it's side. Related link:  http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/cozmo.html  All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Recently bought a Bigtrak Rover, kind of the smaller 'sibling' of a Bigtrak (see above).  Mobile Phone It has the some of the same functionality as the Bigtrak, though no cannon sound. Control is via an iPhone or Android phone app, giving the same direction and number of steps functions (see below) found on the larger Bigtrak. Control via another device. What is different to the Bigtrak is it can be controlled remotely from a PC, Mac or Tablet via a web interface. It also uses the phone's camera to provide a video stream and remote control via on-screen controls. What it doesn't have is programmable control (or I haven't found it yet). The web interface is Flash based; so there may be problems running this on iPads. Overall A Nice, little robot that use the phone to control the robot.  A set of cones gives the option of setting up an obstacle course. Once the app is installed it is very easy to get going with this.  Wou...

At PiWars 2017 (1st-2nd April 2017), thanks to the generosity of CBiS Education , I now have one of their  BBC micro:bit RobotCar ™  . It is a sturdy bit of kit, encased in an aluminum chassis with a clear acrylic screen - it feels substantial when you pick it up.  It is based around fours motors, control by a Micro:Bit, via L298N based motor controller/shield. Batteries power, 8 AAs, the motors and a Lithium powerbank to power the Micro:Bit - all included.  More information about the technical details and example software can be found on their site  https://www.cbis.education/robotic-car-kit#  including further details on the  L298N based motor controller/shield, which I found useful for programming it.   I have experimented briefly with programming it in Python (micropython), getting it to it move forward, backward; to the right and left, using the Mu editor.  The code is shown below for those who want to try i...

I was only able to stay at Pi Wars for a short while on Saturday 1st April. Even so, as a spectator, it was good fun. Here are a few pictures (and a video) for the day. Skittles - The course designers don't make anything easy. Golf Course Obstacle Course  It was not all robots, here is a Pi Controlled Drum Machine My new toys All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Continuing to play with PXT ( http://pxt.microbit.org ) and the Micro:bit, I wanted to try this in combination with a  Proto-Pic Micro-pixel board with its 32 neopixel LEDs. The routine (shown in the screenshot below) use the Neopixels package (use the add package option on the menu to add it) to do two things: On pressing button B - cycle through the colours and shift the colour to the next pixel producing a shifting pattern. On pressing button  A - the pixels are cleared one by one. Code is shown above, and thank you to Jonathan " Peli" de Halleux ( @ pelikhan )  for pointing out the redundant code I had left in, it is appreciated. The video below shows the system in action: You can try the code out in the simulator below: All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Just been playing with Microsoft's PXT language for the Micro:bit  - so had a go at 'Hot Cross Buns'. Nice to see it shows in the simulator the wiring connections to the speakers. Hot-Cross Buns - runs on either button A or B being  pressed.  By the way if the sound is anoying you, press the stop button on the simulator below. All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon