Robots and Physical Computing

/ The ever-brilliant 4tronix have produced Eggbit https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/collections/microbit-accessories/products/eggbit;  a cute, wearable device, with ultrasonic sensors, buttons and LEDs for the microbit - I couldn't resist. Programming is through Makecode and an extension is available, to download and install. To use the extension, at the time of writing this, go through the add extension option and use the search box to add it  from  https://github.com/4tronix/EggBi t So what to do with it? Inspired by social distancing  (or not being a 'hugger')  created it so that when people get too close the RGB LEDs go out - simple but fun. The distance is set at 20cm for testing. The code is shown below. It was fun to do and perhaps swapping the settings around so the lights come on when people at too close might be more fun or using sound. This is a lovely device to play with and the look encourages play - just look how cute it is! The price is reasonable and th...

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  Q uick Play with SonicPi I often play with the brilliant Sonic Pi  https://sonic-pi.net/   for a bit of fun, but let's be clear I have no musical ability. April 2021 Top 10 most read post on Robots and Physical Computing blog Most read posts on the Robots and Physical computing Blog Popular posts from this blog Make yourself a virtual gallery 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 simulation. PS3 Controller to move a USB Robot Arm Guest Blogger Hiren Mistry, Nuf...

I often play with the brilliant Sonic Pi  https://sonic-pi.net/   for a bit of fun, but let's be clear I have no musical ability. To get my head around it I tried turning thee one tune I know "Hot Cross Buns" for the recorder into a tune. I found a useful webpage  https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/notes.html  to turn the notes into the MIDI number (60, etc) . Played with the synthesier sounds and choose tech_saw just because I liked it. The code is below use_synth :tech_saws 2.times do   play 71   sleep 0.5   play 69   sleep 0.5   play 67   sleep 0.5 end 4.times do   play 67   sleep 0.25 end 4.times do   play 69   sleep 0.25 end play 71 sleep 0.5 play 69 sleep 0.5 play 67 Also tried it with changing the synth to prophet Also tried to make it a bit more mournful (possible slightly aggressive) with minor chords - I used  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_chord#:~:text=In%20music%20theory%2C%20a%20minor,is%20called...

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"...