Saturday 12 June 2021

4tronix Eggbit - cute and wearable - hug avoider

/


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/EggBit



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 the look means it has the potential to encourage a wide range of people to experiment with it.





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
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Monday 31 May 2021

10 mosts read posts on the Robots and Physical computing Blog - May 2021



  • Quick 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.

















  • Scratch Robot Arm
    It is not physical but CBiS Education have release a free robot arm simulator for Scratch. 










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
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Saturday 8 May 2021

Quick 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.

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%20a%20minor%20triad. to get the notes in combination with the MIDI notes list (I still think I got it wrong!)
use_synth :prophet
2.times do
  play 71
  play 62
  play 66
  sleep 0.5
  play 69
  play 60
  play 64
  sleep 0.5
  play 67
  play 70
  play 62
  sleep 0.5
end
4.times do
  play 67
  play 70
  play 62
  sleep 0.25
end
4.times do
  play 69
  play 60
  play 64
  sleep 0.25
end
play 71
play 62
play 66
sleep 0.5
play 69
play 60
play 64
sleep 0.5
play 67
play 70
play 62
sleep 0.5


Adding sound effects is great fun - same code as above with a slightly techno sound to it

use_synth :prophet
with_fx :ixi_techno do
  2.times do
    play 71
    play 62
    play 66
    sleep 0.5
    play 69
    play 60
    play 64
    sleep 0.5
    play 67
    play 70
    play 62
    sleep 0.5
  end
  4.times do
    play 67
    play 70
    play 62
    sleep 0.25
  end
  4.times do
    play 69
    play 60
    play 64
    sleep 0.25
  end
  play 71
  play 62
  play 66
  sleep 0.5
  play 69
  play 60
  play 64
  sleep 0.5
  play 67
  play 70
  play 62
  sleep 0.5
end

or alternatively

use_synth :prophet
with_fx :ixi_techno do
  2.times do
    play chord(:b4, :minor7)
    sleep 0.5
    play chord(:a4, :minor7)
    sleep 0.5
    play chord(:g4, :minor7)
    sleep 0.5
  end
  4.times do
    play chord(:g4, :minor7)
    sleep 0.25
  end
  4.times do
    play chord(:a4, :minor7)
    sleep 0.25
  end
  play chord(:b4, :minor7)
  sleep 0.5
  play chord(:a4, :minor7)
  sleep 0.5
  play chord(:g4, :minor7)
  sleep 0.5
end

I am the first to admit I have little musical knowledge but playing with Sonic Pi is still good fun; just changing the sound effects (like changing it to whammy and getting it sounding like aliens) is enjoyable.

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
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Friday 30 April 2021

April 2021 Top 10 most read post on Robots and Physical Computing blog

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
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Thursday 15 April 2021

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 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 lot of the possible combinations of direction for the motors. When the program is run it moves in (and draws squiggly lines) mostly, in arcs. There is still some work to be done on controlling it. It is sensitive to wires being touched, perhaps thinner wires connect the Crumble (figure 3) and the motors? The motors are perhaps not strong enough - though it does move, so perhaps stronger motors, upping the percentage power to the motors or upping the voltage (currently 4.5 to 6v and still within the capacities of the motors)?


It is good fun; there is a lot that can be experimented with,  placement and direction of the motors just being one area.





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Friday 9 April 2021

Junkbots 2 - eggbot2


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 (https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-software/) used to test the system is shown below.




It moves and changing the direction of the motors does seem to have an effect.


What needs to be done?
  • There is a need for the motors more securely and the same with the wires to the motors. At the moment the motors falling off and wires disconnecting are the biggest problems. 
  • Trying out the new model with pens to get it to draw is part of the next iteration. 
  • Investigating the effect of directions and speed of the motors also needs to be investigated.






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
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Friday 2 April 2021

Most read posts on the Robots and Physical computing Blog - March 2021


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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
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