Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #08997



To: "'beam@sgiblab.sgi.com'" beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Wilf Rigter Wilf.Rigter@powertech.bc.ca
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:20:45 -0800
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: SIMPLIFIED D1 CIRCUIT


Hello Scott,

This little circuit uses a pies speaker to make a wide range of nice
warbling songbird sounds with a bit of chaos thrown in to keep things
interesting. Note the capacitive modulation input to the bicore sound
generator. The circuit responds to light by changing it's sound repertoire.

regards

wilf


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Burns [SMTP:s-burns@uiuc.edu]
> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2000 6:18 AM
> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> Subject: RE: SIMPLIFIED D1 CIRCUIT
>
> The noises that Piezo elements make tend to be harsh. Is there a circuit
> that will make a piezo speaker emit a nice "bing" sound?
>
> Scott
> s-burns@uiuc.edu
>
> At 03:06 PM 1/8/2000 -0800, you wrote:
> >Right-On that sonic D1 idea Richard! Another point to consider is that
> >making sounds with a piezo speaker takes a lot less current than making
> >lights with LEDs. So a combined audio-visual performance with the LEDs
> in
> >sync with the "music" will not appreciably increase total supply current.
> >Besides sound can be generated with the supply less than 1V, well below
> the
> >point the LEDs go out.
> >
> >regards
> >
> >wilf
> >
> >----------
> >From: Richard Caudle
> >To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> >Sent: 1/8/00 1:37:15 PM
> >Subject: Re: SIMPLIFIED D1 CIRCUIT
> >
> >Evening Wilf (et al),
> >
> >You could also use sound as an initiating method. Instead of it being
> off
> >for X number of minutes, it would be off until the sound level makes it
> >activate. That way the operational time could be extended even more,
> with
> >the possibility of making it through until the next morning so that the
> >voltage level never makes it the the 'death' point. Put a battery and
> solar
> >charger on it and you have a fully functional robot 90+% of the time!
> >
> >Just another HPV thingy insinuating itself into the conversation!
> >
> >Richard



8998 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:29:13 -0800 [alt-beam] Re: BIPEDS Was: Pressure Sensors beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Bruce Robinson Evaristo Westplate wrote:
>
> At 10:04 PM 2000-01-09 -0700, you wrote:
>
>> By the way, a biped walker is not that difficult to construct. It has
>> been done with two servos and mechanical linkages. Needless to say, it
>> doesn't look very humanoid, and it sure can't handle uneven terrain.
>
> Is there a web page available about this walker?

Yes, sorry for the delay. I forgot to bookmark it last time. It's called
"BigFoot" and is available as a kit. The thing is powered by a Basic
Stamp, but I imagine many BEAMers would be able to run it with a
microcore. There is a link at the bottom of this page that shows
construction details, so you could most likely build your own from
scratch.

http://www.milinst.demon.co.uk/bigfoot.htm

NOTE: the geometry on this one is really important.

Bruce



8999 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 17:40:46 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: parts source beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Dave Hrynkiw At 10:38 PM 1/9/00 , Jonathan D Rogers wrote:
>new parts source:
>Marlin P. Jones & Associates, Inc.
>www.mpja.com
>They have pager motors which I think are Namiki, they seem to have the
>same specs, though they are surplus so they have weights attached.
>However, they're only $3.95 each!

Not a bad price, but from the image
(http://www.mpja.com/product.asp?product=11998+MD), it isn't a Namiki. The
Namiki's don't have truncated (flat) sides like this one.

Regards,
Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com



9000 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 19:52:42 EST [alt-beam] Re: parts source beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Bumper314@aol.com In a message dated 1/10/00 5:48:35 PM Mountain Standard Time,
dave@solarbotics.com writes:

> Namiki's don't have truncated (flat) sides like this one.


yeah but flat sided ness is what some people are really looking for...you can
solder to them alot easier...i would go for those if i could build anymore

steve



9001 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 19:57:51 -0500 walker questions blake marks
> i just got finished with my second walker. It works well except that if
> it runs to long it falls over because the legs have a tendency to move
> farther in one direction. is there a way to correct this, i thought with a
> trim pot but i don't know where to put it and what value. If someone knows
> how to fix this i would love to know, thanx
> bye bye
> blaker
> ______________________________________________________
>


9002 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 17:14:13 -0800 [alt-beam] Re: BIPEDS -- reflections on the Honda Humanoid Robot. beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Bruce Robinson Be clear in your minds. Honda is not giving a bunch of money to their
engineers so they can play and have fun. This is a commercial venture.

Having said that; the typical North American manager thinks of "long
term" as roughly 3 to 5 years. That is very approximately how long the
typical manager stays in one particular position before moving on. The
typical Japanese manager thinks of "long term" as roughly 3 to 5
decades. That is very approximately how long the typical manager is
EMPLOYED.

Honda is taking the long term view here. What happens when automobiles
are too expensive for middle class families to operate? What happens
when cities are so crowded that there is no place to park; when public
transit is cheap and convenient for just about everybody? What's Honda's
product going to be then? Motorcycles, for sure, but what will replace
automobiles in their product line?

How about a household appliance, roughly the same price as an economy
car, that can actually do all those mundane housekeeping chores?

Note the name of the project "... Humanoid ...", which means "having
human characteristics". It doesn't mean "looking exactly like a human".
In fact, the Japanese aesthetic sense is quite different from ours. Much
of their art, their cartoons, their theatre exagerates certain
characteristics (by western standards). So they are NOT trying to make a
machine that looks (or moves) exactly like a human.

Don't ever get the idea that their walker motion is "right", or "the
best". They are trying to make an appliance that can move around a
typical home and do chores. This is not just a biped walker project.
They are dealing with vision, recognition, obstacle avoidance, picking
things up and manipulating them. Walking is just a small part of the
project.

Kyle commented on the "bodywork". Why spend all that effort on a one-off
prototype, anyway? I can think of several reasons:

- The finished product will have to be easy to clean and maintain.
May as well plan for that right from the start.
- The weight of the shell is going to affect the motion. Better to
develop the two together, rather than build a viable skeleton and
then screw it up by adding a body.
- Better learn about production problems with the shell right
at the start. When you finally market it, you'll be way ahead
of the competition.
- Free advertising. The media loves it whenever that robot makes an
appearance. And it looks finished -- just needs some refinement,
right? When the first robot hits the market, whose are you going
to buy? The other guys'? Or the one you saw a prototype of twenty
years earlier? Now THOSE guys must know what they're doing.
- Ever seen a video of this robot with the shell off? Not likely. If
they had taken out any patents on their earliest developments, those
patents would be expiring in the next couple of years. Perhaps it's
better to just keep everything hidden and don't give away your
secrets until closer to marketing time.

I'm sure you will see a P4 and a P5 over the next decade. I wouldn't be
surprised if at least one of them is on the drawing board right now.
Perhaps you'll see an extra degree of freedom in the lower leg, and
perhaps toes will appear sometime.

So don't limit your ideas by what people with big budget dollars are
doing -- they have a different agenda. Look at what they do, understand
what and why, and then go do what you planned to do in the first place.
And never be afraid to build a simple version first before tackling the
more complicated one. The time is never wasted, as long as you learn
from it.

Cheers,
Bruce



9003 Tue, 11 Jan 2000 01:28:03 GMT [alt-beam] Canada FIRST beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Mike Kulesza" Hello...

Anybody else in high school here taking part in the Canada or USA FIRST
Robotics Competition?

I am on the Gordon Graydon team... We just goit the parts today. This year
the competition is robo-hockey.
______________________________________________________



9004 Mon, 10 Jan 2000 07:41:33 -0600 [alt-beam] Re: New(?) FLED variant beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Sparky look mom! no photodiodes!
-Sparky

At 11:05 AM 1/10/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Brilliant!
>
>wilf
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ben Hitchcock [SMTP:ben@wollongong.apana.org.au]
>> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2000 8:15 PM
>> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
>> Subject: New(?) FLED variant
>>
>> All,
>>
>> I have been experimenting with the FLED Solar Engine for the past couple
>> of
>> days, and I've improved it a little bit. Gone are the days of watching
>> your
>> FLED blinking away precious energy and making your SE lock up. Attached
>> is
>> a .gif of the new circuit.
>>
>> What's more, you can now use this FLED SE as the basis for a photopopper -
>> no more chasing exotic 1381's and ultra-efficient motors!
>>
>> Full details of my popper are available at:
>> http://wollongong.apana.org.au/~ben/fred/
>>
>> I just realised that the last attachment I sent was encoded in some weird
>> "AppleDouble" format. This one is sent as a UUencode. Please let me know
>> if you want the attachment(s) sent again, maybe in MIME this time. (Damn
>> Outlook Express!)
>>
>> Ben << File: schematic.gif >>
>
>

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