LED stair sensors and other progress
I’ve received a few comments and e-mails about the LED stairs lately, and I want to thank everyone who took the time to contact me. Although I haven’t posted in a while, I have been moving forward with the project. When it is complete I plan to publish a full list of materials and schematics […]
LED stairs: the chips are talking
In my last post on the LED stairs, I discussed using the Arduino and an M5451 driver chip to control the lighting sequence. Today, I completed my first breadboard version: The Arduino Mini Pro is on the left and the M5451 is on the right, positions I will reverse in the final design. I used […]
Robotics Open House at the University of Maryland
Last Friday the University of Maryland had an open house for their robotics department. This was a free event, including lunch, and very well organized. I had not been able to go to any previous robot competitions at the university so I was eager to see what they had. The university has 18 robotics labs, […]
Expanding the Arduino: cheap ways to add output pins and power
For the LED stairs, I need to control 14 LED lamps and 2 sensors. From the beginning, I had in mind an Arduino as the microcontroller for this project. Although it is possible to do a primitive version of these stairs without a microcontroller, having a brain at the center gives many more options. And […]
Automated LED stair lights
I’ve been hunting for a new project to do ever since completing my contest entry for Robie. I’ve done a number of interesting small things, mainly with the kids, but nothing too big. Then recently Make: Online featured this: When someone walks on the first step, the LEDs light up in sequence. Aside from looking […]
Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
Memorial Day weekend is a good time to catch up on reading, so I picked up this DIY manifesto by MAKE editor and Boing-Boing founder Mark Frauenfelder. It was an easy and pleasurable read. The book starts off dramatically with the author’s decision to move his family to a South Pacific island. He quickly learns, […]
Potato batteries
Laurel went through a rite of passage last week, her first science fair. This was a non-competitive event, an Arts and Technology Night organized by her school. She really wanted to exhibit something so we got her signed up. After looking online for ideas, Laurel chose to do food batteries. Batteries are very simple […]
Playing with a solar robot
Holly has been begging to build her own robot ever since I made Robie. Fortunately there are some excellent options for kid-friendly robot kits. After browsing the MakerShed we decided to get the 6-in-1 Educational Solar Robotic Kit. This was a good choice. As the box states you can make six different robots. We’ve done […]
More toys for the workshop
During my robot build, I was constantly wishing for a drill press. I put off purchasing one because I couldn’t decide if I really needed a full-sized press, where to put it, etc. I eventually stumbled on a drill press that is small enough to fit on (or be stored under) my worktable, but has enough […]
Robie the Robot lives!
A few days ago I put in the obstacle avoidance programming for the coasterbot. Almost immediately, he acquired a real personality. The algorithm works incredibly well. Even though the first version of my code had significant bugs — typos, forgetting that moving the sensor servo takes a finite amount of time, etc. — he was […]