#robotics Logs

Dec 11 2011

11:48 Tom_itx you might have to get up for that
12:04 rue_house yea
12:20 zhanx just won this pcb http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/images/Superprobe_v1a_final.jpg but the left handed version which is nice cause i am left handed and http://mondo-technology.com/super.html
12:20 zhanx to what it is
12:22 Steffann PIC Based :( :P
12:23 zhanx its free and i got a way to program it so its all good and only missing the pic chip so i might as build it
12:25 rue_house ... what is it?
12:25 rue_house aside from a pcb
12:26 rue_house oh its for that
12:26 rue_house ok
12:26 Steffann L(
12:26 Steffann Good morning rue_house :)
12:27 rue_house I dont know yet
12:28 rue_house zhanx, if your building that be carefull, the 16F877A is NOT COMPATIBLE with the 16F877
12:29 rue_house prolly goes for that chip too
12:29 rue_house (it was the last straw that caused my 'screw this' attitude to PICS)
12:30 Tom_itx still pissed about that?
12:30 Steffann So rue_house became anti-PIC?
12:30 Tom_itx uh huh
12:30 Steffann Yay :)
12:31 Tom_itx me too i suppose
12:32 rue_house that ws the LAST straw, tonnes of other stuff behind it
12:32 zhanx k
12:33 Tom_itx i may have some 877a's if you need one
12:33 rue_house send him a programmer to, but not a dave tait one
12:33 m_itx sends one to
12:33 rue_house I gave all mine away
12:33 Tom_itx :)
12:34 Tom_itx mine are collecting dust
12:34 zhanx i gots a programmer from Tom
12:34 Tom_itx not for pic
12:34 zhanx hmmm
12:34 rue_house I'm not aware of a free programmer for the A series
12:34 Tom_itx not unless i sent you one i'm not aware of
12:35 zhanx i got a bus pirate that can program pic's
12:35 Tom_itx which is very possible
12:35 Tom_itx and i still have an epic here
12:36 e_house shuffles his feet across the carpet over to toma nd sticks his finger twards toms epi
12:36 m_itx watches as the dustbunnies protec
12:37 rue_house yay, my sizing macro works for my content accumulator
12:38 rue_house that finishes level 2, back to level 3 libraries
12:39 rue_house according to my task bar, I have 10 terminals going, and I cant find them all...
12:43 zhanx so rue what you think about me switching my pc's over to thin clients
12:44 zhanx aka one pc to rule them all!
12:55 Skwint someone will throw the one PC into a volcano and the others will all stop working
13:01 rue_house its easy to track everyones personal activities when there is a central computer
13:01 zhanx rue_house: not worried about that, i am more worried, that i keep losing stuff from one computer to the next
13:01 rue_house zhanx, make sure its raid 10, with redundant supplies, hot swappable cpu's and ram
13:02 zhanx k
13:02 zhanx that will be a later upgrade right now its a quad core cpu with 16gb ram and 1 tb storage, aka what i have already
13:02 zhanx and i ebay'd the thin clients for 10 bucks
13:02 rue_house raid?
13:03 rue_house your not good at transfering your data?
13:03 rue_house I made a /files dir, everything is sorted into that
13:03 zhanx it can but no not at this time.
13:03 rue_house its a seperate raid array
13:03 zhanx i forget too etc
13:04 rue_house I transfer it with all the raid upgrades
13:04 zhanx and if i do it right i can setup my vpn and see all the files in one location
13:04 rue_house all my machines mount /files to the local file server
13:05 zhanx k
13:05 rue_house they have a /files_loc for anything that needs to be done disconnected
13:05 zhanx well if anything i will learn from it
13:05 rue_house BUT, under linux, managing the cross system userid's and group id's is a terrible mess
13:05 zhanx and i will have my network setup right etc after it
13:05 zhanx yep
13:05 rue_house so start by learning about...
13:05 rue_house oh whats it called
13:06 zhanx easier to make a domain controller
13:06 zhanx and centralize the user names etc
13:07 rue_house I cant remember whats its called, but its actually easier to use samba as a domain controller under linux than to use the linux equiv systems
13:08 rue_house I cant remember what the linux equiv is called
13:08 zhanx well i got time to mess with it all the thin clients should be here this week
13:08 rue_house its whatever microsoft based active directories on
13:09 zhanx i have set it up before but can't remember the name right now
13:09 rue_house not ldap
13:11 rue_house I better get the day started..
13:11 rue_house I want to just sit here and code tho
15:20 rue_house ok full service ont eh boiler complete
15:30 rue_house gee, I think I'v had easier times converting languages like BASIC to C than I'm having with this c++
15:55 zhanx buddy cut the end of his laptop cord off some so soldered it in to the computer directly for him
15:57 rue_house :) heh
15:57 rue_house little duct tape and he's good to go
16:05 zhanx well he used his car door to cut it off. not clue where the other end went
16:05 Tom_itx what type of plug?
16:06 Tom_itx i've got a few dead ones
16:06 zhanx vivio (sp)
16:06 Tom_itx nope
16:06 zhanx Viao
16:06 r0b- hey rue
16:06 zhanx its a sony and he is happy with it so good enough right?
16:06 rue_house yeees?
16:07 r0b- i build an arm
16:07 r0b- built
16:07 r0b- using some stuff i found
16:08 rue_house good stuff, can we see?
16:08 rue_house what do you want to make it do?
16:11 r0b- well its only 2 axis
16:17 rue_house tahts ok
16:19 Tom_itx rue_house
16:19 Tom_itx what's the story with spi?
16:19 rue_house ? how so?
16:19 Tom_itx do you clock an extra byte after it's done or before to get it started?
16:19 Tom_itx or is it slave device dependant
16:20 Tom_itx i generally thought you had to clock an extra byte to the slave to get the last result
16:20 rue_house iirc, you wait for the data line to go high and send your clocking to get your reply
16:20 Tom_itx on a multi channel slave.. ie an adc
16:20 Tom_itx where you would have more than one result
16:21 Tom_itx or adxl thing
16:21 rue_house iirc they usually repeat their data if you keep clocking
16:21 Tom_itx i was trying to help someone in avr a while ago and was forgetting stuff
16:22 Tom_itx he was getting bad data on one channel
16:22 Tom_itx i think on the first or last byte
16:22 Tom_itx don't remember now
16:22 rue_house I usually look at the datasheets waveforms
16:23 Tom_itx yeah i didn't have that available
16:39 rue_house hmmm decision call on a 'bug' in the content modification system of my editor
16:39 rue_house itedits using selected character blocks
16:39 rue_house which have a start and an and
16:40 rue_house if both the start and the end of a block are in the same position, does that mean you editing 1 or 0 characters
16:57 zhanx sweet, got my setup so i can run x programs off my box to this machine
16:58 Skwint if the end is 1 to the right of the start are you editing 1 character?
16:58 Skwint because I'd say you are editing one less than that
18:24 rue_house Tom_itx, :) yay!
18:59 Tom_itx ?
19:17 Tom_itx rue_house
19:17 Tom_itx what you just checked your mail?
19:17 Tom_itx you won the lottery?
19:20 orlok ok, i think i have fiogured out the easiest way to make a hard drive "safe" to my satisfaction
19:20 orlok 1. poke hole through foil
19:20 orlok 2. pour water in hole
19:20 orlok 3. throw in bin
19:20 Tom_itx some drill a huge hole thru the platters
19:21 Tom_itx 2. use saltwater
19:25 orlok yeah, would be nice, dont have it here
19:28 Tom_itx you don't have salt?
19:28 thylon Im wanting to build a hexapod robot by myself. I'd like to give it whiskers sensors and force sensors on each leg. Am I crazy to try this impossible project?
19:28 Tom_itx you can't survive without salt
19:32 orlok thylon: not at all impossible
19:33 thylon orlok I guess there are two lines of research I want to try. 1) Hexapod with IR sensor on belly and head. If he is upside down, he turns over and stands up.
19:33 thylon 2) can use whiskers on the legs to climb over obstacles
19:38 anx just found this subsonic
19:53 thylon At least from the internet it seems like self-righting on a legged robot is an unsolved problem even in university robot labs. Yeh or nay?
19:57 thylon http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_rhex.html
20:03 thylon http://www.reddit.com/r/RobotBuilders/
20:18 thylon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7jbkbR64c&feature=related
20:46 thylon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGEHTmDWxkA&feature=related
21:19 thylon So here is my question about Rhex
21:20 thylon do the dynamics of its gait require that it 'tip' on every step due to changing from 2 legs on one side to 1 leg?
21:20 thylon seems like a more stable gait would be 4 legs replacing 4 legs
21:33 thylon [22:11] <thylon> So here is my question about Rhex
21:33 thylon [22:11] <thylon> do the dynamics of its gait require that it 'tip' on every step due to changing from 2 legs on one side to 1 leg?
21:33 thylon [22:12] <thylon> seems like a more stable gait would be 4 legs replacing 4 legs
21:34 thylon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hG6Amnb9Mo&feature=related
23:48 the_jester Greets to room