#robotics Logs

Jun 20 2012

00:06 rrywolf is in five chan
00:06 roboman2444 in freenode?
00:07 furrywolf yes
00:07 roboman2444 hm
00:07 roboman2444 /whois only shows in two
00:07 furrywolf freenode /whois is broken.
00:07 furrywolf | channels : ##electronics #reddit-lesbians ##Furries #robotics @##furry
00:07 roboman2444 ah
00:13 rrywolf curls up next to katsmeow-afk for bed
01:12 saschi ^^
09:28 rrywolf stretches out and y
09:30 katsmeow-afk for anyone wanting a cheap 100Mhz oscope, this is a Tektronix 7603 in military numbers, $15 + $30s&h ; they can't seem to sell it : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-OS-256-P-U-Oscilloscope-/380448004690
09:30 katsmeow-afk i suggest strongly you pick it up, because they cannot possibly package it for shipping properly for only $30
09:31 katsmeow-afk ditto the oscope http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-2215A-Oscilloscope-/130715918682?pt=BI_Oscilloscopes&hash=item1e6f46a15a
09:31 rrywolf already has a 100mhz analog 's
09:31 rrywolf hops on katsmeow-afk's
09:31 rizlah That's broken.
09:32 katsmeow-afk how do you figure it's broken?
09:33 furrywolf power cord being cut usually means it was broken and declared scrap. may be an easy fix, though.
09:34 katsmeow-afk no, mil rules say working stuff cannot be sold, can't work if the cord is cut
09:34 rizlah iirc that same seller last time I checked said it's broken
09:34 rizlah and why can't military sell working stuff?
09:34 katsmeow-afk cause if it works, use it?
09:34 katsmeow-afk i dunno, i didn't make the rules
09:35 furrywolf military stuff often works perfectly. I've never bought test equipment, but if you look at the stuff on GL, much of it is perfect.
09:35 furrywolf they're spending your money, not theirs. they don't care.
09:39 tsmeow-afk ponders
09:42 rrywolf ponders pett
10:00 rrywolf sighs, not getting any pettings.
10:00 katsmeow-afk did you ponder them just right?
10:06 tsmeow-afk didn't get the right maths ei
13:54 furrywolf hrmm... if an aircon does 3500btu/hr, and pulls 900w, the COP is just a hair over 1? or is my math broken?
14:06 LoRez COP?
14:07 LoRez 3500btu/hr is 1025.75W
15:00 rue_mohr You have: 3500btu/hr
15:00 rue_mohr You want: watts
15:00 rue_mohr * 1025.7487
15:10 rue_mohr if its putting out 3500btu/hr I suggest running an electric genoroator off of it and feeding the power back into it
15:11 LoRez no, it's MOVING 3500btu/hr
15:11 rue_mohr there is one loophole that will allow you to make a propetual motion machine
15:15 katsmeow-afk you need a liquid that's compressable and cools when compressed, heats up when expanding
15:19 rue_mohr propane!
15:19 katsmeow-afk propane cools a geat deal when expanding, specially from a liquid
15:34 KongfuPanda Steffanx, hey
15:34 Steffanx Hello mr KongfuPanda
15:34 Steffanx How's life?
15:35 KongfuPanda Steffanx, I feel sooo illl...
15:35 KongfuPanda Steffanx, in the last three weeks I had UTI, stomach virus and seems now kidney dysfunction
15:36 KongfuPanda doctors don't want to do any tests, they say it's all because of stomach virus
15:36 Steffanx Yay
15:36 Steffanx Sounds great
15:37 Steffanx whatever a uti may be
15:38 furrywolf a uti followed by kidney problems would seem to suggest tests would be a very good idea.
15:39 KongfuPanda and I had my two final exams last week and this monday
15:39 KongfuPanda I went to the exam on monday with 40C temperature and a tonne of painkillers and vomiting suppressing syrop
15:39 Steffanx When do you know if you passed? :)
15:40 KongfuPanda luckily that helped, and I wasn't in too much pain, until like last 15 mins of the exam, then I started to have migrene like pain in my head and shivering
15:40 KongfuPanda Steffanx, in three weeks.
15:40 KongfuPanda Steffanx, my PhD depends on it really. I need a 2.1
15:44 furrywolf bbl, time for work
16:07 katsmeow-afk i need an account for jedec.org :-/
18:38 gongoputch does anyone have a recommendation on a CAD like program to lay out robotics as a series of (mostly) 2 d cuts on simple materials. Like wood, polystyrene, etc?
18:38 gongoputch I am not doing anything 'industrial' yet
18:43 orlok gongoputch: google sketchup?
18:46 gongoputch I was thinking of sketch up
18:47 orlok but that is 3d..
18:47 orlok i guess it also depends on the end use
18:47 gongoputch never tried to print parts "exploded" from a sketch up, and at exact scales. Seems possible
18:47 orlok its what i recall being commonly used on hackaday posts
18:47 gongoputch I am finding myself with a folder full of 'templates'
18:48 gongoputch I'll search some more
18:48 orlok Whats the end purpose? 3d printing?
18:49 gongoputch print on laser printer, glue to material(s), then off to the band saw
18:49 gongoputch little stuff, like micro servo brackets, etc.
18:51 gongoputch oh, I wish I could justify a reprap.
18:52 orlok yeah
18:52 orlok i want to try making one of those cupcake sized laser cutters using optical drives
18:52 gongoputch the lasers in those are powerful enough?
18:53 gongoputch I have looked around the area where I live for 'interest groups' geared towards this kind of stuff.
18:53 gongoputch nadda.
18:54 gongoputch one guy that runs a Mac repair business does semi authentic air plane cockpits, with feedback on controls and everything
18:55 gongoputch he was talking about tilting the whole thing to simulate acceleration etc. last time I talked to him
18:56 orlok gongoputch: dvd/blue ray burners apparently, plus you can use the trays themselves as X/Y axis
18:56 gongoputch yea, I *used* to have quite a pile of old and/or busted CD/DVDs ;)
18:57 gongoputch I could only find ONE 5 1/4 floppy tho :(
21:06 mmealling anyone working on extremely small excavators? I'm thinking something worm like that eats material at one end and spits it out the other.
21:07 furrywolf no, but a small bucket wheel would be my first guess on how to do it.
21:09 mmealling I'm specifically thinking about places with low/no gravity...
21:10 mmealling a bucket wheel might work but teh bucket would need to close. the material would need to be encapsulated somehow to make sure it went where it was supposed to go.
21:14 mmealling ever seen a "water snake" toy? Its a long toroidal structure where the walls are filled with water. Since its flexible the plastic slides around.... I'm thinking you could put something inside the walls that actuated the system and put small digging "teeth" on the outside of the sheeth.
21:15 mmealling these things: http://www.toys-expert.com/b2b/pvc_ball/5/squeeze_water_snakes_203.html
21:15 furrywolf only water snake toy I've seen was a piece of latex tubing with a garden hose fitting and a nozzle. you stuck it on the faucet, it filled up and expanded to about 5" around, then you could carry it around and aim it at people.
21:18 furrywolf http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HxXd7PomIsY/TFb1_odsKaI/AAAAAAAAB4c/5pzA2j598Rw/s1600/SD535103.JPG the water snake I've seen.
21:18 furrywolf lol
21:18 mmealling that's hilarious
21:20 furrywolf holds a lot of water, great fun for kids. :P
21:20 furrywolf why do you need a zero-gravity excavator?
21:21 rrywolf seriously doubts it'll ever leave earth's atmosphere, and on earth, you tend to have gra
21:26 rrywolf still hasn't figured out what the water snakes mmealling pasted are supposed t
21:27 mmealling aha! like this: http://www.romela.org/main/WSL:_Whole_Skin_Locomotion
21:32 mmealling a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5DKeDECcA4&feature=player_embedded#!
21:32 furrywolf and that would be less depending on gravity why?
21:32 furrywolf dependent
21:33 furrywolf how about an auger in a tube?
21:33 furrywolf spin fast enough friction against the tube is enough to make the spiral pull the material.
21:36 furrywolf again, why do you need this?
21:37 mmealling that's the other design idea. The inverting tube is flexible making it easier to steer. I'm investigating robotic asteroid mining techniques that leave a hollow body instead of destructively removing material from the outside.
21:38 furrywolf and do you have a few billion dollars, or is this just a waste of time? :P
21:38 mmealling if you can get inside of the asteroid and pressurize you get a much more benign environment. Radiation protection being one of the big wins.
21:38 mmealling doesnt' need a few billion... just needs about $25 to $35 million.
21:39 furrywolf and do you have $50 million?
21:40 mmealling I'm working with a small team of aerospace engineers to determine if we can out maneuver Planetary Resources.
21:40 orlok you need a crew of roughnecks
21:40 orlok has to include one psycho
21:40 orlok one big black guy
21:40 orlok one hero who can sacrifice himself for the good of the mission
21:41 mmealling I don't have $50 million but I can get $5 million and then make money doing the dual use technology development along the way that produces the $50 million.
21:41 orlok and one photogenic guy to look after the heros daughter afterwards
21:41 furrywolf how large is this robot going to be?
21:41 furrywolf car? bus? massive assembled in space with multiple launches?
21:42 mmealling less than one meter long?
21:42 mmealling (see http://www.planetaryresources.com/ for one way to do it)
21:42 furrywolf oh, it's tiny.
21:42 furrywolf you're not going to mine much.
21:43 mmealling nope... we're not talking about huge asteroids....
21:43 mmealling the idea isn't to build one big one but lots of small ones. That way if you lose one you're not screwed.
21:44 furrywolf given as asteroids are rock rather than dust, you're going to need some type of very hard carbide-tipped rotary tool, not anything excavator-like.
21:45 mmealling depends on the asteroid... many are rubble piles or have the consistency of dried mud. They're not all solid iron or solid rock.
21:45 furrywolf what's wrong with a standard masonry bit design in a tube?
21:47 furrywolf another idea might be laser cutting... sit still for a day, charge up your batteries, then have a laser on the outside of a rotating ring cut a cone-shaped chunk out, and save the entire chunk, rather than pulverizing it first.
21:47 mmealling they're generally straight... this needs to be able to steer. Its not about drilling straight in but being able to turn corners and recover all of the material inside.
21:48 furrywolf I'd imagine any asteroid worth the fuel to navigate to would be large enough that the entire robot would enter after making an opening.
21:48 mmealling I want to end up with a hollowed out interior that I can pressurize and use as a tank.
21:48 mmealling aka fuel depot
21:50 mmealling ok, this helps. thanks for the help!
21:51 furrywolf ... yeah, right.
21:52 furrywolf http://www.iwaynet.net/~dbaker/revindc.html hmm, apparantly you can laser cut diamond.
22:45 tsmeow-afk saw that movie, o
23:27 furrywolf All my life it seems, people smash your dreams, and as time goes by, I still wonder why, they all just fall in line, and take the path of least resistance, why are they terrified, a leap of faith won't always end with tragedy... I search the dark for light, peel back the black for white, I sleep with demons, but I dream of angels... </annoy neighbors>
23:33 katsmeow-afk oh
23:37 furrywolf lol