#robotics Logs

Jan 16 2013

00:08 rue_shop2 intestesting, trying to switch direction popped a fuse
00:09 rue_shop2 thats a mystery for tommorow
02:00 RifRaf codevisionavr, anyone use it?
09:04 rue_house not I
09:12 theBear then who stole the cookie from the cookie jar ?
09:17 Skwint the robot stole the cookie from the cookie jar!
17:26 hexus0 hate to just throw this out...anyone have any ideas for a robotics-centered thesis? I'm a grad CS student
17:27 hexus0 I've been looking into things such as cloud robotics and SLAM
17:27 hexus0 I've also found Open SLAM and thought it might be a cool idea that if my thesis could contribute to an OSS community like Open SLam
17:27 hexus0 *SLAM
17:40 ace4016 that would be cool
17:41 ace4016 there's a lot of things in robotics out there that need more research and obersvation
17:41 ace4016 i tend to be a bit more on the practical side, so i try to solve problems....at least, that's what I enjoyed the most in grad school
17:44 hexus0 the professor that I'm going with for my thesis advisor is definitely more on the practical side, do you have any suggesstions to problems that I could maybe help solve?
17:44 hexus0 and thank you for the late response, and I apologize if my response was late (can't really tell in this IRC client) I'm reading a paper on SLAM right now
17:45 ace4016 hehe, a lag in response is typical :P
17:45 ace4016 attention is much more spontaneous
17:46 hexus0 lol
17:46 ace4016 hexus0, well, one idea i had was to get some survey bots to scout an area out in less time so that you can build up a mapping of the area in parallel (SLAM + Networking? :P)
17:46 hexus0 hmm that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all
17:46 ace4016 could also mess around with traffic robots
17:47 ace4016 take the case of cars that drive themselves: how do they self organize to minimuze disruption when a new car joins the traffic
17:48 ace4016 and other issues (planned lane switching; dynamic routing; etc.)
17:48 hexus0 okay wow, glad I wasnt the only one thinking that
17:48 hexus0 I was thinking of it an a driver assistance system though
17:48 hexus0 one that could ping the car in front to maybe choose the best lane
17:48 hexus0 so that traffic is more spread out
17:48 ace4016 that could definitely work
17:48 hexus0 rather than having people stick to one lane
17:49 ace4016 i have tons of ideas about human assistance AI/machines :D
17:49 ace4016 that's probably the field of robotics i have the most interest in
17:49 hexus0 lol, I'm really glad I jumped on this IRC channel
17:49 hexus0 I was starting to become depressed thinking I'd never find a thesis idea or graduate
17:51 ace4016 i'm sure your advisor could recommend a few things
17:51 ace4016 ultimately, he'll have to approve the idea
17:53 hexus0 Yea I've gone through some of the ideas that he's posted on his website, so I could always use one of those if I needed
17:54 ace4016 i need to get back in the groove of things
17:54 ace4016 making things and all
17:54 ace4016 work kind of drains you though :/
17:54 hexus0 yes it does, damn work always getting in the way of things lol
20:07 rue_house <rue_shop2> intestesting, trying to switch direction popped a fuse
20:07 rue_house <rue_shop2> thats a mystery for tommorow
20:07 rue_house hmm
20:08 Tom_itx try to switch too fast?
20:09 rue_house its a relay
20:09 rue_house F/R via relay, on/off via FET
20:09 rue_house its good for drives, not for servos
20:10 rue_house the truck wiring confuses me
20:10 rue_house the primary feed cable is maybe #10 or so
20:11 rue_house but I swear you add up all the electrical loads and it has to be over 30A
20:11 rue_house I thought a fuse schematic might clear this up, but I can find any distrubution diagrams
20:11 rue_house lights, wiper, and heater,...
20:12 rue_house the cable going to the starter solioid is a larger guage than the cable comming off the alternator feeding it
20:12 Tom_itx ahh the truck project
20:12 Tom_itx i got em all ya know
20:13 rue_house tapping a 40A line off the system was supposed to be easy
20:13 rue_house but everything commes off the alternator, which makes sense when the engine is running
20:13 Tom_itx and goes thru a fuseable link probably
20:13 Tom_itx to the box
20:13 rue_house the feed to the bed is under load when the truck is stopped so comming off the battery makes more sense
20:13 rue_house hmmm
20:14 Tom_itx i'm not sure about that
20:14 rue_house yea, than there is that fusable link thing
20:14 rue_house hooking direct to the battery isn't easy
20:14 Tom_itx or wise
20:14 rue_house it uses a funny little bolt
20:14 Tom_itx i got an adapter for mine
20:14 Tom_itx uses a 9/16 bolt
20:14 rue_house just, say #6 from the battery to a fuse about 2 feet away
20:15 Tom_itx to the side mount thingy
20:15 rue_house yea
20:15 rue_house molded shroud
20:15 Tom_itx i had 2 of those when i had the stereo in mine
20:15 Tom_itx off the battery
20:15 Tom_itx 30A? ea
20:15 Tom_itx i don't remember now
20:16 rue_house they have a bolt for aux loads, but its on ~12 guage wire
20:17 rue_house if you turn on the wipers, heat blower, headlights, radio, and go to light a cig, the wire dosn't burn up, so like !?!?!?!
20:17 rue_house thats got to be a good few amps
20:18 Tom_itx i bet the wire gets warm
20:18 rue_house I dont even know what hte alternator is rated for
20:19 Tom_itx probably 70A
20:22 rue_house the box for the replacement dosn't say
20:23 rue_house car patrs never seem to have ratings
20:23 Tom_itx i'm guessin the books may
20:36 Tom_itx http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Researchers_develop_X_ray_machine_that_fits_in_your_palm-article-FANE_portable_xray_Jan2013-html.aspx
22:42 rue_shop2 ok I lost speed control on the same board I just fixed the "blows fuse when switched into reverse" which turned out to be a shorted flyback diode
22:42 rue_shop2 but this is a problem for tommorow
22:44 rue_house this is getting rather frustrating
23:34 shuggans hi all!
23:36 shuggans rue: just popping in to say hi - i work out of town during m-th. should be on tomorrow night: looking to design some 100 amp dc motor drivers.
23:37 shuggans bought some sweet logic level mosfets- on 3g w crap reception. ill c if i can find a link!
23:39 sw0rdfish hey
23:39 sw0rdfish I need to get a tablet pc best suitable for engineering/math/physics kinda work
23:39 sw0rdfish anyone know a good candidate?
23:39 shuggans something with ubuntu
23:40 shuggans :P
23:40 sw0rdfish heh
23:40 shuggans what kind of tablet?
23:40 shuggans what kind of physics/engineering work? CAD?
23:41 sw0rdfish yes
23:41 sw0rdfish that would be great
23:41 sw0rdfish does auto CAD work on android OS?
23:41 shuggans What CAD software do you use?
23:41 shuggans or have you chosen yet?
23:41 shuggans for cad you will want a beefy CPU and a beefy WORKSTATION graphics card
23:42 shuggans these are MUCH different than gaming graphics cards
23:42 shuggans the nvidia quadro series is workstation/cad use
23:42 shuggans ATI firepro as well
23:42 sw0rdfish hmmmm
23:43 sw0rdfish really?
23:43 shuggans lots more expensive
23:43 dunz0r sw0rdfish: Tablets are unfortunately fairly underpowered.
23:43 sw0rdfish shuggans, hardware has to be classy?
23:43 shuggans not if he gets a laptab
23:43 dunz0r A laptop with tablet-functionality might be better.
23:43 shuggans :D
23:43 shuggans jynx!
23:43 dunz0r Like Lenovos Thinkpad X-series tablets.
23:43 sw0rdfish heh
23:44 dunz0r I've got an X60 Tablet.
23:44 shuggans was jsut going to say
23:44 sw0rdfish or Surface Pro I suppose?
23:44 dunz0r Great machine :)
23:44 sw0rdfish dunz0r, I see.
23:44 shuggans lenovo tablet laptops have workstation graphics alot
23:44 shuggans of the time
23:44 dunz0r sw0rdfish: I wouldn't touch a Surface-thingie with a stick, but I don't like M$ :)
23:44 shuggans integrated gfx or a gaming gfx card will CHUGGGG with CAD
23:45 sw0rdfish dunz0r, I could put linux on it I suppose
23:45 shuggans the lenovo tablet laptops are either a stylusor touch
23:45 dunz0r Mine's a stylus
23:45 sw0rdfish dunz0r, you can use a stylus pen on a Surface Pro and the X-series tablets right?
23:45 shuggans all sorts of open source cad software in linux
23:45 dunz0r It's nice routing pcbs witha stylus :)
23:45 dunz0r sw0rdfish: I think so. Not sure if you can use a "real" stylus with buttons etc.
23:46 shuggans i have an x200 i7 tablet laptop for work. not the model w the dedicated workstation gfx though
23:46 dunz0r shuggans: Apart from FreeCAD there aren't that many tbh.
23:46 shuggans yes, they are real button styluses
23:46 dunz0r That isn't PCB CAD that is.
23:46 sw0rdfish freecad?
23:46 sw0rdfish is it as good as auto cad 3d?
23:46 shuggans You must dig to fidn the projects that are out there
23:46 shuggans they do exist though
23:47 dunz0r sw0rdfish: It does the job imo, but no :|
23:47 shuggans there are something like 10 fairly active projects when I checked a month ago
23:47 shuggans BUT
23:47 dunz0r I would love for Autodesk Inventor to have a Linux version :|
23:47 shuggans you may be better on windows.
23:47 Jak_o_Shadows I'm not sure how much difference a wrokstation graphics card makes these days
23:47 dunz0r shuggans: Really? I've tried almost every CAD-package I've been able to find for linux and none are that great.
23:47 Jak_o_Shadows Not just for CAD. CFD and such i give you
23:47 dunz0r FreeCAD is the best, but it's just barely useable.
23:48 shuggans I just read forum reviews. I had to find something for the operations manager at the hospital I work for to use
23:48 dunz0r There's BricsCAD which is commercial, but it's unstable etc on my machine.
23:48 shuggans He liked what I found - though it was only 2d I believe
23:48 sw0rdfish oh yeah
23:48 shuggans all he needed though
23:49 dunz0r shuggans: For 2D there are some good packages.
23:49 dunz0r Like Qcad.
23:49 Jak_o_Shadows Also, just found some guys software UART code for the msp430, and i'm now going to butcher it together so that it works with driving some motors
23:49 shuggans But, I will say ubuntu AND opensuse run great on the x200 tablet.
23:49 shuggans touch and all
23:49 sw0rdfish I will do a lot of googling for the best laptop with tab-functionality that is best suitable for CAD and CFD usage also mathematics and stuff using a stylus pen and writing down notes...etc
23:50 sw0rdfish are there laptops that you can just unhook the screen and use it separately as a tablet pc?
23:50 shuggans My vote is the lenovo series. Go for the firepro or quadro gfx.
23:51 shuggans My buddy ran CAD on a radeon HD6870 and it ran like crap. his PC played games like crisis @ 1080p like butter though
23:51 shuggans Im assuming it still makes a difference. he was makign some huge designs though as well
23:51 shuggans I suppose it's all relative on what you are doing
23:52 sw0rdfish wow wtf
23:52 sw0rdfish crysis
23:52 sw0rdfish 1
23:52 shuggans both 1 and 2
23:52 theBear i'm VERY out of date when it comes to pcs, but i've always found cad stuff is more processor bottlenecked than graphics, but things have probably changed a little since graphics cards got as powerful as minicomputers
23:52 sw0rdfish is like the most demanding game ever probably... any machine that plays that well is gonna do pretty much anything....
23:52 shuggans totally wrong
23:53 shuggans The PCs that CREATED that game: made with design programs on workstation gfx
23:53 shuggans the pcs that PLAY it back are gaming gfx
23:53 shuggans completely seperate. Thats why if you look at high end workstation gfx card (on newegg.com let's say) they can run 2-5000 $
23:54 shuggans I thought his pc would run CAD too
23:54 shuggans but no. I was like w..t...f...
23:54 Jak_o_Shadows I think for CAD, it doesn't make a difference, but renders/CFD/simulations, it can make a big difference.
23:54 Jak_o_Shadows It's to do with the amount of CUDA/OpenCL cores or something
23:55 shuggans gaming gfx cards arent designed to render the stuff
23:55 shuggans what are going to be designing i guess is the best question?
23:55 shuggans :P
23:56 sw0rdfish wow
23:56 orlok 8 days
23:56 sw0rdfish tablet-pc-review.toptenreviews.com
23:56 sw0rdfish watch the animation there guys
23:56 sw0rdfish shuggans, I'm a n00b and nothing major really :P
23:56 shuggans I have aweful speed on my 3g right now. fill me in?
23:56 shuggans ahh
23:57 sw0rdfish it reviews 4 of those sexy beasts
23:57 shuggans get anything you like then... will do you well until you decide you want to make the investment
23:57 shuggans i would stay with an x86 based cpu thouh
23:57 shuggans no ARM for that kind of work
23:57 shuggans (intel or amd)
23:59 shuggans FYI: I bought these to build my motor driver boards. what do you guys think? : https://m.ebay.com/Member/G/ViewItem.aspx?aid=110635862022&tid=965457404001&emvcc=0&nbcol=0%7Cnull