Archive for category: Experiments

  • Want to Play with my NXT?

    Want to Play with my NXT?

    I am currently streaming a live feed of my NXT on UStream.  You can easily control the motor on my NXT using URLs like: http://xammy.demon.nl:81/MOTA=0 – stop the motor http://xammy.demon.nl:81/MOTA=100 – run the motor at 100% clockwise http://xammy.demon.nl:81/MOTA=-50 – run the motor at 50% counter-clockwise. The power to the motor [...]

     
  • Controlling your NXT with the Kinect

    C#, Experiments, NXT, Programming, Robots, Sensors April 10, 2011 07:34 24 comments

    After seeing the video posted on Mauro Brunato’s website, I got all sorts of ideas in my head for other cool things to do with it. With a little help from my friend SC, I managed to get my hands on one of these Kinect sensors as well. It wasn’t [...]

     
  • VEX Cortex I2C NXT Cable HOWTO

    VEX Cortex I2C NXT Cable HOWTO

    Experiments, Sensors, VEX March 20, 2011 14:41 21 comments

    As promised,here’s an easy to follow HOWTO for making your own VEX Cortex to NXT converter cable for I2C sensors. Please keep in mind a few things: Do this at your own risk This won’t work with sensors that require 9V to operate This won’t work with analogue sensors Do [...]

     
  • Communicating with the NXTBee

    Communicating with the NXTBee

    Experiments, ROBOTC, Sensors February 12, 2011 18:58 13 comments

    So I’ve had these Dexter Industries NXTBees for about two weeks now and I’ve been working hard to come up with something cool.  Even before I received these NXTBees I spoke with John from DI about sending telemetry data from one NXT to another over a distance using these sensors. [...]

     
  • Taking the Omniwheel for a Spin

    Experiments, NXT, Robots September 21, 2010 16:05 9 comments

    Literally. The omniwheel is capable of going in any direction you want, it can also rotate on the spot.  So I thought, why not combine the two and make it rotate and move?  After picking Brian Davis’ sizable brain about using a gyro as a means to calculate a heading, [...]

     
  • Using the NXTCam in Poor Light

    Experiments, ROBOTC, Sensors July 27, 2010 12:59 2 comments

    If you’re like me and are the proud owner of a small room, also known as the Lego Lair, you may find that the lighting conditions in said room sometimes leave a lot to be desired.  You may not really notice this until you start using a sensor that uses [...]

     
  • Timing is everything!

    Programming the NXT is nice.  However, sometimes you run into limits that you think shouldn’t be there.  This morning I hit one of those and scratched my head: “How to fix this?”.  Normally there are 4 timers at your disposal in ROBOTC (this also goes for NXC, as far as [...]

     
  • BobBot Mk2

    Experiments, NXT, Robots, Sensors May 17, 2010 06:54 4 comments

    Meet BobBot Mk2, the intellectually challenged robot.  This subsumption based robot is probably the most challenging robot I’ve ever had to program.  It has quite a number of sensors: Mindsensors NXTCamV3 Mindsensors Magic Wand Mindsensors Dist-nx HiTechnic Sensor MUX HiTechnic EOPD LEGO Touch Sensor x 2 LEGO US Sensor Subsumption [...]

     
  • Good Things Come In Small Packages?

    Experiments, Sensors May 13, 2010 20:08 no comments

    For the longest time I’ve been meaning to do something with the RAMTRON FM24V10 chips that I got as a sample some time last year. They’re I2C EEPROM drop-in replacements, meaning they are functionally and electrically identical to the standard ones we see everywhere.  Their main advantage over standard I2C [...]

     
  • Pan and Tilt Rig for NXTCamV3 and Firmware Tests

    Experiments, ROBOTC, Sensors March 21, 2010 18:13 42 comments

    I’ve been meaning to build something cool with the NXTCamV3 for a while now but never got around to it. I tried making the Omniwheel suitable for the NXTCam but unfortunately the wheels cause way too much vibration when the robot moves.  Oh well, in the not so distant future [...]