Programming

Microsoft has released a new refresh of the Kinect SDK. The new beta has a few driver updates and some run time enhancements.  They also worked on improving the documentation. More information about the latest Kinect SDK update can be found on the official website: [LINK] You can download the 32bit SDK here: [LINK]. The 64bit SDK can be found ...

After a prolonged hibernation period, the Mindsqualls project is back from the dead and version 2.0 has been released. I was using an older version in my super secret Kinect project, so it is nice to see that is being maintained again. Mindsqualls is one of the easiest to use .Net library for controlling your NXT using C# or VB.Net. ...

The Kinect SDK is here and the tutorial series of basic fundamentals on it also arrived: The Kinect SDK Beta download: [LINK] Installing and using the Kinect sensor: [LINK] Camera fundamentals: [LINK] Skeletal Tracking fundamentals: [LINK] Audio fundamentals: [LINK] Depth data directives: [LINK] Via [Kinect Hacks] Now I can finally work on my project!

After the initial post about my thermal imaging system using the Dexter Industries Thermal Infrared Sensor, I made some improvements with both the speed and accuracy of the whole thing. I made the sensor sampling interval time based, rather than encoder value based.  This proved to be a lot better at getting consistent sampling rates.  I also doubled the horizontal ...

I may not be much of an NXT-G programmer but I can spot a good thing when I see it.  Gus over at HiTechnic has been a very busy man. Last time he brought us the really awesome PID motor block but this time he went the extra mile and made no less than three new blocks: A new IR ...

Having spent most of yesterday hacking and optimizing the firmware for the new Dexter Industries Thermal IR Sensor, I thought I would go ahead and make something fun with it today. I built a pan and tilt rig for the sensor with a great deal of gearing down to allow me to take a lot of measurements as the rig ...

Sidneys1 has come up with an improved version of my own Disco Inferno, written in NXC. His article has a great explanation of what PWM is and how it works. So if you’re keen to know the finer details about how RS485 can be used to control the brightness of a light or a motor, go check it out: [LINK].  ...

No rest for the wicked, although they have been taking it a bit easier. In any case, I present my latest creation: version 2.0 beta 2 of the Driver Suite. Not as many changes as for beta 1, as you’d expect. Highlights for this version include: I changed the min, max and clip functions to macros and renamed them to ...

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 can range from –100 to 100, with 0 being “brake”. ...

After many, many months of stalling, I’ve finally got my act together and finished up 2.0 beta 1 of the Driver Suite. I’ve made a LOT of changes, mostly internal but I hope you like them.  Keep in mind that this is a first beta release, so I need all the feedback I can get.  My email address is in ...