Sunday 'Bot Building

I have been struggling to get my first homemade robot up and running.  I decided today I wasn't going to let slightly wrong parts stop me any longer.  There was an ongong problem where I could not get the 2 5/8" Futaba servo wheels connected to my SpringRC servo motors.  All the servo hubs just didn't want to connect.  Screw it!  Time to get dirty.  When parts don't fit, you don't go buy new ones, you make that sh!+ work.  I pulled out a drill, held the hub and wheel together with locking pliers, drilled using a 3/32" bit through both parts, and screwed them together with a 4-40 tap screw.  They fit just fine, now.


What a great start, but I needed to separate my solderless breadboard power rails so they would fit on the top deck of my robot.  I had an old breadboard from an Arduino Uno Starter Kit I bought a couple of years ago.  I thought I might be able to use that breadboard, but it was adhering to a balsa mount.  I figured I could just separate it from the adhesive using an X-ACTO knife and a little elbow grease.  I was very wrong.  On the plus side, I know what the inside of a breadboard looks like now.




My final issue today was dealing with the flimsy wiring of the 4xAA battery connector.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd buy one with solid wires, if they exist.  Overall, I"m happy to have moved forward successfully today.  The plans are being used from the TeachBot plans in Arduino Robot Bonanza, by Gordon McComb which can be found on his wonderfully resourceful site, Robotics Universe.  I am saving my Arduino sketches using the cloud-based wonder-site codebender.cc, and you can see the 2Servo_Demo sketch using this link https://codebender.cc/sketch:62018. Again, huge thanks to Christos and his team at Codebender.cc for letting me beta test the Collaborate function in my classroom.

Expand NY was a BLAST!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Engadget Expand NY event at the Jacob Javits Center.  I was joined by my long-time friend, Veronica L.  We had a blast walking around and speaking with the presenters.  There were so many interesting little gadgets, both from a consumer perspective and from an educator perspective.  Here are a few of the notables:

1.  One of the favorites of mine was the Equil Smartpen 2.  I hate trying to write notes in my tablet -- the way I hold my pen places my palm on the screen which adds stray marks in my notes (I'm a self-diagnosed, slightly OCDer, so that kind of stuff kills me).  With the Smartpen 2, you take notes in a paper notebook, and the notes are transferred to an electronic device.  It will even turn your writing into editable text.  I hope to try one in the future and use during Professional Development courses in my new Model Teacher position.  I also think this has a LOT of potential for helping struggling writers in my classes.  I hope to try out this product and get bigger ideas about all of its possible uses.  (Picture borrowed from myequil.com)

2.  The best conversation I had was talking with Amie Baron of BloomSky about using their product in my classroom to be part of a weather network that can use data from around the country as the basis for secondary research long-term science investigations.  (Picture borrowed from Bloomsky.com)

3.  The coolest device I saw caught me by surprise.  I walked into a dark tent and found a sandbox with LED devices on it.  I instantly fell in love with the Sand Noise Device.  Awesome concept.  It had me entranced for more than a few minutes while I learned about it from Matt Roads, a jazz musician from California.  Their videos are a must-see to truly understand this contraption.

4.  Jack Grannan of Aldebaran in Boston, MA was kind enough to share information about the NAO robot.  This humanoid-style 'bot was fun to watch.  I will be in touch with them about looking for grant money to get a robot to use as a learning tool.  They are already in schools around Boston.  Hopefully, they will arrive in New York City soon!

5.  I was impressed with the DIY Lab kits available from The Public Laboratory.  This is citizen science using inexpensive DIY techniques to collect data about environmental issues.  What a great way to learn science and contribute data to help out communities!


6.  Lastly, I want to mention Nomiku.  They make a WiFi enabled sous vide immersion device that can be programmed from anywhere.  You can have wonderful food waiting for you at home by connecting wirelessly to the device.  I enjoy cooking, and this really made me happy.  I really enjoyed meeting the crew at Expand NY and I hope to try this one really soon.