12-online-collaboration-platforms

Further to "Feed my delicious mind"...

A workshop I ran a while back entitled: 'An Introduction to Online Collaboration Platforms'.

To my knowledge, this is the first and only computer workshop hosted by the Durham University Engineering Society (note: I would love to run a workshop on ardunio after exams...if you want to get involved then get in touch): http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dg4dhwgp_12fpkcbv4j

It is a quick presentation with some links to youtube commoncraft videos and some urls with examples of the platforms in use. Click, watch, install delicious and then please share bookmarks with me! username: samthetechie

11-lego-mindstorms-environment-mapping

Aim: Design, Test and Build a fully autonomous mapping robot from lego mindstorms.
Day-1
Pretty awesome project brief.
This project is just before exams and runs for two weeks so we should really be looking to be working to deadlines and just get on with it. With that in mind...
We are using a software module from a project from a German University to interface Mindstorms with Matlab, details to follow via delicious and by updating this post. This also allows us to control the robot through Matlab, using a serial link over bluetooth.
We are also using Mindstorms NXT for running the introductory demo/example programs.

#11-lego-mindstorms-environment-mapping

Twitter Roll

I have added my twitter updates to my website with the following code:

<div id="tweet"><ul id="twitter_update_list"></ul></div>

and then at the bottom of the page:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/samthetechie.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=1">
</script>

10-Classic4OmniBot

Aim: Create a robot controlled by the Classic 4 using omni wheels and dc motors.
This robot would be known as the Classic 4 Omnibot. This would be a hack of the 'Classic 4' theraputic device I collaborate on at work to control some actuators to make a cool robot. So...I think it would be awesome to recreate: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pprk/
with the Classic 4 as the brain.
Here are some pics:

#10-Classic4OmniBot

9-Jennic-Wireless_Sensorboard

Aim: get to grips with the Jennic Wireless Sensorboard which I am currently borrowing from work.

8-Custom-MSP430-JTAG

Aim: Create a custom JTAG connector for the MSP430.

because the proprietary ones simply cost way too much!

7-solar-charging-circuit

Aim: create a charging circuit to usefully harness power generated by solar panels.

This might allow charging AA, AAA batteries or portable devices like Ipods and mobile phones.

An interesting blog post by google: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/should-you-spring-clean-your-solar.html