Updates from April, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • breegeek 5:09 pm on April 29, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: troubleshooting,   

    unbricking a xbee 

    Hey guys, I bricked another xbee and found this helpful little bit on Instructables
    1. Take the module out of the interface board.
    2. Connect the interface board to the computer.
    3. Open X-CTU make sure Baud Rate is set to 9600
    4. Go to “Modem Configuration”
    5. Put a check in the “Always update firmware” box
    6. Select proper modem from drop down menu,
    7. Select proper function set and firmware version
    from drop down menus.
    8. Click on the “Write” button. After a few seconds of
    trying to read the modem, you will get an Info box
    that says Action Needed. At this point, CAREFULLY
    insert the module into the interface board.
    9. You may get the info box again a short while after,
    just use the reset button on the interface board.

    Instructibles

     

  • breegeek 9:35 pm on April 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Onward to Glupiter! … and a reality check 

    I’ve been working a bit on coding the Glupet interface, but have come to the realization that I won’t really be able to test this thing with kids any time soon; only when there is a real online database they can play with or a portable toy.

    To test the effectiveness of getting friendly reminders from your pet to check your blood glucose a certain number of times either with a mobile device or a portable device is improbable at this point. For instance, I don’t think most little kids have cell phones, and most parents would rightly not grant me permission to text them 4-5 times a day to tell them to log information into the glupets website. In order to test this with kids, I would probably need to build several portable devices or something that can upload user-input information online somehow.

    I can, however, get some adults, perhaps, to test this for me. Not sure if that would show whether or not it would be an effective tool for kids.

    I DID start building some look/feel sketches for how the world would appear. I will use these as possible user scenarios in my final presentations/paper Of course, I am calling the Glupy home planet: Glupiter.

    Here is another random sketch, but I didn’t like it as much.

     

  • Alvaro Soto 5:29 pm on April 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Modulo is giving some problems 

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    3 different breadboards… finally it worked but still having issues powering the mini arduino pro, for some reason it works with the USB connected but not with the power source.. will try a different battery today,, but Modulo and I have spent some long time together in the last couple of days…

    in the other hand, I bought the paint and Im waiting (still) for the magnet so I can make the disks. Hoping to “finish” this weekend

     

  • lpercifield 5:13 pm on April 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Bulbuino Prototype 

    The momentum behind the idea of internet connected lightbulb pushed me to get a prototype working. I decided to give the Twilio  IVR system a try since their SMS system was super easy to get working. I found a blog post that outlined a lot of what I was interested in doing which made things much smoother. Props for the great projects there!

    To get the whole thing small enough to fit into a 2 1/4″ sphere I needed to create a custom PCB. Getting the xbee to work with the arduino and Digi Connectport was super easy using Rob Falundi’s XIG python script.

    The arduino code is available here, the php (mostly from the above blog) is available here, XIG (xbee internet gateway) is available here, the Fritzing file and Gerber exports are here.

    I hope to get the bulbuino visualizing the data from my “Flush-o-meter” sensor sometime in the next week or so. Check out the “Flush-o-meter” here.


    Bulbuino from Leif Percifield on Vimeo.

     

  • minho 10:26 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    bad robot in pc 

    I

     

  • Thom Hines 10:20 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Tinker Update 

    Making steady progress on my project. This weekend was filled with a lot of emails trying to line up more people who might be interested in my project, and as of today I’ve got Tinker installed on a few different sites, including Scott’s Transparent Band page.

    As far as the project is concerned, I’ve implemented a revision and draft system that seems to be working pretty smoothly. Every 60 seconds a draft is saved to a sub-folder in the Tinker system, which gets overwritten. If a draft from a previous session is in the system when the page is loaded, a message will alert the user that there is a draft available.

    Every time a user hits the save button, it will save their current changes to the live version of the file and save a backup of the most recent version they had published. The really cool thing about this system is that when selecting and previewing a revision, it is loaded almost instantly and shown in the browser. This works the same for loading the draft version, too.

    As soon as the user decides that they have the version they want, they can just hit save and the live version is updated right away.

    There are a lot of bug fixes and behind the scenes updates I want to make, and that will probably be what I focus on for the rest of the term. At this point, I feel like Tinker is in a fairly good place and is solid enough to start distributing more often.

    And for anybody who wants incredible new features, you can download Tinker v.0.0.5

     

  • lpercifield 10:19 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    arduinobulb 

    So since last week I have created an internet connected light bulb. I cut a custom PCB for an atmega328 chip with the bare essentials. I added a socket for my xbee and soldered the whole thing up. Using a 5v usb power adapter and a light bulb socket adapter I got everything set up. The current prototype only fades colors but as soon as I can program a data stream I’ll set up the bulb to respond to an internet feed.

    On sunday I got the final approval from Usman Haque at Pachube to access their SMS beta system. I can now begin testing the sensor module with a direct feed to Pachube. The best part about using Pachube is that I don’t have to re-invent an API. Their API is well documented.

    The PCB from Fritzing:

     

  • Chris Piuggi 10:17 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Filter Update 

    Download my presentation

     

    • Chris Piuggi 10:19 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      This week there is not a whole lot of new stuff, the laser cutter was having problems building cutting out my new filter prototype. Additionally I spent about 20 hours attempting to get a wifi shield up and running to track data of my system for me to use. Unfortunately the solution has not been working, and I am now switching to an ethernet shield to run this sensor network. More information to come soon. Oh but the plants are growing, growing like crazy… so awesome.

    • avtobazar 9:46 am on May 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Nice topic – respect !

  • thisisvictorkim 10:16 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    New Shtuff 

    so The only advancements are that I know I’ll be using a few Ray Kurzweil talks juxtaposed with this talk by Dan Beuttner where he says we can’t just take pills or go on diets that will make us live longer.

    The sequencer is 70% working.

    I might need to add a few more sample banks.

    that is all

    AIIIGHT

     

  • andywallace 10:15 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    PDF of my presentaiton 

    Forgot to post this earlier: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AcK8v3RzmLLmZDhzN3Z3d18zMDZwamc2ZzJmag&hl=en

     

  • Oylum 9:43 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Wireless Progress 

    Finally, our plush robot and his bunny companion got rid of the wires. They can talk to each other wireless now. Actually, bunny talks to the robot.

    The second robot is on his way, when I realized that it’s another round of tedious sewing, I decided to use a sewing machine. Hopefully, it’s gonna be ready by Thursday.

    These are nice pictures with my xBee’s in action, my LED trials and additional sewing.

     

  • hilalkoyuncu 8:58 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Packaging drafts 

    This is the front view of the package.


    The instructions will be inside the box.

     

  • Alvaro Soto 6:33 am on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Modulo/update and presentation 

    After trying out twice to cut hardwood lids for the blocks and having an unsuccessful precise cut (needed for the connections) I decided to use plywood in the laser cutter. Not a big deal but since it would have been nice to make the entire product in Mahogany I was trying to cut it by hand which made me waste some time  and material. Next step is to assemble everything which is now a matter of a couple of hours. I am planning to build Modulo and make the video for kickstarter this week.

    presentation

     

  • andywallace 5:17 am on April 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Testing Out Other Types of Balls 

    This weekend I tested out a few alternate sensors to start using as well as assembling the parts I got in the mail.

    Let’s start with the new parts. Thom was kind enough to let me use his boarduino.

    Sadly, it needed too much power, and while I could get it transmitting with the xBee, it would only go in very slow bursts when running it off of my lithium batteries. His FTDI Friend, though, is very useful in programming my ardweenies, so thanks Thom!

    Teeny Tiny Ardweeny

    (More …)

     

  • Oylum 2:30 am on April 22, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Correction 

    My nephew is a cute little NAUGHTY boy, he is by no means NASTY!

    Stupid ESL mistakes…

     

  • Lee 10:03 pm on April 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    OmNom presentation 

    Presentation!

    OmNom

     

  • breegeek 10:02 pm on April 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Pres as PDF 

    4-18PRES

     

  • scottpeterman 10:00 pm on April 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Presentation 


    PRESENTATION

     

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