A big Happy New Year to all my loyal readers. I don’t keep very detailed analytics data about my site visitors so as far as numbers go it’s very possible you number in the millions. So thank you, you are what this is all about and will continue to be during the glorious new year, 2010. Big plans are underway so stay tuned, there will be something for everyone to marvel at.
0I’ve been watching it’s development for a while and it’s nice to see it finally take off, albeit for a short distance and as you can see only a meter off the ground. But it’s progress for the 200-ft wingspan Solar Impulse towards the goal of creator Bertrand Piccard of “a solar aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel”.
While still many steps lie between this and being able to fly through the night it is still remarkable that it’s even possible. It’s one more avenue being explored in the holy grail of sorts: to have aircraft stay aloft indefinitely (or nearly so), a budding area of research of mine.
More photos.
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More good work from the brains at MIT. This is kind of like my ongoing quadrotor project, except in a working state. Made by a group out of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, CSAIL, the focus is more on the autonomous aspect of navigating an indoor environment, one where GPS in not available, a so-called GPS-denied environment. It’s tricky but doable as they demonstrate using LIDAR to construct a model of the space from a whole bunch of laser measurements. Throw in some A.I. and you’re good to go.
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Tons of software that has a lot of value is given away freely and openly: it’s called open source software. This is nothing new. But how does it apply to real, tangible stuff? Until now it didn’t at all. The incredible, invaluable SparkFun is changing that with their Free Day.
On January 7th, 2010 orders up to $100 are free, free, free (minus shipping). That is what I call real money (currently, eventually will be pocket change, if things go to plan). Nobody does that, nobody. And admirable act from folks at SparkFun, who’ve provided the essential parts and pieces for projects to me and many others for years.
0I couldn’t resist. I’m, and have been, a happy Droid owner. Here’s what’s good: apps in the background (so can keep Pandora rocking while using other apps), awesome large, high-res screen (480×854), 5MP camera, and it also makes calls.
Being a software developer I’m excited about making innovative apps for the Android platform. The mobile app opportunity is large and relatively wide open, and while the penetration of Android in terms of market share is low it is and will grow quickly now that it’s backed up by great hardware. Look for my apps in the App Market Q1 2010.
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It’s all about scale, in this case time: when you slow things down you find out things you wouldn’t know otherwise. This is why I need a high speed camera.
0From the previous post you can see that the hardware design is complete in the form of a schematic, which only specifies how things are connected but not in a specific physical layout. That’s done in the separate step where you arrange the parts and connect them, according to the schematic, using board (as in printed circuit board or PCB) layout software. I’m using the free CadSoft EAGLE which works very well for both schematics and layouts.
Nothing fancy, a two-layer design making a roughly 2“x3” board. This will go right on the central platform of the quadrotor. Already sent out to my go-to board manufacturer Advanced Circuits which take my files and make a high quality circuit board ready for parts assembly.
0Things that fly are neat, and pretty useful. I really like neat so I’m building something that flies: a small-scale quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV. It’s conceptually really basic, just a cross with four motors at the ends that provide lift and by changing the power to each motor allow you to control where in goes. Simple.
The hard part is figuring out how to control it. In fact its too complex to be controlled by a human operator alone. Thus the main problem is to write some smart software that either helps stabilize the quadrotor or flies it with no human input. There’s a whole engineering field devoted to solving issues involved in controlled highly dynamic systems: control theory, my new friend I’ll surely be getting very familiar, if not quite intimate, with.
But not just yet. Before the software comes the hardware needed to run it. And for something flying through the air you need sensors in every direction to tell you what’s going on in terms of your motion. A 3-axis linear accelerometer and a 3-axis gyrometer are what’s needed (and sufficient), as seen below in the schematic (Click for a closer look). Those plus a microcontroller, power supply and wireless module.
Next comes the board layout.
0Halloween is tomorrow. Just in time I’ve completed a little project that I call Ping Pong Pumpkins. Simple idea: power an LED with a coin cell battery (ala LED Throwies) and put inside a decorated orange ping pong ball and you have a mobile electronic jack-o-lantern (an iPumpkin?).
It’s as unique as you make it and a fun, quick little way to decorate. Did I mention it’s portable? Have a happy Halloween.
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327 feet tall, 2.6 million pounds of thrust, zero to Mach 1 in 39 seconds. The NASA Ares I-X test rocket, part of the Constellation program for the next generation of spacecraft. Launched 11:30AM ET yesterday morning.
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