Author Archives: leo

Knex clockwork

Posted on January 15, 2012 by leo

My kids have been watching and watching old “The Secret Life of Machines” videos (Tim Hunkin, you are an inspiration!!!) and they’re really in love with clocks thanks to “The secret life of the quartz watch“.  Their enthusiasm drove me … Continue reading →

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Breakthrough on sugo-nxt with NXShield

Posted on November 14, 2011 by leo

I decided I’d try another configuration for the sensors and ports.  It worked!  Here is the new port usage: Eyes (DROD40) -> BAS2 Left line sensor (NXT Light) -> BBS2 Right line sensor (NXT Light) -> BBS1 Motor port usage: … Continue reading →

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Progress on the SuGo NXShield

Posted on November 14, 2011 by leo

The programming is coming along pretty well. What works? The program reads the DROD40 “eyes” and when they see an object in front of them the left and right motors push the bot forward by issuing the “Reverse” direction. This … Continue reading →

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NXSuGo ALPHA Prototype sneak peak

Posted on November 7, 2011 by leo

This is my NXShield/Arduino/NXT alpha prototype that I’m using to develop NXSugo which I hope to be an Open alternative to sugo-nxt which I wrote for NXT in NBC.

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NXShield’s got eyes!

Posted on November 5, 2011 by leo

I’m getting good readings from my DROD40 plugged into a NXShield running this test code: #include <Wire.h> #include <NXShield.h> #include <NXTLight.h> NXShield nxshield; NXTLight light1; int inByte = 0; void setup() {   char str[80];   Serial.begin(115200); // start serial for output   delay(500); // wait, … Continue reading →

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NXShield arrived

Posted on November 2, 2011 by leo

Last week, as promised, the NXShield arrived!  I was sent the shield and a power connector to use 7.2v R/C battery packs for power.  The quality is surprising.  The shield is made of a PCB, the motor controllers and the circuits … Continue reading →

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NXShield is on its way!

Posted on October 26, 2011 by leo

Yes, I’ve been busy with my consulting recently and not having time to pick at my picaxe recently. Sorry PicAxe lovers. I still love the platform, I’ll revisit it later. That is in part due to my lack of easy … Continue reading →

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MRTG, Today, For Me

Posted on August 30, 2011 by leo

The first time I used MRTG was  to monitor the T1 line at the ISP I worked at in 1997, hereintown.net.  I needed to justify the need for a second T1 line to serve our business needs and our dialup … Continue reading →

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1 PicAXE, 3 Alkaline AAs, and 3 Days of Love

Posted on February 9, 2011 by leo

It’s like Woodstock.  That’s the only way I can explain it.  Maybe I can do a little better. Here goes: Sunday February 6, I turned my little PicAXE test cirucuit on.  It’s been running ever since!  I’ve had a busy … Continue reading →

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AxePad for Mac issues

Posted on February 7, 2011 by leo

Note: PicAXE and AxePad for Linux are rocking my world in a good way.  I’m sharing this issue with the mac version of AxePad to help others with this issue. I have an iomega usb-serial adapter (GUC232A).  See it on … Continue reading →

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