Journal99 aug
From Simreal
August 1999
Tue, 3 August 1999
If you are reading this, then my new web pages are up and working. I hope you like them! I am also moving them to a new server, which allows me to expand my online capabilities, so if there are problems I expect the will be resolved over the next couple of weeks.
I was hoping to have more details in the Goblin Brains section, but I think I'm lucky to have as much done as I do.
Well, Robot Wars was cancelled, but BattleBots is going forward full tilt on the 14th of August! At first, I didn't have any problem with my project not making it in time to show up... but now it's really beginning to bug me. From my initial intention to compete in 1998, it looks like I'll just make it for the year 2000. I'll have to build a wheeled backup robot, just in case; I'm going to show up eventually, somewhere, somehow!
I got the fancy-ass brackets from Rick last Friday. Bee-yoo-tee-full. I'll post pictures eventually. The catch with these brackets is... I don't have the back half yet! Rick assures me that will be easy, and I may even see them soon.
I've designed myself into a bit of a corner on the Boris inter-brain network; but I think I can pull it out by using too many RS485 chips. Other than welding the rest of the mounting brackets on the frame, I haven't done much else Boris work last week.
Thu, 12 August 1999
Battlebots check-in begins tomorrow, and I'm not sure whether to be excited by the prospects of the competition, or depressed because I'm not there!
On a more cheerful note, I've spent some good quality time speeding up and optimizing this web site. I also edited the galleys of the book, which will be going to press on the 20th of this month. Release in September! I'll be selling the books, and supporting kits, online by then... I have board designs out for quotes, and I should be tracking down other bits soon too.
For Boris specifically, I built two nodes (one master and one slave) of an RS-485 network... I should be building two more nodes soon, so I can get three legs doing something together.
I had a panic this week when I realized I had designed myself into a corner -- I couldn't use the UART or the SPI for the 485 net! I knew I should have designed the net in up front, but it was too many design questions all at once, and the 485 lost. Anyway, I've come up with a nifty master scheme where I not only have the master send commands to the slave boards, but a synchronizing clock signal as well. I think it will work out pretty good.
Only two more weeks until my son goes back home, so I need to show some multi-leg action soon! I expect this weekend will be further development, with next weekend having the hookup.
One last annoying detail still -- a power source for the electronics and pneumatic valves. I've been running on a 300mA wall-wart, which barely runs the one board and valves, and will certainly fail with any more load. In fact, I think it was failing when I tried to drive two valves simultaneously...
I've got some 70A motors for my next project, for next year, which will be a nice compact rolling robot for in-house AI and sensor testing... so I can develop good systems on that, for placement on Boris later. So look for Project: Alfred once Boris is walking!
Fri, 27 August 1999
It has been a full couple of weeks since the last update! Last Wednesday I got the final parts from Rick, the machinist. Oh man, they are beautiful. All of his stuff is... and you can see the pictures here in the Boris photos page.
I spent a good chunk of last weekend (heck, all of it) building cables, attaching valves, routing hoses, and then... doing some simple testing of three of the legs. Yup, I have independent control over three legs, though a master controller. It is only a matter of making a few more cables, and attaching a few more systems to the frame before I have six-leg control.
I still need to devise an attachment for the compressor on the frame, but I'll be running tests for a while still on a buffered tether.
So, at this rate, I'll have decent behavior in September. Walking, even! Have to write a chunk of software... make some toes for Boris, so he has some grip... build some armour around the "soft" parts for protection... but that's mostly all cleanup work! Most of the hard stuff is done! Woo-hoo!
