#robotics

03:32:52: .........West0n:Can anyone here obtain a few ieee articles for me?
03:33:12: .........West0n:I need a few on piezoelectric converters for my science fair project
06:28:28: .....hackkitten:
ACTION huggles RobotGrrl :3

06:49:58: .......rue_shop:my new truck dash is doing 900km/hr
06:51:52: .......rue_shop:at about 300km/hr the needle drops back to zero
06:57:24: .......rue_mohr:after 900km/hr, the odo stops responding
06:59:03: .......rue_mohr:I think the problem is in what must be an overvoltage protector, it LOOKS like shunt regulator, but I wasn't able to find the top voltage of it
06:59:34: .......rue_mohr:a 3.9 ohm resistor dies when the filter cap blows and shorts
07:06:44: .......rue_shop:I dont understand why a 'check guages' lamp dosn't come on when you pass the land speed record
07:14:50: .......rue_mohr:today the mowerbot blew its left drive motor
07:15:31: .......rue_mohr:the motor had a plastic brush holder that melted when the brush overheated, it siezed the brush away from the armature
07:16:01: .......rue_mohr:I spent hours carving it out and slipping in a metal bush way (disspate extra heat)
07:16:11: .......rue_mohr:need to get the new mowerbot going
08:53:29: ........rue_bed:so there was an inadvertant test of my new ups today when the power went out
08:53:32: ........rue_bed:it works!
08:53:34: ........rue_bed::)
08:53:42: ........rue_bed:I still need to do a runtime test
11:58:18: .........Eazy-E:!seen zhanx
15:44:20: .......rue_mohr:odd, he's usually been around by now
15:44:24: .......rue_mohr:he must be on a trip
15:46:52: .......rue_mohr:oh, my truck cluster is doing 900km/h on the bench, I'd better go check it
15:49:53: .......rue_shop:it still needs about another 8100km
15:49:58: .......rue_shop:*sigh*
15:57:57: ........theBear:you running a truck gearbix 10,000km in your workshop ?
16:01:41: .......rue_shop:nono, just the instrument cluster
16:02:02: .......rue_shop:(dash guages)
16:15:37: ........wwalker:rue_shop: is that enough to need to cool it?
16:16:12: .........kd0mto:this hurricane sucks
16:17:06: ........theBear:ahh
16:17:24: ........theBear:eh ? you fake-aging a speedo or something ?\
16:17:30: ........theBear:oh, resetting it ?
16:17:35: ........theBear:naught boy ?
16:18:41: .........kd0mto:theBear, ?
16:19:59: ........wwalker:kd0mto: my son is in NC, he just got wet and noisy wind, where are you? theBear was talking to rue_shop
16:21:28: ........theBear:rue, running an instrument cluster for around 10,000km on a bench
16:21:38: ........theBear:i'm in 'stralia
16:25:03: .........kd0mto:I'm in Pennsylvania.
16:25:49: .........kd0mto:We pretty much got wind and flooding
16:35:28: .......rue_mohr:theBear, I need to try to get it to 301k
16:36:00: ........theBear:but why ?
16:36:15: .......rue_mohr:to match my truck + km since the odo stopped
16:36:21: ........Tom_itx:wrong pickup on the transmission?
16:36:50: .......rue_mohr:Tom_itx, there was a shot cap and resistor in the odo circiut of the new cluster, the one in my truck will be the same problem
16:37:31: .......rue_mohr:its a super easy fix
16:37:41: ........Tom_itx:so the new spedo is no better than the old one
16:37:44: .......rue_mohr:if you hear anyone say their S10 odo stopped, I totally know hte fix
16:37:57: .......rue_mohr:odo controls the speedo
16:38:14: .......rue_mohr:I think all 89-94 S10's will have the problem
16:38:30: ........Tom_itx:probably
16:38:30: .......rue_mohr:with non-digital dashes anyhow
16:38:41: .......rue_mohr:I want the world to know the fix
16:39:00: .......rue_mohr:digikey part numbers would be
16:39:01: .......rue_mohr:3.9H-ND for the resistor
16:39:01: .......rue_mohr:565-1792-ND for the capacitor
16:39:05: ........Tom_itx:so post it on a visible webpage
16:39:10: .......rue_mohr:I did I did
16:41:53: ........Tom_itx:but how do you know that is a fix if you're going 300kph?
16:42:28: ........Tom_itx:and is the odo racking up miles that quick too?
16:44:11: ........wwalker:slide: wrt expensive and controllable registers, 200USD is expensive, 20 USD would be great :) varies with features (wireless/wired, temp sensors (outlet temp, ambient temp), variable opening/boolean opening)
16:46:02: ......ultrafish:Hey guys
16:46:05: ......ultrafish:anyone about?
16:46:08: ........wwalker:aye
16:46:18: ........Tom_itx:about what?
16:46:29: ......ultrafish:Well I tried posting this on the arduino channel and it wouldn't let me
16:46:48: ........wwalker:about 5'8"(172cm)
16:47:21: ......ultrafish:Well I use "about" in the way derived from the German "Woruber?" meaning "whereabouts" directly. Over time this has come to be shortened by The people of the English language to "About the place" and then just "about"
16:47:38: ......ultrafish:but anyway
16:47:45: ......ultrafish:Hey guys. I bought 4 tower pro sg90s and they don't work. I think it may be the timing. Does anyone know how to set it?
16:48:35: ........wwalker:ultrafish: is your nick registered? #arduino requires registered users in order to talk (see /topic in #arduino)
16:48:57: ......ultrafish:probably but it didn't send the instruction/request for a password that I usuallu get on channels like that.
16:49:54: ........wwalker:no, I just mean a registered freenode nick, not registered for the #arduino channel.
16:50:06: ......ultrafish:Yes I have
16:50:17: ........wwalker:hmmm
16:50:18: ......ultrafish:But tbh the guys on robotics are generally just far more awesome.
16:52:32: ......ultrafish:Sooo...
16:52:56: ........wwalker:the sg90s looks identical to the hxt900 that came with my arduino kit and "just works"
16:53:03: ......ultrafish:Anyone know how? Of course I could be more wrong than 4chan and it could be something completely different.
16:53:30: ........wwalker:nothing is more wrong than 4chan
16:53:48: ......ultrafish:All I've been able to find on Uncle G! is that the servo has a different timing than others
16:53:54: ......ultrafish:around 600ms
16:54:12: ......ultrafish:And I here you about 4chan
16:54:51: ......ultrafish:actually
16:54:58: ......ultrafish:I may have just discovered the answer
16:55:46: ........Tom_itx:glad we could help
16:57:45: ........wwalker:http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/TimerPWMCheatsheet
16:57:48: ......ultrafish:Nope.
16:58:32: ......ultrafish:I set it as "myservo.attach(9, 600, 2100);" cos apparently that's how you're supposed to do it.
16:58:35: ......ultrafish:Didn't change a thing.
16:59:29: ......ultrafish:Ah
17:03:25: ........wwalker:just adjust the 600 and 2100 until you can _ONLY_ get 180 sweep.
17:04:32: ........wwalker:forcing the servo to try to go past either end point is a high current event and should be avoided
17:05:09: ........wwalker:nevermind the timer cheatsheet. doesn't help with this.
17:05:50: ......ultrafish:It doesn't sweep at all though
17:06:12: ......ultrafish:Just makes a low buzzing sound
17:06:15: ......ultrafish:which I know is bad
17:07:26: ........wwalker:ah, not a calibration problem.
17:07:28: ........wwalker:hmmm
17:12:57: ......ultrafish:It's irritating the hell out of me. The not-working I mean, not the sound
17:13:35: ........wwalker:ultrafish: are you calling write(90) immediately after attach?
17:13:59: ......ultrafish:no
17:14:15: ........wwalker:try that
17:14:32: ........wwalker:myservo.attach(9, 600, 2100);myservo.write(90);
17:16:08: ......ultrafish:no change :/
17:18:47: ........wwalker:wired like http://www.botbuilder.co.uk/codeandprojects/servocalib/index.html (just for the pic, ignore the software)
17:18:54: ........wwalker:?
17:20:17: ......ultrafish:yes
17:20:31: ......ultrafish:except it's brown, red and yellow
17:20:54: ......ultrafish:red-power, brown - ground, yellow - signal
17:22:48: ........wwalker::( everything I see online is that the sg90 is the same as the hxt900 and mine "just works"
17:23:09: ......ultrafish:Gah
17:25:52: ........Tom_itx:check the pulse frequency on a scope to verify it is what it is supposed to be
17:27:31: ......ultrafish:I don't own a scope.
17:27:35: ........wwalker:ultrafish: have you tried the attach(9) call instead of attach(9,600,2100)?
17:27:40: ......ultrafish:or even have access to one
17:27:46: ......ultrafish:of course
17:28:04: ........wwalker:sorry, no idea of your experience
17:28:40: ......ultrafish:fair point
17:30:16: ........wwalker:my code is s.attach(9); for (i = 0; i <=180; i++){s.write(90); delay(15)}; <inverse loop>
17:32:23: ........wwalker:http://code.google.com/p/duinos/source/browse/trunk/libraries/Servo/examples/Sweep/Sweep.pde?spec=svn22&r=22 that one actually
17:32:27: .......rue_mohr:wwalker, the posted timings of .5 to 2.5ms usually give you about 90 degrees on a servo
17:33:02: ........wwalker:rue_mohr: 90? or 180?
17:33:43: ........wwalker:ultrafish: did you try one of the other pwms? I'm wondering if something in your env has changed the timing on 9.
17:34:21: ......ultrafish:I tried 9 and 11
17:44:05: .......rue_shop:wwalker 90
17:44:22: .......rue_shop:so tweek the paramiters till it does what you want
17:44:51: ........wwalker:rue_shop: it's just buzzing in place for ultrafish
17:45:27: ........wwalker:sounds like the frequency is off
17:45:55: ........wwalker:not the frequency of the servo, but the frequency of the arduino
17:46:13: ........wwalker:ultrafish: which card? what clock rate?
17:46:36: ......ultrafish:deumilanov / dunno
17:46:58: ......ultrafish:16 Mhz
17:53:20: .........Eazy-E:!seen zhanx
17:53:26: .........Eazy-E:!seen zhanx
17:53:37: .......rue_mohr:hmm
17:53:42: .......rue_mohr:starting to worry me
17:53:54: ......ultrafish:I hope they aren't just broken. Although more than likely it's just me being dense.
17:54:17: ......ultrafish:btw I'm running it through an LED beforeground cos it kept SCing.
17:54:21: .......rue_mohr:ultrafish, why dont you test the avrs output
17:54:37: .......rue_mohr:make a 1 second led flasher and see how fast it flashes
17:54:55: .......rue_mohr:if it takes 16 seconds, you know the problem
17:55:41: .......rue_mohr:I love how you people jump head first into a project without knowing if any of the dependencies work
17:56:22: ......ultrafish:It worked a few days ago
17:56:34: .......rue_mohr:make a 1 second led flasher and see how fast it flashes
17:56:50: .......rue_mohr:are you running on battery power?
17:57:12: .......rue_mohr:do you know why you shoudl never develop a project under battery power?
17:58:18: ......ultrafish:I haven't even got a battery pack
18:00:48: ......ultrafish:I dunno
18:01:50: .......rue_shop:make a 1 second led flasher and see how fast it flashes
18:02:19: ......ultrafish:I did
18:03:25: ......ultrafish:once a second
18:03:31: .......rue_shop:did it flash at 1 second using the hardware timer?
18:03:49: ......ultrafish:used the blink sketch.
18:04:06: .......rue_shop:use a timer and code it
18:04:31: .......rue_shop:turn the led on, delay one second, turn the led off, delay one second, repeat
18:04:32: ......ultrafish:??
18:04:43: ......ultrafish:that's how blink works
18:04:44: .......rue_shop:do you know what bearing this has on your problem?
18:05:06: ......ultrafish:you think it's pulsing at the wrong frequency which is causing it to not work
18:05:21: .......rue_shop:but I'm looking at an underlying cuase
18:05:39: .......rue_shop:what fundamental thing am I trying to test?
18:05:55: ......ultrafish:clock frequency?
18:06:36: .......rue_shop:yes
18:06:47: ......ultrafish:I may be an idiot but I'm not stupid.
18:07:03: .......rue_shop:ok, so its running at 16Mhz, not 1Mhz for SURE
18:07:04: ......ultrafish:Or is it that I'm stupid but not an idiot.
18:07:19: ......ultrafish:definitely
18:07:42: .......rue_shop:not cause you said so, but because a test proved it
18:08:26: ......ultrafish:because it blinks once for a second, turns off, turns on again
18:08:53: .......rue_shop:ok, what test confirmed your servo works
18:09:12: ......ultrafish:Nothing much except that I've got 4 of them.
18:09:21: .......rue_shop:new?
18:09:27: ......ultrafish:brand new
18:09:30: .......rue_shop:ok
18:09:49: .......rue_shop:so, what I'v heard, you cant get any proper responce from teh servo?
18:09:59: ......ultrafish:No :/
18:10:17: .......rue_shop:can your delay function go down to a half millisecond?
18:10:46: ......ultrafish:dunno
18:11:00: .......rue_shop:is it yours or an arduino built in?
18:11:12: ......ultrafish:arduino
18:11:28: .......rue_shop:ok, read the docs, see if it'll go down to .5ms
18:12:57: ......ultrafish:where would I find that?
18:13:04: ......ultrafish:tbh I'm more of a software guy
18:13:15: .......rue_shop:the documentation for your arduino?
18:14:11: ......ultrafish:whether or not it'll go down to 0.5ms
18:15:51: ........wwalker:the arduino delay function is in ~1ms increments controlled by an integer argument.
18:17:32: ......ultrafish:k
18:17:33: ........wwalker:pinMode(9,OUTPUT);while(1){digitalWrite(9,HIGH);delay(1);digitalWrite(9,LOW);delay(1);}
18:17:59: ........wwalker:should roughly center the servo with no buzz.
18:18:27: ........wwalker:you get no position control, but if it moves to a spot and stays there ....
18:19:01: ........wwalker:that code's off the top of my head, check it. I've not written C or arduino in a year or more
18:19:51: ......ultrafish:Nope. Just buzzes higher than it has done
18:20:05: ........wwalker:purposely manually displace the servo before power on
18:20:44: ........wwalker:that sounds to me like power and signal wires are backwards.
18:21:58: ........wwalker:try pin 5 or 6
18:22:32: ........wwalker:you only verified the timing of the timer controlling those pins, rather the the timer for pin 9
18:25:33: ........wwalker:pinMode(9,OUTPUT);digitalWrite(9,LOW);delay(100000);
18:26:16: ........wwalker:what does it do with no signal at all?
18:27:02: ......ultrafish:nothing
18:27:31: ........wwalker:no buzz
18:28:34: ......ultrafish:no
18:28:42: ........wwalker:"cos it kept SCing" SC?
18:29:17: ......ultrafish:moving it by hand before makes no change
18:29:55: ......ultrafish:short circuiting
18:30:13: ......ultrafish:I'll be back ina a minute
18:30:54: .........kd0mto:stupid hurricane
18:34:04: ........wwalker:kd0mto: take out your power?
18:35:31: .........kd0mto:yup
19:05:15: ......ultrafish:Well I'm back.
19:05:52: ......ultrafish:Any fresh ideas?
19:08:00: ......KimLaroux:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho8xLhpx99c If you got sensitive data on disk to erase
19:11:52: ......ultrafish:Interesting fresh idea
19:12:19: ......ultrafish:Not exactly what I was looking for but certainly fulfills the criteria.
19:14:03: ......KimLaroux:lol, look around his channel, it's insane... surprising this guy is still alive
19:15:49: ......KimLaroux:I'm a bit curious as to how the motors stay alive with all this power going through them
19:21:16: ......ultrafish:I think I'm gonna have to see if I can return these.
19:30:02: ........Tom_itx:do linux script files need a certain file extension?
19:47:20: ......KimLaroux:Tom_itx, it depends on the tool chain, but usually file extensions are not necessary in Linux
19:47:52: ........Tom_itx:this sudo shit sucks
19:48:32: ......KimLaroux:Tom_itx, from my experience, MPLAB, Piklab, Maple all need file extensions
19:49:21: ......KimLaroux:Do you need sudo that often?
19:49:44: ........Tom_itx:i want stuff in a certain place but get access denied
19:50:28: ......KimLaroux:certain place... external?
19:50:51: ........Tom_itx:not in the user's directory
19:51:00: ........Tom_itx:but i need root access for that
19:52:21: ......KimLaroux:yeah it be annoying at first
19:52:38: ......KimLaroux:people would hit me for telling you this, but you could use #sudo su
19:52:41: ......KimLaroux:to get root
19:52:52: ........Tom_itx:oh i forgot about that
19:53:08: ......KimLaroux:yeah I can't even remember last time I used it
19:53:24: ......KimLaroux:I usually just use the up key and use history commands
19:53:49: ......KimLaroux:when I have to play around the same spot
19:56:04: ........Tom_itx:i want to install xilinx but unless i get access it will end up in user space
19:57:28: ......KimLaroux:what's xilinx? from what I see it's a compagny that makes FPGAs
19:57:38: ........Tom_itx:yup
19:57:49: ......KimLaroux:they have a linux tool chain?
19:57:53: ........Tom_itx:yup
19:58:00: ......KimLaroux:I see
19:58:01: ........Tom_itx:free too
19:58:57: ......KimLaroux:it doesn't seem to be in the Ubuntu repos, is the tool chain called xilinx?
19:59:15: ........Tom_itx:you need to download the zip and install it
19:59:17: ........Tom_itx:i think
19:59:26: ........Tom_itx:it's rather large
19:59:46: ........Tom_itx:webpack
19:59:52: ........Tom_itx:or xilinx webpack
20:02:03: ......KimLaroux:can't find it, weird
20:02:24: ......KimLaroux:they have a git repos, but it seems to be embed stuff
20:03:17: ........Tom_itx:http://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.htm
20:03:55: ........Tom_itx:i'm after 9.2 in the arcive
20:04:30: ......KimLaroux:lol wtf, gotta login to download
20:04:43: ........Tom_itx:yeah
20:04:47: ........Tom_itx:but it's free
20:05:06: ......KimLaroux:why do you want 9.2?
20:05:20: ........Tom_itx:it's best suitable for what i'm building
20:05:29: ......KimLaroux:I see
20:05:44: ........Tom_itx:i downloaded the latest for windows
20:05:52: ........Tom_itx:and 9.2
20:06:11: ........Tom_itx:but it would be easier to build in linux i think
20:06:39: ........Tom_itx:i'll just put it in user space i guess
20:07:26: ........Tom_itx:or maybe i just figured it out
20:07:42: ......KimLaroux:I do that for proprietary apps like this
20:07:57: ........Tom_itx:i managed to get it to unzip at least
20:08:02: ........Tom_itx:still working...
20:08:03: ........Tom_itx:it's big
20:08:06: ......KimLaroux:it's really a zip file?
20:08:26: ......KimLaroux:download page says it's a tar/gz
20:08:46: ........Tom_itx:well it arrived as a zip
20:09:05: ......KimLaroux:seriously? that's weird
20:10:11: ........Tom_itx:this isn't working as expected
20:10:32: ......KimLaroux:welcome to linux
20:10:50: ........Tom_itx:i don't really see what all the rave is about
20:11:00: ........Tom_itx:i could have installed cygwin by now
20:13:18: ........Tom_itx:i don't think this is the right one but it said it was
20:20:23: ......ultrafish:The only way I can get this damned servo to work is to connect it straight to the power and the ground. But that short circuits the arduino. The second I add enough resistance to stop it short circuiting then it won't run cos there isn't enough power.
20:20:54: ........Tom_itx:get more
20:23:14: ......ultrafish:more what?
20:23:57: ........Tom_itx:more
20:24:01: ........Tom_itx:power
20:24:04: ......ultrafish:more more?
20:24:29: ......ultrafish:don't see how that'll help. I'll just need more resistance to stop it CSing.
20:24:30: ........Tom_itx:you're trying to power the servo from the arduino supply?
20:24:34: ......ultrafish:yes
20:24:40: ......ultrafish:it's supposed to run off of 4.8V
20:24:47: ........Tom_itx:maybe the servo needs more than it can supply
20:25:01: ........Tom_itx:well that may very well be true but how much current?
20:25:09: ........Tom_itx:and servos tend to be noisy beasts too
20:25:26: ........Tom_itx:you may need a separate supply for them with a common ground
20:36:44: ......ultrafish:I give up. Thanks for your patience guys.
20:48:47: .......rue_mohr:hahah did he not common the grounds between the servo and his arduino?
20:48:51: ........wwalker:he's probably powering off of a weak USB port.
20:49:31: ........wwalker:in this case he _should_ power off a battery
20:49:43: .......rue_mohr:so I have a problem with the new mowerbot, I need the motors to not backdrive
20:50:09: .......rue_mohr:I'm thinking of hooking them up as servos and giving it something like a 'step' interface
20:50:18: .......rue_mohr:so they will hold if not otherwise asked to move
20:50:35: .......rue_mohr:means I need to put an encoder on them tho
20:50:37: .......rue_mohr::/
20:51:35: .......rue_mohr:it would be nice if the gearing in the motors was lower too
20:51:38: .......rue_mohr:hmm
20:52:10: .......rue_mohr:I need to go shopping and get more resin to finish the new etching tank
21:18:11: ........wwalker:rue_mohr: building a mowerbot as a challenge, as a cheaper-than-commercial, or as a more features than commercial?
21:21:00: ........wwalker:wow, those are expensive.
21:40:57: .......rue_shop:I already built one, I'm working on a better one using everything I learned
21:41:09: .......rue_shop:!assist robots/mowerbot/
21:41:12: .......rue_shop:!assist robots/mowerbot/
21:41:17: ........Tom_itx:rue_shop
21:41:19: ........Tom_itx:be here later
21:41:21: ........Tom_itx::)
21:41:28: ........Tom_itx: i may need some assistance
21:41:33: .......rue_shop:hah, I'm gonna have more visitors in a bit
21:41:42: .......rue_shop:so I'd like a show of hands
21:41:46: ........Tom_itx:installing stuff on ubuntu
21:41:48: ........Tom_itx:xilinx
21:41:55: ........Tom_itx:may need some assistance
21:42:09: .......rue_shop:the new mowerbot mtoors have a brake clutch on the back, I'm thining of replacing it with an encoder...
21:42:37: .......rue_shop:I dont know if its better to servo the motors or have the brake just enguage when their not supposed to be turning
21:43:09: .......rue_shop:so all those that think I should leave the brake in, instead of installing an encoder, raise their hand...
21:43:26: .......rue_shop:well that sorts it, the brakes come out then...
21:43:43: .......rue_shop:thankyou for voting everyone
21:44:06: .......rue_shop:take pride in knowing you helped with my mowerbot
22:19:12: ......KimLaroux:rue_shop, I vote for keeping the brakes
22:24:45: ......KimLaroux:that way you can have a different circuit that can brake the robot it, bypassing even the motors, so if the motors or their controllers end up like http://eds.dyndns.org/~ircjunk/robots/mowerbot/p1020231.jpg you have a backup
22:24:56: ......KimLaroux:s/it/in