Girl Geek

Grab the ball

The second step for the TriBot... if you touch the ball stop moving and grab the ball (if you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, read my previous Robotics posts first).

The program is pretty similar to the previous part. If the contact sensor is pressed the DrivePower is set to zero stopping the motor. When adding the GenericDifferentialDrive service to the diagram you'll have to choose the same instance that was used in the first part of the diagram.

At the same time power is set to the GenericMotor controlling the TriBot's arms. In this case the Timer is used to limit the time power is set to the motor, when the arms are closed no further power to the motor is needed.

I must admit that by now TriBot has actually been converted to Spike, but it worked quite well. The only thing I hadn't figured out yet was how to make the program sequential. Using the Lego Mindstorms programming environment a program is sequential by default, meaning that it stops listing to a sensor after there has been input from it once. If you want to keep listing to a sensor you have to make that explicit in your program. The Robotics VPL program works parallel. So it's working just like I programmed it; if there's input from the Sonar it starts driving and if there's input from the Contact sensor it stops and closes the robot's arms.

This behaviour is perfect for Spike... the scorpion. Spike moves forward until you come close, then it starts moving backwards... until you come to close, then it attacks you with its tail (... yes... I know it's Lego... use you imagination... ). So Spike will be the next experiment and this time I'll try the Robotics Studio as well.

Vista on Tosh

After a failure running Vista in beta on my Tosh tablet a few months ago, I decided to try again with the RTM and my first impression is very positive.

The installation did require a BIOS upgrade and the use of some beta drivers, but now it's running smoothly. I'm particularly impressed by the improvement in the handwriting recognition. I'm actually writing this blogpost without having to make to much corrections, a real improvement over the support in XP. And not relevant for posting, but relevant for the day to day use of my tablet; handwriting recognition in Dutch!

The other more "nice to have" feature I love, is the Sidebar with the Gadgets. Currently I'm running the clock (in station clock look, of course), the weather in my favorite places in the world and the little notes page. And I still have some space left, so I'm looking into how to build one myself, it shouldn't be to difficult.

It seems to be my turn

Sunday morning, ready to write a new post, wondering what all this tagging business is about. I shouldn't have looked, not be so curious, then I would never noticed that Pascal tagged me, now it's too late and, I feel obliged to respond...

Curious thing this tagging, getting people to share five items of personal information... On the other hand, I now know that Patrick has become a daddy a few months ago and Erwyn an uncle, congratulations both of you. So here are my five bits of information.

1. I regularly have my nephew (age 6) over for a few days during school holidays, which I enjoy very much. Last week we build Spike together, one of the Lego Mindstorms examples, and programmed it to attack a target (Spike is a scorpion). It seems that my efforts are already paying of, as he wants to be a robot designer (although his dad being an industrial designer might have something to do with it as well).

2. To keep the other half of my brain happy, I usually take some kind of creative course. So I've learned how to make patterns for clothes, glass in lead windows and bronzes. Currently I'm taking a course in jewel making from Ralph Bakker. So far I have created two bracelets and am working on a ring.

3. Before starting my study at the Polytech (HTS) I studied history of the arts for a year at the university in Utrecht. Very interesting, but after a year my brain got bored and I decided that it would be a good idea to study for something which would enable me to earn the cheese as well as the bread.

4. I don't have a car but use public transport to get to work (or wherever else I have to go). And to make it more confusing for everyone, I do have my drivers license. I just like travelling by train; listing to my iPod, reading a book and only having to pay attention to getting out at the right station. And I've been doing this for over ten years... don't worry it's not very contagious.

5. Ok, I do have a motorbike, for fun. It's a Suzuki Savage, a 650cc one cilinder chopper... not too much power but the right sound. Last year it felt terribly neglected as I hardly took it out of the garage... I promised to make up for it this year.

And now ...as far as I could tell, these bloggers haven't been tagged yet; Rene, Rob, Stephan and Mario; good luck guys...