Mini RC Car - Part 5 (final)

After weeks of 'other things', here is the 5^th and final post on the Mini RC Car project.

It's alive!!!

This final configuration works on a single 9v battery. Yes only one power supply because I found the real source of the noise problem coming from the DC motor. Like any good bug it was a code 12 since I assumed that the motor had a capacitor on it... NOT!  Here you can "see" the result.

Parts:

1x racetrack toy car

1x micro servo

1x 9v battery

1x 5v power regulator

1x pn2222 transistor

1x 1N4001 rectifier diode

4x ceramic 0.1uf capacitors

1x 16MHz crystal

1x 28 pin socket

1x 4 pins female headers

1x 3 pins male headers

1 9v snap connector

1 Atmega328

1 BlueSmirf bluetooth breakout board

1 PCB
1 Wires

scrap metal/wood for structure

Tools:

Dremel

Soldering iron

Hot glue gun

Arduino board (e.g. UNO) for programming the chip

Android device with bluetooth

For the maniacs out there I'll probably add this on Instructables where I'll go over all the geeky details.

To view the whole project go here.

Thanks for reading.

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Off the top of my head, here's things that greatly influenced me:

Paul Bourke

Pixar

Craig Venter Institute

Ender's Game

Bodyguard of Lies

The Millennium Problems

The Manhattan Project

The Empire Strikes Back

Crossroad

For me this was:

Finding inspiration in formulas

Validation that a company can be both technical and artistic

Exponential advance of technology

The start of my love for reading

Confirmation that I will never have enough information about the history of war

My love for mathematics

A geek making a difference

My first first art influence in Ralph McQuarrie

When music grabbed my attention

Mini RC Car - Part 4

Back on track with 5v...continuing the Mini RC Car build.

So I couldn't wait on my 3.3v voltage regulator.  I decided to switch the car to 5v and use a good old 9v battery.  This is what it looked like when I tested the new power system:

This has to be the ugliest RC car ever made.

After getting over the look of the beast, I now have to do the following:

• Test the servo
• Clean up the electronics (there is still some quick prototyping part or assembly)
• Make a more permanent stack assembly for the battery, power regulator and circuit board.
• Programme the Arduino and the Android phone (remote)

This shouldn't be too long.  Here's the car running a test with the new power system:

To view the whole project, go here

NASA != Marketing (rant)

In case you didn't know NASA is still there.  Thanks to our Russian partners we can still go to the Space Station where there was, today, an amazing display of supper high-tech showmanship from NASA.  A man shook a robot hand.

Yes you read it right.  A man (take the time to let it sink in) shook the hand (I know you think I'm going to say man but wait) of a robot.  Wow.

I'm personally a big fan of space exploration and robotic and I think that Robonaut2 will do great things.  It will at least pave the way for this kind of technology. But seriously NASA, can you make anything look cool for the average Joe?  If you can't picture the moment, here the scenario: Without the camera even moving, two guys (astronaut) float behind the Robot (which is not moving) and, after what seams to be a endless speech,  proceed to shake the hand of the robot who, for that special 3 seconds, moved 8 inches (toward the astronaut knee instead of the hand). There's a thing about good presentation: it's called practice.  Or you can you can do it live if what you're doing is so incredibly amazing that fumbling doesn't matter.

How about rock paper scissors? Even better, how about rock paper scissors lizard Spock?  If an Apollo astronaut would have been  at the control of the robot, I bet he would have done something cool.

Oh Internet, help me compile a list of  'The thing that NASA should have done as the first Robot-Human interaction'. Not a joke list but something that's worth showing the kids, something memorable.  And um... let's  try to stay politically correct please. (Comment here or use the hash tag #rb2firstmove on twitter)

I'll compile the list here:

•  Rock paper scissors lizard Spock
•  Thumb War
•  Brake-dancing robot moves and arms wave
• (your idea goes here)

Mini RC Car - Part 3

A few bumps in the road...continuing the Mini RC Car build.

First I decided to get rid of the variable voltage regulator.  It was causing all kinds of problems mostly because I'm using a 3.7v power source.  Anyway the Arduino runs fine for now and I have some 3.3v regulators coming through mail pretty soon.

A glitch never comes alone but I'm lucky since the next problem was simple. The DC motor is creating noise feedbacks that are confusing the servo.  That one is an easy fix by adding a 0.1uf capacitor on the motor.

The third one is a show stopper. Or maybe I should say 'a show slower'.  The cellphone battery I'm using is not strong enough for this whole operation.  It's a 3.7v 850ma LiPo cell.  I have to power the Arduino, the BlueSmirf Bluetooth board, the servo and the DC motor which is done using a transistor.  I guess I should have done some calculations first.

Soooo, I'll get to that and I'll order the right battery.  Until then, PAUSE on this project.   Mmmmm, that gives me an opportunity to start another thing.  Muha ha ha ha ha

To view the whole project, go here