Archive for the ‘mindstorms’ tag
ROBOTC and Time-Lapse Photography
While scouring Vimeo a couple weeks ago, I came across a “Vimeo Staff Pick” time-lapse video featuring beautiful landscapes, lakes, mountains, and skies called “Hdr Skies.” When looking in the description for more details, I noticed that ROBOTC was listed! I sent the creator, Tanguy Louvigny, an email to learn more about his process with ROBOTC and time-lapse photography. He was nice enough to answer some questions for us …
- When did you start using ROBOTC?
I started using ROBOTC some 3 years ago, when I started my TETRIX based time-lapse rig project.
- What made you decide to program your time lapse rig with ROBOTC?
Version 2 of my rig used three motors to move the camera on three different axis, and was thus more complex to program. That’s when I decided I needed something more convenient and powerful to be able to control the TETRIX encoders and synchronize the motors with the camera shots. ROBOTC was the solution to my problems and worked like a charm.
- What did you use to build your rig?
My goal with this project was to construct a motorized base for my camera to add movement in my time lapse clips. The first, one axis version of the rig simply used a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 kit to support the camera. For version 2, I needed more robust parts and powerful motors to be abled to sustain the weight of new and bigger cameras, so I went for a TETRIX kit that I would couple with the MINDSTORMS brick to control the motors.
- How long was this video in production?
The ”Hdr skies” video was a compilation of one year of time lapse shots. Since then, as I shoot more, I try to achieve a new video every six months or so.
- How has your experience been with ROBOTC?
I had a great time programming with it, I already knew a bit of C, so I found it very easy and natural to use, in fact so simple I was rapidly able to code all my ideas with ease!
- Do you have any other projects coming up that you are using ROBOTC with?
My next project is a new TETRIX based five axis rig using a motorized jib. I’ll use ROBOTC to control the motors and build a new MINDSTORMS interface to program the moves. I’m also exploring new possibilities to use ROBOTC to fire the camera directly, thus simplifying the robot/camera synchronizing part.
Tanguy also mentioned that all his time lapse videos are made with the rig.
Thank you so much Tanguy for sharing your awesome project! Do you have a cool projects that you created using ROBOTC? If so, let us know! We’d love to feature it here.
NXT ‘Coltar’ Blends Art, Science
In years past, the science and art fields were generally considered to be diametrically opposed; if something was scientific it usually didn’t have artistic value, and if it was a work of art it probably didn’t do much for the scientific community. Recently, though, the line between art and science has been blurred and blended in some very unique and interesting ways.
A prime example of this is a color-sensing “Coltar” made by Youtube user PhilippLens. By mixing imagination with ingenuity, PhilippLens created the hybrid guitar using a LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick with a color sensor and two touch sensors (one on the Coltar itself, the other on the ‘pick’). Using the touch sensors to control chords and the color sensor to control which notes are being ‘strummed’ allows the Coltar to emit a surprisingly large range of notes.
For more information on this cool project, check out Philipp’s Reddit post. You can also download the code here.
New NXT X-Y Plotter ‘Draws’ Attention
The NXT X-Y axis plotter showcasing some simple shapes it drew.
When you think of a printer, what images come to mind? Generally, printers are considered necessary but frustrating (Office Space, anyone?) pieces of office equipment and like most other cubicle furnishings they are usually pretty boring.
Not so much anymore.
McNamara has yet again created something functional yet stylish, this time by turning an NXT and some Mindstorm parts into a surprisingly accurate X-Y axis plotter. Quite possibly the coolest thing about the plotter, though, is that (taken from McNamara’s blog) “An X–Y plotter is a plotter that operates in two axes of motion (“X” and “Y”)… The term was used to differentiate it from standard plotters which had control only of the “y” axis, the “x” axis being continuously fed to provide a plot of some variable with time.” This mean that the pen itself moves in both the X and Y directions (technically it moves in all 3 axis of motion, but the Z axis doesn’t come into play on this plotter, except to move the pen on and off the dry-erase board) and that the table stays in a static position; very cool.
Don’t take our word for it though; check it out on McNamara’s blog (complete with pictures, video, code, and building instructions)!
Very cool Omniwheelchair
Simon Burfield, a.k.a. Burf has made a super cool model. By model I mean chair and by chair I mean omnidirectional wheelchair. Oh and it’s life-sized, too. Yeah, it is capable of handling no less than 90 kg! I saw a video of an early prototype a few weeks ago but this new one is even better-er!
Some facts:
- It uses 7 Mindstorms bricks. One for controlling and 6 that are used for moving.
- Each driving NXT has two motors attached to it. I presume that a third motor would probably be pushing it when it comes to providing current. It’s not easy to push that much LEGO and human meat around.
- The master NXT has 4 touch sensors connected (forward, back, left and right) and 2 motors to switch on the drive touch sensors.
- It uses Rotacaster’s omniwheels to make it possible to move in any direction (except up, of course).
- It is programmed in ROBOTC (of course)
Here’s one of the videos he made:
Isn’t this awesome? Go check out the other pictures and videos on the original article page: [LINK]. [via BotBench]
ROBOTC for LEGO MINDSTORMS 2.0
The Robotics Academy is proud to announce the arrival of ROBOTC for Mindstorms 2.0. This new version of ROBOTC is coming almost a year after the release of ROBOTC for Mindstorms 1.40. ROBOTC 2.0 adds a lot of new feature and functionality to the popular programming language for LEGO NXT robots.
ROBOTC for LEGO MINDSTORMS is a ANSI-C based programming language for the MINDSTORMS NXT and RCX robotic systems. ROBOTC offers users a common programming language across different popular robotic platforms; with a unique powerful run-time debugger that give a user complete feedback on all input, outputs, and variables in their programs.
