@prophead100: That is really cool, but I have no idea how to test it without driving a truck through winds strong enough to knock it over. :-) I may give it a shot. Any idea on how it would detect wind direction without being swayed by the motion of the truck? - The wind speed and direction sensors would measure relative to the vehicle. When in motion, the GPS would give you the direction and speed (vector) of the vehicle which could be added to the measured direction and speed (vector) of the wind. Combined (add the vectors) they would give you the absolute wind speed and direction. At rest, a compass module ( e.g. HMC6352 ) would provide the vehicle vector. The sin or cosin of the vehicle angle relative to the wind times a simple factor (based on size) can estimate the wind pressure. You could test it in any car, bike or a skateboard. Sail boats use a much less sophisticated indicator but they cost much more...
Hey:).... I had this idea floating around in my head. It is nothing spectacular, but it could make someones life a little easier. I was thinking of a Propeller controlled SD card module, that would give access to the SD using simple serial(RS232) commands. It would be really useful for a small micro that need access to a large storage system broken up into files. It would only need four connections(VCC, GND, Serin and serout). Applications would include data logging, storage of pictures or data... It might not sell a ton, but i think users of the STAMP, Picaxe, and even Arduino would appreciate it. It would take fewer I/O pins than a real SD card connection and the Propeller would take care of all the file system stuff, so the user could just plug it in, write a couple lines of code or even use a serial terminal and read and write to a SD card. I don't have any experience with CAD programs or professional board making, but i could whip up a prototype on a breadboard or protoboard. Do you have any board making expertise? The finished version would probably use a SMT Propeller to save on room and it would be wise to include some sort of way to reprogram it with future updates... Just an idea
@Holly... Thanks:)... It could expanded quite a bit. I was thinking about using some of the Propeller Ram(that wasn't used for the program) and giving the user access to that to. They could have a few extra kilobytes to do whatever they wanted with. I was also thinking about breaking out a few I/O pins and have those be controlled by the serial communication. The user could use that for embedding the whole board into a small space where they need some extra I/O pins... I was thinking of taking my idea to Gadget Gangster, but i didn't think anybody would have to much interest:)
Everybody I know has their heads burried in their cell phones...
Get an Android cell phone / gizmo, study the Android Android thread on the Propeller forum, then create things which can be controlled by an Android cell phone.
ElectricEye mentioned a noise alarm, that got me thinking about
how easy it is for a uC to detect sound using a microphone.
You could take a uC, a baseball cap, 2 mics, a battery and just
a few more cheap parts and make something of use to people
that are deaf.
Mount the mics on the sides of the cap at about the same location
our ears are and have the uC detect audio and convert it to short
duration square wave pulses. Send the pulses to two metallic
studs mounted beneath the cap where the cap rests on the forehead.
When sound is detected the user will feel the audio data as a varying
series of dc pulses. It would probably be useful not only for detecting
the amplitude and frequency of ambient sound but the location of
the sound.
If you played around with the software you could probably create something
quite useful based on this simple idea. Battery life should be fairly good.
Cost should be less than 20 USD.
It could also function similarly with phototransistors instead of mics and
allow the blind to have a very rudimentary ability to detect light.
You can get metallic decorative studs that are easily applied to fabric
at any fabric shop.
It might be possible to have the software in the audio version discern the
pattern of certain types of sound and send a coded series of pulses to
the user. i.e The sound of a phones ring or a car horn, the beeping alarm
from a microwave oven..etc
to push the formula it indicates "In the case of a longcase clock whose pendulum is about one metre in length and whose amplitude is ±0.1 radians, the θ^2 term adds a correction to equation (1) that is equivalent to 54 seconds per day and the θ^4 term a correction equivalent to a further 0.03 seconds per day.:
54 sec/day is ~624ppm, which should be well within a Prop to measure.
The 0.03s is ~347ppb, which is more of a challenge - but not impossible, it might start to appear as θ gets larger ?
Hardware is simple enough : A digital slotted photo interrupter, and a Prop with optionally a better xtal. (eg ASVTX-09-series), and/or a GPS 1pps as a reference.
Perhaps some means to add energy to prevent damping to allow long runs at a known amplitude, but a slowly damped oscillation should move along the equation nicely. Mass is cheap..., and simpler is always good.
Amplitude can be derived from the duration of the beam break, and period is every second edge.
This thread appears to have been brought back from the dead. This was started at a time that I had an excess of time and a lack of ideas, now I have several projects that I would love to build but don't have the time to do so.
Try Forth on the Propeller -- Tachyon Forth, Prop Forth, or pfth - all provide and interactive Propeller.
I once worked on building a nuclear reactor on the Hanforth Nuclear Area. Doing so is relatively safe as there is no fuel around. It would interfer with X-raying the pipe welds for quality control.
Of course, operating a nuclear reactor is another thing. Just run away.
Try building this project with as many parallax products you can. The GUI is a nice touch. Last I recalled the parallax example PID loop wasnt complete.
Comments
It could be expanded in so many ways..I like it.
http://hackaday.com/2011/04/22/mindwave-is-developer-read-hacker-friendly-mind-control/#more-41137
http://store.neurosky.com/products/mindwave-1
After all, advanced man machine interfaces are probably the future.
Peter,
Get an Android cell phone / gizmo, study the Android Android thread on the Propeller forum, then create things which can be controlled by an Android cell phone.
how easy it is for a uC to detect sound using a microphone.
You could take a uC, a baseball cap, 2 mics, a battery and just
a few more cheap parts and make something of use to people
that are deaf.
Mount the mics on the sides of the cap at about the same location
our ears are and have the uC detect audio and convert it to short
duration square wave pulses. Send the pulses to two metallic
studs mounted beneath the cap where the cap rests on the forehead.
When sound is detected the user will feel the audio data as a varying
series of dc pulses. It would probably be useful not only for detecting
the amplitude and frequency of ambient sound but the location of
the sound.
If you played around with the software you could probably create something
quite useful based on this simple idea. Battery life should be fairly good.
Cost should be less than 20 USD.
It could also function similarly with phototransistors instead of mics and
allow the blind to have a very rudimentary ability to detect light.
You can get metallic decorative studs that are easily applied to fabric
at any fabric shop.
It might be possible to have the software in the audio version discern the
pattern of certain types of sound and send a coded series of pulses to
the user. i.e The sound of a phones ring or a car horn, the beeping alarm
from a microwave oven..etc
I would really be AMAZED if someone could pull that one OFF!
@Microcontrolled
Depends on how large/complex and educational you want it.
One I've been analysing lately is a Pendulum Timer.
School textbooks usually show Period ~ 2*pi*sqrt(L/g)
- however the devil is in the details, and you could unearth a future engineer by showing a kid what the period really is.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum#Period_of_oscillation
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/3/3/e/33e820cd9d4b3c2d58da4ce50007c01a.png
to push the formula it indicates
"In the case of a longcase clock whose pendulum is about one metre in length and whose amplitude is ±0.1 radians, the θ^2 term adds a correction to equation (1) that is equivalent to 54 seconds per day and the θ^4 term a correction equivalent to a further 0.03 seconds per day.:
54 sec/day is ~624ppm, which should be well within a Prop to measure.
The 0.03s is ~347ppb, which is more of a challenge
Hardware is simple enough : A digital slotted photo interrupter, and a Prop with optionally a better xtal. (eg ASVTX-09-series), and/or a GPS 1pps as a reference.
Perhaps some means to add energy to prevent damping to allow long runs at a known amplitude, but a slowly damped oscillation should move along the equation nicely. Mass is cheap..., and simpler is always good.
Amplitude can be derived from the duration of the beam break, and period is every second edge.
Yes, the propeller chip could easily be called the lawyer cpu........
Or just the attorney chip.
FF
That Egg-Bot looks very cool!!! Thanks for sharing it.
Bruce
Build a Nuclear Reactor. That will keep you busy for some time to come (Ask Iran) and you will be the talk of the town!!!
I once worked on building a nuclear reactor on the Hanforth Nuclear Area. Doing so is relatively safe as there is no fuel around. It would interfer with X-raying the pipe welds for quality control.
Of course, operating a nuclear reactor is another thing. Just run away.
Try building this project with as many parallax products you can. The GUI is a nice touch. Last I recalled the parallax example PID loop wasnt complete.