I sure hope my 3 "Balance Bot" articles in ROBOT magazine are also up for consideration! But as I said, I only need 2 Quadrovers for the twins...
I know what you're really going to do... you're going to answer that age old philosophic question of how many quadrovers can balance on the head of a pin! Let us know the results.
@Matt: Parallax really has 9 or 10 of those? I knew there was multiple, but I figured you would only give away 3 at the most! I must have missed that in the initial post.
I'm in, I would love to have one of those quad rovers. Although I am not saying what I am going to submit, I hope everyone will enjoy it regardless of whether or not I win. I will post what it is when it is nearly completed. I have something for a second entry too, but I think it will be more beneficial to beginners in spin when manipulating data, I need to write 3 or 4 more functions/methods for that and it will be done.
Looks like I am up against some tough competition with all of you who are entering, hope we all win
EDIT: Well, I guess I didn't read the first post fully, and I will be out of this competition, I will not be able to afford the shipping costs although it is a great deal I think it is a bit to heavy for me. I will still be posting my code regardless in a few days.
Well, I guess I didn't read the first post fully, and I will be out of this competition, I will not be able to afford the shipping costs although it is a great deal I think it is a bit to heavy for me
Jorge - don't despair!
How about making your submission(s) and then getting a local (to you) non-profit organization involved as the recipient? You can then act as a Mentor (like to a scout troop or such).
Be creative! We're trying to spread the joy as much as possible!
-Matt
Since the GatorBots are so young, I would donate the QuadRover to Louisina Tech's Engineering Department (and my Buddy David Hall). They could really use it to it's full potential. That way the GatorBots and I could take field trip to visit and play. Everybody could learn!
This sure does sound like a neat contest, I sure hope these quadrovers end up in the right hands. I'm sure there are better people than myself who could receive one of these robots, especially since I am stuck at AIT until April for the Army National Guard, but if given the chance I would certainly take it upon myself to use it as a teaching tool for the younger generation. While I went through school there was some effort to get students involved in robotics in our middle school, and I got the chance to participate in a classroom lego robotics tournament, but it was only for the GT students who got high grades and test scores. Once I got into high school there really weren't options open for me to learn more, which didn't bother me for a while because I was learning with the BASIC Stamp. But after a while I was hoping to find people with similar interests in robotics so I tried starting a robotics club, and after emailing Ken he agreed to send me BOE Bots to help me start this club. But I ran into a problem: although I found people interested, and got people to come to the meetings, and one day I even had another person from the community come to the school to show off a crawling robot that he had made for a competition, I had the problem where people weren't interested in learning how to program and others just didn't have the time because they were already dedicated to other groups. The group ended up falling apart and I felt like a failure, I hardly wanted to let Ken know what happened and that his donation went to waist.
Fortunately, this past year, a new teacher was hired at the middle school who has been working on a class to teach students about robotics, and its open to everyone, not just those with high test scores. He was interested in the BOE Bots I had sitting around, wanting them for his class, so I gave them to him before I left for basic training. I still plan to help him in his classroom when I get back home. I just hope his classes will inspire the students and teach them enough that they can start a real robotics club when they reach high school and achieve things much greater than I could while I was in high school. And if I were to have access to a quadrover I would do my best to use it as a teaching as well as motivational tool for these students so they could achieve this. Even if it were set up simple enough so that a middle school student could type in coordinates for a place on their field that they found on google earth, and the robot to be able to safely achieve this proving built-in safety features such as obstacle detection, distance limits and speed limits, and remote shutdown capabilities, it could not only inspire them by showing them where their knowledge can get them and what they can do, but also it would show them how they could move up to working with larger robots while being safe by implementing features that prevents the robot from harming people or property. It would also be able to help the young students find goals on what they want to be able to achieve in the area of robotics and programming and help them move forward to building a good robotics program at our high school. Hopefully at some point a high school robotics group will turn out that will be able to program such a robot in Spin and PASM, if given the chance. But even if given the chance, I understand there is always the possibility for failure, but it never represents the end unless one allows it to, it just tells one to try again.
I have no expectations to receive one of these robots, although I would dedicate myself to using it to teach others if I did, however I do hope these fall into the good hands of people who never give up using them to the benefit of others and this overall community. I've been part of this online community long enough to have great respect for the people here, and I'm glad to have had the chance to go to at least one propeller expo which gave me even greater respect for everyone here. And I hope to see this community expand after these wonderful robots are given out, so best of wishes to all of you who applied, and I hope these quadrovers end up in good hands.
Actual url is: http://www.thesiegelsnest.us/blog/page.php?page=1&story=82
Thanks, and guess I could donate it to my local middle/high school if necessary to win. :)I'm working on a blog post to describe how parallax helped me (a blind person) build the fm radio. Will post it on my blog at http://www.thesiegelsnest.us/blog/ will give exact url when I post it. hope this one qualifies, my 9-year-old son would absolutely love this robot.
Great idea! Since I didn't win the Quadrover at UPEW, maybe this will be my chance. I'd even consider saving the hassle of shipping by driving out to Parallax to say "hello!"
Here is my submission for this contest. It is a target turner for Bullseye pistol shooters. We need a lot of practice time and can not always get to the range, so many shooters practice at home with air pistols. But that does not allow for practicing Timed fire and Rapid fire. My Target turner is set up to simulate the range commands and timing sequences used in a real pistol match. The board has three buttons, one for Slow fire, one for Timed fire and one for rapid fire.
The sequence on the range is a series of five commands, given three seconds apart, the LEDs on the front of the turner simulate those range commands so the shooter can practice his timing. The target then turns to face shooter, 10 minutes for slow fire, 20 seconds for timed fire and 10 seconds for rapid fire. The target then turns back. In timed and rapid fire there is a 2 minute wait after firing the first round to reload and then the sequence of commands and target turning begin again. So if you push button one for slow fire the turner will wait 2 minutes for you to walk back down to the firing line then start the five command sequence, turn the target towards you and after ten minutes, turn the target back.
For timed fire it will give you the 2 minutes to get to the firing line, start the command sequence, turn the target forward for 20 seconds, then back, wait 2 minutes for you to reload and repeat the whole again. Same for rapid fire except the time forward is only 10 seconds. I used a Board of Education for the controller and a heavy duty servo for the mechanics. This exactly simulates the way a Bullseye match is run per NRA rules. I have some more pictures of it on my Facebook page and will make a video to post there soon. Let me know what you all think of my project, which is completed now.
It is for pellet guns. I use a Styre pistol for practice at home. I have a large backdrop I put behind it, thought of using a standard pellet trap and just mounting it on top but I did not have any servos on hand that were strong enough to turn that much weight without chattering. Maybe after the holiday money drain has finished I will do Target Turner Part Deux. BTW, love your kitty.
A non profit in the sense that it is meant is a state recognized non-profit organization, like a church, school, volunteer fire department, club, etc...
so would getting a college started with PROPs count?
and if so can the collage receive the rover?
and what about my Eco-cycle - Parallax salvage contest. that could drum up some attention.
hobbyists round the nation/world making projects to utilize stuff that would otherwise become trash to do something useful.
and the main requirement, projects need at least one major component to be a parallax product.
I would personally make data collectors with a prop in a 2 liter soda bottle and some solar cells from those solar light people throw away when the batteries die i got 10 or so from the dumps last month.
point Earth Day is coming and the best thing is Reuse before Recycle.
and Parallax can attract some serious attention with such a marketing stunt if done right.
I would also focus on projects that are useful for safety and the environment and could be put to use in under developed countries where the projects can use simple electronics brought there and "trash" to make useful devices.
Comments
I sure hope my 3 "Balance Bot" articles in ROBOT magazine are also up for consideration! But as I said, I only need 2 Quadrovers for the twins...
I know what you're really going to do... you're going to answer that age old philosophic question of how many quadrovers can balance on the head of a pin! Let us know the results.
Looks like I am up against some tough competition with all of you who are entering, hope we all win
EDIT: Well, I guess I didn't read the first post fully, and I will be out of this competition, I will not be able to afford the shipping costs although it is a great deal I think it is a bit to heavy for me. I will still be posting my code regardless in a few days.
How about making your submission(s) and then getting a local (to you) non-profit organization involved as the recipient? You can then act as a Mentor (like to a scout troop or such).
Be creative! We're trying to spread the joy as much as possible!
-Matt
That's the Spirit! Examples could be Servo, NV, Hack-a-day, youtube videos...(use YOUR imagination and surprise us!)
-Matt
Do you have any spare engines or parts rovers with an engine?
thanks john
Don't forget ROBOT.
Fortunately, this past year, a new teacher was hired at the middle school who has been working on a class to teach students about robotics, and its open to everyone, not just those with high test scores. He was interested in the BOE Bots I had sitting around, wanting them for his class, so I gave them to him before I left for basic training. I still plan to help him in his classroom when I get back home. I just hope his classes will inspire the students and teach them enough that they can start a real robotics club when they reach high school and achieve things much greater than I could while I was in high school. And if I were to have access to a quadrover I would do my best to use it as a teaching as well as motivational tool for these students so they could achieve this. Even if it were set up simple enough so that a middle school student could type in coordinates for a place on their field that they found on google earth, and the robot to be able to safely achieve this proving built-in safety features such as obstacle detection, distance limits and speed limits, and remote shutdown capabilities, it could not only inspire them by showing them where their knowledge can get them and what they can do, but also it would show them how they could move up to working with larger robots while being safe by implementing features that prevents the robot from harming people or property. It would also be able to help the young students find goals on what they want to be able to achieve in the area of robotics and programming and help them move forward to building a good robotics program at our high school. Hopefully at some point a high school robotics group will turn out that will be able to program such a robot in Spin and PASM, if given the chance. But even if given the chance, I understand there is always the possibility for failure, but it never represents the end unless one allows it to, it just tells one to try again.
I have no expectations to receive one of these robots, although I would dedicate myself to using it to teach others if I did, however I do hope these fall into the good hands of people who never give up using them to the benefit of others and this overall community. I've been part of this online community long enough to have great respect for the people here, and I'm glad to have had the chance to go to at least one propeller expo which gave me even greater respect for everyone here. And I hope to see this community expand after these wonderful robots are given out, so best of wishes to all of you who applied, and I hope these quadrovers end up in good hands.
-Derrick
Thanks, and guess I could donate it to my local middle/high school if necessary to win. :)I'm working on a blog post to describe how parallax helped me (a blind person) build the fm radio. Will post it on my blog at http://www.thesiegelsnest.us/blog/ will give exact url when I post it. hope this one qualifies, my 9-year-old son would absolutely love this robot.
Here are a few recent projects/articles:
- Designing a Low-Cost Laser Range Finder (SERVO Magazine, October and November 2011)
- Combining a Laser Range Finder with Game Boy Printer (just finished this one today!) - video and pictures and a Propeller object
- Custom Walk Sign Controller using BS2
That's it for now
Joe
The sequence on the range is a series of five commands, given three seconds apart, the LEDs on the front of the turner simulate those range commands so the shooter can practice his timing. The target then turns to face shooter, 10 minutes for slow fire, 20 seconds for timed fire and 10 seconds for rapid fire. The target then turns back. In timed and rapid fire there is a 2 minute wait after firing the first round to reload and then the sequence of commands and target turning begin again. So if you push button one for slow fire the turner will wait 2 minutes for you to walk back down to the firing line then start the five command sequence, turn the target towards you and after ten minutes, turn the target back.
For timed fire it will give you the 2 minutes to get to the firing line, start the command sequence, turn the target forward for 20 seconds, then back, wait 2 minutes for you to reload and repeat the whole again. Same for rapid fire except the time forward is only 10 seconds. I used a Board of Education for the controller and a heavy duty servo for the mechanics. This exactly simulates the way a Bullseye match is run per NRA rules. I have some more pictures of it on my Facebook page and will make a video to post there soon. Let me know what you all think of my project, which is completed now.
and if so can the collage receive the rover?
and what about my Eco-cycle - Parallax salvage contest. that could drum up some attention.
hobbyists round the nation/world making projects to utilize stuff that would otherwise become trash to do something useful.
and the main requirement, projects need at least one major component to be a parallax product.
I would personally make data collectors with a prop in a 2 liter soda bottle and some solar cells from those solar light people throw away when the batteries die i got 10 or so from the dumps last month.
point Earth Day is coming and the best thing is Reuse before Recycle.
and Parallax can attract some serious attention with such a marketing stunt if done right.
I would also focus on projects that are useful for safety and the environment and could be put to use in under developed countries where the projects can use simple electronics brought there and "trash" to make useful devices.