Toothpaste tubes? Beverage cans? Transistor cases? Electrolytic capacitor cans? CO2 cartridges? Brass ammo cases? Aircraft wing ribs? (Okay, that last one was just wishful thinking.)
@Peter:
I'm sorely tempted to put down the embedded FORTHs I've been using and try your peculiar Propeller dialect.
How you can speak a full minute in coherent and correct English language without using the letter "a"?
"I will now count down one complete minute of seconds: sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven.....three, two, one, zero."
OK. Lot's of interesting guesses there. The answer is pretty boring. That machine I worked on was making cigarettes.
Wrapping paper around cigarettes and gluing it up at that rate is pretty impressive, controlling the tobacco feed is tricky. Then there is the density measurement to ensure there are no lumps or voids in the product and the final weight and standard deviation is tight. Then there is attaching the filter tips. Etc etc.
Cigarettes are made in pairs, a single double length filter joins the consecutive pair together, then the filter gets cut in half and one of the pair is flipped head to tail. With the, err, interesting result that cigarettes are left and right handed. The paper wraps in a different direction.
Anyway, after working on that for two years I became totally disgusted with the idea of spending my life making cigarettes. I just had to quit. Went freelance.
Dammit...my first thought this morning was cigarettes but the mirror image thing didn't make sense so I didn't post. I realised that the density checking was a significant factor.
OK. Lot's of interesting guesses there. The answer is pretty boring. That machine I worked on was making cigarettes.
Anyway, after working on that for two years I became totally disgusted with the idea of spending my life making cigarettes. I just had to quit. Went freelance.
What a waste of two years, all the fruits of your labor up in smoke!
Ultimately it was worse than making a useless product, it's an actively dangerous and unhealthy product. I just did not want to do it any more. Just had to quit. It was a shame, that team had been making some seriously good robotic machining gear for the day. It was some what ahead of it's time, very high precision. Got sold to people like Texas Instruments. Sadly too far ahead of it's time and too expensive. It got cancelled and the team slowly drifted away to more interesting things.
I couldn't care less about the end product, that is still one heck of a piece of equipment. Pity the video is so short.
I almost replied to a comment in an earlier thread where it was stated that accurate servo position isn't critical at high speed, well that shear is one example of where that statement isn't true. Assuming that the shear was a servo and not a mechanical cam mechanism.
Back in the day when tobacco was king in Virginia, I went with a high school group to visit the Philip Morris factory in Richmond. I recall being amazed by the speed the machines were cranking out product, and I especially remember the lab where they had a machine that chain smoked dozens at a time. I can't recall them explaining the purpose of data they were collecting with the robot smoker though. Fast forward, a group that I work with just published research about smoking (or ceasing to do so) in homes with children. I'm happy to report that a Propellers played a big role. The Prop in hundreds of homes acquire smoke levels from sensors and processes the levels to color and sound alarms and rewards, and transmits data to a network. Bellettiere, J., Berardi, V., Hughes, S., Klepeis, N., Obayashi, S., Liles, S., Nguyen, B., Boman-Davis, M., Hofstetter, R., Allen, T., Blumberg, E., Hovell, M. (2016). The Development and Deployment of a Multicomponent, Real-Time, Tailored Intervention to Reduce Indoor Smoking. 37thAnnual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine. Washington DC. March 31, 2016.
It's coded all in Spin (bst), but I just want to add, on topic, that I really do appreciate what Peter has done with Forth, interesting projects and technical acumen shared here.
One time the client who I supplied the boards to had a problem with my "software" since it allowed five dollar notes to be gobbled by the machine.
I have similar complaints all the time when I retrofit my control systems to older equipment; "we didn't have this hydraulic leak prior to the new software"
I don't mind this, actually because they have me log on to the machine and I can use my diagnostics to give me an idea of what's really wrong with the equipment (not oil leaks, mind) and I end up billing for the remote assistance. This happened just last week, I diagnosed a mechanical problem on a machine in Italy from my bed here in the UK. The customer was freaking out because the entire production line was down and he had a bunch of robots and hourly employees stood around. I billed handsomely and the customer was thrilled with the minimal downtime and cost savings due to me not having to board a plane, etc. Gotta love it!
Oh yeah. I once implemented a simple feature on a machine control system they, just wanted to know how fast it was running. After they installed the upgrade they were complaining that my "rev counter" software was displaying the wrong speed. After checking over my code I finally tracked down a scope and measured the input frequency, it was wrong. Turned out they had built the machine with the wrong gear ratios, it was going to be a long and expensive tear down to change the gears!
This thread has been really great to read. I hope all of you (and others) will consider starting a new thread where you continue to discuss various issues that you have dealt with in your careers and experiences, whether they involved the Propeller or not. We less-experienced folk can actually learn a great deal from this. Plus, it is very interesting to see what all you have done.
And let me add that I also now have an interest in Forth, thanks to the OP by Peter.
Well I alluded to "threats" and in that particular case these people were shall we say less than savory and the particular client was later implicated in the notorious Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption here in Queensland and put behind bars. However he was working on this project in association with some other far less than savory characters who earlier in the development phase more or less stood over me to ensure things got done yesterday. In fact I remember some long nights slaving over some MSP430 networking code in a cold cold freezing cold shed where my offsider and I would wrap ourselves in bubble wrap or even turn on this huge thermoplastics machine to stay warm . The big guys had a mean Muay Thai professional stand with us (nothing else to do) for a day and night or two but after that they left us alone. Since they knew I had hacked encrypted smart phone cards for a previous project which was a demonstration of the card's weaknesses they even asked me if I could hack satellite receivers as an ongoing business to which I politely refused
I also love hearing about these experiences, sitting here with a huge grin and chuckling to myself because I can relate. Lil lady just said "what the heck just tickled you?"
On the topic of interactive programming, yup... My secret weapon back in the mid-80's, ended up with me creating a monster. Just wondering how I can shorten the story.
I also love hearing about these experiences, sitting here with a huge grin and chuckling to myself because I can relate. Lil lady just said "what the heck just tickled you?"
On the topic of interactive programming, yup... My secret weapon back in the mid-80's, ended up with me creating a monster. Just wondering how I can shorten the story.
I particularly enjoyed your previous post, where you diagnosed the mechanical problem from afar. That sounded pretty cool.
... In fact I remember some long nights slaving over some MSP430 networking code in a cold cold freezing cold shed where my offsider and I would wrap ourselves in bubble wrap or even turn on this huge thermoplastics machine to stay warm .
I have been looking into playing with Forth on the MSP430G2553 via the Launchpad board, since it is so cheap and I have had one for several years. Not too interested in doing so until now!
... In fact I remember some long nights slaving over some MSP430 networking code in a cold cold freezing cold shed where my offsider and I would wrap ourselves in bubble wrap or even turn on this huge thermoplastics machine to stay warm .
I have been looking into playing with Forth on the MSP430G2553 via the Launchpad board, since it is so cheap and I have had one for several years. Not too interested in doing so until now!
That was a long time ago when the MSP430 was one of the first 16-bit CPUs to have Flash and while I wrote a Forth for it which I used commercially, I moved on.
I too have all kinds of eval boards and MSPxxx to boot but I'm not tempted. The Prop even without A/D is still a lot more powerful and flexible and fun than a box load of MSP430s. If you want to use Forth on a very small micro I would recommend some ARM chips, I even have Forth running on an XMC1100 in a 16-pin TSSOP as it has 16k of RAM and 64k Flash. Having at least this much RAM helps in that it lets you compile larger Forth sources before committing to Flash.
Comments
Toothpaste tubes? Beverage cans? Transistor cases? Electrolytic capacitor cans? CO2 cartridges? Brass ammo cases? Aircraft wing ribs? (Okay, that last one was just wishful thinking.)
@Peter:
I'm sorely tempted to put down the embedded FORTHs I've been using and try your peculiar Propeller dialect.
OK. Lot's of interesting guesses there. The answer is pretty boring. That machine I worked on was making cigarettes.
Wrapping paper around cigarettes and gluing it up at that rate is pretty impressive, controlling the tobacco feed is tricky. Then there is the density measurement to ensure there are no lumps or voids in the product and the final weight and standard deviation is tight. Then there is attaching the filter tips. Etc etc.
Cigarettes are made in pairs, a single double length filter joins the consecutive pair together, then the filter gets cut in half and one of the pair is flipped head to tail. With the, err, interesting result that cigarettes are left and right handed. The paper wraps in a different direction.
Anyway, after working on that for two years I became totally disgusted with the idea of spending my life making cigarettes. I just had to quit. Went freelance.
See exciting cigarette machine video here: http://www.molinstm.com/product-services/original-equipment/making/alto#tab2
What a waste of two years, all the fruits of your labor up in smoke!
Ultimately it was worse than making a useless product, it's an actively dangerous and unhealthy product. I just did not want to do it any more. Just had to quit. It was a shame, that team had been making some seriously good robotic machining gear for the day. It was some what ahead of it's time, very high precision. Got sold to people like Texas Instruments. Sadly too far ahead of it's time and too expensive. It got cancelled and the team slowly drifted away to more interesting things.
Me, I went freelance and spent much of the following years working on military radar and wireless projects. Like this: http://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/karte112.en.html
I almost replied to a comment in an earlier thread where it was stated that accurate servo position isn't critical at high speed, well that shear is one example of where that statement isn't true. Assuming that the shear was a servo and not a mechanical cam mechanism.
Toothpate tubes ? (tho maybe not mirror images needed there...)
Bellettiere, J., Berardi, V., Hughes, S., Klepeis, N., Obayashi, S., Liles, S., Nguyen, B., Boman-Davis, M., Hofstetter, R., Allen, T., Blumberg, E., Hovell, M. (2016). The Development and Deployment of a Multicomponent, Real-Time, Tailored Intervention to Reduce Indoor Smoking. 37thAnnual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine. Washington DC. March 31, 2016.
It's coded all in Spin (bst), but I just want to add, on topic, that I really do appreciate what Peter has done with Forth, interesting projects and technical acumen shared here.
I don't mind this, actually because they have me log on to the machine and I can use my diagnostics to give me an idea of what's really wrong with the equipment (not oil leaks, mind) and I end up billing for the remote assistance. This happened just last week, I diagnosed a mechanical problem on a machine in Italy from my bed here in the UK. The customer was freaking out because the entire production line was down and he had a bunch of robots and hourly employees stood around. I billed handsomely and the customer was thrilled with the minimal downtime and cost savings due to me not having to board a plane, etc. Gotta love it!
And let me add that I also now have an interest in Forth, thanks to the OP by Peter.
On the topic of interactive programming, yup... My secret weapon back in the mid-80's, ended up with me creating a monster. Just wondering how I can shorten the story.
I particularly enjoyed your previous post, where you diagnosed the mechanical problem from afar. That sounded pretty cool.
I have been looking into playing with Forth on the MSP430G2553 via the Launchpad board, since it is so cheap and I have had one for several years. Not too interested in doing so until now!
That was a long time ago when the MSP430 was one of the first 16-bit CPUs to have Flash and while I wrote a Forth for it which I used commercially, I moved on.
I too have all kinds of eval boards and MSPxxx to boot but I'm not tempted. The Prop even without A/D is still a lot more powerful and flexible and fun than a box load of MSP430s. If you want to use Forth on a very small micro I would recommend some ARM chips, I even have Forth running on an XMC1100 in a 16-pin TSSOP as it has 16k of RAM and 64k Flash. Having at least this much RAM helps in that it lets you compile larger Forth sources before committing to Flash.