www.dyadica.net: natural user interface design, development and geeky fun
Happily I managed to get quite a lot done on the Sheldon 2.0 upgrade this weekend. Primary focus was that cleaning up the wiring and putting together the bumper, however I also managed to put the headstock together too. Check out the following pics.
As you can see the new bumper has been fully completed and now features a sharp distance sensor and fog lights in addition to the original micro-switch triggers.
Today is a sad day, poor little Sheldon the wonderbot 1.0 is no more. Due to a design floor several of his wires came loose whilst traversing the kitchen step and the rest as thy say is history 
However now that even Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again I am filled with optimism and am looking at this sad event as an opportunity for an upgrade 
A few weeks ago, I was contacted via YouTube in reference to the Netduino Serial Communication example I posted a while back. In my reply I promised that I would make a posting detailing how I have since updated the system. Before we start, check out the following video to see the current system in action:
A while back I decided to adopt the methods as described by Hari over at the netduino forums to facilitate ReadLine functionality. The rationale for this was that by utilizing Hari’s code we no longer have to detail the length data being sent, thus simplifying the code greatly.
Continue reading ‘Netduino SerialPortHelper to WinForm and XNA’
Here we have another Netduino Sensor example. This time I am going to show you how to wire up a Spectra Symbol flex sensor as retailed by Sparkfun Electronics.
About The Sensor
As the sensor is flexed, the resistance across the sensor increases. Patented technology by Spectra Symbol – they claim these sensors were used in the original Nintendo Power Glove. The resistance of the flex sensor changes when the metal pads are on the outside of the bend (text on inside of bend). For more information on the Flex Sensor used, check out the following data sheet.
Update: check out my netduino-serialporthelper-to-winform-and-xna post – based on code provided by hari over at the Netduino forums its a much better way to do it!
The following details simple 2 way Communication with a Windows Forms App – Rudimentary packet handling has been implemented via inclusion of an additional byte to the beginning of the packet which details the length of the string to be sent to the Netduino.
Once received the device filters the incoming data and recreates the string. A simple switch statement is then used to trigger functionality.
To see it in action, check out the video here:
The source is available via the following thread over at netduino.com. As you will be able to see from the thread I plan to integrate some form of wireless communication soon (after next pay day). I was originally thinking of a Bluetooth solution but am slowly being swayed towards that of the XBee as suggested by PaulS.
Whilst I am awaiting on some needed funds my next task is going to be …. Wiimote Vision!!! check back soon for more info. Click here to visit the forum for this example.