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MEEP! WhoMe? In Progress

Robot – work in progress
 
By odiekokee
@ June 1, 2009
Report distance in mm every 5° in a 180° sweep by graph in Processing
Cost to build: 
$60
Time to build: 
1 hour

Well, here is step 1. 

Been working on getting what to me is a major step. Right now, Arduino is sweeping the a servo with a Ping ))) mounted on it. Got that working and feeding back readings in in millimeters. Those are currently being fed into a simple graphing setup in Processing. It's right nice.  

 Major thanks to Myc for help.  

Named inspired because someone said it resembled Beaker (muppet)

Current Results: Those curves are scan and rescan of a cup that was in the way. 

31May2009 Ultrasonic Ping Graph

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By odiekokee
@ Tue, 2009-06-02 22:38

.

By odiekokee
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 17:27
  • Under the ping is a laser diode (extracted from a laser pointer or laser gunsite, can't remember which one that is). It fit almost perfectly in the grommet supplied for the ping wires to go through.
  • Ping upside down because the wire/header/connectors were so long that they obscured the laser
  • I agree, the way i took the picture kinda made the wires look like hair, and the laser like a mouth....I kinda like it.

Anyone know how to do the polar type display? I have seen a few, but they're for programs I either don't have or am exceptionally clueless how to use.  I have MS visual studio pro available, but thats the clueless part. I have processing too. With processing and the arduino IDE I'm at about a 3/100 proficiency, really at the tweeking existing code very slightly.

one example similar to what I'd like to see: from the parallax forums http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=6&m=129099

attach.aspx?a=28873

 

 

By ericski
@ Wed, 2009-06-03 00:03
ericski's picture
I think applying some trigonometry to your scan angle + scan distance would get you an X/Y that you could plot. 
By odiekokee
@ Wed, 2009-06-03 01:01

Part of the problem on it is that I don't know enough about coding to start from scratch. I've been able to learn what i have so far by adapting code that i've found, having to figure out what it's doing where to be able to change it.  Backwards approach, I know.

 

I've gotta check that instructable linked earlier. Right now my biggest problem is why the movement of the servo is inconsistent when doing sweep and ping. 

By mif
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 18:19
mif's picture

Do I understand correctly that your problem is showing your readings from VStudio?

If that is the case, maybe this can help:

http://www.instructables.com/answers/Can_you_control_an_Arduino_with_Visual_Basic/

In your Arduino program you have to send the readings using Serial functions. For example serial.println(angle) and then serial.printl(sensor_reading).

And on the PC side you need to program a loop reading serial messages and painting the dots, as explained in the previous link.

I hope it helps.

By odiekokee
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 20:49
I'm actually using a simple serial input graph, linear graph(bar graph actually) to display the values. I'm doing it in processing. It's ok, but it's a linear scan and not very realistic in terms of the shape of the room and the line of sight as scanned.
By RobotFreak
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 15:59
RobotFreak's picture
Funny robot face. Looks like Beaker from the Muppet labs :-)
By NinjaTech (not verified) @ Mon, 2009-06-01 09:37
=?
By odiekokee
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 17:29
Does it hurt anything or change results to be upside down? Logic would tell me know but my logic is regularly anti-logical
By K120189
@ Mon, 2009-06-01 16:30
K120189's picture
not everyone mines right way up on blocky but im gonna solder a 3 pin header coming out the back of the board soon
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