Monthly Archives: February 2008

Thing-a-day, Day 23: Optical encoders for the Drawing Bot

Posted on February 25, 2008 by mahto

For day 23, I added optical encoders to the drawing bot that was built on day 19. I also modified the program so that it uses the Servo library, which I only recently became aware of. The encoders work like … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 22: Walking bot

Posted on February 24, 2008 by mahto

I went to bed early on Friday, but this is what I had planned to have finished. I was wondering what it would look like to make a macroscale slip-stick motion robot, so here is my attempt. The bot does … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 21: Ordering Parts

Posted on February 22, 2008 by mahto

Today I ordered a bunch of parts that I have been lacking, including some H-Bridge drivers to drive the steppers (ST L298) and some random power transistors. It seems ridiculous, but it ended up taking the greater part of the … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 20: Dissecting Stepper Motors

Posted on February 21, 2008 by mahto

My friend gave me some stepper motors today, so my project tonight was to take one apart and find out how it worked. I chose the one that had 5 wires, and traced out a wiring schematic. It turns out … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 19: Whiteboard Bot

Posted on February 20, 2008 by mahto

While napping, I had this dream about a crazy way to make a clock face (I often think of these things). It reminded me of this drawing bot ‘hektor’ that I had read about, and I wondered how hard it … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 18: (incomplete) Subsititution Cypher Solver

Posted on February 19, 2008 by mahto

Today I re-started work on a program to solve substitution cyphers. The substitution cypher is where you take every character in your message and replace it with a different character- they sell little puzzle books full of these to try … Continue reading →

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Thing-a-day, Day 17: Foam Pitching Machine

Posted on February 18, 2008 by mahto

This night’s creation is a pitching machine to fling pieces of foam. This was accomplished by using the flywheel and small motor from an old tape deck. The main issues were that the wooden holes became elongated, which caused the … Continue reading →

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