Proseal Tray Sealers Minimise Soft-Fruit Packaging

Three GT2 tray sealers from Proseal are helping soft-fruit grower Hall Hunter Partnership minimise its packaging and reduce its carbon footprint to meet the environmental requirements of UK retailers. The Proseal GT2 is capable of sealing up to 96 packs per minute and was therefore capable of handling Hall Hunter’s requirements for packing around 2.5 tonnes of product per hour per line.

Servo-controlled pack transfer creates a smooth movement for the punnets throughout the sealing process to ensure gentle handling of the product, while self-centring pack guides ensure the trays are accurately positioned for sealing. The three tray sealers were integrated into Hall Hunter’s existing packing line. A touch-screen display provides step-by-step guidance for operators to ensure ease of use.

Pre-programmable menus enable the machine to be set up automatically for each different pack and the display also provides fault diagnosis and production information. The GT2 is manufactured to food-industry-approved hygiene standards with full wash-down protection. Polymer bearings are used in water-contact areas to avoid the risk of corrosion and maintain long-term reliable performance.

“Assim também vós, quando fizerdes tudo o que vos for mandado, dizei: Somos servos inúteis, porque fizemos somente o que devíamos fazer.” Lucas 17: 10

Eu sou uma pessoa que amo…….porque Deus disse que tinha que ser assim!

Eu sou uma pessoa que perdoo….porque foi assim que Jesus ensinou na Bíblia!

Eu faço isso….eu faço aquilo…..faço tudo!…..porque simplesmente Jesus me mandou fazer!

Amados, essa é uma  simples fórmula para agradar à Deus………..mas será a fórmula mais correta?

Quando Jesus conversava com seus discípulos no capítulo 17 de Lucas, Ele falou sobre uma série de cuidados que temos que ter na vida diária. Entre essas orientações, cuidados como evitar ser o motivo das outras pessoas se desviarem, conselhos sobre perdão, enfim….Jesus, através de suas doces palavras, estava dando algumas orientações para que os “homens físicos”, continuassem vivendo neste mundo, mas com uma postura de “homens espirituais” , agradando a Deus e caminhando para a vida eterna.

Mas porque será que Jesus falava diretamente para homens carnais (físicos) e não para homens espirituais?

Porque será que ele não deu apenas instruções espirituais(uma vez que as pessoas que o cercavam já eram cristãos convertidos?)???

Será que é porque nós somos humanos e não super máquinas?

Será que é porque somos simplesmente pessoas e não seres programados para fazer somente o que nos mandam?

Amados, Jesus sabia e sabe que todos os homens (cristãos ou não) são falhos. Ele sabe que todos nós temos limites e Ele sinceramente respeita essa limite. Se eu ainda não amo, se eu ainda não perdoo, eu posso contar com Jesus para me ajudar nisso. Jesus não ama apenas uma parte do que eu sou (a parte boa)….Jesus ama as pessoas por completo (e isso envolve suas falhas, partes boas e más)…o grande mistério é que Ele ajuda a consertar essas falhas de nossas vidas e nos torna pessoas dignas do céu.Jesus sabe que todos nós somos limitados e Deus nos fez limitados para que em tudo, dependêssemos Dele!

O texto de Lucas 17:10 fala que somos inúteis quando fazemos apenas o que devemos fazer, ou seja, o que nos mandam fazer…significa que somos úteis quando fazemos além do que nos mandam fazer! Somos servos úteis e bons, quando perdoamos por amor a Deus, quando amamos os outros por amor a Deus…não porque Deus disse que seria assim na Bíblia.

Não estou tirando a autoridade das Escrituras acerca das instruções para nossa vida, ao contrário! As Escrituras foram feitas para que nós tivéssemos um padrão moral do que Deus deseja para nós! Mas….mais vale o servo que obedece as Escrituras por amor a Deus do que porque são as instruções do jogo!

Portanto, temos uma resposta para a nossa questão!… Obedecer a Deus é importante, mas obedecer não porque Ele manda, mas porque você O ama e por isso vai obedecê-lo!A obediência é um gesto de amor! Fazer não porque Ele manda, perdoar não porque Ele manda….mas porque você ama Ele e Ele ama você!

Se hoje você está se sentindo mal porque não está obedecendo a Deus em todas as coisas da sua vida, não desista!…Entregue seu coração para Ele! Deus acredita em você! Diga que O ama, e que quer obedecê-Lo por amor.

Certamente, você poderá vencer suas limitações e se tornar também alguém digno do céu, digno da vida eterna. Um servo útil! Ele verá seu coração, verá que você sozinho não consegue obedecer em tudo, mas com a ajuda Dele, todas as coisas se tornarão possíveis.

Não se cobre como um Super Homem que deve acertar em tudo! Aceite seus erros, entregue-os para Jesus e recomece de um novo jeito! Não olhando para trás, não cometendo as mesmas coisas, mas caminhando para frente, para um grande encontro com Deus!

<< Ed essi subito, lasciate le reti, lo seguirono. >> (Mt 4,18-22)

Oggi si celebra il santo di cui porto il nome.

Se penso alla mia vita, alla mia vocazione, a quello che ho sentito e capito . . . non riesco a identificarmi con questa frase che ho scelto . . .

Di una cosa però sono certo, e di anno in anno ne ho la conferma: il Signore mi è stato, è e sarà sempre vicino!

Rivedendo alcune vecchie foto mi sono imbattuto in quella che vedete a sinistra . . .

. . . avevo 3 anni e da piccolissimo ministrante mi trovavo forse a servire la messa durante la novena dell’Immacolata Concezione (è esposta la statua) . . .

Quello è stato il mio primo SI . . .

. . . essere suo ministrante . . .

. . .suo servo per Amore . . .

Right now we have our software for the robot set up. Now all we need is the parts for the robot so we can build it. The parts are ordered so all we need to do is wait for them to arrive. We ordered 2 rgb leds, 2 mini-servos, wireless adapter, an arduino board, and a mini-breadboard

<< Signore, la tua moneta d’oro ne ha fruttate dieci >> (Lc 19,11-28)

La mia provocazione cade oggi su queste 3 parole: “la tua moneta” . . .

Tutti, chi più o chi meno, è consapevole di avere dei talenti . . .

. . . c’è poi chi lo tiene per se . . .

. . . chi lo sfrutta nella comunità . . .

. . . chi per timidezza lo nasconde . . .  ecc . . .

Ma tu pensi che tutto sia frutto di te stesso?

Avrai sicuramente il merito di aver fatto fruttare quel dono, ma quello che avevi in partenza è uscito dal nulla o ti è stato DONATO?

Il servo è consapevole che la moneta, il talento E’ DEL PADRONE . . . lui è stato un fedele amministratore, un inutile servo che ha fatto quello che doveva fare . . .

Fa, o Signore, che io possa riconoscerTi come datore di doni e talenti . . .

This is where all the work is done to read an interpret the values from the servo and the sensor. If the readings are to erratic then you won’t have nice shapes. Also if you don’t allow enough time to the signals to be sent back then you’ll get false distance readings. So this code is only as good as your Arduino code and sensor setup.

Took me a few evenings to work this out to get it how I wanted, the hardest bit is the trigonometry involved which isn’t that difficult, everything else is done by loops and a few IF statements. I use the FOR loops alot because the all the elements can be displayed programmatically without having to write each rectangle, cirle and line to the screen with their own statement.

Arduino + Processing: Make a Radar Screen to Visualise Sensor Data from SRF-05 – Part 2: Visualising the Data

First things first, we need to build our circuit. This is the easy bit! We’ll be using the Arduino to control a servo that will rotate our sensor around 180 degrees. The Arduino will then send the value from the sensor along with the current angle of the servo to the serial port.

Before proceeding please take a moment to check out some of my other work with the SRF-05 and servos if you’re unfamiliar with either.
Stuff with SRF-05
Stuff with Servos

I’m building this with the SRF-05 ultrasound range finder, but because this has a fairly wide field of detection it’s not very precise – I think I’ll end up trying a different range finder maybe an IR one as the SRF-05 works best as a static sensor/ detector, anyway…

Arduino + Processing: Make a Radar Screen to Visualise Sensor Data from SRF-05 – Part 1: Setting up the Circuit and Outputting Values

Uno dei peggiori o il peggiore dei lavori è fare il servo, nelle sue svariate sfaccettature. Non tollero chi comanda, chi deve e vuole “servirsi” di un altro per fare ciò che potrebbe benissimo fare da solo. E magari e frequentemente anche in malo modo, angariando, forte del potere che può esercitare su chi, per necessità o debolezza, non ha la forza o non può permettersi di reagire.

La paura , il terrore caratterizzano la condizione, di servitù, di schiavitù.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere per strada il servo di colore, con tanto di divisa, che porta il cane a pisciare. La razza di questi padroni è tra le peggiori.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere e sentire apostrofare con toni sgarbati il cameriere del ristorante. Un servo schiacciato da due padroni, da cento padroni.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere le cosiddette “tata” che in sostanza crescono i figli delle donne che non vogliono far nulla. Anche qui , in fondo, un sandwich tra più padroni.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere l’uso e l’abuso delle cosiddette “badanti” , serve deputate a pulire merda e piscia dai genitali dei vecchi rincoglioniti divenuti un peso per famiglie di padroni, per generazioni di padroni. Le cui mani non si sporcheranno e nemmeno la coscienza. Ormai divenuta, di questi tempi,una vera e propria virtù.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere come anche la malattia , quando colpisce i servi, debba essere veloce, banale e senza oneri aggiuntivi per i padroni. Se invece è grave e duratura e comporta l’esborso anche di un cent, diventa un alleato inaspettato e impietoso, una complice omertosa, diventa un certificato di licenziamento pronto e servito nelle mani del padrone.

Che tristezza e rabbia osservare il volto dei “padroni” tronfi del loro misero potere, con la puzza sotto al naso , con un eterno sorriso sprezzante, esteriorizzazione della loro pochezza morale e animati da gestualità e toni perennemente tesi all’umiliazione.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere i tuguri dei servi. Quando non disponibile nemmeno la solita brandina nel sottoscala. Terranei umidi e sordidi che padroni sovrapposti, speculatori senz’anima, tolgono alle pantegane per stiparci, sempre senza alcuna pietà, gli schiavi.

Che tristezza e rabbia sapere che di giorno gli schiavi vengono oppressi e sfruttati anche per oltre 18 ore al giorno, nelle fabbriche e negli opifici sparsi nel paese, contribuendo a far riempire le tasche dei senz’anima, mentre di notte sono costipati su luridi giacigli nei capannoni di deposito. E costretti a non uscire quando per i padroni, per la comunità è festa.

Che tristezza e rabbia per quelle casalinghe asservite all’accudimento del coniuge e dei figli e, spesso, anche maltrattate e bistrattate. E le cui spalle reggono tutti gli egoismi del gruppo, senza pietà.

Che tristrezza e rabbia per quei mariti soggiogati dall’egoismo e dall’astuzia delle mogli. Veri e propri castrati a 360° incapaci anche di andare al cesso senza essere controllati o chiedere il permesso alla padrona. Cani al guinzaglio col giornale fra le fauci.

Che tristezza e rabbia per i figli dei padri-padroni: soldatini inermi nelle mani di veri criminali che ne condizioneranno per sempre esistenza e psiche.

Che tristezza e rabbia vedere, osservare capetti di ogni sorta in ogni azienda e fabbrica, in ogni ufficio, tenere sotto il tallone, con la solita arroganza dei miserabili, intere schiere di servi, spesso anche servili.

Our project is a robot that reads twitter messages. It would take twitter messages and transfer them to speech at the computer and then the robot would react to the messages as though it was reading them. It will have an led mouth that lights up as it is reading the text as well as eyes that can change color depending on mood and moving eyebrows to better express mood. Today we did some research on what we will need to do in order to get this project running. We went through the website we got the idea from (http://blog.mozmonkey.com/2008/ganzbot-an-arduino-robot-who-reads-twitter/)to see what they used when they did the project and came up with our own set of supplies. We will need a perforated board and header pins, NPN Transistors, 2 rgb leds, 6 regular leds, and 2 servo motors. We are also considering adding a wireless adapter to the board so that it does not have to be attached to the computer and we are also considering a speech synthesizer so we don’t have to depend on computer speakers for the audio.

Brushless Servo Motors Provide 2,800-5,200rpm

The Ametek Pittman brand AB series brushless servo motors are available from Mclennan Servo Supplies in NEMA 23, 34 and 56 frame sizes. The motors provide speeds from 2,800 to 5,200rpm and continuous stall torques from 0.42 to 12.88Nm in a selection of motor lengths to suit motion-control applications ranging from medical and industrial equipment to instrumentation and automation machinery.

The IP 65-rated AB range includes optional Hall Effect commutation and a selection of optical encoders, brakes and precision servo gearboxes to match application requirements. The robust, durable motors feature long-life sealed bearings, a smooth finish for direct mounting and integral bayonet mounting connectors for motor and optional encoder feedback, with mating power and feedback cables available.

Suitable for drive-voltage ratings up to 325V DC, the motors have medium- to high-voltage constant values to suit the low- to medium-bus voltages found in modern high-efficiency servo drives. Mclennan has a range of servo-drive and motion controls to suit these motors and is able to offer complete integrated mechatronics assemblies with customised mechanics and other power-train components.

Brett Patrick Markley
41839 Amberly Dr.
Clinton Twp., Michigan 48038
Home: 586-416-4875
Cell: 586-214-8027

Objective
To promote the implementation and advancement of technology where my skills, education, and experience can be utilized.

Functional Experience

Senior Lead Electronics Repair Technician/Software Engineer
ABB Inc.
Auburn Hills, MI
06/2003 – 10/2009
Administrate Daily Repair Operations, Coordinate Personnel And Work Assignments, Provide Production And Performance Tracking Of Jobs And Technicians. Forecast Monthly Earnings And Provide Monthly Reports And Analysis. Assist With Warranty Tracking, And Problem Resolution. Facilitate Weekly Departmental Safety Talks. Manage And Source Equipment, Supplies, And Parts. Build, Maintain, Audit, And Repair Test Equipment. Analyze And Expand Repair Capabilities, Create Documentation, And Procedures. Manage, Train, And Assist Repair Technicians. Clean, Test, Repair, And Refurbish ABB OEM Electronics. In-circuit Repair Of Discrete And Surface Mount Component Technology. Administrate Test Computers, Robot Controllers, Networking, Internal Software, Customer Software Creation, Firmware, And Firmware Production. Submission Of Bug Information And Change Requests To Main Office. Expand Product Knowledge Through Periodic Training. Provide Technical Support For Electronics, Computers And Software. Member Of ABB Emergency Response Team, ABB Certified For Hazardous Material Manifest.
Electronics Service Engineer

St-Lawrence-Troy LLC
Madison Heights, MI
10/2001 – 06/2003
Third Party Repair Services. Clean, Test, And Repair Power Supplies, Servo Amplifiers, Teach Pendants, Main CPU, EMG Modules, And I/O Boards From Various Manufacturers Containing Both Discrete And Surface Mount Technology. Identify, Source, Order And Maintain Components And Consumable Inventory Used For Repair. Prepared Documentation For Repairs And Test Procedures.

Electronics Service Engineer/Proposal Engineer
Argus & Associates Inc.
Wixom, MI
10/2000 – 06/2001
Contracted for FANUC Robotics North America Inc. Rochester Hills, MI. Creation Of Custom Rebuild, Refurbishment, Repair, P.M. And Spare Parts Support Packages. Coordinate Customer Contact Meetings, Part Orders, Part Packages, And Material Planning. Provide Interdepartmental Communications And Data Acquisition. Clean, Test, And Repair Power Supplies, Servo Amplifiers, Teach Pendants, Main CPU And EMG Modules Containing Both Discrete And Surface Mount Component Technology. Prepared Documentation For Repairs And Test Procedures. Expand Product Knowledge Through Periodic Training.

Electronics Service Engineer/Proposal Engineer
Epcom Corporation
Troy, MI
01/1999 – 10/2000
Contracted for FANUC Robotics North America Inc. Rochester Hills, MI. Creation Of Custom Rebuild, Refurbishment, Repair, P.M. And Spare Parts Support Packages. Coordinate Customer Contact Meetings, Part Orders, Part Packages, And Material Planning. Provide Interdepartmental Communications And Data Acquisition. Clean, Test, And Repair Power Supplies, Servo Amplifiers, Teach Pendants, Main CPU And EMG Modules Containing Both Discrete And Surface Mount Component Technology. Prepared Documentation For Repairs And Test Procedures. Expand Product Knowledge Through Periodic Training.

Electronics Service Engineer
Tarus Products Inc.
Sterling Heights, MI
08/1997 – 01/1999
Clean, Test, Repair, Assemble, And Retrofit Prototype/Production Computers And Circuit Boards Containing Both Discrete And Surface Mount Component Technology. Software And Hardware Installation And Support. Field Service Support Of CNC Milling And CMM Inspection Machines. Installation And Support Of In-House Network. Organize And Maintain Component Inventory.

Education

ABB Inc.
Auburn Hills, MI
06/2003 – 10/2009
Certifications In S2, S3, S4, S4C, S4C+, IRC5, Trallfa, S4P, S4P+ Electrical Maintenance, Robot Safety, Electrical Safety, Mechanical Safety, HAZMAT, ERT, Ethics, Diversity, SAP, JDE, Leadership, Team Work.

FANUC Robotics North America
Rochester Hills, MI
01/1999 – 06/2001
Certifications In R-J, R-J2, And R-J3 Electrical Maintenance And P200 Mechanical Rebuild, BAAN, MS Office, Visual Basic, ACT, Safari Report Writer, Robot Safety, Electrical Safety, Mechanical Safety, HAZMAT, ERT, Ethics, Diversity

ITT Technical Institute Associate Degree
Troy, MI
03/1996 – 4/1998
Computer and Electronics Engineering Technology
GPA Of 3.85 Member Of National Vocational Honor Society

Affiliations

National Vocational Honor Society in Electronics Engineering Technology Member
06/1997 – Present

Skills

Fabrication & Assembly
Customer Service
Hardware
Programming
Servers
CMM
Database
Industrial Controls
Project Management
Software
CNC
Design
Installation
Repair
Technical Support
Communications
Electronics
Microsoft/Windows
Rework
Technical Writing
Computers
Engineering
Networking
Robotics
Training
Content Management
GNU/Linux
Open Source
Schematics
Troubleshooting
CSS
XHTML
XML
PHP & MYSQL
Apache

[Keith Baxter] has undertaken something of a ‘Mount Everest’ of guitar modifications. He’s developing a Servoelectric guitar that trades frets for a keypad. It is still a guitar in the sense that it has a body, strings, and pickups to sense the strings vibrations and pass them to an amplifier. The left hand, which traditionally would shorten the strings as needed by pressing them against a fret, now changes string pitch using a keypad. This is an interesting fusion between traditional guitar and 80’s phenomenon, the keytar.

Each string is connected to a different servo motor. When a key on the keypad is pressed, the corresponding servo adjusts the tension of that string, bringing it in tune at the new pitch. His original design involved a lot of custom circuitry but he’s evolved the project to include an Arduino controller. This second generation both simplifies the control circuitry and improves upon it.

We’ve embedded some video after the break. In the first example you can see the strings adjusting for each new pitch. In the second, take a look behind the guitarist… what do you think he’s got planned for those giant capacitors?

Starting a new robotics project and want to find the perfect servo for the job? It can be a real pain in butt sometimes. This is where ServoDatabase.com comes in. They’re compiling specifications and reviews on servos. We love seeing these databases pop up. Remember the online chip reference? You simply can not have too much reference material.

[via makezine]

Mostantól én is ajánlok zenéket és az “Ajánló” kategória alatt lesznek
Akkor vágjunk bele

Most a Hellektro és az Industrial műfajok egyik hazai képviselőjét,a Servo.Hatred -ed szeretném nektek megmutatni.

Az együttesre a VampireFreaks.com-on találtam rá, Budapesti bandákat keresve.A MySpace-profiljukon minden friss hírt közzétesznek, ott vannak az elérhetőségeik is.

Számomra dalszövegeik nagyon elgondolkodtatók, tartalmasak, inspirálóak.

Ez egy 2 tagó formáció:
Simon (m0dsZ3R) – vokál,stúdiómunka
V.e.N – szintetizátor,dobgép

November 13-án – pénteken – a Kék Yuk-ban tartanak LiveAct-ot,az
LD50.hu születésnapjának alkalmából.

És akkor most jöjjön az egyik számuk.

Creed Vermilion

]]> http://rcmart.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/ko-propo-profile-high-torque-servo/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:41:33 +0000 rcmart http://rcmart.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/ko-propo-profile-high-torque-servo/

This PDS-2345 ICS servo is designed for Touring and Drift cars that require faster speeds for the steering. Features a bushing in the upper case to hold the gears in place better and a hybrid (plastic/metal) first gear.  Limited stock has back on shelf so get one before they are all gone.

Where to buy:
http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-servo-profile-propo-30056-pds2345-high-torque-p-28568.html

Avete sentito quanto dovrebbe essere il compenso di quell’insostituibile genio della comunicazione televisiva italiana da servizio pubblico a cavallo tra due millenni che risponde al nome di Bruno Vespa ?

“L’ipotesi di nuovo contratto – durata triennale – che era stata portata in Cda prevedeva – a quanto riferiscono alcune indiscrezioni – un compenso ‘minimo’ di 1,6 milioni di euro l’anno, ma poi la misura reale del compenso per il conduttore è data dal meccanismo delle sue presenze in programmi Rai, dal numero degli ’speciali’ realizzati, e dal numero delle prime e seconde serate di ‘Porta a Porta’, il che finisce con il far lievitare il ‘minimo garantito‘.”

“il conduttore si dice dispiaciuto che «le fughe di notizie riguardino sempre e solo il mio contratto. Mi dispiace che si dimentichi che nel 2001 il direttore generale Cappon stabilì lui la cifra, calcolando il 15% in meno di quanto offerto a Gad Lerner e Fabio Fazio per due trasmissioni meno importanti che mai si fecero. Mi dispiace che non si pubblichino i contratti del compianto Enzo Biagi, il contratto precedente e quello attuale di Fabio Fazio, quello di Daria Bignardi e altri ancora.”

da Corriere.it

Ho fatto dei semplici conti e questo bell’esemplare di spudorato servo italico verrebbe a guadagnare almeno 4.384 euro al giorno pari allo stipendio mensile di 5 precari medi, pardon “lavoratori flessibili”.

Io è da tempo che sostengo che la Chiesa deve rivedere il concetto di “pudore”, come si fa infatti a non definire Bruno Vespa “spudorato” ?

*** – PS – La notizia fino a quel punto era che Pietro Valpreda era “l’accusato” della strage di Piazza Fontana, ma faceva più “scoop” e pagava di più, dare la notizia che Pietro Valpreda era “il colpevole”. Non si ricorda che abbia mai chiesto scusa né a Pietro Valpreda né ai suoi familiari. Per la cronaca dopo lunga detenzione e dopo numerosi processi Pietro Valpreda sarà riconosciuto innocente e le indagini porteranno ad individuare i colpevoli della strage in tutt’altra direzione.

[Mikal] wanted to create an awesome electronic wedding gift for his friend who was moving to France. After experimenting with a few things, he settled on creating a puzzle box that would only open in a certain location. Since his friend introduced him to the Arduino, he fittingly used one in the design, along with a serial GPS module and a mini character LCD. The box itself is locked using a servo-controlled chopstick, which could theoretically be snapped if [Mikal] really screwed something up. To save battery life, he used a small Pololu module to provide power that uses only 0.01 microamps in standby, and can be shut off by the Arduino.

The box was designed to be mysterious yet self-explanatory. When the button on the front is pushed, the box comes to life for 3 minutes, displaying the distance away from secret location. Additionally, it warns how many tries are left: the button can only be pushed 50 times before it is sealed “forever”. In order to open the box, you have to be within 2km of the destination. Theoretically, you can narrow down the location to one of 2 points after 2 readings, but a less scientific approach would probably be a lot more fun.

This seems like an amazing gift, and the same concept could be repurposed into hundreds of other devices. For extra fun, he could have placed it at a geocache location.

[Amnon] is learning the hard way that water and electronics don’t always like to play nicely together. He’s been working on creating a swimming fish that uses three servos to flex a sheet of fish-shaped polycarbonate. This photo doesn’t really do the project justice but you can get a better idea of what he’s accomplished by watching the videos after the break.

The three servos along with some distance sensors for obstacle avoidance are all controlled by a PIC 16F877A microcontroller. [Amnon] tried out three different waterproofing methods; coating the device in varnish, dipping it in hot glue, and dipping it in epoxy. The first two resulted in water damage to the electronics, but the third managed to work. It kept the water out, but also prevents reprogramming of the controller.

Although not successful, we would have loved to see the process of dipping the fish in a churning vat of molten glue. Once perfected, this may be the perfect platform for carrying our weapons of doom.

This post will give you an idea of how RC servo motors or PWM servo motors work. We will be using a microcontroller to drive and test our servo.

A RC servo motor consists of a small motor, a potentiometer, some gears and a drive circuit. Upon receiving a PWM square wave, it rotates to specific angles. The angle depends upon the pulse width of the wave.

Buy it then test it

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9065

For example this servo has the following specifications

Operating Voltage: 4.8 v ~ 6v

Min. Control Pulse: 0.9 ms

Max. Control Pulse: 2.4 ms

Pulse Refresh Rate: 50 Hz

Rotation Angle: +90 to -90 (Approx.)

Output Torque: 1.4 kg-cm

How it will work?

RC servos require a PWM signal to rotate.

For the RC servo as above a 0.9 ms signal width will make the servo to go at +90° and a signal of 2.4 ms width the servo will go to the -90°. The mid-point or the 0° will be achieved by the mid-point of the signal width. i.e. 1.65 ms. In this way, we can achieve almost any value of angle in between +90° and -90° by simply changing the pulse width.

We will make a test circuit to give signal to run the servo. The microcontroller is PIC 16F877A with CCS C Compiler.

Circuit (Proteus ISIS 7)

To simulate our circuit we will be using Proteus ISIS 7.

Make the circuit as above. The servo signal pin is connected to the PIN C1 of the PIC microcontroller. For the actual connections:

C Source Code (written in CCS C Compiler)

We are using 50 pulses at an interval of 20ms for each cycle. In first while loop, the servo will rotate to -90°. And for the second while loop, the servo will rotate +90°. The value 50 (no. of pulses) is not always set to be constant; it is just to provide continuous stream of pulses until the servo achieves its rotation command.

Note: We have to provide continuous pulses rather then just a single pulse; otherwise the servo will not achieve the angle. We have to maintain the frequency of 50 Hz for this servo.

Simulate this project with the C source code in Proteus ISIS 7.

These little devices are of great robotic applications.

Presumably, the fact that I am a massive geek isn’t a surprise to you.  If it is, I apologize (and exclaim “surprise!” while pulling a slightly awkward face and fanning my fingers out beside it); the fact is that I am a geek and am quite happy about it, thank you very much.

So: robots.  We geek-types have a long history with robots, largely because robots are awesome.  People who love technology of any kind (cars, computers, airplanes, etc.) and who are creative thinkers tend to like to build, paint, draw, modify, dream about, etc. the things that fascinate them for one reason or another.  In my life, I have built or repaired or heavily modified many things, but I have never built anything that I would consider to be a real robot.  Enter the 21st century, enter hexapodal robots.  It’s ok, you go watch some of those videos.  This post will still be here when you get back.

Cool, right?  I agree.  I’m fascinated by the motion and construction of these things.  The kinematics look interesting (but doable), and certainly embedded stuff doesn’t scare me.  I have a single-board computer (2GHz Celeron type of thing) in a closet that a friend gave me a little while back, waiting for a project.  I bet I could install Linux on a 4GB CompactFlash card on it and…

At this point, hopefully you have figured out that I ordered parts.  18 HiTec HS-422 servos (three per leg), a Robot Electronics SD84 multi-I/O board, some sensors &c.  I plan to build the chassis and legs myself, because I’ve discovered (shock!  awe!) that I really like to build things rather than just assemble them.  It will be a long project, but I’m excited about it; I’ve already built a C++ library that wraps the SD84’s interface into something much easier to use (I’ve open-sourced it as well; here, browse the SVN repo and have a look).

I’ll upload some photos and video as the project progresses, but after buying a bench power supply (yeah, it was an excuse) and writing that code, I’ve had all the servos moving.  Next step is to validate the ADC inputs (and therefore the sensors); once the I/O is proved good I will get the SBC booting and get some flavour of Linux running on it.  Whee!

Halloween is a scary time for the little ones. It’s dark, they can barely see through their injection molded Spiderman masks, but it’s all worth it for the candy.

Our friends over at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have produced a pumpkin that moves on its own. The little pumpkin was disemboweled from the bottom and its guts were replaced by a simple robot. Three Lego wheels provide this base with one attached to a continuous rotation servo that provides the motion.  The device is powered by 3 AAA batteries and powered by an Atmel ATtiny2313 microcontroller. For added terror there are two green LEDs that act as ghoulish eyes.

We’ve embedded the video of the Rovin Pumpkin in action after the break. This is a wonderfully simple way to spice up your front porch decorations on All Hallows’ Eve.