Recently in Chief Willy Underfoot Category

Many things to report: Hunter Gatherer mission launched, Chief Willy Underfoot reconstruction underway

By
ctruett
on July 9, 2008 6:32 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
willybrain.jpg

Much has happened since my last post. 

1. Hunter Gatherer - 
3 missions have been launched, EC, MB and DB. Talking to the mission leaders, things are going very smoothly. I'm going to try to meet with team NN tomorrow, and launch a fourth mission. I'll have to go to the studio tonight to get another vehicle mission ready.

2. Chief Willy Underfoot
I've gathered a lot of  the parts needed to resurrect the Chief. So far we've got one Arduino board, one Mac Mini, a VDIP1 chip, and a Nokia 6620 with pay as you go SIM card. I also had to find a special USB cable to connect the phone to the arduino/mac. JSD is going to need to give me some guidance from here, but at the very least I can get the phone talking to the mac. 
Continue reading Many things to report: Hunter Gatherer mission launched, Chief Willy Underfoot reconstruction underway.

A Battle Worn Chief Makes his Comeback

By
ctruett
on June 19, 2008 7:03 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)


CWU_battle.jpg
After much thought I've decided the way to with the chief is a Mac mini. What's the point of beating myself up trying to figure out how to use a more complicated CPU when the mini will fit perfectly with plenty of room left over for Micro-controllers, sensors, devices. So I'm looking, in case anybody has one to sell. Plus I'm on scouring ebay for original mac minis.

Chief Willy's hull needs a wash and a touch up. I removed the stamp and the siteplayer module today. I should use them for some alternate project, but for now they're on ice. I also removed the old grill which is a rusted mess. I'm going to be much more particular about the insides this time, I want it to look fantastic. I'll probably paint the mini and stencil the insignia on it. Can't wait for that. Or perhaps a different treatment would be more appropriate, like a sticker.

As far as what sensors Willy will be fitted with, definitely GPS, but temperature, humidity, proximity, and light would all be interesting candidates. It will be the host server of the CBTSA website, and it should also receive messages from the Earth Rovers, and post those messages to the web. So it's going to need a dynamic DNS. Fun.

Hunter Gatherers Mission Ready

By
ctruett
on June 13, 2008 5:31 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
hg_newfleet.jpg

At long last, the fleet is prepared. Missions begin Next week.


Chat with jsd about Rovers

By
ctruett
on May 16, 2008 8:50 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

timeline.gif

AIM IM with jsd.
11:51 AM

Charles Truett: rover needs to be able to post its position and sensor data to Chief Willy, which will host the CBTSA website
Charles Truett: what brett said about google earth is gonna help
jsd: you can already see KM L files on google maps
Charles Truett: yeah but i want the map on the site
Charles Truett: served by willy
11:55 AM
jsd: how often is it posting position and sensor data?
Charles Truett: once an hour?
jsd: how far apart?
Charles Truett: how far apart is what
jsd: rover - willy
Charles Truett: the rover from willy?
Charles Truett: miles
Charles Truett: say from my studio to cleveland
Charles Truett: or kefalonia

Continue reading Chat with jsd about Rovers.

Arduino up and running

By
ctruett
on May 13, 2008 2:51 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
arduino.jpg

Things have changed in three years. The arduino mini was a breeze to get up and running. I burned a voltage regulator and an LED, but whatever. The thing is just humming along. The interface is great too, I mean, it's basically just processing.

So now, I have to do something with it.

My trip to the NYU bookstore

By
ctruett
on April 26, 2008 9:55 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

nyubookstore.jpg
Picked up a bunch of stuff at the NYU bookstore today to help me rebuild the Chief.

I bought an Arduino Stamp , an XBee, some LEDs and a potentiometer. I also got a copy of Tom Igoe's book, "Making Things Work", which should help me get back into the swing of things PhysComp wise. John thought I should have bought the Arduino dev board, but I think I'll get more out of it this way - I want to get a certain facility with this stuff, it was always hard for me.

Spent some time on Jameco and Sparkfun to get some other things - cables, sensors, a serial/USB converter, wires and what not.

It feels good to be getting going with this again. Hopefully now I can stop spending money.

Propeller General Information

By
ctruett
on April 21, 2008 3:08 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
P8X32A-D40-M.jpg
http://www.parallax.com/propeller/

Spoke to Kaho this weekend. She's never worked with Gumstix, but said I should take a look at this thing. It's really cheap, so I'm a little confused. But she's gonna be here this week, so we can talk about it then.   



Pegasus High Altitude Balloon: Gumstix project

By
ctruett
on April 17, 2008 7:33 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HAB.jpg

http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk/wiki/doku.php

Very cool project using a Gumstix computer a bunch of other gear all hacked together. Great pictures.

conversation with kalamari2000

By
ctruett
on April 16, 2008 10:44 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
AIM IM with kalamari2000.

2:20 PM

Charles Truett: rucksack?

kalamari2000: rubulab

kalamari2000: http://burak-arikan.com/bio/index.html

kalamari2000: he's teaching next semester

kalamari2000: https://itp.nyu.edu/registration/CourseListing.php?semester=Fall&year=2008

kalamari2000: tell me what you think


Continue reading conversation with kalamari2000 .

Maybe Arduino is not the way to go: Give me your old PC

By
ctruett
on April 15, 2008 9:10 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Willy is big enough that we could build a whole pc into it. Run Linux, and run whatever sensors we want to. It'll be a lot more powerful and won't have any of the size limitations the little processors did. Plus it could run it's own database. I'm gonna see if I can get a salvage pc from somewhere. Craigslist or something. Hook me up with your old PC if you're just gonna trash yours.
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