Posted December 26, 2011 by Chris

“In the heart of the D1 radar sensor is a radar chip based on UWB radar technology from Novelda. An UWB radar sensor sends out EM pulses and looks at the pulses that are reflected back. When an EM pulse hits the wall in the video above, a part of the pulse is reflected back to the radar and a part of it penetrates the wall and is reflected from the cabinet behind the wall.”

Posted December 24, 2011 by Chris

“This article introduces an implementation of a simplified filtering algorithm that was inspired by Kalman filter. The Arduino code is tested using a 5DOF IMU unit from GadgetGangster – Acc_Gyro . The theory behind this algorithm was first introduced in my Imu Guide article.”

Posted December 16, 2011 by Chris

“This project shows how to use a simple thermistor to measure temperature and display the temperature graphically on a Nokia 3310 LCD. Thermistors are incredibly cheap (about 50 cents), and provide fractions of a degree accuracy.”

Posted October 25, 2011 by Chris

“This paper introduces a different approach to the measurement of the time-of-flight of ultrasonic signals. Frequency variation monitoring and recording is used to determine accurately the arrival time of the ultrasonic signal. A high speed D.S.P. is used for both: transmission and direct measurement of the frequency of the incoming signal in every single period and with an accuracy of about 0.1%.”

Posted October 5, 2011 by Chris

Another data logger! This one uses a PIC to load GPS points into an EEPROM and when you’re done you can unload the points into your PC through a serial port, put them into google maps and get a map of where you (or the data logger) traveled. Would be cool to put one of these into the mail and see how efficient the mail system is. The article is in dutch so use google translate for english.

Posted September 19, 2011 by Chris

A DC servo motor is a powerful tool if you know how to design it properly. They offer high torque and high precision, something that steppers can’t always offer. This article dis-assembles a standard inkjet printer to show you how to experiment with building a low cost DIY servo system. They even recommend using my 10-A H-Bridge! The article is a two parter, so don’t miss both pages.

Posted August 24, 2011 by Chris

Want to add some sonar to your senses? Look no further, the HALO does what you want in true DIY fashion. Using an Arduino as its brain, the HALO connects together a number of ultrasonic sonar sensors to give you feedback about where obstacles are helping you navigate.

Posted August 16, 2011 by Chris

Adding a little intelligence to your robot is as simple as adding a proximity sensor. The flatpack walker uses servo motors to walk and the sensor to know when there is something in its way. The software and construction details are all in the article.

Posted July 4, 2011 by Chris

Encoders are a form of sensor feedback that tell you how far something has moved. As seen in my tutorial: The Digital Tachometer encoders can be based on line-of-sight, reflect off black and white encoder wheels or they can even detect magnetic field changes as a form of movement tracking. This article goes through these types of encoders and explains how you can use them in your robotics projects.

Posted June 30, 2011 by Chris

This article shows how you can take some standard R/C cars, hack away at their guts and make automated racing cars. Two ultrasonic proximity sensors were added to each car so that they can sense their surroundings and a Picaxe micro was added to make the cars intelligent. Check out the action video to see autonomous racing.