Posted December 29, 2014 by Chris

"My project is a randomized bouncing light Christmas tree used to decorate for the Christmas season. This LED Christmas tree utilizes a 12 by 16 LED matrix mounted on a metal frame."

Posted October 10, 2012 by Chris

“Using an IR remote as a teach pendant on a homebuilt 6-axis arm. PicAxe 20M2 controller records arm joint positions in EEPROM for later playback. After further programming the robot can be ‘taught’ to spell words using small letter blocks. Don’t miss the youtube demonstration videos!”

Posted March 18, 2012 by Chris

“It’s a simple hobby project using 11 Parallax Basic Stamp microcontrollers (12 by the time you read this). These “computers” are connected together for hardware/software clustered parallel processing. It’s a fantastic learning tool and can control 176 peripherals/sensors. One application is for the more rapid development of robotic sensors and software.”

Posted January 25, 2012 by Chris

“Design and development of robotic rat pups has been an iterative process and is always continuing. The first two generations of robopups we designed and implemented are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The mechanical design of our robots is motivated by the aim to emulate some of the relevant physical characteristics of rat pups. Characteristics we view as important include scaled rat shape, rat size, rat sensor locations, and rat paws for locomotion.”

Posted October 26, 2011 by Chris

“Parallax’s Basic Stamp is the mainstay for hobbyists wanting to add intelligence to everyday devices. A new system called Arduino provides the benefits of the Basic Stamp at a greatly reduced cost, increased speed, and is entirely open-source.” A classic read for electronics hobbyists looking for the most functionality at the best price.

Posted October 1, 2011 by Chris

The Basic Stamp is nothing much more than basic. Because of this, it offers a unique opportunity for anyone who wants to learn about embedded devices because it’s functionality is so simple. This article takes a look at how to get started with Parallax’s Stamp-1 module and what to expect from this little guy.

Posted September 26, 2011 by Chris

This little spider (only 6 legs!) uses some sensors and a Stamp (or PIC) to navigate its way about the world. The article describes how it was built and the custom software that accompanies the project. Also, the article is in german so if you’re not a Deutscher/Österreicher/Schweizer be sure to google translate it.

Posted August 14, 2011 by Chris

The Stamp is one of the best ways to get started in the world of microcontrollers. This tutorial shows you how to get started with a Stamp on a breadboard, the basic building block in hobby electronics.

Posted May 31, 2011 by Chris

This article explains how to make your own Stamp based RS232 stepper motor driver. It is similar to my stepper motor controller, except RS232 communication is used to control speed and direction. The article has great documentation for how the driver works and what is needed to build it.