301 Moved Permanently

Posted September 20, 2011 by Chris

This article presents a method for using GSM basics to find out your current location. A PHP script included in the article lets you input your cell phone’s details and then passes it to google maps to find out your location. Granted many phones already have GPS in them, location triangulation from GSM towers is also very useful.

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 September 17, 2011 by Chris

“The DTMF decoder 2 is a useful tool used for decoding DTMF (Dual Tone Multi frequency) generated by telephones. The decoded digits are viewed on a 16×2 LCD screen. The DTMF decoder can be directly connected to a Serial port to view the digits in HyperTerminal on a computer.”

Posted September 16, 2011 by Chris

Building a digital piano is actually not as difficult as you might think. This article explains how to build a mini digital piano that can play tones across a single octave. An AVR microcontroller does all the intelligent processing and tone output and some LEDs are used to provide input from the musician. The article has all the hardware, software and theory explained.

Posted September 15, 2011 by Chris

Last week we looked at an intro to interrupts on the PIC and this week we’ll delve even deeper into priority interrupts on a PIC. Interrupts are not all created equal. Some are more important than others and should always be executed while others should wait their turn in line. This article explains how to build a simple system to implement high and low priority interrupts.

Posted September 14, 2011 by Chris

The design of this little robo-walker is as simple as it gets, which means that it is easy to understand how it operates and even easier to build. Using only one motor, some gears and ingenuity this article, pulled from instructables, shows you how to build your own four legged walker. The action video below also shows you what to expect from the finished robot (it’s not on-par with imperial walkers, sorry >_<).

Posted September 13, 2011 by Chris

If you were a fan of my Tupperware Turret then don’t miss this revamp design of a Robotic Airsoft Turret. Using a similar, but different approach, this design combined servos and airsoft guns with some mounting hardware to create an awesome but potentially (non) lethal turret. Build details, pictures and action videos are included in the article.

Posted September 12, 2011 by Chris

Fans of the ATTiny now have another tool to add to their bag of tricks: an Arduino programmer! This article explains how to use an Arduino to program the ATTiny using the SPI communication protocol. The method is straight forward with no surprises so it could theoretically work with any microcontroller that has an SPI module built in.

Posted September 11, 2011 by Chris

Some light reading for today: For those of you who took a look at my recent intro to interrupts article and are still wondering why? This article is a great summary of the advantages that interrupt hardware and software logic offer us as electronics builders and designers. The main goal here is to show you how bad latency is in polling based systems.

Posted September 10, 2011 by Chris

If you’re an avid arduino fan, then this project should expand your design capabilities. It shows you how to use Xbee wireless modules to program the arduino without connecting it to your computer. The Xbee modules are very much self contained so there isn’t much additional work to implement the wireless communication. Check the article for a detailed explanation of how to make it work.