04.25.08
Phased Array PCB V0.1 Finished
Not tested yet, but here are some images of the finished PCB!
02.25.08
An Interesting Use of Ultrasound
I have thought of things like this in the past, and it looks like someone has taken the time to actually do it:
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7293/
I think that they have gone down the wrong road for the mouse part though…
[ I chose not to make the reasons why it is not appropriate and what can be done to remedy it to be private, since this is a bladdy good idea. Anyone interested, please email me. ]
01.15.08
Non Existent Projects?
After months and days of searching I cant find any websites that are developing a hobby based phased array soultion for robots or whatever, so I am very very tempted to get to work on this straight away when I move in, rather than spending time on my robot like I had planned. Also, another idea for today was to control stuff throught the pretty much redundant lifedrive we have, it is bluetooth and wifi enabled, so these could be utilised to form an advanced remot control?
T610 LCD Info
Just for future reference Ive found some sites with a T610 LCD pinout and some code and stuff. Links:
12.20.07
Sound Libraries for Qt
Just been looking around for some open source sound libraries to work in Qt, since Qt has no native support for low(ish) level access.
- http://www.libsdl.org/ - Looks quite complicated
- http://www.portaudio.com/trac/wiki/TutorialDir/TutorialStart - Again looks quite complicated
- http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtaudio/ - Looks the best to me. Object oriented, simple, I’ll try this first.
12.19.07
Facial Recognition and NFX Software
I would like to have a play with facial recognition algorithms, so I had a quick sgeggy on the net to see what I could find. I found quite a few:
- Face Recognition Workshop 1 and 2
- Eigeface tutorial in Matlab
- Face Detection in c# (CodeProject)
- Motion Detection in c# (CodeProject)
- Video Survelliance in c# (CodeProject)
Would be great if I could implement a simple algorithm in a PIC. There are a few hits, but nothing specific.
On another note, I am definatly going to do my NFX software Idea of a pedal testing system. This should give me some more good experience in Qt. Have to move this from the back to the front burner.
12.10.07
Full wave rectification
Just looking into some full wave rectification without diodes and I have so far found 2 ways. One with 2 op amps, quite costly, or one promising one with just a transistor:
I do like the look of this, might be right up my street. It does look slightly jubious, but its worth a try. If not, I might have to settle for the opamp rectifier.
Also found this, another opamp full wave rectifier but with the possibility of only 1 op amp. Even if it doesnt, it still uses less parts than the first.
Found one last one, much like the prebvious, but has some programmable gain on it.
12.07.07
Update: Interactive Light Idea
I found this that is essentially what I thought of the other day, bastards, always knick my ideas (One must admit that they had the idea months ago :D). I personally think that mine would be better though, because it looks like they are using modulated IR face up to detect when someone goes near it. Also, the pulse effect is shit. This means that 1, it looks shit, and 2 it only works with glass tables. How much more cool would it look with mine on a slightly opaque white/black/something table. And being controlled either by a small PIC (of course!) or directly with a few op amp tricks, would look loads better. More natural.
Would be a lot of work though. Would have to get the EFPD smaller/cheaper. Will definatly have to continue development, (even if my project guy does something), and maybe get a few built externally. Depends how complicated the circuit is.
Quick thoughts on the Ultrasonic Phased Array Project
Just been doing some bored research again, and I came accross this image:
This would be a good route to investigate when I do get it up and running. I Could initially scan for objects, then focus in using this technique. First seen here but there must be other sources out there. Hence, once some beam steering has been accomplished, it would be good to upgrade it to focused beam steering. Cool!
11.24.07
Few more ideas
Once I’ve finished with the current robot, I would love to get into some sort of UAV design, something like the 4 rotor Helicopter designs ive seen on the internet (see bottom for references).
I’d also like to continue building the EFPD. Possibly place it on a robot that would run away when someoe got close. Make a super-small version on a proper pcb. Another idea is to attatch it to a ring of lights. When someone walks past then they would light up in sequence. It would look so cool up the stairs.
Could also integrate it into the landing lights, or maybe the main downstairs lights so that they turn on when someone comes past. Cool.