Suggest a project for me

Hi Alistair,

Very nice to hear of your reawakenings .

Ally, if you are familiar to PIC or AVR but not to ARM then i would recommend you MBED. So, in my opinion, unknown fields give more courage and passion to learn new things. Or, just an idea, you can choose the THREE with one project. I mean something like Parallel Learning If something goes wrong in the FIRST but not in the OTHERS, then you can easily locate where the problem is.

Firat

Hi Ally,

Welcome back to the ranks of electronics experimenters!

I'd follow your inclination to use the Pic-based amaicus, just because I find I work better and faster doing something I want to

As for a project - do you have other interests you could link into? Music? Photography? Food? Home brewing?

I mention home brewing because I saw a fascinating arduino application in this area (and ISTR you enjoy a pint).

I'll put my thinking cap on, but I think an idea of other interests of yours would help us all to focus on promising areas.

Best, Romilly

Thanks Firat,

I agree with you about unknown fields, but its been so long since I have actually programmed a micro I think they will all be challenges! I think the last micro I used was a 68020 in my final year project. I think for a follow up project I would like to build a shield for both the Multicomp and Amicus boards and make sure they both work...I don't think the hardware is a problem as both boards are completely compatible

Hey Romilly,

Funny you should mention hobbies, I've just bought a Vespa and I was enviously looking at this http://www.janspace.com/b2evolution/arduino.php/2010/06/26/scooterputer. I was actually thinking of replicating it for the Amicus. But I do like the problem solving aspect as opposed to try emulate someone else's effort.

Other hobbies, I'm neither going to confirm or deny the beer drinking assumption, but I have a feeling me operating a alcohol production site in the Farnell lab would probably be frowned upon, as well as invalidating our insurance.

Music is a good call, but I usually enjoy listening as opposed to making it.

Robotics, not a hobby, but something I'd like to try, so maybe something electromechanical, motor drivers etc?

Flying things...have always been fascinated by flight!

Games, I love computer games, especially retro ones,

Camping, goes with the scooter.

Ithink that's it for now, but I'll add as I think more up,

Ally

Hi Ally,

The scooterputer looks great fun, and useful as well. But

1) It sounds as if you'd like to build something to your own design, and

2) It seems quite ambitious. Nothing wrong with that, but I'd go for a quicker and easier win for a first project.

First thoughts:

A combined IR sensor and motor drive shield, which you could use as the basis for a robot you could control with a TV remote.

A graphics LCD shield so you could recreate the grandfather of all computer games - the classic 'pong' video game. You could use a Wii remote with its I2c interface to control the paddles.

An autonomous blimp - slower than a plane, so simple to fly. You could start with a simple controller and add capability as you find time/money: accelerometers, GPS, a video interface...

Cheers, Romilly

Thanks Romilly,

Some good suggestions there. While I'd obviously prefer a scale model of the Typhoon Eurofighter, like real life, it is probably better to start at Montgolfier brothers level! I also like the fact that the project is expandable, I think this is my favourite one.

Pong also sounds good, but I think I'd have to go all the way and build retro paddle controllers. I always have been interested in graphics, So i'd also give strong consideration to this

The motor driver sounds good, but I think I'd prefer an end product...kinda think for me if I built it, I'd think, that's cool, but it will be cooler next year when I build a robot

MY suggestion would be:

Make a PONG clone using your preferred dev board and an OLED or LCD display.

Start by just getting it working, with anything at all on screen, then add basic bouncing ball, then add user input to control the bats and finally add scoring.

That way you get to re-learn all about power, interfacing, user input, debouncing switches, logic and AI.

Then you can add an ethernet interface, IP Stack and network the game ;-)

Whatever you do, I'm sure it'll be fun and you'll enjoy the process.

Personally, I like the PIC32 starter kit (USB interface with debugger ... no external programmer needed) http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=2615&dDocName=en532453 ... along with this book:  Programming 32-Bit Microcontrollers in C: Exploring the Pic32 (by Lucio Di Jasio). Also, the optional Explorer16 development board.

I know this isn't on your list; however, I have learned a lot from this combo.  The MPLAB IDE and 'student' C compiler are free.  The PIC32 libraries are relatively easy to work with and open up all kinds of exploration possibilities.

Have fun!

Gregory

Hi allistair,

I think a neat project would be an inverted pendulum type robot. The processing power of the arduino clone or mbed should be more that sufficient and they're neat robots to observe. If you're math skills are up for it I think it's a project worth looking into.

I've included the link to a Microchip App Note about making such a robot and a link to a youtube video of one in action. I hope that whatever project you choose you have a lot of fun making it.

Microchip App Note

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/AppNotes/00964A.pdf

Youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWJHcI7UcuE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDBkg1PfvFY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qwgPbRYLcc&feature=related

Best Regards,

Jorge Garcia

I know how difficult it is to come up with a good project for  yourself. I spend most days finding answers to peoples' problems, so it  seems unnatural to think of problems of my own

The Scooter 'Puter looks very cool indeed, but there is no reason to build exactly the same  thing. The touch LCD Arduino module looks nifty, but not exactly cheap!  One alternative that many hobbyists use, is replacement LCD modules for  Nokia phones. They are only 50mm or so across and 128x128 pixels, but  they have their own onboard display processor that is pretty easy to  program. I wouldn't want to leave a big $200 screen on my bike, but a £5  one is no problem. If you didn't want to use an expensive Arduino, then  use something like an ATMega or PIC18 on a breadboard, and build your  own PCB. However, I think the MBED would be perfect for you. You could easily just start by making a battery monitor like the original builder, then see where your imagination takes you! In the first instance it only need be a box with a pcb in to connect the mbed, the display, some switches and i/o lines.

As an aside, I see Farnell have some colour OLED + touch screen modules in stock - I must make a mental note of that, it might come in handy!

Another idea that might interest you, is a tent alarm. I was thinking of something along the lines of a motion sensor, a bluetooth module and a cannibalised cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Use the bluetooth to arm/disarm it like car central locking, and when it activates, it sends a text message to a predefined number. If you go to music festivals you will know how difficult it sometimes is to locate your own tent. With a system like this, you could text your own tent, which could then flash a light velcroed to the highest point.

*Scratches chin*

Mike