themed sessions
genzaichi
hacksessions on the wiki:
http://wiki.fizzpop.org.uk/Themes
I've put in a bit of blurb as a starting point - feel free to say so
if you see them working differently.
I've also listed the dates of the hacksessions between now and the end
of the year and the suggestions I remember coming out of the planning
meeting and elsewhere.
We talked about everyone in the steering group taking responsibility
for organising/initiating/managing/herding a themed session. I'd like
to stress that anyone who wants to can do this, but that we need
steering group bods to do it as a minimum.
Over to you guys - if you've got an idea for a themed session and
there's some momentum behind it, please put it on the wiki page with
an overview of what's involved.
I've left it open for now, but may start randomly allocating names to
dates if no progress is made in the near future... :-)
nikki
Andrew Thomas
Do you think anyone would be interested in an arduino fun with servos evening? For less than £5 (up to around 10 people) I could provide a servo and parts maybe to make a light brightness meter, a simple thermometer, etc, etc.
I'm thinking cardboard, scissors, felt pens, blu-tak, etc to make pointers and dials to use with the arduino and servo. It could be fun and easily translated to other projects as well as being a bit of fun.
However, I know similar things have been done on the net, so does anyone have any comments on whether this might be a good topic to attract a few new people?
Best wishes,
Andrew.
nikki
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genzaichi
> cardboard, scissors, felt pens, blu-tak, etc
I'd be up for some guided learning about servos - got a stack of them
here waiting to be used for Interesting Things.
> However, I know similar things have been done on the net, so does anyone have any comments on whether this might be a good topic to attract a few new people?
>
real is what fizzPOP is all about, non?
New people... depends on a) luck and b) what work you want to do in
promoting the session...
If getting the parts in and getting the money for the parts can be
done in whatever way feels low-risk enough for you, then I reckon it's
worth a shot.
nikki
Adrian Beaumont
I alos have an motorshield that needs assembling...!
Ade.
nikki
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Andrew Thomas
Thanks for the feedback. I've bought ten 9g servos from HK for around £2 each, so the total cost should easily be under £5. I'll work on £5 max and see what interesting parts I can put together for up to ten people.
I was thinking mid September? Also, I'm happy with a normal hack evening or on a weekend. Weekend sounds nice so Adrian can be involved, but Nikki do you think that's possble (sounds like extra subs and maybe venue organising?).
Best wishes,
Andrew.
Ade.
> birmingham-hack-...@googlegroups.com<birmingham-hack-space%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> .
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/birmingham-hack-space?hl=en.
>
>
--
genzaichi
There'll be venue hire to budget for if you do a weekend session and
it'll almost certainly be at a higher rate than the Wednesday nights.
Needs negotiating with Lee, does tend to put extra pressure on if you
need minimum numbers to break even etc etc and you'll have to speak
nicely to whoever's got keys.
If you're putting the price up to cover venue it puts pressure on to
be delivering a formal workshop to make it worth people's while.
That said, having a partner in crime can be invaluable - maybe have a
chat to Lee tonight, do some sums, see when Adrian's available and
take it from there?
We were talking about having alternate sessions being themed, so the
15th of September could be ideal if you go for a Wednesday...
HTH
nikki
On Aug 4, 11:33 am, Andrew Thomas <andrewmarktho...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Nikki and Adrian,
>
> Thanks for the feedback. I've bought ten 9g servos from HK for around £2 each, so the total cost should easily be under £5. I'll work on £5 max and see what interesting parts I can put together for up to ten people.
>
> I was thinking mid September? Also, I'm happy with a normal hack evening or on a weekend. Weekend sounds nice so Adrian can be involved, but Nikki do you think that's possble (sounds like extra subs and maybe venue organising?).
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Andrew.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adrian Beaumont <ajbeaum...@gmail.com>
> Sent: 04 August 2010 09:50
> To: birmingham...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
>
> I would definitely be up for it, particularly on a weekend.. I have some
> Arduino experience so would be happy to learn and guide where needed...
>
> I alos have an motorshield that needs assembling...!
>
> Ade.
>
Adrian Beaumont
(On a side note, it might be worth trying to get somewhere like the Think Tank to lend us some space and charge out for a Saturday session one day. I know that similar Arduino courses in London sell out in hours - would be a good way to build spare funds and improve the profile of fizzpop too?)
Ade.
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Andrew Thomas
I was only really volunteering for a themed night, rather than a whole event, so for me a wednesday is fine.
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: genzaichi <genz...@gmail.com>
Sent: 04 August 2010 15:05
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Adrian Beaumont
Would love to come to do this on a Wed night, would be nice to see everyone again.
Ade.
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G Bulmer
Science Festival in Birmingham, and I'll be v. busy leading up to it.
I quite like servo's, but folks might also like to try DIY
'encoders'.
Servo's are good when you want to make something move to a position,
and encoders are good if you want to either know how fast something is
turning, or deduce how far something is moving.
It is critical for robots which need to know how far they have moved,
but it's used in lots of things, including rotary encoders which give
a 'digital' input of rotation, rather than a potentiometer (which
needs and A to D converter).
With a rotary encoder, a microcontroller could keep track of a
position (like an index mark on a volume control), or how fast the
encoder knob is being twiddled
As another example, if you wanted to make a mechanical Persistence-Of-
Vision gizmo (a Zoetrope or Praxinoscope), using LEDs (or lasers) as
stroboscopic lights instead of a slotted disk, then it might use some
sort of position encoder. Optical encoders are cheap and relatively
reliable in clean conditions. Magnetic encoders are good too, and work
in pretty grimy conditions.
Tony Wilcox who runs the Micromouse club made some 'encoders', using a
laser printer.
Optical 'Encoder wheels' look like these 'dazzle patterns':
You then use a little reflective sensor, like these:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Optoelectronics/Photocouplers/Sub-miniature-photoreflective-sensors/68052
Hall sensors are useful. Hall sensors detect a moving magnet, so can
be sealed inside a block of plastic, plaster, wood and still work
well. Hall sensors are used in mechancal applications where things
might get caked with muck, and optical wouldn't work well.
These sorts of sensors start at under £1 each, and give a lot of
flexibility, and robustness when compared to potentiometers.
If you can get a few gears between the thing turning (e.g. motor) and
the thing being turned, it is feasible to get very sensitive. Some of
the micromouse robots, are sensitive to a small fraction of a
millimetre. Their are Hall sensors, I think for under £5, giving about
1023 pulses/rev of a motor or a knob.
I bought myself a toy robot arm for Christmas, and I was thinking of
putting encoders onto it, so the controller would know the position of
each joint.
Just a thought
GB
genzaichi
I'm rather hoping we can have a Pong session too inspired by yours and
Aaron's (think I've got that right) conversation about a wheely chair
interface!
Presumably (after the Processing/Arduino training videos?!) we can
have a standard Pong screen and then spend the evening inventing mad
interfaces through which to play it...
n
On Aug 5, 8:55 pm, G Bulmer <gbul...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'd be happy to help out late September - mid September is the British
> Science Festival in Birmingham, and I'll be v. busy leading up to it.
>
> I quite like servo's, but folks might also like to try DIY
> 'encoders'.
>
> Servo's are good when you want to make something move to a position,
> and encoders are good if you want to either know how fast something is
> turning, or deduce how far something is moving.
>
> It is critical for robots which need to know how far they have moved,
> but it's used in lots of things, including rotary encoders which give
> a 'digital' input of rotation, rather than a potentiometer (which
> needs and A to D converter).
> With a rotary encoder, a microcontroller could keep track of a
> position (like an index mark on a volume control), or how fast the
> encoder knob is being twiddled
>
> As another example, if you wanted to make a mechanical Persistence-Of-
> Vision gizmo (a Zoetrope or Praxinoscope), using LEDs (or lasers) as
> stroboscopic lights instead of a slotted disk, then it might use some
> sort of position encoder. Optical encoders are cheap and relatively
> reliable in clean conditions. Magnetic encoders are good too, and work
> in pretty grimy conditions.
>
> Tony Wilcox who runs the Micromouse club made some 'encoders', using a
> laser printer.
> Optical 'Encoder wheels' look like these 'dazzle patterns':
Noel Welsh
appropriate for the group:
Unsupervised Learning
If you create an image (i.e. a bitmap) at random you aren't likely to
end up with anything interesting. The space of interesting images is
much much smaller than the space of all images. If you want to create
music playing notes at random isn't going to get you much of interest
(unless you really like free jazz ;-P) Unsupervised learning covers a
class of techniques for finding structure or organisation in data. A
lot of unsupervised learning techniques allow you to reverse the
process and actually generate data (e.g. music, images) once you have
learned a model. So if you have a (possibly artistic) interest in
creating media you might be interested in these techniques.
I could lead a session on this but we'd need to discuss a fair bit on
the appropriate level (particularly on the axes of maths and
programming level) for the group. I'm not sure if it really fits the
interests of the group -- it seems there is most interest in hardware.
More details later if there is interest. No chance of me running a
session before Rocktober anyway, so there is no rush.
[Other ideas: highlights of intelligent robotics (mostly sensor
models, localisation, or decision making) or implementing random
SIGGRAPH papers (saw an interesting 3D camera built from 2 or more 2D
cameras, for example.)]
N.
genzaichi
Sorry to see you appear to have found another discussion list vacuum!
Um, in the absence of any other feedback, maybe an idea would be for
you to try and join a hacksession where you could spend some time
being enthusiastic about Unsupervised Learning and giving a few
examples etc.
Perhaps from that it'd give some people a way in if the subject is new
to them (it is to me) and also get you the information you need about
how to pitch any follow-up sessions?
nikki
Noel Welsh
>
> Sorry to see you appear to have found another discussion list vacuum!
>
It is not unexpected! :)
> Um, in the absence of any other feedback, maybe an idea would be for
> you to try and join a hacksession where you could spend some time
> being enthusiastic about Unsupervised Learning and giving a few
> examples etc.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Cheers,
N.
G Bulmer
Yes, I think roller-skates, in-line skates, those nifty little razor
scooters, and skateboards, would all be feasible.
Those 'Heelys' shoes would be good if we could get an encoder inside.
Using Andrews accelerometer & gyro board, and some software, people
could just move on a wheely chair, shopping trolley, or even ... run!
(I can imagine Shopping Trolley Pong taking off as a weekend, city-
centre sport).
GB
G Bulmer
I'd prefer to talk interactively (posts are too slow).
GB
On Aug 9, 3:24 pm, Noel Welsh <noelwe...@gmail.com> wrote:
G Bulmer
some other folks be interested in 'learning' how to use Eagle (which
is free for small boards) to design PCB's?
I've spent the last few weeks using it most days, and, while I
definitely don't understand it all, I feel reasonably confident in
using it for something of the complexity of an Arduino.
There are several ways we could go to make the PCBs.
We could do DIY, which is well worth doing.
I also noticed Olimex
http://olimex.com/pcb/index.html
have a prototype service which will make a 100mm x 160mm double sided
PCB, with holes drilled (IMHO, the worst part), solder mask (the green
layer that stops solder straying), with a silk screen for pin numbers
and instructions, for under 45 euro (30 euro + P&P + VAT etc.).
They will produce different designs on one board. Ideally they'd cut
them up.
If, say, 8 of us took a 'plot', an area of 80mm x 25mm, we could have
a one-off PCB for under £5.
80mm x 25mm is a bit bigger than a Boarduino.
Folks wouldn't have to make a working piece of electronics. It might
be interesting to layout a constellation of the stars using the drill
holes, a one-off 'marble-madness' ball-bearing game, a funky key-ring,
or a secret clue for Da Vinci Code II.
The 'plots' don't all have to be the same size. AFAIK, the only
requirement is the plots can be separated with edge to edge cuts.
They have some explanation of "PANELIZATION" (more than one design on
a board), and examples of good and bad layouts here:
http://olimex.com/pcb/index.html
Thoughts?
GB
Adrian Godwin
-adrian
Dave Nash
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Andrew Thomas
You'll have to ask my robot, as it's using them at the moment :) I can easily take them out for a couple of hours though if you're serious.
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: G Bulmer <gbu...@gmail.com>
Sent: 11 August 2010 19:00
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
Nikki
Yes, I think roller-skates, in-line skates, those nifty little razor
scooters, and skateboards, would all be feasible.
Those 'Heelys' shoes would be good if we could get an encoder inside.
Using Andrews accelerometer & gyro board, and some software, people
could just move on a wheely chair, shopping trolley, or even ... run!
(I can imagine Shopping Trolley Pong taking off as a weekend, city-
centre sport).
GB
[The entire original message is not included]
Andrew Thomas
I've downloaded it a couple of times, but not got around to learning how to use it. Are you volunteering to give a quick-start tutorial? If so my answer is yes please 8-)
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: G Bulmer <gbu...@gmail.com>
Sent: 11 August 2010 19:58
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
I'm not sure if Nikki and I are the only ones interested, but might
some other folks be interested in 'learning' how to use Eagle (which
is free for small boards) to design PCB's?
I've spent the last few weeks using it most days, and, while I
Thoughts?
GB
--
G Bulmer
I am volunteering to do several things, which I may need to stretch
over two sessions, depending on what folks would like:
1. Quick overview of what Eagle can do, and how it's used to make
PCB's (10 minutes)
2. Demo, with the top things that I wish I'd known when I tried to use
Eagle (and failed) in the past (20-30 minutes)
3. If people bring along schematics that they'd like to turn into a
PCB, I'll try to help
4. If people bring along ideas for PCB's they'd like to make, I'll try
to help.
(I might suggest folks practice on something like the Boarduino if
they want a concrete project, but I'm open to suggestions.)
Then see if their are folks who'd like to go forward to make PCB's,
and discuss how we might do that.
Dave
I strongly agree, look at the Sparkfun tutorials. I had read them, but
it was still nice to have someone who knew how to drive it, explain a
few things. Their library is very helpful. I struggled with errors,
which were fixed in their parts.
Adrian
I would prefer to use an Open Source PCB CAD application, like KiCAD,
but Eagle is what I can help people use.
Eagle is okay for double sided boards upto 100mmx80mm, which covers a
lot of projects, and their are quite a few Open Source examples that
folks can use to get started. So IMHO, Eagle is a bit weird to get
started with, but it has plenty going for it as a possible place to
learn.
I have a live project using Eagle, so I'm not likely to get to KiCAD
for a few months, sorry :-(
GB
On Aug 11, 8:05 pm, Andrew Thomas <andrewmarktho...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Gary,
>
> I've downloaded it a couple of times, but not got around to learning how to use it. Are you volunteering to give a quick-start tutorial? If so my answer is yes please 8-)
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Andrew.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: G Bulmer <gbul...@gmail.com>
> Sent: 11 August 2010 19:58
> To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
>
> I'm not sure if Nikki and I are the only ones interested, but might
> some other folks be interested in 'learning' how to use Eagle (which
> is free for small boards) to design PCB's?
>
> I've spent the last few weeks using it most days, and, while I
> definitely don't understand it all, I feel reasonably confident in
> using it for something of the complexity of an Arduino.
>
> There are several ways we could go to make the PCBs.
> We could do DIY, which is well worth doing.
>
Andrew Thomas
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Nash <plai...@gmail.com>
Sent: 11 August 2010 20:34
To: birmingham...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
Sparkfun have a great set of tutorials for Eagle, I found them very useful:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorials.php
<http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorials.php>Also, their parts library is
pretty handy to boot.
Dave
On 11 August 2010 20:32, Adrian Godwin <artg...@googlemail.com> wrote:
genzaichi
Have you ever tried those things?!?!
They're lethal!
Yep, I'd like to have a what-do-all-those-lines-mean intro to PCB
design.
Have had a quick go at Fritzing, but found it a bit annoying not being
able to arrange components the way I wanted to in the breadboard
view...
Eagle downloaded and ready to go!
nikki
G Bulmer
On Aug 11, 10:12 pm, genzaichi <genzai...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Heeleys?!?!
> Have you ever tried those things?!?!
footpaths :-)
> They're lethal!
I did hear a rumour that it is actually a government experiment in
natural selection.
The experiment is based on the dual premise that the UK climate will
become much wetter, and much of the UK landscape will be buried under
shopping malls, and fast-food outlets, which all have illogically
slick floors.
The aim is to produce people who don't fall over on the backs as often
as regular UK humans.
>
> Yep, I'd like to have a what-do-all-those-lines-mean intro to PCB
> design.
> Have had a quick go at Fritzing, but found it a bit annoying not being
> able to arrange components the way I wanted to in the breadboard
> view...
>
> Eagle downloaded and ready to go!
Something with 10-20 components should be enough to cover most topics.
Boarduino seemed okay, but I'm happy to try something else.
>
> nikki
G Bulmer
Could one make a giant, bungee-powered 'catapult' and 'accelerate'
people wearing Heeleys (or skates)?
We'd need a smooth carpark, or a building with a smooth floor. I don't
know Birmingham well, but I'm sure someone does :-)
We could make the whole thing a science experiment by adding sensors
to each 'projectile' like accelerometers or encoders, then use some of
Ant's techniques to create visualisations of the results, ideally
split screened with live-action video.
It might be popular with school children ;-)
Just a thought 8-)
GB
Andrew Thomas
Do you mean like those big bungee jumping frames they have in the Bull Ring sometimes? Two or three accelerometers, a bluetooth/radiolink module, and an arduino, would be easy to put together (I'd be happy to help, although I don't have all the necessary parts). An integrating opamp and microphone should be easily attached too, for monitoring screams!!
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: G Bulmer <gbu...@gmail.com>
Sent: 15 August 2010 19:22
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
Another thought on Heeleys.
--
G Bulmer
'project' people across the ground.
Yes, wireless + accelerometers + arduino would be perfect.
Yes! A Scream-ometer would be a critical part of the measurement
equipment :-)
I made a sound level-holding/slow-decay circuit with a dual op-amp,
diode and some capacitors, to make a 'clap-on clap-off' input for an
Arduino. That should be modifiable for screams.
GB
Andrew Thomas
Is that mostly just linear motion then? If so I've got a bluetooth 3D accelerometer box that works (even though some bits have disappeared into the robot, the accel/comms side still works). Am happy to do a bit of coding too, so let me know if you need me :)
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: G Bulmer <gbu...@gmail.com>
Sent: 16 August 2010 18:07
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: themed sessions
Yes, those big bungee jump frames, laid horizontally so it could
'project' people across the ground.
Yes, wireless + accelerometers + arduino would be perfect.
Yes! A Scream-ometer would be a critical part of the measurement
equipment :-)
I made a sound level-holding/slow-decay circuit with a dual op-amp,
diode and some capacitors, to make a 'clap-on clap-off' input for an
Arduino. That should be modifiable for screams.
GB
genzaichi
whatever. Anyone willing to act as coordinator for any of them and
make them happen?
Wiki page to book themed sessions in is at http://wiki.fizzpop.org.uk/Themes
nikki
G Bulmer
I think they are very interesting interfaces, more robust and flexible
than potentiometers, and fundamental to human-pong, and sentient-
projectile science.
If someone can suggest where I can get some low-cost roller skates
(one will do) I could attempt a conversion to get folks 'juices
flowing'.
(I think Heelys might be a bit awkward as a first project - nightmare
image of GB crumpled, and bleeding, at bottom of IMAX stair case,
Heelys still slowly rotating)
GB