triopen-049_MG_5709_2012-02-04triopen-056_MG_5792_2012-02-04triopen-054_MG_5760_2012-02-04triopen-043_MG_5589_2012-02-04

Senior Designing: Robot Arm Style Mar 13, 2012 | Comments: 0

Arm 3D viewFor my ECE senior design project I'm building a robotic arm for the NCSU Terrestrial Robotics Club as they take on the University Rover Challenge

Ever wanted a high-strength robotic arm that's made entirely of 3D prtinted and laser-cut parts and off-the-shelf compodents and electronics? I have, and that's why I'm building it with my group of 4. 

I put together a google site page to keep track of the project's status and eventually host tutorials, APIs, and other documents you'll need to build your own! Check it out.

New video: slow motion quadcopter flying in EB2 Sep 08, 2011 | Comments: 0

This was taken on my friend Hardik's Canon 60D. Music is from the band State Radio and the song: Wicker Plane.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/year-of-the-crow/id395632644

I used ffmpeg extensively to get the 60fps video to slow-mo 30fps, then ffmpeg again to extract the audio to wav, then Sound Studio (mac app) to resample the audio to the same speed as the video. Next I used Sound Studio to splice, in rythem, the intro, solo, and final few seconds of 'Wicker Plane' together, then mix it together with the slow-mo sound of my quad and just imovie to put together the timeline of video.

ARM7 mini quad with xbee remote Jan 29, 2011 | Comments: 0

mini2-007_MG_7015_2011-01-29Using an Phillips NXP LPC20148 ARM7 processor, a Nintendo Wii motion+, and some xbees I've made a really stable platform for quads. (mode details here) It is running FreeRTOS which makes it very expandable in the future. My old frame flew great with it, but I wanted something smaller. Enter my new carbon fiber mini-quad:

Read more.

Quadcopter: New photos and video Dec 23, 2010 | Comments: 0

quad-004_MG_5140_2010-12-22
New video of my flying my quad!

Flying my os-copter quadcopter inside.

See more Photos.
My writeup here.
Browse my Code: on my svn browser.

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RTOS quadcopter flight computer Dec 21, 2010 | Comments: 0

quad3_0-003_MG_4954_2010-12-20

This semester I built my own open source flight software for quadcopters using the NXP LPC2148 ARM 7 processor on an FreeRTOS system. This allows the inherently unstable quadcopter to fly as a human controllable helicopter with only the addition of a wii motion plus as a gyroscope sensor for rotational acceleration. Also: details and photos of my first remote.

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mp3 player design Nov 19, 2010 | Comments: 0

mp3_arm7-_MG_0860_2010-11-09

Making a MP3 player from scratch using a Phillips NXP LPC2148 ARM7 board, the real-time operating system FreeRTOS, and a laser cutter.

Part of San Jose State University's CMPE 146, Embedded Microprocessor System Design.

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Lightweight C MP3 ID3v2 Reader Oct 29, 2010 | Comments: 0

hex editor viewing an mp3 headerSimple, effective, lightweight, and fast, this MP3 ID3v2 reader is the ideal way to go if you're running an embedded system running C.

Simple, effective, lightweight, and fast, this MP3 ID3v2 reader is the ideal way to go if you're running an embedded system. See the source/download here. Click read more for a demo project and more information.

Background: I'm writing a full-featured mp3 player for the SJSU class CMPE 146, Embedded Microprocessor System Design, that runs on the LPC2148 ARM7 Board from sjvalley. The project is running RTOS and has reads files from a SD card streams them through an MP3 decoder to a DAC and finally your headphones.

The project is coming along nicely but I wanted a way to read ID3 tags so read_ID3_info() was born.

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The Crossbow - new quadcopter design Apr 21, 2010 | Comments: 0

I'm calling this quadcopter design The Crossbow because of the huge number of people who have thought that's what it was while I'm carrying it around campus.

Right now I'm just testing it and working on the software using only two rotors. This design is modular so I can attach whichever arms I want.

Here's an idea for what I started with in the design process:

quad-design-screenshot

This is the flight computer module:

quad03-_MG_1296-2010-04-18

And the body with the two arms attatched.

quad04-_MG_1303-2010-04-18

 

Fast 2-way XBEE series 2 data Mar 18, 2010 | Comments: 3

xbee-closeThat title's a mouthful, any yet it's not enough. There are so many names for these modules, a better title would be Fast two way Xbee ZigBee Series 2 Znet 2.5 Serial AT Communication. In my trials and tribulations building my quadcopter remote (soon I'll post about it) I've run across problems getting two way, full speed, and reliable communication between my modules. Here's what I discovered after a lot of manual reading:

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Quad cost breakdown Feb 08, 2010 | Comments: 0

Quad_allBuilding any radio controlled vehicle is usually a money intensive endeavor. When you're building one that flies, is computer controlled (and will hopefully soon be autonomous) it goes to reason that it will be extremely expensive. Some quadcopters are literally tens of thousands of dollars because they use electronics like this. For my quadcopter I wanted to keep the cost as low as possible but still create a reliable platform for future development. I started with the aeroquad project and have done a lot of research on diydrones. Here's the spreadsheet I made before ordering everything (thanks google docs):

Hobby King Total: $150.73
What is it part # unit $ total
motor TowerPro Brushless Outrunner 2410-09 13A / 104W 4 $6.39 $25.56 link
esc Turnigy Plush 10A ESC 4 $9.24 $36.96 link
3prop 8x4 CCW GWS HD8040 3 Blade Prop Counter Rotate 1 $2.79 $2.79 link
3prop 8x4 CW GWS HD8040 3 Blade Prop 1 $2.79 $2.79 link
3prop 8x5 CCW GWS HD9050 3 Blade Prop Counter Rotate 1 $2.79 $2.79 link
3prop 8x5 CW GWS HD8050 3 Blade Prop 1 $2.79 $2.79 link
batt ZIPPY Flightmax 2200mAh 3S1P 20C 2 $11.99 $23.98 link
warning Hobby King Battery Monitor 3S 1 $3.99 $3.99 link
charger Turnigy 2S 3S Balance Charger 110/240v 1 $11.95 $11.95 link
lipo sack Lithium Polymer Charge Pack 18x22cm Sack 1 $5.99 $5.99 link
2mm heat shrink Turnigy 2mm Heat Shrink Tube - BLACK (1mtr) 2 $0.35 $0.7 link
3mm heat shrink Turnigy 3mm Heat Shrink Tube - BLACK (1mtr) 2 $0.35 $0.7 link
boom HK-500GT Tail Boom 4 $2.2 $8.8 link
Sparkfun Total: $132.59
What is it part # unit $ total
arduino Arduino Pro Mini 328 - 5V/16MHz 1 $18.95 $18.95 link
IMU IMU 6DOF Razor - Ultra-Thin IMU 1 $89.95 $89.95 link
headers Break Away Headers - Straight 1 $2.5 $2.5 link
charger 1s LiPoly Charger - Single Cell 3.7-7V Input 1 $16.95 $16.95 link

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