Completed Projects
Web Controlled Mobile Robot
Completed: November 2009
This project was on my todo list for years, but then my student, David Kennedy, needed a senior project so I passed all the parts to him.
He took my robot base purchased from Dale Robots and combine it with a OLPC and a uChameleon USB device to create an internet controlled mobile robot. The user interface includes video from the OLPC camera, steering controls and the ability to use the OLPC's voice synthesizer.
The robot was a big hit at the University of Memphis E-Day in 2009 and won 2nd place at the Student Research Forum in 2010.
Simple Robot Base
Completed: August 2009
After seeing this 24V/45RPM Gearhead Motor with Wheel in MPJA's catalog, I came up with an idea for a very simple robot base to be used in my Microcontroller's Class. I put all the details on the construction on my blog and also wrote a paper entitled Construction and Implementation of a Mobile Robot Platform in a Microcontroller / Interfacing Class that was presented at the ASEE Southeastern Conference in 2010. For pictures and video of the robot go here.
So far 3 of these bases have been constructed and, with the addition of a Fox 11 microcontroller, a L298 Compact Motor Driver, some LiIon batteries, and a few sensors, the robots were used for the first time by my Microprocessor Interfacing class in the Fall of 2009 at the University of Memphis. The final project was a line tracking robot that could also sense obstacles and stop if something blocked its path (see Videos).
Robot Arm Rebuild / Internet Controlled Robot Arm (ver 1)
Completed: August 2009
Purchased an old Robot Arm (LabVolt ArmDroid 1000) off of Ebay but did not come with the external control box or power supply. My notes contain all the information gathered about the reverse engineering of the control board and how I was able to connect the arm to a computer via the parallel port, and the ASM program development to operate the arm.
I tested it using a power supply at work, but now a friend gave me a HCC15-3-A 12V 3.4A power supply for the robot arm.
Now that I got it to function, I want to make it controllable over the internet. I have an old industrial 486 machine that I was able to put SlackWare 8.0. I hope to hook this up to the robot arm and create a program in C or C++ to control the arm via the internet.
Update: (8/4/09) I have been working on controlling it over the internet, and have it working. I did get it to work on the industrial 486, but the computer was too slow so I put it on a Celeron 333MHz I had laying around (Still with Slackware 8.0). Putting the final touches on it to make it accessible to everyone to operate. I will post the link when it is ready to go (I even have a internet camera to show the robot moving).
Update: (8/18/09) The Beta version of the internet controlled robot arm can be found HERE.
Update: (10/30/24) Yes it has been a very long time since I updated this project. I did impliment the Web Controlled Robot Arm and it was up and running until the Celeron 333MHz gave up the ghost (when I do not really recall). The reason for the post now, is a student is working on redoing the web controlled robot arm and I wanted to show him the last iteration, so I dug up a IDE to USB converter and got the old hard drive and found both the C code for the robot and the PHP code to control it over the internet. I zipped it all for the student, but I am also posting it Here so you can take a look at the files.
Automation Direct Field Point Modules
Completed : May 2009
Experimenting with a Field point module I got off ebay. Got it to work with LabVIEW / OPC Software as well as creating my own software and interface to allow me to control and view the status of the Field Point Module via the web.
My notes for this project can be found here.
Now all I have to do is find something neat to do with it!
Update: 7/19/2013
Upon installing 64bit linux the project would not recompile. Found new libmodbus library and rebuilt the project using that library. Updated My Notes.
Album / Cassette to MP3 Conversion
Completed: June 2008
Converted all my LPs and Cassettes to MP3s using a ADS Tech Instant Music stereo to MP3 converter. Worked great (although it took almost a full year to convert, parse and de-click the recordings).
Placed all the MP3's on my server so they could be played via my Tivo (using Galleon or from any network computer via Zina is not Andromeda.
Dont want to get in trouble with the copyright police, so these files are not available to the public.
EMU8086 Virtual LPT Port
Completed: March 2008
I wrote this virtual device for the EMU8086 Microprocessor Emulator for use in my class.
To use the vitural device [screenshot], download lpt.exe and place the file in the EMU8086/Devices directory.
To modify the emulator, download and unzip the lpt_EMU8086.zip file to the EMU8086/Devices/DEVELOPER/sources directory and open the lpt.vbp (Visual Basic 6.0) project file.
NC A&T Advisement Script
Completed: Jan 2007
This scripts' purpose is to take a degree audit from Aggie Access (NC A&T computer system) and put it in a more readable form.
For the most part I have finished work on this script, but I am still working on cleaning up the master files containing the various degree plans. I started using the script during the Fall 2007 advisement cycle and found it quite a time saver.
Axiom CME11E9-EVBU Expansion Card
Completed: May 1999
This 68HC11 Expansion Card was my Senior Design Project for my BS degree.
Tactile Sensing
Completed: Dec 1986
Back in 1986, when I was in Community College, I worked on two projects dealing with a Tactile Sensor. My partner and I even won 1st prize at the 2nd Annual Society of Manufacturing Engineers Student Robotics Conference in Toronto, Ontario. See the reports and video of the project here.