VIPER RELAY BOARD

Ive just knocked up a relay prototype for the RC car ive got and its working fine, now just to wire the connectors to the car for it and it should allow some basic control over the speed of the robot once its finished. THe relay is buffered from the viper with a 1kohm resister feeding a pn2222 transistor which in turn feeds power (5v) to the relay coil. three pins on the front edge of the board are the common and open closed terminals, only two will be utilised in this project

START OF ROBOT UPRISING

The guys over at slashdot posted a link to this video, It's not the best editing in my humble opinion but you get the idea, WE had better not let the rest of our bots see this one or they may start harbouring some contempt for us petty human's.
Thanks to robot2407 for posting this ad from GM.
played during the superbowl this year so it cost them way to much money to show...
anyway enjoy.

VIPER 2 RC CAR update

WEll Ive been busy today building a 9v voltage regulator for the 12 volt car and adding it and the viper to the car.
Ive also added the harness to the controller ready to build an interface board.
This will use standard pn2222 transistors to interface the viper to the control lines on the transmitter.
Ill have to add a relay board to interrupt the motor power to create PWM control as at the moment it has two speeds, off and oh my god its coming to get me..
Anyway hopefully by the weekend ill have the beast running on viper control ready to start programming and adding sensors.
Im removing the door opening motor as it takes up heaps of room and weight and would only tie up one more viper output.
DSE has the regulator kits for $5 at the moment so grap one and convert your viper to 12 volts.

DSE VIPER SALE PACK

If you live in Australia and can get into the Dick smith stores you can grab a viper pack and one each of the add on packs (yep all three) for the price of just the viper kit.
Thats nearly $380 worth of product for just $199 !
Thats right get in on the action now and start building your viper sumo or 4wd robot today. (well tommorow as the stores are shut here today.) Head over to DSE to check it out but this is an in store option only, sorry guys no overseas orders :(
goto DES and type in k1800b in the search box to locate the page.
Dse requires you to log into the site to view items now as too many people were linking to the images on site.

BASKET CASE

Heres the inside of the 1:6 scale RC car im hacking, As you can see the wiring is a bit of a mess so first on the agenda is a rewire of all the remote systems with a new harness and breakout board that can be unpluged in a few seconds to facilitate new system installs, The control board will be rehoused in a weather proof box and ports for the controller and lights etc added. Basicly the whole thing needs a rebuild from the ground up starting with reinforcing the chassis and closing up the wheel arches better. Right though to new digital proportional steering and pwm power for speed control.
The viper I have will take over control of most functions, Ill hack it straight to the controller so It can control the car from a distance if need be.I have removed all the extra parts from the shell including the cockpit and door trims leaving more room inside for systems.
more coming later.

RED MICROBRIC GOES FASTER ?

Well we all know that red goes faster, and it looks like the boys in the lab at MICROBRIC have caught on to the idea. They have released the new addition to the family with the Ai2 kit form robot being sold as parts with South Australian Newspapers.
We may see it filter down to the online shop or even e-bay in the future so keep your eyes peeled if your looking for one.
So what can we expect from the little critter?
Well with out getting my hands on it I can only go on the pics and info around the net.
But so far indicators are good that you can have some fun with it.
It shouldn't be too hard for example to get the Ai2 talking to the viper so some hunter prey scenerio's look set for the arena.
On board LCD screen allows easy reprogramming of IR commands for a remote control robot and even this alone makes it a great alternative to a remote control car.
The motors and wheels look interesting and the new software with the ability to upload to the robot via a USB cable looks like the way to go.
Now we need a GUI like this for the viper system and a USB interface for that as well.
An on board LCD on the Viper Mk2 would be nice as well.
But back to the Ai2, The parts are all red and should be compatible with the viper and I-bot.
The new color will make it easy to indicate different LED's by denoting the color of the part. Red or Blue.
So keep watching the post's ill keep you updated on this one too.
MICROBRIC HOME

NEW ROBOT CHASSIS 2 HACK IN LAB

Today I decided to go and buy a cheap remote control car to hack and as it happened i found a realy good deal I couldnt pass up.
This 1:6 scale ferrari styled car cost me $39.00 aud deduced from $109 over the past few months.
(read right place, right time) so now I have a large scale RC car to hack.
I've already peeked inside and am a little bit dissapointed it dosent use a standard servo setup so it will be a little harder to hack into.
Im going to play with it first then do some much needed weigth reduction.
It features a MP3 interface for music on the go and a 12volt power source.
The doors can also be open by remote which may come in handy for something else lateron. like a weopons system release or camera shutter control.
A ufll motor and steering servo upgrade is on the cards for a later project but ill hack the sensors and viper to it first.
might just make a new chassis to take the shell too with aluminium sheet and bigger batteries and motors... hmm so much potential.

SNEAK PEEK Walking with dinosaurs

Tyranosauri
Originally uploaded by Andrew Scott.

While browsing around Flikr today I came across this photo stream. not a great deal of iages but a few of the WWD show in brisbane.
Thanks Andrew for uploading these images for us to see.

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS latest perth dates

As of today all the vip seating up until the last show on the 22nd of feb are sold out.
Theres normal seating left before then if you want to sit further back.
I managed to secure a vip seat on the last night so the show should be a good one.
I will be hanging around as long as possible after the show to see if I can get into the Dino's holding pens for a quick look. But if not not just being there is going to be a buzz.

The latest dates in perth have been extended and now run from the 14th to the 22nd of fed with the 19th of feb being a day off (no show) The shows are all on at 8pm at the burswood dome on great eastern highway.
prices range from around $40 concession to $100 for VIP.

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