Babysteps to the Broccoli bot
Hello.
On Saturday Lamar and I got to work on one of essential parts of our project. The project involves enhancing or changing the space at the supermarket. After observing the location we found that the most evident activity was the cart's role in shopping. Carts always tend to avoid each other and the people pushing them also avoid crashing into shelves, end displays and shoppers. Would it be possible to use the cart to enhance the environment ?
Jumping ahead, after a few ideas we decided that a giant inflatable piece of broccoli in the vegetable aisle would be a nice addition to a sometimes quiet environment. The broccoli would be a dressed up inflatable clown and when bumped by a cart would tell shoppers fun broccoli facts and cooking tips.
Now to talk about parts and construction needs.
1) inflatable clown was found on froogle at a kids store for $6.55 (plus $5 shipping, ugh) http://www.kidsurplus.com. Fedex delivered the clown yesterday but to whom I don't know. Kid Surplus's customer service is on the case now. Hopefully I'll have it by Monday night.
2) Felt - purchased down on one of the many fabric stores near canal and broadway. $6/yard^2.
3) Relay switch - 5V reed switch from radio shack - be persistent with the staff there they may try to tell you that they're out of parts.
other parts: breadboard, PIC 18F452, microcassette recorder and adjustable voltage regulator.
The adjustable voltage regulator was a new combination of components we learned about from Todd and was used to power the microcassette recorder. The way the the action will project will work is :
1) cart bumps broccoli
2) a switch is activated - tells PIC to turn on the microcassette recorder
3) PIC keeps the tape playing for about 15 to 20 seconds.
The microcassette recorder will be run off a relay switch, controlled by the PIC because a normal switch will won't be able to hold for a set amount of time. No big deal.
Next the idea came to me that the cassette recorder only needed 3 volts to run. it only had 2 AA batteries. would it possible to run the cassette player off the PIC's power from a pin that is turned on - it's output is 5V! Just to keep you all from wasting your own time, no you can't run a 3V cassette player off a 5V output pin from a PIC...simply because of the amps involved in starting and moving the player's tiny motor.
Here's a picture of the voltage regulator that we built. parts include a L3M17 voltage regualtor, trim pot, and 330 ohm resistor.
The main purpose of this setup was to give the cassette player the right voltage and amps that it needed. I'm still not entirely sure of the physics but the trim pot was adjusted with a screwdriver and measured with a multimeter. The voltage we were looking for was 3 - 3.5V. We set it to 3.5. After testing the new current on the player it worked. horrah!
Next step was to connect the player to the relay, and connect the relay to the PIC. This was a troubled spot because the relay we had was a piece of crap. the legs were too small and didn't sit in the breadboard. We went to radioshack and got a good reed relay the same as we saw in class. In a matter of 5 minutes after getting back to ITP we had that relay working with the PIC controlling the relay, the relay switching the player.
After the pleasure of our little hack subsided we called it a day. Some things still needed are the clown switch that activates when bumped by the cart or person. I am thinking that we need a small metal BB and some wires. As the clown sits still, the BB will have the switch closed, sitting on top of 2 wires. When the clown is bumped the BB rolls off the wires and now the switch is OPEN. The PIC will quickly see that the switch is open and turn the player on for a set amount of time. The BB will return to the dimple it nests in and the switch will close again, this happens as the clowns slowly settles down. The player is not controlled by the BB switch but is working from the PIC.
more later, hopefully when the clown comes in.
On Saturday Lamar and I got to work on one of essential parts of our project. The project involves enhancing or changing the space at the supermarket. After observing the location we found that the most evident activity was the cart's role in shopping. Carts always tend to avoid each other and the people pushing them also avoid crashing into shelves, end displays and shoppers. Would it be possible to use the cart to enhance the environment ?
Jumping ahead, after a few ideas we decided that a giant inflatable piece of broccoli in the vegetable aisle would be a nice addition to a sometimes quiet environment. The broccoli would be a dressed up inflatable clown and when bumped by a cart would tell shoppers fun broccoli facts and cooking tips.
Now to talk about parts and construction needs.
1) inflatable clown was found on froogle at a kids store for $6.55 (plus $5 shipping, ugh) http://www.kidsurplus.com. Fedex delivered the clown yesterday but to whom I don't know. Kid Surplus's customer service is on the case now. Hopefully I'll have it by Monday night.
2) Felt - purchased down on one of the many fabric stores near canal and broadway. $6/yard^2.
3) Relay switch - 5V reed switch from radio shack - be persistent with the staff there they may try to tell you that they're out of parts.
other parts: breadboard, PIC 18F452, microcassette recorder and adjustable voltage regulator.
The adjustable voltage regulator was a new combination of components we learned about from Todd and was used to power the microcassette recorder. The way the the action will project will work is :
1) cart bumps broccoli
2) a switch is activated - tells PIC to turn on the microcassette recorder
3) PIC keeps the tape playing for about 15 to 20 seconds.
The microcassette recorder will be run off a relay switch, controlled by the PIC because a normal switch will won't be able to hold for a set amount of time. No big deal.
Next the idea came to me that the cassette recorder only needed 3 volts to run. it only had 2 AA batteries. would it possible to run the cassette player off the PIC's power from a pin that is turned on - it's output is 5V! Just to keep you all from wasting your own time, no you can't run a 3V cassette player off a 5V output pin from a PIC...simply because of the amps involved in starting and moving the player's tiny motor.
Here's a picture of the voltage regulator that we built. parts include a L3M17 voltage regualtor, trim pot, and 330 ohm resistor.
The main purpose of this setup was to give the cassette player the right voltage and amps that it needed. I'm still not entirely sure of the physics but the trim pot was adjusted with a screwdriver and measured with a multimeter. The voltage we were looking for was 3 - 3.5V. We set it to 3.5. After testing the new current on the player it worked. horrah!
Next step was to connect the player to the relay, and connect the relay to the PIC. This was a troubled spot because the relay we had was a piece of crap. the legs were too small and didn't sit in the breadboard. We went to radioshack and got a good reed relay the same as we saw in class. In a matter of 5 minutes after getting back to ITP we had that relay working with the PIC controlling the relay, the relay switching the player.
After the pleasure of our little hack subsided we called it a day. Some things still needed are the clown switch that activates when bumped by the cart or person. I am thinking that we need a small metal BB and some wires. As the clown sits still, the BB will have the switch closed, sitting on top of 2 wires. When the clown is bumped the BB rolls off the wires and now the switch is OPEN. The PIC will quickly see that the switch is open and turn the player on for a set amount of time. The BB will return to the dimple it nests in and the switch will close again, this happens as the clowns slowly settles down. The player is not controlled by the BB switch but is working from the PIC.
more later, hopefully when the clown comes in.
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