Snap!
Using Mirobot to learn programming has always been one of its major aims. Most children start off their programming journey using a visual programming language (such as Scratch) and there’s been the Blockly interface for this since Mirobot Apps was launched. Being able to use the addons for programming is something I’ve always wanted to be able to do but unfortunately this was somewhat tricky to achieve in Blockly. Fortunately there’s a fantastic open-source visual programming language called Snap! that was much easier to integrate - it’s also much more similar to the Scratch environment that children are used to.
The Mirobot Snap! App now gives you direct access to the sensors which means you can do some neat reactive programming like you can see above. The piece of code above implements what was previously built in to the Mirobot firmware and enables learners to understand what is actually happening. You’ve also got all of the usual movement commands that you’re used to using already of course.
You’ll need the latest firmware to run this app as it adds a sensor access API. Happy snapping!
Read moreMeArm and Intel Realsense
Intel RealSense is not something I’ve come across before seeing this video but it’s definitely something I’d like to investigate further. At $99 it seems a real steal to get your hands on a developer version of Intel’s flagship gesture control camera. It would appear that you reserve online a $1 and then are selected to receive the pack, for just another $98.
Fortunately for the MeArm one of the people who received a developer kit was Bryan Brown, who also it seems has been shopping at Adafruit and has a nice Heisenberg Blue MeArm! Bryan put the two together with some magic sauce (and not yet open source!) and came up with this fantastic gesture control MeArm.
Bobposer Application is Perfect for MeArm Programming
One of my favourite MeArm videos on Youtube (by Robert Fischer) was made using a program called the BoBPoser Application.
BoB is a cool Bipedal robot featured on Let’s Make Robots and the application was developed for the FOBO Robot (as seen here).
Fortunately for us BoB uses four servos and the application is a great way to manipulate them! Thus we use it to manipulate the MeArm and these are the sort of results we can expect!
If you’ve not yet got your hands on a MeArm or controller check out our Kickstarter!
Read moreKickstarter Funded in Just Over 24 Hours!
Wow what a day that was. We smashed through the funding goal around 25 hours after launch, leaving us all a bit stunned.
It would seem the done thing is to add stretch goals to the project. Now we’ve been working on the MeArm and MeBrain for a while now so we have features lined up that we hoped to include in later versions but it would seem that the iron is very much hot right now.
Going through the features and the budgets to achieve them we’ve come up with this list.
£7,500 – Stickers! Almost everyone gets a MeArm sticker, I love them, you love them, my daughter is crazy about them. Lets face it, I want stickers and this is a good way to get them. These will ship with every physical product. Thanks / Coffee backers will not get a sticker.
£10,000 – Hex Head Screws and Hex Key in the Box! Tools included. We switch from standard screws to hex head screws, they’re more expensive but with this sort of order we can bring them in at the sort of price we’re currently paying for screws. The Hex Key is a little more but it would make the kit better as a whole.
£20,000 – Wireless Support with XBEE Socket! Adding a socket to the board so you can add an XBEE or XRF module to add easy wireless control to the MeArm. Adds a bit to the bill of materials and manufacturing cost. Would be covered by the larger order. Solder pads for the Ciseco SRF module would also make sense!
£30,000 – Bluetooth Low Energy Support. This would add a socket for a Bluetooth module and fund the development of an Andriod App, we can also look at the iPhone app.
£50,000 – Raspberry Pi Support. With the Atmel Mega32u4 we should be able to interface successfully with the Pi. With pledges to this level we can cover the development for Raspberry Pi and do a proper job of it.
£100,000 – Potato Salad. We break £100,000 me and a bunch of MeArms make potato salad, film it and put it on youtube, I say the name of everybody who has backed the project (and wants their name read aloud) while making the potato salad.
Would be amazing to make any of these goals a reality.
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