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2002-07-04 15:11:17 Source: Web

Hmmm - my first attempt at putting together a body for the beast was not exactly a reounsing success. I found a nice container that would look great as a robot, but it seems to be too small. I haven't given up yet, but I'm churning other alternaitves though my head.

The other slightly disappointing thing is that my first attempt at fabricating a connector between my motor shaft and a Lego wheel axle is looking less than stellar! I have basically hacked apart a plastic retracting pencil and used various bits of tubing plus copious amounts of epoxy resin to join eveything. It's not completely crap, but the bit that actually connects to the motor will probably not stand up to the weight of the robot. I may have to buy some aluminium tubing and work with that instead - the only problem there is that I would have to buy a machine for making screw threads and learn how to use it, which sounds depressingly too much like hard work. Perhaps I'll try sacrificing another pencil first and see if I can get this concept to fly...

2002-07-03 13:01:30 Source: Web

BOT UPDATE!!!!

Last night I finished the electronics! Woohoo! After a couple of false starts (I had missed soldering a couple of wires) everything ran perfectly. Not too shabby for my first electronics project!

So now all I need to do (all???!!) is make the body and fix the wheels to the motor shaft. I bought a container that *might* make it as a body today - I'll have to see whteher I can fit all the bits in when I get home.

Soon my robot dreams will be fulfilled!!

2002-07-02 08:45:30 Source: Web

The Pet Shop Boys concert was great! We were able to stand in the front row (we got there about 2.5 hours before the concert began!) without any pressure from behind at all. In fact there was a little girl (perhaps 11 years old) with her father behind us and she was able to stand there throughout the whole concert without any problems. Very nice way to see such a famous band.

They played a bunch of classic favourites plus a selection of songs from their new album (according to Lotta who knows these things!). It wasn't a concert to set the world on fire, but as it was the first time I had seen them I thought that it was a good experience.

After we went and sat in the "oompah-oompah" Tyrolean Bar nearby! The concert was at the local amusement park (Liseberg - this is an old article I should update at some point!) and they have various theme cafes and bars including the aforementioned Tyrolean bar where the waitresses are dressed up like something out of The Sound of Music and a band play "oompah-oompah" tunes all evening! It was a good chance to catch up with an old friend of Lottas who is currently living in Ireland but was over for a vist.

All in all a very pleasant evening!

2002-07-01 11:36:55 Source: Web

I woke up at 6:00 this morning without the aid of an alarm clock. I was expecting Lotta home at around that sort of time. She was bussing back from Roskilde overnight and I found I couldn't get back to sleep again I was so eager to be awake when she got back :-D Around 6:30 I SMS'ed and founf she had just arrived in Gothenburg and was getting a taxi the rest of the way. Happy happy joy joy!

Apparently the festival was pretty good fun, though it was cold weather and extremely windy pretty much all the time (no change there then!). The mud wasn't as bad as reported in the Swedish news as the wind mostly dried out the surface before it got too bad.

Hurrah! Lotta's home ;-)

We're going to see The Petshop Boys play a free concert tonight - Lotta wants to stand ion the front row, despite the bruising she has from doing just that at Roskilde on Friday! Madwoman ;-)

The weekend continued to be fun - I have soldered about half of the robot circuit and I just need a red LED, a potentiometer and a couple of white LED's to finish things up. I think I've finally found a way to fix the wheels to the motors as well, though I haven't tested it yet. I'm also still missing a suitable body for the beast, though while typing this I suddenly had an idea of where I can get a suitable container! Cool!

I also managed to run a complete lap of the big park near our flat last night. I'm pretty chuffed as it must have been over 5 km in distance and I completed it in under 30 minutes. Some time I must cycle it and measure the distance, then I can start working on increasing speed.

The last odd thing is that I'm sitting here on my lunch break typing this instead of going and getting lunch because I apparently managed to leave my keys at home this morning! Everyone has left the office for lunch and I was just about to leave and get mine when I realised i couldn't lock the office. Doh! That's what comes of getting up too early in the morning ;-)

2002-06-29 21:20:30 Source: Web

The robot project is coming along nicely - I've completed the electronics laid out on a prototype board. I've also managed to pick up some of the body parts. I'm still missing the body itself and a means of attaching the wheels to the motors (not as easy as it might at first seem!). Tomorrow I'm gonna take a crack at soldering the brains together on a proper board.

Perhaps the most fun so far has been wiring up the motors and various switches to these little tiny connectors (Molex connectors in case that rings a bell). Feels very professional ;-)

I'm looking forward to getting the little beastie running and I'll post some video footage when I do. (Might take another week or so).

I'm missing Lotta - though I'm really quite glad I'm not actually at Roskilde after having seen footage of the mud on TV. Ugh! Looks horrible. One of the camping fields (West - not the field where we have camped in the past) seems to have flooded completely as the drainage system has apparently packed in!

I hope she's having fun.

2002-06-28 23:41:58 Source: Web

This must be one of the funniest things I have ever read. Thank you for posting the link NTK.

I had to actually run out of my office at home and spit my beer in the sink because I was about to spray it over my computer.

Brilliant - just brilliant!

2002-06-28 11:22:02 Source: Web

Join the pink revolution and gay up your blog today!!!

What??

2002-06-27 09:15:43 Source: Web

Now my robot has a brain! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

World domination can surely not be far off ;-) Actually, what I've managed to do so far is prototype the circuit that will become the (extremely simple) brain for my robot. What it can do so far is detect which side of its sensors receives the most light and turn on one of two LEDs to show the result. This is going to be used to drive one of the two motors that will propell the robot and will allow it to follow a line marked on the floor.

I just need a few more parts and then I can connect the motors into the circuit. After that I start building the body of the robot, solder the circuit together (instead of using a "plugboard" as I am now) and finally connect everything up.

I also stumbled across a shop in Göteborg that specialises in robotics parts & kits. I'll be paying them a visit very soon - it sounds like they should be a great source of help for the planning of my next project which will be a robot with a microcontroller brain that will allow it to be programmed to interact more with its environment.

Good lord I'm getting geekier and geekier in my old age ;-)

2002-06-25 17:30:41 Source: Web

Well, Lotta left for Roskilde Festival this morning. I decided not to go this year as the last 2 years I've found myself not really enjoying myself. I wondered whether I would feel a bit of remorse after she had left, but I'm not really. Sure, I'll miss some things, but on the whole I'm quite glad I'm home, dry, warm, sober and clean ;-)

I'm gonna miss Lotta though!

To keep myself occupied I have several projects on the go (of course!). I'm building a robot (like this) which is lots of fun! I went shopping for parts today and tomorrow should be able to pick up enough to make some headway this weekend. I' planning on swimming, cycling (I have a new bike thank goodness) and running a lot to try and work off some of the stomach I put on while visiting London ;-)

I also have a secret project that I may or may not choose to divulge once I've gotten a bit further with it. Suffice to say it invloved an eye test today, which I passed with flying colours apparently!

Well, I'm gonna go back to reading circuit diagrams and watching the weather forecats for the Roskilde area! Catch ya later!

2002-06-20 10:16:16 Source: Web

In the spirit of Dave and Jon I tried "Steve runs" and turned up the following amongst the results ;-)

Steve runs a youngster through the pylon course

Steve runs his own web site

and the classic... Steve runs through the town, delirious with joy

Here's the search: "Steve runs"