Dog Tag
Here's the dog tag for the robot. It's web optimized so the images are slightly blurry when viewed at higher than 100% magnification (a non-optimized version will be e-mailed in the next few minutes).
Here's the dog tag for the robot. It's web optimized so the images are slightly blurry when viewed at higher than 100% magnification (a non-optimized version will be e-mailed in the next few minutes).
ChemHound demo Friday--Derek Lomas will capture live action video!!
Upload your DogTag here!!
Please ensure that your final deliverable is also emailed.
Kev thanks for your thoughts and constructive criticism of the class. More on this coming
I spent the better part of 10 hours working at the lab today, Thursday the 23rd, working with my entire class of five on dogs, dog tags, wiring, and assembly. It was a long day, but in the end we got next to everything completed. Here's how it went.
I arrived at the lab at 11:30. The very first thing I got accomplished was solder the sensor together. Readouts were very well and consistant, hanging below one volt when exposed to alchohol at common air levels, then it would peak to four or more volts when it came in contact with a potent alchohol source at close range. We found that the sensor took roughly a whole minute to stablize the readings before it was fit to sense - a very important note for our wiring (details below).
I grabbed a lunch and drink afterwards. Then we discussed the methodology of hooking up the equipment to the wiring board. It turns out that it is okay to solder wires directly to the pins of the board. The schematic would be very simple, far simpler than what the board is capable of doing. In short, we would program the board so that the dog would turn on or off when achohol levels detected by the sensor would jump over a set threshold.
The threshold was a little higher than 1 volt, common air levels of ethanol, alchohol, etc. The wiring board and the sensor circuit would be powered by a 9 volt battery. When the sensor detects a high concentration of alchohol, conductivity rises, and voltage increases. When that happens and the information is sent to the analog input pins of the wiring board, the board computes it, and sends a charge to a relay to the back of the dog. That relay acts as the on/off switch to turn on the dog. When the tog turns on, he will bark for five seconds before shutting down. The board is programmed to turn the relay on for no more than five seconds. The on/off will continue to function until levels have been reduced.
Because of the use of the relay, we used battery packs to hook them up outside the dog battery holds and taped them to the underside of the tog. The board itself was placed on top, and the sensor was taped to the side of Robodog's head. Michael did all of the wiring, as he had knowledge in that particular field.
Finally, we discussed the dogtag that we were required to make. I wrote and submitted the pictures to him. I hope it comes out pretty nice looking.
There was a particular complication with the board. After we input the program that Michael wrote, the power from USB to the board completely cut out. At first, we believed that the circuit board overloaded as a result of connecting the sensor system to the board, but my classmates thought this was not possible, being a closed circuit and all. When I got home, I tried putting it on DC power and the circuit was alive. I have no clue if the circuit will ever be reprogrammable again. Hell, I don't even know if the dog will even work correctly on presentation day in 14 hours. But I believe that the struggle was an exciting one.
At times I feel that I was going to fail the course. Much of the teaching, if any, was not done through the professor. Natalie expected us to have knowledge of wiring and electrical engineering when none of us did. Readings were limited or unprovided. In short, it felt counter-intuitive to be expected to get help from our peers who are just as confused as I was. I certainly wished that there was a little more instruction and a lot less coaching. The jump from basic transistor and motor knowledge of VIS147A to the wonderful world of Basic and wiring of VIS147B is crazy. Without a little straight-foward facts from the professor, we will just continue to second guess the research we do never knowing if what we did was correct.
In total, I spent more than two hundred dollars on this feral dog project. $120.00 for the dog (it's a 2005 Christmas release!), $75.00 for the wiring board, and several more dollars on other components. I think overall, there are some things I wish I could do more with the project, and I wish I had more professional assistance. After all, universities exist to be melting pots for learning. But 200 bucks?...........well, I did underspend a few other visual art classes. I guess it all balances out.
It's the moment of truth in 14 hours. We named our feral robotic dog ChemHound, after the word 'bloodhound'. I'm comfortable that, if ChemHound does not work, we will not fail. Our log of our accomplishments are on this website, the program for the wiring board exists, and records of our construction preserved. The effort is there, I'm proud of the work me and Michael was able to get through given the circumstances. And 14 hours from now, I'm confident I can graduate University of California, San Diego stress-free.
Onw@rd.
After several days of panic attacks, the wiring boards just came on my doorstep on Monday afternoon. One worry down. Now what do I do!? The board itself is pretty intimidating. All these pins sticking out of it and no clue how it's going to be attached onto our robots, our sensors. Whatever!
Michael and I went through the sensor again. With the help of my electrical engineering roommates they were able to deduce and simplify the hookup for the TGS822 Figaro sensor. We got it working. So that's good and through.
Without a servo, and without the sensor we really wanted, we kind of have no choice but to turn our dog into yet another breathalizer. Abandon the truck as transportation idea because DC motors don't work well with the board (oh well) and just focus on getting the sensor device to interact with Robopet. At the very least, I want to get that down.
I'll be meeting with the girls later today (wednesday). We're going to work together so we can benefit each other. 50 hours remaining to presentation. Objectives:
- Complete a Written Dog Tag for our Project
- Using a Digital Camera, Take Snapshots of the Finalized Dog and Group Members
- Solder the Figaro Sensor Together
- Program the Wiring Board
- Connect Wiring Board to Sensor and Robopet
Why do things take five business days to ship? Crazy.
The first bit of good news is that we have a sensor. Figaro sensors went above and beyond to say that their sensors in Illinois would take two weeks minimum to ship. Fortunately, Natalie said she had a sensor for us, and it works for the most part. It's a Figaro TGS822 model that's designed to smell alchohol. The schematics can be found at http://www.figarosensor.com/products/822pdf.pdf. It isn't what we wanted, but it works nonetheless.
I got the idea lately of turning our dog into a breathalizer. Like the girls working on the Idog, whose robotic dog is stationary, they're using the same sensors. Turns out all the big companies are lazy at shipping parts. My biggest issue is the wiring boards. Hernando Barragan from http://wiring.org.co secured me 2 wiring boards on Friday March 10. It's been over a week and I've sent him constant emails asking if it has been shipped yet and if there was a tracking number for the package. He's been dead silent.
Then there's the press release. I need to write a page and get pictures for an article addressing the many questions that relate to our dog/artistic statement. Natalie says she will put the questions to be answered on the blog, but I haven't seen it yet. I emailed her asking where it can be found, plus whether or not the design of the press release page should be made entirely by ourselves or if there was a standard format we could download. No answer. I am getting a little worried and a little stressed out that all the people I've contacted don't answer to my questions. And if it turns out that me and Mike will be unable to complete our dog and the press release, it will be of small comfort to say that our failing grades won't be entirely our fault.