catsci

catsci, originally uploaded by Dr. Monster.

Science fair fun!

Hello Blink!

Everybody seems to be messing with Arduino lately. So today was my chance to give it a go. Jimmie Rodgers of Willoughby and Baltic helped me set up the software on my laptop at Noise Night. It was incredibly easy, and he helped me to understand that the IDE for the 'regular Arduinos' is different for that used on the Minty POV and Brain Machine.

Stephanie, one of my Programming students had a piece of code running on her laptop and wanted to test it with four LEDs. We set up a breadboard with the LEDs, and she got her program to run. She had it going Cylon style, where the light would pass from side to side. After she left, I noticed the breadboard sitting on the table, still hooked up to the arduino, so I figured I would give it a whirl. I plugged it into the USB port, fired up the IDE and saw her program run.

Then I decided I wanted to mess with it on my own, so I did a search for "Hello World Arduino" Hello World is usually the simplest program you can run in a computer language. I wanted simple, so I could understand what it was doing. I found the code, which is also in the Help Menu under something or another, but I couldn't find it easily. I recalled that Jimmie had told me that Blink is the first program you want to run.

I copied the code and pasted it into the script window. Then I had to figure out how to get it to the board. I hit the Compile window, which looks like a play button, and saw that it compiled. I tried changing a few things, and broke it.

Earlier, Stephanie had some basic problems as well, such as not spelling the variable names exactly the same throughout the code. Hand typed code is case sensitive, so it's important not to mess with it too much. When we were debugging her code, I put some comment marks ( // ) in front of the lines that were throwing the errors. Eventually, we figured out that the problem was capitalization.

After compiling, I had to save the file, and then download it to the board. I was very happy when I saw that one LED blink. After about a half a minute, I got bored, and started messing with the code. I tried changing the duration of the blink and pause, and then I made each of the four LEDs do thier blinky thing.

So now I have made an Arduino blink. There is so much more that can be done, but it all has to start someplace. This step for me has been a major block. For some reason, I haven't been able to get it going. But now it is going. Hopefully others may find this moment useful. If you do, let me know in the comments.

Makeit: open source kit idea

Here is an idea that showed up recently:
It is handwritten because I needed to get it out quick. 
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/3051988828_15c04373e2_o_d.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/3052001508_e40c10b472_o_d.jpg

Here is a link to the set:
http://flickr.com/photos/connors934/sets/72157609759515238/

This was inspired by getting one of those cheapie battery operated fans that have plastic floppy blades. It cost a buck, had a nice little dc motor, a 2 AA battery pack with a switch, and a removable hub that holds the fan blade on.  As I drove home, I couldn't believe what a great deal it was for the dollarfan.  When I got back, I made a quick little video of the "what could you do if you had a lot of these little fans?" idea.  I probably get a couple dozen at least of the fans.  There are probably more than two or three in the house already. If prople could weigh in on project ideas, then others could try the project idea out with whatever stuff they have handy.  They could then post it up and the open source project could be widened with reader commentary and documentation.

The larger idea: is to create a kit based on very cheap objects like the fan.  Things that have incredibly good cost to features value, like the dollarfan.  Things like the old cd drives I used for a workshop at the Duxbury Student Union a few weeks ago, and other electromechanical junk.  Inside the kit could be supplies like coroplast, magnet wire, machine screws and nuts, some hardware, some tools, all very cheap, replaceable, upgradeable.  Enough to get some things done, cheap enough to provide variety.  This would give people a way to experiment with the Design Process in a collaborative and low stakes manner.

Included in the information side of the kit would be some project ideas, questions that could be answered with inventions, thought triggers on paper, and in digital form.  All of the projects would be listed first on the web in a forums like place.  People would show their products in flickr, youtube, and what ever other systems they wanted to use.  If they used a consistent tag, then the products would be easier to find.  Makekit would be a decent tag to use.  This could even turn into a formal curriculum if that were an interesting idea to the right people.

If somebody could create a simple project that would work on say turning a cd drive into a small remote control car, or creating a mp3 speaker out of a water bottle or yogurt cup and some headphones, then that kind of thing would be enough to get the ball rolling.  Probably a dozen or so sample projects would relieve some of the 'gettting started' anxiety.  Then, as supplies run low in the kit from project use, people should be recognizing the junk around them and the potential it holds.  Of course, some of the text based material would include possible resources for finding replenishment supplies. The kit is a starter, and it grows as the user gains experience.

To keep the thing rolling, people, organizations and schools could use a subscription model.  Once a month, or at some other interval, a new package would arrive with a few suggestions of project ideas.  Maybe a tool could be in the package, like a little screwdriver with phillips and straight tip or needle nose pliers with wire cutters.  That would be the JunkOfTheMonth club model, as Perry Kaye put it.

This idea will run out in as open a fashion as possible.  Ideally, it should get lots of feedback and inspire some people to be collaborators.  There are a few to turn to at this time, but through the forums and comments, certainly more would come out.  It would also be possible to have people add ideas from developing countries.

So anyway, what do you think?  What should be the first device to deconstruct/morph/hack/mashup? CD drive, dollarfan, cassette player? If you want in, send me a message, or add info into the comments.  Tag your product with kitjunk or Makeit to help us keep track of what each other are doing.

User reviewed cell coverage

This is a neat visualization for cell coverage. It also has embedded into the maps the location of the call towers of various vendors. I know that it is not up to date at this writing because it doesn't show the cell antennae in First Parish Church in Duxbury.

Makezine Education Blogging

Over the past few years, I have been watching and informally contributing to Make Magazine's blog, Makezine.com. During a conversation with Phillip Torrone this year's Maker Faire, he suggested I blog for the site.

In talking with Phil and Dale Dougherty, we came to an agreement that my beat would be education. So my charge is to help bring together teachers and learners from across the world and help them find the best techniques and project resources.

Do you work with youth or adults, helping people to learn? Where do you get project ideas, supplies, community support or other resources? Do you have examples of incredibly good teachers? If you do, please share them with me so that we can all benefit. You can post to the comments of FussingWithStuff.com or the Make blog.

Here is my introductory post on the Make site: Link