Microcontroller thread #4!!!

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by cato, Dec 22, 2006.

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  1. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    gerr, nobody has any ideas =/.

    maybe I could monitor the rotation speed and energy output of a small wind turbine. or maybe mix liquids remotely. perhaps I could make a remotely controlled plant environment (heat, humidity, soil water, ect).

    someone needs to help me decide on a project =/
     
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  3. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    I had wondered about a plant waterer that could meter water for individual plants.
     
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  5. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    watering does not really require wirelessness, that would be something that can be done automatically.

    maybe I could make a barcode scanner that wirelessly communicates with a database... that might get complicated.
     
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  7. draqon Banned Banned

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    develop microcontroller to control light colors emmited on to plants...based on the leaves color (measured by a camera that detects color) and laser that detects any leasions.
     
  8. draqon Banned Banned

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    cato...its not like I dont have other ideas...but I might do this myself...
     
  9. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    that sounds like a huge pain in the ass for little gain =]

    right... I bet you don't have any cool ideas

    *hopes draqon will try to win the argument, thus giving a good idea*
     
  10. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    maybe I should make a general purpose zigbee board that will connect to a USB port, and have all of the microcontroller's pins go to screw terminals (or something) so I can use it for whatever I want.

    it would be easy since FT232 chips communicate with a USB port and show up as a COM port, and I could use a chip with 2 UARTs (atmega644) thus using the extra UART for the xbee board.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2007
  11. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    or maybe I should scrap the wireless idea, but that would require a non-wireless idea, which I don't have.
     
  12. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    It is hard to think up things that you really can use wireless like that for. It's nice for if you have security needs. Educational purposes are valid, like when you want to be THE expert that a company will pay good money for, but they are likely to be drudgery. Why exactly do you want to do it?

    There may be some mileage in mounting a camera on an RC Landrover type of vehicle and using it to get some pictures of nature in action and to do things like survey conditions under houses. A good mobile snooping device would make it possible to look at plumbing and foundations, or to take good pictures of armadillos making their tunnels, or a lot of things.
     
  13. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    I thought about a camera system like that, but it does not really require any skills. anybody can strap a wireless camera to a remote controlled car. moreover, if I were going to do something like that, I would put the camera on a airplane.

    I'll be back later to try and post more ideas.
     
  14. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    I don't know how far anyone has gotten with remote-controlled spiders. A multi-million dollar spider by NASA that has constant problems with sticking legs cannot possibly be the last word in mobile robots.

    Basically, what would we want to put microcontrollers to work doing?
     
  15. draqon Banned Banned

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    microcontroller can be utilized in a device that will analyze the frequency of a child...if the child's frequency is above the accepted value...the device will show "time to teach the child a lesson"...if the device does not registered a higher frequency than that what is acceptable...it will show "the child needs more quality time"....

    so if the child raises a voice on the parents...she will be beaten...and if the voice is low...she will be given a lollipop
     
  16. AntonK Technomage Registered Senior Member

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    Consider building this. Its a home rapid prototyper. Most of the parts are very simple, and the real smarts are in the controls. Looks to me like a medium grade microcontroller project, since its not a simple blinky light, and yet it really doesn't look impossible.

    -AntonK
     
  17. draqon Banned Banned

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    I wonder what stage this project is in...sounds like 200 years or more for its realization.
     
  18. AntonK Technomage Registered Senior Member

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    They have lofty "goals" but what they actually plan on doing is quite simple. Machines do it now, they just cost about 20k to do it. Rapid prototyping is pretty easy.

    -AntonK
     
  19. draqon Banned Banned

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    they say its easy...but I seen these things work. Ok...they need constant human attention...supplying them with materials like special chemical that is used to form some plastic-like 3D figures...constantly polluting the environment...the printer is always covered in dust that is used to make the figures...and than needing humans to realign the printer correctly, fix it and so on...
     
  20. AntonK Technomage Registered Senior Member

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    Polluting the environment? Perhaps a science thread is not for you... hippy

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  21. draqon Banned Banned

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    polluting the environment of the room with dust were this printer is located. thats what I meant.
     
  22. draqon Banned Banned

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    by dust...I mean powder used for the printer
     
  23. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    They're trying to do the same thing cheaper, like a laser printer for $100 instead of several thousand dollars.
     
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