Announced but not shipping yet, Ladyada has designed an Arduino-compatible wearable electronic platform.

Here is the sign-up page, for those that want to know immediately when they are actually in stock.

That sign-up page also has a fair about of information about the capabilities and intended usage.

Hey guys.

Took some footage from the deck of my brutusbot to share with everyone.   Lots of work to still add, but so far 5K code out of 32K space!  Lots of room left!

We’d love to see your creations! Upload a video and send the link to info AT robotgames.com and we’ll check it out!

I have heard several times at the Saturday morning sessions that some people were having trouble getting the Arduino environment installed on Windows 7.  My normal environment is Windows XP, so I have had no experience with setting up on Windows 7.   Recently, I had a chance to do an install on a Netbook running Windows 7 Home edition.  Here are the steps that worked for me.  This was for Arduino version 0023, NOT the latest version.  I do not know if the latest version will be any different.  From conversations with someone else, this could also be different if you are running Windows 7 Professional, or another version.

Download the zip file from http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software [windows version]
Extract the files from the zip file
Rename the [inner] extracted “Arduino” folder to “Arduino 0023″
Move the “Arduino 0023″ folder to the “C:\Program Files” folder
Navigate to C:\Program Files\Arduino 0023\
right click on the arduino application file, Send to, Desktop (create shortcut)

The software is all setup now, but still need to get the device drivers installed.

Connect the Arduino board to the computer using a USB cable.
I got a message here saying that the device driver was installing, then that the install had failed.
[click] Start | [right click] Computer | [click] Manage | [click] Device Manager |
my notes are not quite clear at this point.  Find an entry for “FT232R USB UART” by clicking the arrow on the left side of “Other Devices”, or maybe “unspecified”
[right click] “FT232R USB UART” | Update Driver Software
Browse my computer for driver software | Browse | Computer | C:\Program Files\Arduino 0023\drivers; OK
[check] Include subfolders; Next
I got a message that said:
Windows has successfully updated you driver software
USB Serial Converter
Close

This has now installed the driver for ONLY the USB Serial Converter, not the Arduino board yet

In Computer Management; device manager; locate “USB Serial Port” under Other Devices
[Right Click] USB Serial Port | Update Driver Software
Browser my computer for driver software | Browse | Computer |
C:\Program Files\Arduino 0023\drivers
OK
[check] Include subfolders; Next
I got a message that said:
Windows has successfully updated your driver software
USB Serial Port (COM3)
Close | Close

And every thing should be ready to go.  Open the Arduino environment.  Under Tools | Board | click the entry for the Ardunio board that you are using.  Under Tools | Serial Port | pick the com port shown in the install message above.  Under File | Examples | Basics | pick the blink program.  Click Upload.  Should successfully compile and upload.

If you [later] connect a different Arduino board, you could get an automatic message about successful software install, and another port number.  Once the drivers were installed above, I had no more issues with Arduino on Windows 7.

Conductive Ink, magnetic paper, Arduino Lilypad, and more.  Draw real electronic circuits on paper, instead of using an solderless breadboard, wirewrap, or a PC Board.  A series of videos…

“Sketching” Electronics With Conductive Ink

The first video I had to open in UTube to see.  The rest worked right in the original page.

One of my ‘circles’ on Google+ posted a link to this book.  From the description, this should be on the list for anyone interested in using an Android phone and Java to ‘power’ a robotics project.

Android Robotics Projects

I found a news article about a GPS receiver that is smaller than a penny, and weighs only 0.3 grams.  Even with support electronics for data logging, remote downloading, scheduling, and battery, it still only comes to 10 grams.  This may not be quite small enough to attach to insects, but they are designed to be used to track the foraging habits of bats.

I could not see any pricing on the manufacturer ? website, but that is small enough that weight and power requirements should no longer be a limitation for adding position sensing to almost any robotics project.

GPS Receivers Now Small Enough to Attach to Literally Anything

Definitely something to check into for our rocketry members. A 10 gram payload weight should be doable.  If added to an existing sensors / recording package, it could add as little as 0.3 grams.

–
Phil

I have been teaching introductory programming for the Arduino to a weekly class the past few weeks.  I missed collecting the email contact information for some of the people who joined the class in the last couple of weeks.  In the hope that they read these postings, I am publishing a notice here.

Here is a small homework reading assignment for the WCRS programming class attendees.  Read the Software Development Methodology article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development_methodology) on wikipedia, at least up to the start of “Subtopics”.  From those methodology descriptions, decide which of methodologies are being used for projects by people at WCRS.  Why did you pick that / those methodologies?  Which ones seem like they would fit?  Again, why?

To be discussed in class.

–
Phil

And how true it is.

http://blog.beetlebum.de/2010/03/08/arduino/

Download Links:
Windows
Mac OS X
Linux (32 Bit)

Release Notes:

0018 – 2010.01.29

[core / libraries]

* Added tone() and noTone() functions for frequency generation.
* Added Serial.end() command.
* Added precision parameter for printing of floats / doubles.
* Incorporated latest version of Firmata.
* Fixed bug w/ disabling use of the RW pin in the LiquidCrystal library.
* No longer disabling interrupts in delayMicroseconds().
* Fixed bug w/ micros() returning incorrect values from within an interrupt.
* Fixed bug that broke use of analog inputs 8-15 on the Mega.

[environment]

* Synchronized with the Processing 1.0.9 code base, bringing various fixes,
including to a bug causing saving to fail when closing the last sketch.

* Added support for third-party hardware in the SKETCHBOOK/hardware folder,
mirroring the current structure of the hardware folder in Arduino.

* Added Ctrl-Shift-M / Command-Shift-M shortcut for serial monitor.

* Hold down shift when pressing the Verify / Compile or Upload toolbar
buttons to generate verbose output (including command lines).

* Moving build (on upload) from the applet/ sub-folder of the sketch
to a temporary directory (fixing problems with uploading examples from
within the Mac OS X disk image or a Linux application directory).

* Fixed bug the prevented the inclusion of .cpp and .h (or .c and .h) files
of the same name in a sketch.

* Improved the Mac OS X disk image (.dmg): added a shortcut to the
Applications folder, a background image with arrow, and new FTDI drivers.

That’s right! The Robot Games are returning to the Western Canadian Robotics Society May 15th 2010! What will you be bringing to the competition this year?

With robots, it is always misleading as to the number of choices you have in your design, both electrically and physically. As Brutus has mentioned before, the ATMEL chips on an ARDUINO board are very popular amongst hobbyists as the core of their robot. My personal preference has been the PIC microcontrollers, made by MicroChip. What is your preference?