Kinect on MacOSX running!

Tonight I finally managed to run Kinect on OSX 10.8! I used libfreenect and, after some issues with compiling under Mac, I could run the demos... Interesting perspectives ahead!

Feeds reading online & offline - Best solution

Hi,

this is a short message to inform you that I finally identified the best combination of mobile apps for managing and reading RSS feeds. It is Flipboard + Pocket: the first is the well known high quality RSS/Facebook/Twitter reader, while the second enables to organize your "read later" articles (even for offline viewing). Pocket (formerly known as "Read It Later") can be easily integrated in your browser, within Flipboard and in several other ways, you can even send links via email...

Let me know if you are aware of other ince combinations!

NXTuino reaches v1.0

I've been away for a loong while, but I came back on my original project to enable Arduino communicate with Lego NXT. The first version (v0.1 - see my previous post) tested the functionality to control in a binary manner Lego NXT Intelligent Brick from Arduino using serial communication.
Now, I'm proud to announce that I made one step forward towards a remotely controllable Lego NXT robot! Tonight, I could send a binary command (turn light on/off) from the Internet to the NXT Brick through a web browser. The idea is simple, based on the fact that it is easy to integrate a simple web server on Arduino using the Ethernet Shield. Therefore, current setup is: I send a command from a browser requesting a virtual page (in the form: IP address+ flag "/NXT0") to the Arduino webserver, which in turn parses the data and issues the command through serial communication to the Lego NXT. The NXT Brick "sees" this command like if it'd come from a sensor reading, and reacts according to my program. That's it: NXTuino v1.0 enables to send a binary command to NXT!
I still need to polish the code a little bit, but I'll post it soon on this blog.

Come back soon for additional news (I'd like to define a simple protocol for sending more complex commands, and I need to find a workaround to "read" from the NXT brick), and feel free to send comments/suggestions...

Arduino GMail notifier

Just run the Arduino GMail notifier developed by Grant Gibson. Great hack! and a good example on how to interface a PC with Arduino using Python. Loved it, even tough there are small glitches in the code that I fixed. Will keep this in mind whenever I'll find some nice sort-of-alarm-clock to hack!

Back to Arduino...

After a loong time, I'm back - recovering some experiments I had in my mind. Today I just tested the Ping))) ultrasonic ranging module with Arduino, plotting the output on the Mac using Processing. It took me some time to parse the serial data stream (and still it is not completely stable), but it worked. I'll be back with a stable version soon...

NXTuino v0.1 working

It is a long time since my last experiment on communication between Arduino and LEGO NXT. But now I finally had some time to put on this project, and I'm proud to announce that v0.1 of the NXTuino is alive and kicking! For the time being, Arduino is able to drive a virtual ON-OFF touch sensor connected to the LEGO Brick.
The proof of concept that I implemented is to blink the Lego green light in sync with a LED connected to Arduino. Again the connection wire is the one illustrated in the book "Extreme NXT". For this simple sensor I'm only using two wires (black and white).
My final goal is to enable to control LEGO NXT functionalities from Arduino, in order to support remote control through a web interface.
I'll keep you posted on my next advances...

Walking Biped Robots

It is amazing how it is possible to use LEGO Mindstorms to study robotics - and enjoying it all the time!
It took me a couple of days during free time to build a robot based on the Resonant Biped by Danny Benedettelli. Practically speaking, it is a great design of a walking robot on two legs which moves based on a simple yet effective weight shifting approach. I needed to change a couple of parts to make it work with my components. If you are interested, details are on my homepage.
Meanwhile, you can check the following shot: