Laser Cut Raspberry Pi Robot

Just awaiting a few more bits before I mount the Raspbery Pi on the top of this little robot I recently had laser cut by the awesome Razor Labs. I’ve got a webcam to attach to the servo which I intend to use to provide machine vision using OpenCV. Watch this space, everything to be uploaded to Github.

Blink the Raspberry Pi OK LED

Sugru Bath time rescue

We lost the plug for our baby bath, whoops!

The thing is baby baths are very cheap as they are only a blow molded piece of plastic. As the plug is bespoke size and no one sells replacements the only options are to either replace the entire bath consigning the existing bath to recycling/landfill or to improvise a new plug.

I had been tempted to just buy another bath, after all they can be bought for <£10, which given I value my time more than money would previously of been the sensible option. I believe it is this logic that requires a quantum shift to reduce our over consumption of materials.

This is where Sugru solved the problem. I already had a pack but had yet to come up with an imaginative use. And thats the problem. As Sugru hasn’t hit critical mass like superglue its a tool you potentially leave for important jobs currently.

The above fix took only a couple of minutes to fashion having molded the Sugru around an M10 Stainless steel nut. Once dry it produced a watertight seal and a happy clean baby.

I’ll be reaching for Sugru more readily now and suggest you do the same.

Using Python and an Arduino to get data from Pachube

The dial I created was mostly for server monitoring but before that I figured I would try and hook it up to Pachube to obtain the speed of something. I went hunting for something on Pachube that had a speed elements. I found that there is a plentiful supply of massive ships that post AIS data like this awesome tanker http://bit.ly/eARKxw and she has this Pachube feed http://bit.ly/fQMKQT. Cool.

The biggest thing with ships is a limited amount of variation in speed. Which makes testing really really boring. So having overlooked perhaps the largest contributor of data to Pachube, namely weather monitoring stations, I changed my plan and started to monitor the wind speed of a place in New Zealand. http://bit.ly/hcvkpq

The system is really simple. I get data from Pachube using their API with a simple python script this then talks via the serial port to the Arduino and changes the position of the gauge. Simple.

I’ve put all the code up on GitHub at https://github.com/gadgetlabs/DialGaugePachube

The code is simple but could benifit from additional error handling if you plan to use it properly. The Arduino code is based on code from Maurice Ribble http://bit.ly/tiHhK.

In terms of hardware I haven’t posted a diagram because it is really simple. I power the Arduino over USB. I share a ground with an external 5v power supply to drive the servo and connect one signal write between the Arduino and the servo. I actually have a Netduino so I’m going to make an ethernet controlled dial very soon.

I might try making other variants of the gauge at some point in the future because I’m hooked on Laser Cutters now.