High Tech SA

Update: Robotics in South Africa

2013-05-20T20:23:00.001+02:00

This post serves as an update to Robotics in South Africa, and it is being written because the old post is becoming a bit tedious to read because of all the inserted updates I have added.

So here follows a few of the organisations that I have found in South Africa who are actively involved with robotics training, robotics competitions, research and support. Click on the pictures of each organisation to go to their respective websites.

Robotics Association of South Africa
Founded by +Andre Hoffmann and +Mike Barker and its objective is to "galvanises and coordinates the efforts of the various Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) research initiatives across South Africa" .

Robotics SA was featured in a previous post: Feature: Robotics Association of South Africa

http://roboticssa.co.za/

CSIR - Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems

http://www.csir.co.za/mias/

This division of the CSIR started operating in April 2007 and concentrates efforts in the fields of Science Engineering and Technology (SET) to promote intelligence in field robotics. Systems they have developed or are working on are the Autonomous Mule, and Intelligent Manipulator and a Mining Safety Platform.

Read this article by +Mzimasi Gcukumana about "Mobile, Intelligent, Autonomous: Systems of the future" - an interview with Dr Ajith Gopal (interim head of MIAS at the time) and Johan Strydom.

Techno Kidz

Techno Kidz are focused on young (and old) kids (7 years old and up) who like building and programming and the learning of computer skills using LEGO robot building systems as the basis of their "Lifelong Play". They aim to open up ideas for children to become engineers through the fun they had in building and programming with LEGO.

Hands on Tech
Hands on tech also uses Lego based Mindstorms for their training, and competes in the National Robot Olympiad and the World Robot Olympiad. More about these competitions later.

Brainy Brix
Design and technology program for kids between the ages of 3 - 8 years old. These guys are not so much about robotics, but use building blocks to get children to think about problem solving and design.

RobotScience
Details about Robot Science was covered in a previous post: Feature: RobotScience. +Michael Ettershank and his team are in to +educational robots for young South Africans. Click to their home page at roboscience.co.za/

+I-SET (Inspired toward Science Engineering and Technology)

is an initiative by the University of South Africa (UNISA), and they aim to reach out to disadvantaged children by having fun and learning about robotics in the process. Read more about this program on UNISA's website: I-SET

Trophy Computers and Robotics
aims to "inspire kids, create learning opportunities, and enlighten inquisitive minds". They do this by introducing kids to the basic principles of mechanics and robotics from a very young age. This equips these kids to make informed career choices by the time they get to grade 9. Of course - like with all FLL participating clubs - they have fun while doing this.

Robotics competitions in South Africa

National and World Robot Olympiad
WRO 2013 is taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia and it brings together young people from all over the world, including South Africa. At WRO competitors are challenged to develop creativity, problem solving and design skills through challenging and educational robot events.

FIRST Lego League South Africa

was first introduced in South Africa by Trophy Robotics (mentioned above) and is now being run by +Johannes De Vries ( +FIRST Lego League South Africa )

Other posts on this blog that contain info about FLL SA:
FIRST Lego League South Africa 2013
FIRST Lego League: North Gauteng Regionals
FIRSTL Lego League Technical Coach training
Lego Robotics Training
Preparing for FLL and WRO in South Africa

FIRST Lego League 2013

RoboRace SA
In RoboRace contestants use standard RC (remote controlled) cars and convert them into line follower autonomous vehicles which must complete the twisted, crossing track in the shortest possible time. The first South African competition took place in Cape Town in 2012.

Siemens Cyber Junkyard competition
I could not find much on the +Siemens website on this, and the articles I found on the internet were all from 2011and before. If anyone has more recent info on this, please let me know.

RobMech
The annual Conference of Robotics and Mechatronics, sponsored by the CSIR, University of Cape Town, University of Kwazulu-Natal (Host 2013) and the University of Johannesburg.

Read what other people are saying about Robotics in South Africa and abroad:

* On the +SAP blog, Susan Galer posted that "Robotics Fun from Lego Promises Children in South Africa a Better Life" - go read it. Susan seems to share the same sentiments as I do about Robotics.

* Also see this post about "Robotics in South Africa" by +Mike Barker , co-founder of Robotics SA.

* On Everyhting Robotic the question is aksed: "Do Industrial Robots Really Have A Positive Impact On Employment?"

+IEEE Spectrum reports that "Robots are not killing jobs"

Drive your robot DC motors with an H-Bridge

2013-05-12T09:02:00.000+02:00

This post forms part of my Line Following Robot project and will serve as my research for how to accurately control the speed and direction of the line follower.

What is an h-bridge?
This circuit is called an h-bridge because of it's construction - notice the capital H formed by the diode connections in the center of the diagram below (Thank you to Circuits Today for the diagram). As you can see the elements used to drive the motor are two NPN and two PNP transistors, four diodes and four 1K ohm resistors. To read more about the specifics of this circuit and its workings, click on the "Circuits Today" link above. This was just some background info.

As you can see from the table above, by using the digital outputs on a microcontroller, the speed and direction of the motor can be controlled by switching the outputs to digital zero (0V) or to digital 1 (5V). on A, B, C or D respectively.

H-bridge package from Pololu

DRV8833 dual motor driver carrier,

bottom view with dimensions

I considering using a "dual motor driver carrier" (DRV8833) package from +Pololu Robotics and Electronics which is available through Micro Robotics in Centurion, Pretoria for R145.00. Click on DATASHEET to view it.

This motor driver breakout board operates on 2.7 - 10.8Vdc and produces a continuous current of 1.2A per channel (peak 2A).

Below is an image of the minimum wiring required for using this driver carrier with a microcontroller:

Minimal wiring diagram for connecting a microcontroller to a DRV8833 dual motor driver carrier.

From this image it should be simple to produce the code needed to drive the motors and I will share the code in the final post of my line follower project.

FIRST Lego League South Africa 2013

2013-04-09T07:51:00.001+02:00

The +FIRST Lego League South Africa (FLL-SA G+ page - click here for the home page) have sent out the following information via email and it seems the competition is growing in leaps and bounds and Robotics in South Africa continues to reach wider circles. Soon FIRST Tech Challenge South Africa will be a reality.

* This year the Society of Automation Instrumentation Measurement and Control (SAIMC) have sponsored an exhibition space for FLL-SA at the Process-Expo. It takes place 21 – 31 May in Johannesburg.

* On 21 July the National Robotics Olympiad (NRO) takes place at Tswane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria.

* The weekend after that (28 July/31 August) the NRO Finals takes place at TUT (dates to be confirmed).

* Then on 31 August the FLL Launch for 2013 will rock TUT Pretoria campus and the season will kick off with a bang after that.

* Six short weeks later , on 12 October, FLL Eastern Cape Regional will take place in PE.

* On 19 October: FLL Northern Free State Regional in Sasolburg AND FLL Mpumalanga Regional at TUT Nelspruit.

* 26 October: FLL Gauteng North Regional, UNISA Pretoria

* 2 November: FLL Western Cape Regional at the Cape Town Science Centre

* 9 November: FLL KZN Regional, KZN Science Centre
* 16 November: FLL Gauteng South Regional, Sci-Bono

* 23 November: FLL Zimbabwe, Harare

* 7 December: FLL Nationals, Johannesburg, Sci-Bono

With the program so full from May right through to December, 2013 promises to be an exciting year for robotics in South Africa.

For more information about FIRST Lego League South Africa, contact +Johannes De Vries (South Africa's FLL Operational Partner) on his email - click here

LEGO learning experience - Robotics Training

2013-04-08T09:30:00.003+02:00

Engenius Toys are a LEGO stores and they are situated in the Fourways Mall (Johannesburg) and in the Garden Route Mall (George). They send out a regular newsletter, for which you can subscribe on their website, if you wish to have direct access to the information in this blog post. Below is the schedule they have for Term 2 2013.

Thank you for visiting my blog. To find out more about me, click here, or click on the 'Contact' tab at the top of the page.

PC volt meter with a real time software and USB mi...

2013-04-04T18:56:00.001+02:00

I came across +Yaghiyah Brenner 's blog via G+ and I am glad to have found another South African that shares my passion for tinkering with electronics and DIY embedded projects. On top of all that - HE ALSO BLOGS ABOUT IT!

Below is an quick extract and link to one of his posts about a PC volt meter. He will share the firmware and schematics if there is enough interest.

Yaghiyah Brenner (Cape Town Developer): PC volt meter with a real time software and USB mi...: PC volt meter with a real time software and USB microcontroller interface Project summary: This project came about one day when...

Micro controller basics (refresher for line follower project)

2013-04-01T16:00:00.000+02:00

I had to take a break from building and designing my line follower robot, because I ran into a brick wall when I realised I have forgotten EVERYTHING I knew about c-programming.

To get up to speed from the beginning to now, check out the previous posts:

Part 1 - The design statement
Part 2 - Basic design guidelines
Part 3 - Build and test chassis and drive platform

In the previous posts, I said that I was going to use the PIC18F45K20, but I am going to go with the +Atmel Microcontroller ATMEGA328P instead for two simple reasons:
- it is easier to come by than the PIC
- and the programming kit is half the price of the PICKit3.

Now we have to design and build the electronics around the microcontroller. This will be determined by many factors, so some applications will have differently designed circuits than others. So it is a good idea to look at the datasheet for he microcontroller you choose, to be able to know what components you will need. Click here for the full datasheet.

Since micro's all work more or less the same, check out Newbie Hack for a fantastic tutorial series on the ATMEGA32, from the basics, right through to some pretty cool projects.

Here is a pinout diagram for the ATMEGA328P (note that it is the same mirco used on the +Arduino board:

The datasheet will have detailed explanations about everything. Here are the descriptions of each pin abbreviation (extracts from datasheet):

Vcc indicates the pin where the positive terminal for the power supply or battery must be connected (around 3 - 5.5Vdc)
GND is the "ground" terminal and this is where the negative terminal of the power supply or battery gets connected.
PB#, PC#, PD# indicates PORT B/C/D and the bit number. Each port has 8-bits from bit 0 (least significant bit) to bit 7 (most significant bit).
AVcc - supply voltage pin for the ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). It should be connected externally to Vcc even if the ADC is not used. If the ADC is used, it should be connected to Vcc through a low-pass filter.

SPI - Serial Peripheral Interface

USART - Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter - used to facilitate serial communication using the RS232 protocol

Note the DC current per I/O pin since that will determine the size of the resistor you will need to connect in series with a LED for example. I will use a 680ohm resistor which limits the current to about 7mA, which is well within the limit. (By the way another useful app I have on my phone is ElectroDroid. It does everything from Ohm's law to resistor colour bands, inductor colour codes, communication port and micro controller pin outs).

Now, I have not programmed any microprocessor in years and this is my first time to do a project with and +Atmel Microcontroller - Using AVR Studio 5 and 6 I had to figure out some things from the word go:

I had written/copied a couple of simple programs to refresh my C-programming skills and when I wanted to compile all of them under the same project with AVR Studio, it reported that "make: no rules to build...". I fixed this by making a new project for each example since they were not at all related. Here is one example program using a switch and an LED as demonstrated by +Android Apps - AVR Control:

//Example using 1 pin as input for a switch and 1 as output for LED
//on the same port
#include <avr/io.h>

void main()
{
   //set PA0 as output
   DDRA |= (1<<PA0);   //DDR = Data Direct Register for PORTA
   //set PA5 as input
   DDRA &=~ (1<<PA5);
   While(1)
   {
       //check if switch is pressed
        if (!(PORTA & (1<<PA5)))
       //if true – switch LED on
       PORTA &=~(1<<PA0);
   }
}

This type of examples can be found by simply searching for simple C-tutorials, but it is quite handy to have it immediately available on you phone or tablet. The app also explains the electronic circuitry used for each example and gives a detailed explanation of the registers used and how they work.

I also had trouble when I wanted to flash/program/transfer the chip using the AVRISPmk2 (AVR In System Programmer version 2). It kept on reporting that "the target seems to have lost power or ISP is disconnected". As stated above, AVcc should be connected to Vcc even though the ADC is not being used, so that was my mistake. If the problem persists click here for a possible solution, though I am sure there must other simpler reasons for this error. Let me know if you experience any problems in this regard.

After refreshing my C-programming skills on all the examples in the 'AVR control' app, which covers basic examples for all the following features, I will continue with my "Designing a line follower robot" posts:

PORT (i/o control)
UART/USART
ADC
Analog Comparitor
External interrupts
EEPROM control
IIC/I2C/TWI (two wire interface)
SPI
Timers

Thank you for visiting my blog, please correct me if I have slipped up, leave a comment and visit again for progress on my line follower project.

Designing a line follower robot - Part 3

2013-03-12T06:38:00.002+02:00

Follow up from "Designing a line follower robot - part 1" and "Designing a line follower robot - part 2":

So, by now I should've had the first part of code ready to be tested, but unfortunately there was a delay in getting the PIC and PICKit. I went ahead and assembled the chassis and drive system which I will be using.

I cheated a little and bought a neat little kit. I say 'cheated' because that doesn't include any designing, only had to research a few options and choose one closest to my needs. I chose this kit from Tamiya, which comes in three parts. The gearbox-motor assembly (first picture), the universal mounting plate (forms the base/chassis for the whole thing and the tank-tracks. The second picture shows the complete assembly. This little gearbox/motor kit has two configurations for two different ratios; 58:1 and 204:1.

Figure 1

Here are the technical specs for the gearbox:

• Gear Ratios: 58:1 207:1
• Motor: FA-130
• Motor RPM: 12300 (9710 Maximum Efficiency)
• Motor Voltage: 1.5-3V (1.5V Recommended)
• Motor Stall Current: 2.1A
• Free-run current: 150mA
• Motor Stall torque: 36 g-cm

I bought mine from MicroRobotics in Centurion. Click on the link to find out more about them. They distribute +Arduino boards and +Atmel Microcontroller and programmers and a host of other electronics. I also bought an h-bridge from them, which will enable the microcontroller to drive the motors.


Figure 2

Check out +Pololu Robotics and Electronics for more information about the h-bridge, or click here for the one that I bought.

I could not help myself, and had to test the tank drive system after I had assembled it, so I stripped the control circuit off a robot kit I had built previously, the Hexpod obstacle avoiding robot (Shown below)


Figure 3

The tank drive worked perfectly and a lot smoother than the leg drive system of the Hexapod and this was the result of the test system:

The only snag I have picked up is that the robot doesn't run in a straight line, but that I will sort out later. It could be that the one motor is being driven harder by an imbalance in the electronics. I will first go ahead and concentrate on the fun part of building and programming the control system, then we can find out if there really is a problem with the drive system.

Getting up to speed with my dormant programming skills proved harder than I anticipated. See the next post in this series: Microcontroller Basics

Desiging a line follower robot - part 2

2013-02-22T16:53:00.000+02:00

This is the second part of the "Designing a line follower robot". To see part 1, click here.

Here I will lay out the first steps in this design:

The weapon of choice for this project will be a PIC18F45K20 which will be the main controller for the robot. The finished project will have USB to serial communication capabilities for downloading race information and so on. To program the the PIC I will use PICKit3 and MPLab X IDE from +Microchip Technology Inc.

With any project it is best to break the project down into smaller parts which can be tested and made to work perfectly before moving onto the next stage of the project. That way you have a better idea of where to start debugging (in terms of programming) or fault finding (in terms of hardware) when something is not working like you expected it to. Please note that I am by no means a seasoned programmer and that there will be many other ways (probably more efficient ways) to achieve the same results.

So the desired end result will be a robot that will navigate along a random track, which could have gaps in to indicate markers. We want to be able to communicate with the robot via USB (directly to the PIC and we will also add some external EPROM). So the three subsystems of this project will be to design, build and program the timer subsystem (part1), the USB bridge and communication (part2) and then lastly the driving and navigation (part3).

The first subsystem which will be developed, is the marker-counter and timer subsystem.

This timer subsystem will have to count the markers (not more that 10x10mm gaps in the dark track/line), time the race and stop the ARV (autonomous robotic vehicle) not more than 100mm after the track stops.

To do this, we will have to design, build and test a system that makes use of an interrupt controlled by a reflective optical sensor (of which there are many different kinds). The number of markers will be displayed on a seven segment display. For more information on how to drive and control a seven-segment display, check out this link: http://shree-electronics.com/interfacing7segdisp.html (Assembly code included - remember to give credit to the people who's code segments you use)

The seven segment display will display the number zero at system start up and increment with one every time a marker is detected. At the end of the track the number on the display will flash.

The system can be tested by moving the optical sensor along the track at a distance of 10 - 30 mm above the track over all the markers and proceeding over the end of the track.

Before you jump straight into programming your ARV you need to have an idea of the structure of your program. So write it in plain English in flow chart form so you can have a clear picture of what the program should do once it is complete. Here is an example:

For this project I will be structuring my programming slightly different to this and will share it with you as I progress. The next post will explain the building and designing of the timer subsystem. See what you can come up with in the meantime.

Check out the part 3

Designing a line follower robot - part 1

2013-02-19T09:49:00.004+02:00

I get very excited about tinkering with electronics and things that move, light up, make a noise or generally just respond to my inputs. A project which I have looking to do for a long time now is to build a robot which will be following a line on a track.

Let me just say this to start off with: robots are not necessarily very complicated and can be built up from a few simple parts and instructions. The plan or goal is set out as follows:

Design statement:
To build a autonomous vehicle which will move along by following a track. To keep it simple (since this will be my first REAL autonomous machine that I will build) the track will not cross anywhere, but it will need to perform a few functions during it's navigation around the track.

So the objective is for the robot to complete a random track (not crossing anywhere) in the fastest possible time. If there are any gaps (markers of 10mm long gaps in the track) it must be counted and the number of gaps must be updated and displayed on a seven segment display.

After the track ends, the robot should stop by itself and store the 'lap time' in memory. The idea is not to use any development kits like +Arduino or +Mindstorms EV3 , so a PIC microcontroller will be used. In fact any controller can be used. An +Atmel Microcontroller will also do very nicely.

Some examples of line followers:
Check out this little line follower from ELM:

From +Letsmakerobots (line follower):

So, as you can see, line follower robots can be bigger or smaller depending on the application and design parameters.

Designing from first principles:
This is a concept that posed a hurdle for me when I was a student. Math papers always say: "prove from first principles that..." followed by some theorem that was thought by some clever guy in the 1800's. Other times, it is said to design a circuit or something from first principles.

For maths and physics this means to provide the answer based on some basic laws or rules. For example to show that power = volts x ampere from ohm's law. In engineering and design, it simply means to follow logic steps and state what will work and will not work during the design process. I will try to follow this thought pattern through the design of this simple little robot.

Click here for part 2.

Lets go Robotics Invitation

2013-02-11T11:27:00.000+02:00

This Invitation from +I-SET is extended to all interested parties who are thinking about starting up or getting more involved with learner Robotics groups.

Special mentions: +FIRST Lego League South Africa , +Andre Hoffmann , +House4hack , +Schalk Heunis , +Mike Barker

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Africa (RAIA)

2013-01-24T11:56:00.002+02:00

I was sent the following information by +Andre Hoffmann and I think it is flippin' awesome - just had to share.  Thank you Andre.

First Call for Papers for the IEEE AFRICON 2013
Special Session on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Africa

IEEE AFRICON is the premier biennial event of the IEEE in Africa. This flagship conference provides a platform for academics and industry
professionals to share ideas and present their latest research. Co-sponsored by the IEEE Region 8 and the IEEE South Africa
Section, Africon 2013 will be hosted in the wonderful island of Mauritius from 9 – 12 September 2013. We are happy to announce the
Special Track on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Africa (RAIA).

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence research in the African context has not yet reached its full potential. Since the last edition of this
special track at 2011 AFRICON, the African researchers in the field of AI and robotics are much better connected, for instance, through
initiatives such as the AFRON network. With this special track, we intend to bring together the African Robotics and AI community and
discuss the various aspects of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in the African context. Both cutting-edge fields may become drivers for
Africa industry and have a great potential for education and the development of human resources. With this special session, besides
sharing actual research results, we are interested in building a vibrant and sustainable research community by connecting people who
are active in both fields. Further, the focus of this special session is on Robotics and AI in education. We are interested in robotics and
AI initiatives in Africa and want to invite interested researchers from Africa and all over the world to contribute to this aspect.

In particular, we intend to address the following:

* Current research results from African researchers in the field.
* Robotics and AI in education that could make an impact for Africa.
* Robotics competitions relevant in the African context (e.g. RoboCup Junior or IEEE Robocomp).
* The role of open source in development of Robotics and AI in Africa.
* The role of Robotics and AI for the economic development in the context of 21st century production and manufacturing in Africa (automation,
mining industries, etc.)
* Successful robotics and AI co-operation projects between African institutions and institutions in the rest of the world

Important Dates

* Paper submission: February 28, 2013
* Notification of Acceptance: May 15, 2013
* Camera-ready copy due: June 30, 2013
* Technical Session: September 9 – 13, 2013

Submission Details

Prospective authors are invited to electronically submit full papers of their work in English (6 pages, ~4500 words, in pdf format),
following the instructions available on the web site. Accepted papers will be published in an IEEE proceedings volume that will be indexed
by EI and IEEE Xplore, and will be available at the time of the conference.

For further information visit main conference website at: http://africon2013.org
Further detail about the RAIA Special Track will be made available soon.

Session Chairs

Alexander Ferrein, FH Aachen, Germany
Gerald Steinbauer, Graz University of Technology, Austria
+Billy Okal , Jacobs University Bremen, Germany

Information received via Andre Hoffman from Dr Alexander Ferrein

Lyttle Brainiacs - remedial classes

2013-01-18T13:21:00.001+02:00

Here is a fantastic, fun way of getting your child's education back on track. A child's development is critical for his/her future and parents are not always equipped well enough to deal with all the development stages of their children.

Remedial training/classes are not what they used to be when we were children. The learning needs of children are not always met by the educational system, and special attention must be given to development potholes.

+Christa Weidemann has taught children at various levels of education throughout her career and she is the best person that you'd want to entrust the early development of your child's education to.

Also see 'Lyttle Brainiacs' on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LyttleBrainiacs

Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA)

2013-01-15T16:56:00.001+02:00

'Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA)' is a non-profit organisation which is aimed at increasing the output of engineers and scientists from schools in Africa. YESA (pronounced "WHY?Eeeee-Sah!") serve the needs of different INTERVENTIONS with students from Grade 0 - 12.

As you can see from their logo (to the left) YESA takes STEM Education a step further by adding Innovation to make it STEMI (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Innovation).

I got in touch with the managing director of YESA, Dr Ron Beyers. Dr Ron did his PhD through North West University in “Promoting Human Capital Development through ICTs, Creativity and Innovation" and has been educating grade 8 - 12 students on various subjects including Biology, Physical Science, Mathematics, Computer Studies, Thinking Skills, Design and Technology, Bible Education and Computer Literacy.

Dr Ron was kind enough to indulge my curiosity and answer a few simple questions about himself and his involvement with YESA:

What is your profession?" and "What is your passion?"

I trained as a Biologist and then moved into the teaching of Natural Science, Mathematics, Physical Science, Computer Science and Technology Education (Design and Technology). The main reason included teaching at Queenstown Girls High in a rural community where there was a shortage of teachers. I then moved to St Alban’s College where I conducted a curriculum audit and identified the need for change. Key issues included the need for creativity especially in the areas of art. Included in this experience is the management of a significant computer centre with a laptop program back in the late 1990s.

It has been said that engineers (and scientists) are vital to the economic growth of a country. What is your opinion on this this? Why/why not?

Academic deals with the mind whereas technical subjects deal with the hands. There is a need to link the mind and the hands which is what our country really needs. We have the labour - and the brain power but we need to bring these two together to make a difference. There is too much in the form of text book knowledge and labour with not enough being done to promote the implementation of ideas and solving real world problems. Taking this further there is a need to promote true innovation by encouraging more individuals to take their ideas to the market.

Is this what sparked the incubation of YESA, or are there other factors involved? What are they?

Two key major influences in my life. Firstly, I identifying the need to teach learners differently in order to change the outcome. We cannot continue teaching the same way and expecting a different outcome. Secondly, the African Advanced Institute for Information Communication Technologies, commonly referred to as the Meraka Institute identified the need to establish a program specifically to nurture young engineers. I was headhunted by the Meraka Institute to implement such a program which has now become known as the Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA – www.yesa.org.za). These are rare opportunities and I jumped at it to make a difference to the lives of more learners in the country and for my own professional growth.

When was this, just so by the way?

I joined Meraka in April 2006 as a researcher. I investigated several programmes to meet differing needs using this opportunity to also capture a wealth of data which I later used to convert into a PhD and to publish in several internationally accredited Educational Journals.

I joined MXIT again after many years of absence just to check out YESA. What can students expect to find and/or learn from YESA on MXIT?

One of the programs that I developed was specifically aimed at identifying individuals with talent as a long-term human capital development program. South Africa-Finland Knowledge Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) to develop a prototype of such a system which was internet based. Personal funding was then used to convert this to a MXit platform as we soon realised that we were not reaching our intended market because of a cost factor. One key deliverable was the introduction of “Ask Prof Ron” anything relating to STEMI. This soon became a significant hit with the users spreading to users across Africa and serving up a significant pages per month. This forms part of my Post-Doctoral research. Further funding is needed to expand this project to reinforce the trends that emerged and to develop it into a substantial value added service.

What is CSIR and the Meraka Institute's involvement with YESA?

Currently YESA is operating under licence from the CSIR as public funds were used to initiate the programme. They have remained in a supportive role and I appreciate the opportunity that I was afforded.

The YESA website refers to 'interventions' all the time. What are these interventions and how can people (educators / parents / volunteers / students) get involved?

FabKids (Gradess 1-12) - Learners are exposed to a rapid-prototyping environment of a FabLab to unleash their creative and innovative talents. Teamwork with a strong division of responsibility needed to solve real-world challenges using a variety of technologies available including digital manufacturing.
FabTeachers (All subjects) - FabKids need to be supported when they return to normal classroom environments. Teachers experience the FabLab by adopting the same pedagogy (the science and art of education) as FabKids where the emphasis is on the design process and the transferability of skills to other subjects and learning areas.
Digital Kids (Grades 5-12) - The Net Generation is being exposed to the wonders of a technological world and have a need to express themselves digitally through video editing, pod casting, image editing, animations, gaming, etc. A strong emphasis will be placed on the generation of educational material using open source software.
Virtual Interactive Classrooms (All subjects) - Access to quality educators is a major problem especially in rural communities. Modern technologies are mature enough to enable the digital sharing of educators within a given community through the layering of digital inclusion on top of a stable ICT connectivity platform. Radio networks can be used to support local communities with additional services.
My YESA Passport (Grades 1 - Post Graduate) - Based on experience in the field there are a number of learners with talent can be identified and tracked in terms of their involvement in STEMI events, competitions and Olympiads. This portal is designed to operate on a MXit platform to deliver content and promote interactivity with learners especially from the back seat of a taxi in rural communities at affordable connectivity rates.
Destination Zero Carbon (Grades 8-9) - Growing the next generation workforce and leaders who are confident and competent in using futuristic energy hydrogen technologies to serve the needs of our society. This immersive and competitive strategy provides hands-on opportunities to nurture a spirit of invention that is needed to usher in the new age of green energy industries.
Competition Pathways (All Grades) - Providing clear stepping stones for all learners to identify and pursue their areas of interest in STEMI events, competitions and Olympiads by having greater access to relevant information from as many suppliers across the country through a nationally audited process
YESA RESEARCH - Providing research opportunities to conduct impact studies of YESA initiatives and reporting back to funders and academia through appropriate channels. Establishing what works and what does not work is an important component of defining strategic directions of current and future interventions.

How can people get involved?

Like all Non-profit organisations the biggest challenge is sustainability. I believe that YESA can provide funding organisation with the right deliverables but more importantly would like to involve the whole organisation/company. This goes to the heart of creativity and innovation where employees can donate their time as well (personal and company time) in return for professional development through interacting with some of the best young minds that the country has to offer. Being exposed to this type of environment I believe can unlock untapped energies in employees. This in turn will lead to teachers, pupils, parents, funders and partners being drawing into a more compelling environment so that together we can make a difference in the lives of our future employees.

Anything else that you would like to add, or some wise words to prospective STEM (Science, Tecnology, Engineering, Maths) pursuers?

If learners cannot learn the way we teach, the maybe we must teach the way they learn (Ignacio Estrada). The youth are growing up in a different world and we must look to change the input if we want to change the output. The potential is there and we need to open our eyes to a different pedagogy where youth are the innovation capital of a country's future.

As Dr. Ron stated in the interview, YESA was incubated within the African Advanced Institute for Information Communication Technologies (more commonly - the Meraka Institute), which is a branch of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.

Special mentions: +WAAW Foundation - STEM Education For African Girls , +I-SET , +Andre Hoffmann (who promoted YESA on Twitter), +Proudly South Africa , from the CSIR Meraka Institute: +Kobus Roux , +Adele Botha , +Ishmael Makitla .

Hacking the Roboni-i (Part1)

2012-12-12T23:31:00.002+02:00

In a previous post (Robonica Roboni-i: inside out), I took the smart little, two wheeled robot apart and discussed the parts that make up the robot. For example it utilises an Atmel AVR ATXMEGA128A1 chip as the main CPU (Central processing unit).

Now I am more curious about making the robot do what I want it to do, without having to build up 'trust' points to unlock certain levels of programming blocks in the software (Command Center) which comes with the robot (pictured below)

To do this, there are a couple of things to consider:

The Atmel chip is in a circuit, which means we will have to find out if it can be programmed without removing it from the circuit.

From what I have read about the Roboni-i is that it was developed with the maker/tinkerer/hacker in mind and I found that jumper J1 on the board is connected to various pins on the chip. This jumper is marked 'Spec Port' which leads me to think that this jumper is quite possibly a programming port, but more information is needed. As you might know (or not) is that chips and micro controllers are programmed under certain conditions through specific pins.

The type of programer needed to load and read the program onto and from the chip.

I have been told via the House4Hack Google group ( +House4hack ) that something like a STK600 (a complete AVR starter and development kit, which seams a bit of an overkill in this case) or some other PDI programer.

Is there a bootloader on the chip for possible firmware upgrades?
Which peripherals are connected where?

These last questions and more will only be answered once some more digging has been done. In the mean time I will need to 'reverse engineer' the circuit, since there are some other smaller controllers in the circuit to control the RFID input for example.

I will also build the circuit using Ealge Layout Editor which is a freeware PCB design package. Watch this space for more on this project.

How do you become a specialist?

2012-12-10T15:39:00.000+02:00

The title of this blog is the question that was posed to me by a young student engineer who is working in the same factory as me for practical training. At first the question caught me off guard, and I did not know how to respond. Even though my title at work is "Specialist Electronics Technician" it does not mean that I know everything about anything - or at least that is my take on things.

You see, I believe that a person (or any living thing for that matter) should always be growing/learning, especially in the field of engineering. There are some very clever people on this earth, but even a rocket scientist cannot know everything. For example one rocket scientist may be a specialist in rocket propulsion, but a colleague of his might be a specialist in aerodynamics.

To take it one step further, a rocket scientist, no matter how experienced he/she is cannot know as much about skin products as a beautician knows, and a beautician cannot know as much about the skin as a dermatologist does. Simply put, being a specialist, simply means that you know more about a certain field of study, or a certain type of machine, or a certain subject, than most other people do.

My answer, in short, was that it is a combination of my work experience and my training that makes me a specialist. What it means is that I am able to resolve problems in a certain field that other people (with other experiences) are not able to.

The flip side is that being a specialist in one specific field can be dangerous, since you do not use the other skills and knowledge that you have as often.

What is your take on being a specialist?

Ending off 2012

2012-12-04T10:49:00.000+02:00

Looking back at the year of 2012, it has indeed been an exciting year, in terms of my personal life as much as from tech and development's point of view. With Samsung and iPhone users becoming more like football supporters every day - passionately fighting for why their device of choice is the better one, robotics developing in leaps and bounds and the increase in numbers of support for robotics events in South Africa.

The first South African RoboRace took place last weekend (1-2 December) at UCT, where undergraduate engineering students are challenged with taking a regular remote controlled car and turning it into robot racer which races around different tracks automatically.

WITS university hosted a Robotics talk on 22 November, which drew a big group of enthusiasts and interested parties, and it is my hope to see more events like this take place in 2013.

The support for FIRST Junior Lego League South Africa is also growing and many people are getting excited about that. .With the help of organisations like I-SET (Inspired toward Science, Engineering and Technology), the North Gauteng regional championship, which took place on 27 October was a huge success.

Even this blog has grown and changed quite a bit in it's first year and I am pleased with the results so far. Thank you for everyone who have supported and visited this blog through the year. The plan is to keep on finding interesting things to share and grow my own knowledge of how things work in the process. As always, please feel free to share your experiences and knowledge. Like Massimo Banzi says in his RS Components Arduino tutorials: "Build it, hack it, share it..."

On a personal level, I got married to a wonderful woman earlier this year and we couldn't be happier. I also changed jobs which has proven to be both challenging and rewarding.

May your Christ-mas season be blessed and full of happiness (hopefully with many gadgets as presents) and may you enter the new year with renewed energy and heaps of faith, hope and love to share with the world around you in your own special way.

Best wishes to you all...

- Jurie Weidemann

A future with humanoid robots - talk and demo

2012-11-01T13:25:00.002+02:00

EXCITING STUFF!! An invitation via RoboticsSA to an event taking place at WITS University:

Hope to see you there!

Pneumatic Differential Pressure Cell

2012-10-09T20:42:00.001+02:00

MAN! I was struggling to get any kind of diagram of a pneumatic differential pressure cell that I decided it was worth sharing the three best ones I could find compliments of:

Industrial Instrumentation & Control - Page 561 - Google Books Result

Process Automation Handbook: A Guide to Theory and Practice - Google Books Result

http://iamechatronics.com/notes/general-engineering/315-force-balance-pressure-transmitters

FIRST Lego League: North Gauteng Regionals

2012-10-03T07:21:00.000+02:00

To find out more about FIRST Lego League in South Africa check out: http://fllsa.org and also check out I-SET (Inspired toward Science Engineering and Technology) at https://www.facebook.com/isetlego

ArduBlock via BotShop

2012-09-28T10:49:00.001+02:00

I received this notification via email and just wanted to share it with all South African Arduino enthusiasts: (BotShop can be found at http://www.botshop.co.za/ and they supply all kinds of Arduino and other electronics goodies)

Satelite telescope orientation - Part 1

2012-09-06T22:17:00.000+02:00

This post is the first in a series of post going through the design for the control system which controls the orientation of a telescope on a satelite which must stay fixed on the star that is being observed using another, brighter star as it's reference. The telescope must remain fixed on the observed star regardless of disturbances like collisions with meteorites, gravity forces or others.

This post will deal with the information and parameters of the problem statement and the work that needs to be done to complete the task at hand.

Work with me on this one and let's compare notes in the end. Post questions and comments. We have a month to complete all the calculations so take your time.

The first figure (denoted 'a') shows the satelite and the axis on which it operates and the second figure (denoted 'b') shows the schematic diagram for the closed-loop control system.

The control system works as follows: the telescope's orientation is achieved by using a easy identifiable star (much brighter than the star being observed) as reference. To start off, assume the telescope is in line with the star that is being observed.

At this position the axis (X, Y, Z as indicated in figure a) forms an angle of Θ_r with the line connecting the telescoped with the reference star. This angle Θ_r is know in advance and is the system's excitation. The angle between the telescope (Z-axis) and the reference star is Θ_y. If this angle is different to the desired angle (Θ_r) then the control system must align the z-axis so that

Θ_r = Θ_y.

The block designated "thruster" in figure b, is excited by the controllers output and it produces torque forces around the X-axis and these forces affect the correction in the angle Θ_y so that Θ_y = Θ_r.

The various blocks in figure b is described by the following equations:

K_t is the conversion constant of the position angle to an electrical signal

G_c(s) is the transfer function of the controller

K_b is the constant of the thruster in which the voltage V(s) is converted to torque T(s)

The satelite's transfer function is G_s(s)

J is the moment of inertia about the X-axis

Tasks that are expected to be done while working on this design:

1 - Construct the block diagram model of this system

2 - Derive the transfer function of the closed-loop system

3 - If the controller is just an amplifier, derive the differential equation of the output (Θ_y) and then say if this controller is feasible for this purpose.

4 - Design a PID controller for this system, making the maximum overshoot less than 10%

5 - Use the values for K_I and K_D obtained in 4 and sketch the root locus. Now find K_p to make the system stable.

6 - Use bode diagrams to analyze the stability margins of the controlled system obtained in 4

7 - Design a suitable controller G_c(s) to make the system have a phase margin of 45^o and a gain margin of not less than 8 dB. It must also have a velocity error constant of 1/100

Each of the follow up parts for the post will contain steps to complete the tasks set forward here.

Hope you will join me in solving these problem statements so we can learn from each other.

Post questions as comments on this post, or post it on our Google+ page or email me at mustang.jurie@gmail.com

First Lego League technical coach training

2012-08-25T21:16:00.001+02:00

This post is used almost as is from an email I received from CSET (College of Science, Engineering and Technology), which is a college of UNISA (University of South Africa).

As mentioned in a previous post (News from I-SET) I-SET is a Unisa Community Engagement Project aimed at inspiring young people and their communities’ interest in Science, Engineering and Technology through fun activities. These activities are mainly centered on children between the ages of 9 and 16 building robots from Lego blocks and programming them to achieve certain outcomes.

As part of the I-SET initiative they train the coaches, mentors and leaders of robotics teams in setting up and promoting their teams, building and programming the robots and teaching the children how to do research. I-SET is now offering UNISA students within the College of Science, Engineering and Technology the opportunity to be trained as qualified technical coaches.

A general meeting will be held to discuss the project with students where they will be informed of what is on offer with this program, what will be required from the students and what they will gain from being part of this project. In order to take part students must be able to commit for at least a year to events presented during the week and over weekends, preferably reside in the Pretoria area, not be completing their studies during 2012 and be able to arrange their own transport to and from events.

The discussion will take place as stated below:

Date: 31 August 2012

Time: 10:00 - 11:00

Venue: Pretoria, Main camp: TvW building 10-24, Kopanong

Tel: 012 429 6069/6866

Please contact I-SET per e-mail at i-set@unisa.ac.za to confirm if you will be attending and for further enquiries.

RobMech 2012

2012-08-21T10:15:00.002+02:00

South Africa's Robotics and Mechatronics Conference

The 5th RobMech conference is taking place at the CSIR Internation Conference Centre in Pretoria on on the 26th and 27th of November 2012.
The conference will have an industry and demonstration day on Monday 26th, together with a mobile robot competition/demonstration during the afternoon. Tuesday will be an IEEE accredited conference program of peer reviewed research and application papers.

Please visit the web page at www.robmech.co.za for more information or contact Jeremy Green at CSIR.

There is an open invite those of you with robots will consider bringing them to demonstrate in the robot arena on Monday 26th, and those involved in research, development and teaching will consider submitting a paper on your work for the Tuesdays conference program.

How does Curiosity Rover communicate with earth?

2012-08-15T21:56:00.001+02:00


Curiosity Rover

The Mars Curiosity Rover (shown above) has been and is still being covered and/or followed by just about everyone who has any interest in space, engineering, science or robotics. Just in case you are reading this, and you've been sleeping or off world for a while, here's some background info:

The Curiosity rover is a robot exploring the Gale Crater on Mars. It is roughly the size of car and has Asome of the most advanced scientific equipment on board. It landed on Mars on 6 August 2012 and has been sending back images and other information back to earth.

This got me to the question, how does this information actually get to earth, and how long does it take to get here, since we are about 563,000,000 km (350,000,000 mi) apart? The answer to the second question is an average of 14 minutes and 6 seconds. Here follows the answer on the seconds question:

[Source: derived from WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover]

Curiosity has significant communication backup resources (redundancy).

This includes an X band transmitter and receiver which could communicate directly to Earth at speeds of up to 32kbit/s, and a UHF Electra-Lite software-defined radio . The later device is for communicating with the two Mars orbiters ( Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Odyssey orbiter ) at speeds of up to 2Mbit/s and 256kbit/s respectively. The orbiters are expected to be the main stream for data return to Earth, because the orbiters both have larger, more powerful antennas than Curiosity, allowing for faster transmission speeds. Unfortunately each orbiter is only able to communicate with Curiosity for about eight minutes per day.

Communication can also take place via a small deep space transponder on the descent stage and a solid-state power amplifier on the rover for X-Band. There are also two UHF radios on board the rover.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is the central data distribution hub where selected data products are provided to remote science operations sites as needed. JPL is also the central hub for the uplink process, though participants are distributed at their respective home institutions. At landing, telemetry was monitored by three orbiters, depending on their dynamic location: the Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA's Mars Express satellite.


Curiosity Rove: Self Portrait

News from I-SET

2012-07-24T08:19:00.000+02:00

Just wanted to share this. This is an email that I received from I-SET (Inspired toward Science, Engineering and Technology). I-SET is an outreach initiative of UNISA (University of South Africa).

"Hi all,

Sixty teams from across South-Africa will be participating in the WRO nationals on Saturday, 28 July 2012, at the Tswane University of Technology Pretoria Campus from 9:00 until 15:00.

We are very proud to announce that 10 of the teams competing are I-SET teams!

The kids who win at this event will be awarded national colors and will be representing our country at the International WRO which is held in Kuala Lumpur in November.

Come through and support our teams and all the other teams who've travelled far to be here, bring your kids, teachers, community leaders anyone and everyone you can think of to celebrate the these amazing children and their achievements.

Regards,

I-SET team

Inspiring you towards Science, Engineering and Technology!"

Find out more about I-SET on the following sites:

Community channel: http://www.youtube.com/isetcommunity

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/isetlego and follow #isetlego

SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/I-SET

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/isetlego