BitArtist.org

iModela 3D Milling Machine targets for hobbyist.

2012-02-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

iModela is a 3D Milling Machine made by Roland. It is small in size, using CNC milling mechanism to provide 3 axis milling facilities. You can make 2D and 3D objects in your home with this small machine. It costs US$899.

Let'see how it prints 3D object: via http://icreate.rolanddg.com/iModela/Global/English/index.html/

LifeLike android mannequin in Tokyo Store.

2012-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

This female mannequin is the production of Dr Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University. It looks very real to me, hopefully you will see more of these robots in Tokyo store. May be sometimes they will give you a smile when you passing by.

DIY IR remote on my Android Phone.

2012-01-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have followed the instructions here:http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Infrared-transmitter-for-iPhone-iPod/#step1 and here: http://www.vladcazan.com/previous-projects/electronics/iphone-remote-control.

The basic idea is using the Left/Right channel on the audio jack to power up two IR LEDs, so when you play a special audio (wave) file on your phone, it will generate the appropiate IR signals to the devices such as TV or your Camera.

It is a very easy hack, may be a good project for the new year start.

What u needs are only 2 x IR LED and a Audio 3.5mm Plug! Of coz, your phone, I am using Nexus S.

I don't have a TV, so I generate a wave media file to trigger my Canon DSLR, please check out the video:

The signal is not very strong, so sometimes it is not working properly. It may be because of the choice of the IR LED or just the phone won't provide enough power to the LED. It may not be very pratical, but it is fun anyway. Hope u will enjoy. Please do it @ your own risk, it may/may not damage your phone.

Tutorial on How to generate the wave form:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/131633-absurdly-simple-diy-k-x-remote-timer-using-mp3-player.html#post1368821

Canon Trigger Waveform:
http://controlyourcamera.blogspot.com/2010/01/automatically-resume-video-shooting-on.html

My Sample wave form download here:
http://androidhk.com/Canon.wav

Hanson Robokind

2011-12-29T22:29:00.000-08:00

A walking robot with an expressive face!

Android USB Host Testing.

2011-12-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

Since Android 3.1.x (API Level 12), Google introduced an USBManager which is actually a USB host API to talk to usb devices connected to your tablet or phone. It is different to the Android ADK, which requires the other sides have special hardwares and software protocol.

As now your tablet/phone is a complete USB host device, so you can theoretically connect to any USB devices avaliable on the market. But you have to write your own USB driver using USBManager (Java) to talk to the devices.

There is a one example provided by Google called ADB Test, so now you can connect your tablet/phone to another android devices via USB and start debugging. (i.e. adb logcat)

Source code: http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/USB/AdbTest/index.html

I got a Asus Transformer TF101, and a special USB kit which turns the external connector to a USB host connector, so now I can connect my phone to it with the USB cable! Let's see the demo video here:

If you want try it on your tablet/phone, you need to prepare a special usb host adapter if necessary and then download the following from the market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bitartist.usbadb

it is a direct copy of the Google Adb Test, I put on market just for people to play around.

I have started a little project of interfacing a USB2Serial adapter (based on SiLabs CP210x chipset), so far I can send / receive the data to/from the MCU UART. I hope can finish some basic functions (like setting baud rates) and release it to public later. It is a simple and cheap way to connect your Android devices to your MCU, the only drawback is that you will need a usb host and Android 3.1.x host device.

Draw Schematic Online !

2011-12-04T20:20:00.001-08:00

Found a website that allow you to draw schematic on your browser, so fast and easy.

link : http://www.dz863.com/

Robotic Bear Pillow!

2011-12-01T23:53:00.001-08:00

here we go, a new robot in Japan. It is a Pillow, if it hears you are snoring, it will turn your head to one side and hopefully you will store snoring. Check out the video here:

Qbo the Robot see himself in the mirror.

2011-11-28T09:18:00.001-08:00

Qbo is a robotic platform, it is not ready on the market yet. I am waiting for its launch. Let's see this cool video when Qbo stands in front of the mirror:

Cool!

Happy Thanksgiving: Will you consider to buy a robot for the coming 2012?

2011-11-24T07:19:00.001-08:00

We have talked about the weightloss coach robot called "Autom", now it is on sale, please check it out. They also released a new video: via http://myautom.com/

The All New ASIMO - by Honda -

2011-11-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

ASIMO is my beloved robot by Honda, now there is a whole new ASIMO released! With new hand design, asimo can do more things with his hand, also with improved balancing design, he can also jump with one leg! The new look is also very cool! Please check out the video below:

The New BeagleBone @ $89.

2011-11-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

I have a beagle board, it is really fun to play with it. Now the team released a beaglebone, with build-in ethernet, smaller footprint and IO expansion spaces. Though it is small, a Linux OS can be run on it and even cooler, you can connect to it with your browser and control the IO with Javascript! It is really a good starter kit for beginner!

Check out the website here: http://beagleboard.org/bone

Hobby Robot rides bicycle.

2011-11-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

Dr. Guero programmed a hobby robot for fun, and let she rides the bicycle in the same way of human do with no special balancing hardware.

Check out the demo:

via http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=30564

Robot with Muscle.

2011-07-08T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is a very complicated robot to use human like muscle to move.

Check it out:
Hugo Gravato Marques
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Switzerland

Open Source Robot: Qbo

2011-07-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

Qbo is an open robotic platform, it makes use of open source software, like Linux, OpenCV etc.

I am not sure about the retail price and the launch date, but I really hope it will be affordable for most of the robot lovers.

They also released an Alpha software of Qbo (a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu), I found it is very interesting to see what open source software that they used to build an intelligent robot, e.g. Vision system, speech engine etc, all can be done with open source software! So please check it out:

http://thecorpora.com/blog/?p=335

via http://thecorpora.com/

Weightloss Coach "Autom" released a new video.

2011-06-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Weightloss Coach "Autom" is a social robot helps you to keep fit. Check out the latest video here:

Robot hand using lightsaber!

2011-06-15T00:24:00.001-07:00

We all love StarWars, there are tons of video showing people playing lightsaber, but this video is different, two robot hands are playing lightsaber! Cool!

Robot Aerobic - Cute Robot Teddy Bear from fujitsu.

2011-06-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

We see this robot in CES this early year, it is really amazing, and here is the robot aerobic performed by the two teddy bears!

If you have kids, they should be happy to follow them for some exercises.

Cool Flying Ball

2011-06-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

This flying ball can fly very smoothly even in high speed, check it out :

The funny thing is that it doesn't need to control the landing behavior, just crash on the floor is ok!

Line Following Mini-Tank

2011-04-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

Considering making a simple line following robot? Check this out:

Detail Tutorial can be found here: http://www.pyroelectro.com/projects/mini_tank/

It is a very good tutorial, thanks for the hard work, Chris!

Robot fly like a real bird.

2011-03-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

It is made by Festo, at the first glance, it really looks like a real bird flying. Lets check this out:

Aerodynamic SmartBird fight model - Bird flight deciphered: http://www.festo.com/smartbird_en

NES router project.

2011-03-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

With the USB2VGA adapter, any SoC platform with a USB host can now have the VGA output! This video show a network router can be turned into a NES emulator and playing on a VGA monitor. Cool!

How robot touch you?

2011-03-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

How robot touch you? To answer this question, researches study how people react to the robot's touch and try to figure out how to do the best:)

Extreme Realistic Robot - Geminoid DK

2011-03-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

It is so REAL!

Hummingbird like Nano UAV

2011-02-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

Cool!

My latest creation: Beauty Skin App on Facebook.

2011-01-18T03:55:00.001-08:00

I am always interested in beautifying skin algorithm, after making the android version [BeautyShot], I decide to make a facebook version, so people can easily access to it. So hope you all can try it and leave me comments.

Try it here:
http://apps.facebook.com/beautyskin/

Thanks!