Published by rich on
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 07:54:25
- Filed under Robots and Electronics, Other Fun Stuff
I've gotten most of the quirks out of Melty B's
strafing code.
First test video
Newer test video - after some practice / bug fixes
The test platform is one-wheeled - probably doing about 1200rpm.
It's not the most impressive demo - but you can see it works. I'm not entirely sold on how much of a tactical advantage it offers. From a technical standpoint - it seems to work fine - but some driving practice might be needed to do anything useful.
Currently strafing is controlled by the rudder on my remote. I suspect there's someway to integrate it in a "fuzzy" manner using the single stick for the traditional left-right control.
Email Spam Blockers - Anti-Spam Filters
Published by rich on
Friday, April 25, 2008 - 18:31:21
- Filed under Spam
I get a surprising number of SpamButcher
spam blocker program purchasers who complain the serial number they get after purchasing doesn't work.
I think I figured out why.
The post-purchase email for SpamButcher looks something like this:
Thank you for purchasing SpamButcher!
YOUR SERIAL NUMBER IS: 3261517461814
(No, that's not a real SpamButcher serial number.)
Then let's say the user selects the serial number by double-clicking it.
Thank you for purchasing SpamButcher!
YOUR SERIAL NUMBER IS: 3261517461814_
Imagine the underline is actually a selection. See the trailing space after the serial number?
Some email clients see a trailing space and select it, others don't.
The short of it is that SpamButcher sees the trailing space - and decides it's the wrong number of characters for a valid serial number.
I've encountered this problem dozens of times with trying to enter passwords into websites that I received via email. I suspect half the time I never figured out that having a trailing space was the problem.
I'm not the only person who's encountered this problem with trailing spaces and passwords.
So what's the solution?
Webmasters, creators of spam blockers and other application developers should be aware of this issue - and write code smart enough to discard any spaces or carriage returns found at the end of passwords or serial numbers.
In fact, I just made the fix to SpamButcher and will post the updated code later today.
Published by rich on
Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 21:05:01
- Filed under Robots and Electronics, Other Fun Stuff
Another mixed showing for Melty Beetle at Seattle Bot Battles.
The first fight against T-Wrex went very well - I think the first fight I was fully happy with Melty Beetle’s performance for.
In subsequent fights I had a number of problems including:
Getting stuck in corners
The indicator LED going out (the LED’s lens actually got broken off)
Not being able to spin up quickly when getting pushed around
Solder melting / wires coming lose from too much current draw
Here’s some video footage:
T-Wrex_vs_Melty_Beetle.wmv
Wobble_Wopper_vs_Melty_Beetle.wmv
Mission_Mayhem_vs_Melty_Beetle.wmv
Hurty_Gurty_vs_Melty_Beetle.wmv
Post_fight_autopsy.wmv
I’m increasingly satisfied that it’s quite possible to build a competitive 1-wheel translational drift bot.
I think most of the problems with the current bot are addressable. For instance, using a low-ratio gearbox (maybe 2:1) would help with both spin-up time and current draw.
That said - I’m leaning towards doing a 2-wheel design next. Since there’s plenty of time until the next local event - I’ve gone back into my “research” mode for now.
SpamButcher combat robotics is brought to you by the SpamButcher spam blocker program.
I’ve been playing with asymmetrical two-wheel translational drift (different size motors / wheels). Turns out this works fine.
As implied by the above - it’s also possible to get translation with an unbalanced two-wheel configuration. However - if the imbalance isn’t on the axis of the motors - it seems to significantly hurt performance.
Using only one of the drive motors for translation also works (the non-translating motor is always powered). This could possibly be used with one motor being brushless (always on) and another brushed motor handling the translation. However - if the translating motor is significantly smaller than the non-translating one - the translation tends to be weak.
Also have strafing working pretty well now (some bugs still).
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