Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone :-)

I hope it will be joyful, exciting, and successful for all of you!

Cheers,
  Boian

A great gift for my Birthday! Shield Buddy, and Papilio DUO-2MB for the Visuino development :-)

And a fantastic Gift for my Birthday yesterday!
2 great boards donated by Michael Himmelsbach for the Visuino development :-)

• Shield Buddy - http://www.hitex.co.uk/index.php?id=3650
• Papilio DUO-2MB - https://www.seeedstudio.com/Papilio-DUO-2MB-p-2329.html

Both are fantastic boards opening new exciting opportunities for the Visuino development. The Shield Buddy has parallel execution capabilities, and the Papilio comes with built-in FPGA. I have considered OpenWire based FPGA development for some years, and this is the best opportunity to actually try it :-) . Exciting time ahead for sure... :-)
Thank you Michael Himmelsbach for your generosity! Have Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

#Visuino #Arduino #OpenWire

Cheers,
  Boian

Just received a GPS Shield from Makerfabs donated for the Visuino development, and the Tutorials :-)

An Arduino GPS Shield donated by Makerfabs for the Visuino development, and the Tutorials :-)
I also noticed that Makerfabs has 31% off sale on the Shield at the moment, so check it out ;-)

Since the GPS is already available in Visuino, and I was planning a new Tutorial on GPS, it will give me the opportunity to make one with the Shield in the following days :-) .

#Visuino #Arduino

Hackaday LA December Meetup Last Night

Last night I attended the Hackaday LA December Meetup organized by Dan Hienzsch and Shulie  from Rheingold Heavy. It was a great event with 2 very good speakers, including Steve Collins from the JPL Mars Roboticist team.
The hosts also provided very tasty treats for all of us :-) .
Here are some pictures from the event:

Naturally no event is complete without really good food, and boy was it really good! :-)

Some of the gathering crowd:

Dan Hienzsch one of the event organizers:

And Shulie the other organizer announcing the raffle prizes:

Dave Johnson from Leaf Cutter Studio introducing us to the Magic of Neon Art:

And Steve Collins from JPL introducing us to he Magic of Landing on Mars:

The dazzled crowd in the room:

Me, Shulie and my Elegoo robot:

And some more pictures of me and the robot :-) :

Looking forward to more great events organized by Dan Hienzsch and Shulie :-)

Source code for the "Artificial Intelligence with Delphi & C++Builder" session from CodeRage XI

Here is the source code for the "Artificial Intelligence with Delphi & C++Builder" session from CodeRage XI:

http://www.mitov.com/CodeRageXIArtificialIntelligenceSources.zip

And video replay of the session:

In the session I used updated versions of the libraries. Here are prereleases of the libraries with the latest features included:

http://www.mitov.com/AnimationLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/CommunicationLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/LogicLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/PlotLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/InstrumentLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/IntelligenceLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/SignalLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/AudioLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/VisionLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip
http://www.mitov.com/VideoLab_VCL_7.8.2.53.zip

The installs are only for RAD Studio/Delphi/C++ Builder 10.1 Berlin!

The installs also include the new MQTT component in CommunicationLab that was demonstrated in another CodeRage XI session.

Cheers,

  Boian

#Delphi #OpenWire

Just received 2 color sensors for the Visuino development gift from one of the Visuino users :-)

Just received these 2 color sensors donated for the Visuino development :-).
Looking forward to work on the support for them ASAP. Couple of other components are at the moment in the queue, but these should also happens in few days :-)

#Visuino #Arduino

CodeRageXI: Create IoT solutions with Delphi, Arduino, and Visuino

Video from the CodeRage XI session "Create IoT solutions with Delphi and Arduino" . Shows 7 different projects developed with Visuino https://www.visuino.com, and 6 Delphi projects, including:

- Multi Channel USB Communication
- Read Accelerometer And Gyroscope Data from ESP8266 over WiFi
- Bluetooth LE Remote Controlled Servo
- Bluetooth Classic Remote Controlled Elegoo Robot http://elegoo.com/
- MQTT Communication between multiple devices

and more...

The PowerPoint presentations, sources, and few pictures from SoCal CodeCamp last Sunday

Last Sunday I presented 4 sessions at SoCoal CodeCamp in USC . It was a lot of fun :-)

Here are the PowerPoint presentations:

Artificial Intelligence with .NET:
www.mitov.com/Conferences/SoCal2016_ArtificialIntelligenceinDotNet.pptx

Implementing Internet of Things with Visuino:
www.mitov.com/Conferences/SoCal2016_VisuinoIoT.pptx

Programming Arduino Robots with Visuino:
www.mitov.com/Conferences/SoCal2016_VisuinoRobots.pptx

Video, Audio Processing, DSP, Computer Visuino and Artificial Intelligence in Delphi:
www.mitov.com/Conferences/SoCal2016_VideoAudioDelphi.pptx


Here is also the code from the AI session:
www.mitov.com/Conferences/SoCal2016_ArtificialInteligence.zip

Although very intense, and tiring, I still found chance to snap few pictures:

The "Programming Arduino Robots with Visuino" session:

The "Video, Audio Processing, DSP, Computer Visuino and Artificial Intelligence in Delphi" session:

Just received my EVIVE prototype for Visuino support

Just received my EVIVE prototype with 3D printed box :-)
Looking forward to start working on Visuino support for it! Few other modules in the queue before it, but still may sneak a bit of work in the coming days...



#Visuino #Arduino

Visuino at the second "Barnes and Noble" Mini Maker Faire

Here are some pictures from the presentation of Visuino at "Barnes and Noble" Mini Maker Faire yesterday:

Me programming the robot for Infrared Remote control:

Hooking DHT11 sensor to Arduino Nano:

Me "Wizarding" with the robot :-)

And finally me and a space monkey :-)

Cheers,

  Boian

Just received a great 9 Gas Sensors Kit donated by Kuman for Visuino! Now working on it...

And today's arrival generously donated by Kuman for the Visuino development - a great 9 Gas Sensors kit including box and jumper cables . 
Looking forward to start working on supporting the sensors in the following days :-)

Thank you Kuman for your generosity!

#Visuino #Arduino #Kuman

A fantastic gift to Visuino from Demetrius Dozier - 8 great Adafruit LoLa Radio Transceivers modules!

Today just received from Demetrius Dozier 8 Adafruit LoLa Radio Transceivers modules - 4 different pairs - RFM69HCW - 915 MHz, RFM69HCW - 433 MHz, RFM95W - 915 MHz, and RFM95W - 433 MHz.
Thank you Demetrius Dozier your generosity, and support for the Visuino Community!
Already looking into the Visuino support for the modules!

Not only he sent so many modules, but even full set of SMD and Edge-Launch SMA antenna connectors for them:

My Delphi Session at SoCal Code Camp in USC, Los Angeles on November 12th & 13th

I plan to present a Delphi session at the SoCal Code Camp in USC, Los Angeles on November 12th & 13th:

Video, Audio Processing, DSP, Computer Visuino and Artificial Intelligence in Delphi

I will also plan to present 3 other sessions. I already announced my Visuino Sessions and will see to announce my .NET session in the next couple of days.
You can see the complete list of sessions here:

http://www.socalcodecamp.com/sessions.aspx

If you are in the area, please join the sessions. The Conference is Free!
Please also vote for the session, if you plan to attend, so the organizers can assign room with proper size :-)

Last year I attended the conference (You can actually see me on the picture above almost right in the center :-D ), and it was a great event!
Even if you are not interested in my sessions, please check out all the great sessions by the rest of the presenters!

Please note that the site seems to be very popular, and sometimes the server is overwhelmed and timesout. If you get timeout error, please try later again!

#Delphi #OpenWire

Assembling Elegoo Smart Robot Car Kit Step 5: Connecting it all together

Few days ago, I received this great Smart Car kit from Elegoo generously donated to support the Visuino development!
In the previous blog posts, I showed you the first 4 steps of the assembly process. Now I will show you how to connect all the parts together and complete the robot.

Push the wires from the servo through the big hole in the upper layer of the Chassis :

Connect the connector to the Digital 3 sensor connection point with the brown wire connected to the ground pin, and the yellow wire connected to the signal:

The Smart Car kit comes with 2 sets of Female-Female jumper cables. Short and long. I initially tried to use the short ones for the Ultrasonic Ranger, but they seem too short, so peal 4 wires from the long set of cables (In my case Yellow, Orange, Red and Brown):

Connect the wires to the Ultrasonic ranger as shown on the picture - from the back left to right start with the Brown wire:

Connect the other end of the Brown wire (the one connected to the left pin from the back of the Ultrasonic Sensor) to the Ground pin of the A5 sensor connection points of the Sensor Shield:

Connect the Yellow Wire (the one connected to the right pin from the back of the Ultrasonic Sensor) to the Power pin of the A5 sensor connection points of the Sensor Shield:

Connect the Orange Wire (the one connected to the third pin from the left of the Ultrasonic Sensor) to the A5 Signal pin of the sensor connection points of the Sensor Shield:

Connect the last wire - Red Wire to the A4 Signal pin of the sensor connection points of the Sensor Shield:

Take the remaining short connection with white connector on one side, and black on the other, and connect the white connector to the Infrared Remote Sensor:

Connect the black connector of the wire to the connection points for pin 12 on the Sensor Shield, so the black wire is connected to ground, and the white to signal:

Split 6 long Female-Female jumper wires - in my case Green, Blue, Purple, Gray, White and Black:

Connect the wires to the L298N Motor Driver module control connector as shown on the pictures:

Now it is time to connect the 2 layers of the Chassis together. The Spacers and the Screws for them are packaged in 2 clearly labeled bags:

Take them out of the bags,

Flip the bottom layer of the Chassis - the one with the motors upside down and insert one of the screws from the bottom trough one of the corner holes, then screw the spacer on it from the top:

Do the same with the rest of the spacers:

Connect the power connector to the Arduino board:

Connect the Red Power wire from the power connector to the first connection point of the power connector of the L298N Motor Driver module:

Connect the Black Ground wire from the power connector to the second connection point of the power connector of the L298N Motor Driver module:

Grab all the cables that have unconnected ends together:

Push them through the big hole in the top Chassis layer from the bottom, so the unconnected ends appear on the top:

Place the top layer of the Chassis over the spacers, so the corner holes match, and insert and tighten screws through the holes.

I also inserted the power wires for the motor driver through the same big hole, to reduce clutter:

Connect the 6 wires from the motor shield to the signal pins 5 to 10 of the digital sensor pins, connecting the wire from the left pin (Green Wire) of the L298N Motor Driver module to pin 10, and the rest of the wires in order to the following pins until pin 5:

Connect the wire from the Right Line Following Sensor when looking from the back of the cart in normal upside position (The sensor on the opposite side of the power connector for the Arduino), to the points for pin 2 on the Sensor Shield, so the black wire is connected to ground, and the white to signal:

Connect the wire from the Center Line Following Sensor, to the points for pin 4 on the Sensor Shield, so the black wire is connected to ground, and the white to signal:

Connect the wire from the Left Line Following Sensor when looking from the back of the cart in normal upside position (The sensor on the opposite side of the power connector for the Arduino), to the points for pin 11 on the Sensor Shield, so the black wire is connected to ground, and the white to signal:

Here is the Smart Car robot with all the wires connected:

Optionally we can also install the Bluetooth module. The Sensor Shield has dedicated connector for it:

Be aware that when the Bluetooth module is installed, you will not be able to program the Arduino as it uses the same serial interface. You will need to remove the Bluetooth module every time you program the Arduino.

We can now also charge the rechargeable batteries. The Smart Car robot contains a battery charger. Make sure you use the included charger to charge the batteries, as otherwise you may damage them, or even cause fire!

Unpack the batteries and the charger:

Insert the batteries into the charger making sure you match the + and - as labeled on the charger:

Connect the charger to power. The LEDs will light in red indicating charging the batteries:

Once the batteries are charged, the LEDs will turn greenish:

The Smart Car Robot is complete and ready to program. I will see to make some tutorials on programming it with Visuino in the coming days.