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Issue #200 March 2007
Issue 200
by C.J. Abate
Remember the days when you had to pull into a gas station and drop a coin in a pay phone to make an important call? Today you use your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone as you’re in transit.
Remember how you used to have to mark up an actual map before you took off on a road trip? Today you simply log your destination on a web site and hit Print. Some of you even have interactive navigation systems that tell you how to avoid traffic jams and toll booths on the way to your destination!
Remember how you used to have to order all of your parts (from MCUs to LEDs) with a mail-in form or over the phone? Today you simply click a few buttons and everything you need is shipped overnight.
I could go on and on for another six paragraphs. The point is, a lot of things have changed since 1988. But one thing hasn’t: a brand new edition of Circuit Cellar hits the newsstands each month. And for those of you who have been subscribers since the beginning, you have 200 great issues to prove it.
This month we’re celebrating the 200th edition of Circuit Cellar. To do so, we’ve packed this issue with great feature articles, columns, and more. For instance, check out our special foldout cover if you haven’t already. There, we provide you with a look at the history of Circuit Cellar. It’s amazing how writers like Steve Ciarcia, Tom Cantrell, Jeff Bachiochi, and Ed Nisley have been so far ahead of the technological curve for so many years. They’ve been covering the technologies of tomorrow in the pages of Circuit Cellar ever since the Reagan administration!
We also have two special feature articles this month. On page 40, Dave Tweed describes many of the technologies that have been covered in Circuit Cellar. On page 72, Ed Nisley tells us about some of his all-time favorite projects. Remember the soda bottle launcher project from Issue 2? We still get letters and e-mails about that one! As usual, we also have a healthy batch of theme-related articles to keep you busy. The Robotics issue is always a crowd pleaser. This month we present a variety of projects that won’t disappoint.
On page 14, Michael Hall, Aaron Patten, and Erin Simpson describe how they designed and built a complete control system for a robotic manipulator arm. They updated an old arm and designed a new control system that’s capable of complex, repeatable actions. The system consists of a main manipulator arm and a teaching arm used to control it.
Ever wonder how moviemakers get their monsters to look so real? In “Animatronic System Control,” Barry Stout and Eugene Zeldin describe how to build a controller for an animatronics system (p. 24). The system controls a robotic monster’s head, eyes, and mouth. Although the controller was originally designed for use on the set of a horror film, you can build a similar system for any number of applications.
Jeff Bingham and Lee Magnusson’s inertial rolling robot is definitely a novel design (p. 34). A DC electric motor is attached to a pendulum and suspended inside an inflated ball. They describe everything from the H8/3664-based circuitry to the process of cutting the rubber ball and patching it up again.
To round off this group of robotics-related articles, Dale Wheat describes how he designed his Servo Tester I and Servo Tester II systems. The latter features a second servo channel and an Auto Sweep function. You can build a similar system and tweak the code to suit your needs.
These projects will keep your gears turning well into April and May. Go animate!
Before I sign off, let me leave you with a little bit of encouragement: you’re the engineers whose designs will change the way people live, work, and interact in the 21st century. Work hard, read (Circuit Cellar, of course), and keep us up to speed on your progress!
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