Microchip ICD adapter -> NXT port breakout board

Lego Mindstorms NXT kits are great for robotic prototypes and experiments. The computer brick and sensors communicate over I2C, which is great for DIY expansions. Unfortunately they also use nonstandard RJ connectors. (You can now buy the connectors, but that's no fun.)

The NXT's RJ port with offset connector lock.

I wanted to access the I2C, so I hacked up my "sound sensor" (microphone) to add a standard 0.1" header. But even as hacks go, it was ugly and only allowed access to 5 of the 6 pins.

However, a while ago the ECE department was getting rid of surplus parts, and among the reels of SMD resistors were a handful of header-to-RJ45 adapter boards that come with Microchip ICD programmers.

Microchip, on the other hand, make this handy board with a normal RJ45 port.

One day I happened to look at one and realize the RJ port on the Microchip board had the same pin spacing as the NXT ports. I cracked open my earlier hack, did a bit of soldering and desoldering, and boom - I had a small, clean NXT-port-to-header breakout board.

The connector lock may be shifted, but the footprint is the same as RJ45.

Mind you, I haven't actually coded up an I2C interface yet. But I can have a lot of lovely continuity beeps between NXT ports and a breadboard now. :)

     

ModDroid, we hardly knew ye

One of the projects I worked on at the Robotics and Neural Systems Lab was a modular robot we were going to design and build for a conference. Each module would be about 8" x 8" and stackable, so you could load up on CPUs and batteries, add some arms, mobility options, different heads...

Alas, for a variety of reasons we didn't get that far - we built just enough modules to make a basic robot we named ModDroid. ModDroid's coolest feature was his adorable head, designed by two of my labmates and featuring 8x8 RGB LED matrix eyes from Sparkfun. I had a lot of fun coding up the eye animations on the PIC control board.

 

I recently saw ModDroid sitting in a heap of parts in a corner of the lab. Looks like all we have to remember him by is this video... bon voyage little buddy!

Particle filters in real time

I love class projects, because it's great to make something that works amidst the theory and pure math. For one of my robotics classes, my team decided to code up a particle filter.

Actually, our plan was to have a Lego Mindstorms NXT robot localize itself (figure out its initially unknown position in a known environment), then navigate to a sound source while avoiding obstacles. We couldn't get the physical robot to cooperate, so we did the localization piece in simulation.

We got the particle filter working, and made some nice videos of the particles in action. Those and more info after the jump.

Little Drummer Boy: a drum machine with real drums

 
"Little Drummer Boy" was my final class project for an embedded microcontroller class. Two Futaba S3004 servos with drumsticks, controlled by a PIC18F4550, play a set of bongos. The frame was built by a teammate from scrap aluminum.

Videos and more info after the jump.

Music gear hacks: ugly but fun

Contrary to what you might think from the photos on this site, I do care about aesthetics. I get jazzed about great industrial design, I love a good clean interface, and part of me always wants to take a working project and sculpt it into a beautifully finished product that anyone would be proud to own.

The other 90% of me really likes the "junkyard whirlwind" look.

I was going through old files last week and found some photos/videos of music gear I modified, then sold when I got bored. These were all cool little hacks, some more labor-intensive than others - but they're all pretty ugly.

Circuit-Bent Casio SK-1 Keytar
By far the coolest SK-1 you'll ever see. Unfortunately since I made it around 1998, the only evidence left is this crop of a highly embarrassing snapshot.

Of course I'm not making a "rocking with my keytar" face.

Yes, that's the handhold from a kid's keytar bolted on an SK-1. Yes, that's a full-size guitar strap. Yes, the yellow buttons are wired up as circuit bends. And there are others you can't see - switches, pots, and body contacts - to modify the already crazy SK-1 sample magic.

I loved this thing and only sold it because I thought I could make bank at the height of the SK-1 craze. Which I did. Maybe I sold a little piece of my soul too. 

Check out the rest after the jump...

On the origin of blog

I'm not sure why anyone would be reading this post, it's pretty clear from the rest of this blog that I just wanted a place to blag on the internet about my precious wecious little projects. :)

Also I've gotten a lot of help and good ideas looking at other people's projects and code online, so maybe something here will come in handy for someone else someday.

About me... well, I'm back in school so I can build robots and finally put my scavenging skills to good use. There's really nothing better than a good long walk around the neighborhood the night before the trash gets picked up, wondering what treasures will, uh, fall into my lap.

After all, it's only junk if you don't know what to do with it.