Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo. Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts. Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo? This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.
You'll poke your eye out! ;) On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 12:49 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo.
Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts.
Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo?
This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.
-- Jeff Brace - ark72axow@gmail.com
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 1:02 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
You'll poke your eye out! ;)
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 12:49 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo.
Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts.
Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo?
This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.
ok, I know it's not April Fool's yet. And from what I heard on the grapevine you are serious about this. While the Lego Drone is a cool idea , this is apparently a foolish attempt if precautions are not taken. There are some hazards in this waiting for an accident to happen. You're not supposed to fly that stuff in the middle of a public crowd, beside some little exhibit table. Liability issues demand only fenced off areas are permitted to fly anything electric. Even larger areas for gas engines. And then you have exposed blades which still hurt a kid, maybe not enough to cut you but still cause some harm in the wrong place, like your eyes. If you remember the other exhibits which demoed flying kits, they only fly in those fenced off areas. Since you're outside this year, you could probably get away with a chicken wire fenced cage big enough to fly a few feet. Something where it doesn't poke their eye out. Think twice before going ahead with this. Dan
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 12:18 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
this is apparently a foolish attempt if precautions are not taken.
You're no fun. :)
hey, I'm all for made science experiments when the public is not at risk :)
Anyway, the props spun furiously but it did not take flight. Made some cool noises though!
sound like you have an engineering problem wrong motors or wrong blades or both, or even the wrong batteries you need the right mix [to put it simply]
Back to robot-making.
at least we don't have to worry about Robot Overlords with you making them ;) Dan
This may help www.verifly.com for commercial and recreational drone users! Eugene -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org] On Behalf Of Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 12:11 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Dan Roganti Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mad science experiment On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 1:02 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
You'll poke your eye out! ;)
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 12:49 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo.
Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts.
Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo?
This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.
ok, I know it's not April Fool's yet. And from what I heard on the grapevine you are serious about this. While the Lego Drone is a cool idea , this is apparently a foolish attempt if precautions are not taken. There are some hazards in this waiting for an accident to happen. You're not supposed to fly that stuff in the middle of a public crowd, beside some little exhibit table. Liability issues demand only fenced off areas are permitted to fly anything electric. Even larger areas for gas engines. And then you have exposed blades which still hurt a kid, maybe not enough to cut you but still cause some harm in the wrong place, like your eyes. If you remember the other exhibits which demoed flying kits, they only fly in those fenced off areas. Since you're outside this year, you could probably get away with a chicken wire fenced cage big enough to fly a few feet. Something where it doesn't poke their eye out. Think twice before going ahead with this. Dan
Evan, As I understand it, to maintain control of a typical quadcopter, the flight controller adjusts the speed of each rotor several hundred times a second, based on feedback from various sensors - this may (!) be beyond the Apple //e. Besides, the quad couldn't carry it! Steve -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org] On Behalf Of Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 12:49 AM To: Vcf-ma List <Vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Mad science experiment Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo. Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts. Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo? This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.
As I understand it, to maintain control of a typical quadcopter, the flight controller adjusts the speed of each rotor several hundred times a second, based on feedback from various sensors - this may (!) be beyond the Apple //e. Besides, the quad couldn't carry it!
I wasn't all that serious. Just wanted to see, on a whim last night, if I could make it lift off. Didn't happen. There are places where I could remove a part or two for weight savings, and I could gear up the motor for more power, but it's not worth the effort... for now. :)
This is a cool idea. Just change the parameters of the //e drone to something that does not fly. I suspect that controlling 3-d motion using LOGO would be rather difficult and servicing interrupts in the //e could be a challenge, but using LOGO on a //e is a great idea - even if it was done tongue in cheek. Jim -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org] On Behalf Of Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 9:12 PM To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mad science experiment
As I understand it, to maintain control of a typical quadcopter, the flight controller adjusts the speed of each rotor several hundred times a second, based on feedback from various sensors - this may (!) be beyond the Apple //e. Besides, the quad couldn't carry it!
I wasn't all that serious. Just wanted to see, on a whim last night, if I could make it lift off. Didn't happen. There are places where I could remove a part or two for weight savings, and I could gear up the motor for more power, but it's not worth the effort... for now. :)
using LOGO on a //e is a great idea - even if it was done tongue in cheek.
It's not tongue-in-cheek. LOGO on the Apple II was a big deal for young children in the mid-1980s. I wasn't one of them: I was a few years too old by that time, so we learned BASIC instead (middle school, just after it stopped being "junior high"). But I did learn some LOGO turtle graphics on a Commodore in elementary school. I thought I'd make something more interesting than the standard Lego turtle. But now there is little time before Maker Faire so the turtle is feeling inevitable.
On Tue, 27 Sep 2016, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
using LOGO on a //e is a great idea - even if it was done tongue in cheek.
It's not tongue-in-cheek. LOGO on the Apple II was a big deal for young children in the mid-1980s. I wasn't one of them: I was a few years too old by that time, so we learned BASIC instead (middle school, just after it stopped being "junior high"). But I did learn some LOGO turtle graphics on a Commodore in elementary school.
I thought I'd make something more interesting than the standard Lego turtle. But now there is little time before Maker Faire so the turtle is feeling inevitable.
ISTR having some LOGO on //e's in 4th grade. Somewhere I have a floppy with my saved programs. They still did some LOGO into 6th grade. Aside from power/weight ratio of a quad vs. the bulk of an Apple // or ][, I could envision using the LOGO turtle interfaces through a microcontroller that then sent translation commands to the drone's built-in controller, maybe just by hacking the remote. The // certainly doesn't have the compute or interrupts to fly it directly, but it can take the controls. Probably not enough time to make that go before Maker Faire. :) Maybe I missed this, but maybe build the Lego LOGO robot large enough to carry around the //? -- Jameel Akari
Aside from power/weight ratio of a quad vs. the bulk of an Apple // or ][.... Maybe I missed this, but maybe build the Lego LOGO robot large enough to carry around the //?
LOL, you definitely missed something. I wasn't trying to make THE COMPUTER into a drone. I was making a small Lego drone with its motors controlled by a LOGO program running on the computer. The drone is attached by a long wire to the Lego-LOGO hardware interface to the computer.
participants (7)
-
Dan Roganti -
Evan Koblentz -
Jameel Akari -
Jeffrey Brace -
Jim Scheef -
Steven Michelsen -
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