Microcontrollers with wings, Healy/Hurly style

Imagine a microcontroller smaller than a piece of cereal, in which the full system flies (far better than most helicopters), navigates, recognises objects and fits easily into your hand.

How much would NASA charge you to develop one?

A couple of biological researchers have discovered all of these properties and more in a small, non-patented item which we call “a hummingbird”.

Susan Healy & Andrew Hurly (name-jokes must run amuck thereabouts) have been at this NASA-rivalling business for many years... I was impressed by a 3m-tall fossil of a Kiwi penguin which might have weighed up to a tonne apiece (“no steala da fish!”), but really this, um, featherweight contender is a serious winner in the feature-density race.

For example, they’re known to remind feeder-owners about where they hung said bird-feeder a year or so ago. All of this in a system totalling about three grammes, wings and all. There are days when I rue the inability of computers literally hundreds of times heavier (and which don’t fly without a substantial impulse from the disgruntled owner) to remind me of where I have — or should have — put various things.

Comments

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

Search This Blog