I found a nicer house and I’m moving July first! It’s in an older neighborhood here in Tempe where there’s huge old growth trees lining the streets.  All the houses look nice and are well kept. It’ll be good to be in a nice neighborhood again.

I’ll have a carport to use for some projects but my main work room will be the second bedroom in the house. There’s a huge grassy back yard for the dogs and cats to play in and a nice shady spot for a garden.

Time to get busy packing stuff up.. again.

I’ve started building a prototype for a 6 wheeled robot, and I’m blogging it here:
http://dinofab.com/atr/

I’ve also been messing with the Diet Coke and Mentos! Lots of messy fun. I’ve been working on a rocket powered by the stuff, but so far no success. Yes, I’ve seen the YouTube  videos where you load the Mentos, shake well then slam the bottle onto the pavement thus blowing the cap off sending it skyward. That hasn’t worked yet, and there’s no control of it’s trajectory.

I’m wanting something that launches like a mortar round. Add the Mentos, cap the bottle and drop it into a tube cap first.
The launch mechanism? A piece of 3/4″ copper pipe sharpened like a hypo needle, mounted at the bottom of the tube. It would poke out the whole cap at once. It’s that sudden release of CO2 that sets things off.
So maybe today I’ll take a trip to the hardware store and get some supplies and give it a go.

I’ve got another project I want to pursue with the wireless camera I used at the Maker Faire. I want to attach it to some tethered helium filled balloons and send it up over my house and monitor the picture on my laptop… maybe record a video. Why? Just because I can. :)  … and because I’m a Maker of things.

While driving home from Maker Faire, (it’s a 14 hour trip) I had lots of time to think about what’s next for me.
I came to the conclusion that I want to live and work in San Mateo. So now my job hunting will focused in that area. My goal is to be living and working there by September.

As far as projects go, I think I’ll be building a roving autonomous robot from scratch using some stepper motors I have. I want to make a bot that can navigate rougher terrain outdoors. Something with a few more sensors and some onboard GPS navigation, perhaps a wireless communication link to a laptop and an onboard wireless camera.

It’s time to make my fortune with inventiveness!

The Maker Faire is over and it’s time to go home. I had a great time and I recieved and Editor’s Choice award! Cool! I’m satying one more day just to rest up and do a little sight seeing.

I love this area and I’m going to move here as soon as I can. Time to start job hunting in the San Mateo area.

Big thanks to all the people that came to the faire and made it all worth the effort!

…and a really big thank you to Makezine for putting on yet another spectacular event!

See you next year!

Dino

It’s been a busy week getting things ready for the trip over to San Francisco for The Maker Faire.
I’ll be packing up the Honda with all my stuff Wednesday evening and heading out early Thursday morning… around 4 am. I should be in San Mateo by late afternoon.

I’m still working on signs and graphics for the exhibit and I’d like to come up with some kind of gizmo to hand out business cards. I’ll have to brainstorm that one while I look over my available parts and pieces from some old printers and cd players.

The Maker Faire is in two weeks.

I’ve built my exhibit booth

…now it’s the details.

I’m flying to NY tomorrow for my Mom’s funeral services.

So, there’s a bit of “mental” preparation for that.

…and also for The 2009 Maker Faire.

As of this writing, I’m dedicating my weekend there to my Mom.

She was so cool with my tinkering when I was a kid. She just knew that I was OK around electricity and electronics and allowed me room to play. She was always fully aware of the things I was taking apart and experimenting with, and the dangers, and yet she trusted my smarts, that I wouldn’t fry myself or burn the house down!

Thanks Mom!

This past weekend I built my exhibit “booth” and today I’m in the process of painting it.

I’ve posted a few pics on Flickr

I’ve also fabricated an “arena” for my bots to move around in. It’s a 6′ x 10′ area with a 6″ wall all around made of 4 pine boards.
Everything will come apart into sections, and there’s nothing longer than 6 feet so it will fit in the back of my Honda Element. I’m using that as my transportation to San Mateo from Phoenix.

ROAD TRIP!!

So this week, a little time in NY to reflect on the past, and then onward into the new at the Maker Faire in a few weeks.

See you there!

I’ve shot some DIY robot construction videos and uploaded them to YouTube.
They’re embedded on the dinofab website as of today.
Scroll to the bottom of the page after the jump:
http://www.dinofab.com/rumblebot.html

I’m working on a third robot for the Maker Faire. This next one will have only bump whiskers for sensors.

See you at the Maker Faire!

I’ve been getting things together for the Bay Area Maker Faire. I’ve purchased another Rumble Robot bringing my total to seven! I’ll have one opened up and on display so visitors can see what’s inside and I can explain the drive train and electronics.
I plan on having at least three bots running all day in a simple enclosure. It will be interesting to see how they interact while roving about.

I’ve got another Arduino on the way and I just ordered a “Seeduino” which is a cheaper alternative and 100% compatible with the Arduino software. It also has a lower profile because it uses surface mount components and it has two additional analog inputs.

This weekend I plan on uploading a “How To” webpage to the dinofab.com website to help folks build their own “Arduino Rumblebot”. I’ll include photos, schematics, a PDF and links to parts suppliers.

Be sure to plan on attending the 2009 Bay Area Maker Faire! See you there!