Dear Diary,

Well, I still haven't managed to convince myself to work on the code any further... It's kinda hard to get into a coding state of mind sometimes, especially when there are parts to buy and things to be built.

So, on that note, I did get some more things made for R(rrr). Since the last update I finally built more of a body/housing/thing which doubles as the upper support for the arms and keeps the mess o' proto-wires contained somewhat. I've also decided on the beginnings of an arm design. So far it's just the three DOF of the shoulder, but I'll add a few more in the coming days (especially since the boss approved another metal-geared servo order!). The head has come together as well, and there was just enough space inside the webcam (a Logitech C310) to drill/hack/slash a big hole in and wedge an EZ-1 ultrasonic sensor in there. Finally, I hacked together a pan/tilt neck mechanism out of a couple pieces of 1/2" x 3/4" aluminum angle (from Lowes) and a couple servos. After pulling the monitor mount clip off the logitech I was able to use the molded in pivot to bolt it to the neck. I don't have much of a selection of pushrods or connectors around here, so I ended up using another servo horn and a paperclip to make the linkages. The photos I have don't show it well, but the linkage pivots the webcam a bit as it lifts the neck. The way it works out kinda gives R's face a bit more personality than just a camera tilting up and down.

I'll end this with a few photos that show how Ruprecht looks hanging out on the table. Hopefully I'll get the building itch simmered down a bit and actually get to some coding shortly.

I could've sworn I made a post last week showing the lower profile '1284 deck, but I guess I just never did it. I can't even find the photos I thought I took. Weird. I'll snap some pics of it next time I take the decks apart (which seems to happen more often than I'd like).