5 replies to this topic

[Magic Dragon Portal]

I've built a 4-foot dragon head that can blink, move its eyes, exhale dry-ice fog, talk, and become enraged. It contains over 200 LEDs, half of which power the thousands of fiber optic strands that are its eyelashes.  

 

I copyrighted the design last year and am now starting to use ND2 to control its servos and LEDs. I've attached a picture of how I hope to use the ND2. I'd like to eventually control the ND2 from my Samsung Tablet. What should I buy to achieve that? And any tutorials on how to make that happen would be greatly appreciated.

 

I've been programming for over 30 years and am very familiar with VS ... starting way back when it was called Visual InterDev.   But my electronics is pretty much at the novice level.

 

All suggestions very welcome.

Thanks in advance

Larry

Attached Files

•  OfficeDragonFinal.png   707.64KB   9 downloads
•  ND2programming.png   52.36KB   5 downloads

[Chris Walker]

Hi Magic Dragon Portal,

Pretty cool!

For the rheostats and other analog inputs...you'll want to use the A0-A5 (analog) pins instead of the digital pins.

Have you already mapped the PWM-enabled pins to operations which require PWMs?

Most importantly...when can you share video of this awesome creature in action?

Welcome to the Netduino community,

Chris

[Magic Dragon Portal]

Thanks, Chris.

 

Good point on using A pins correctly.

 

As you'll see from the revised diagram, I know I need PWM to make this work but have not yet started working on that. All I've done so far  ND2programming_Rev2.png   369.65KB   1 downloads is go through the book Getting Started with NetDuino and order the Maker Shield it recommends.  

 

I'll be researching for how to do PWM, since I have a lot of 5V servos and 12V fans that I need to control ... as you'll see from my attached revisions.

 

As for the video, I'll have that next month. I don't expect to have mastered the Netduino by then (by a LONG shot), but it will give you a much better idea of how this looks.

 

[Chris Walker]

Hi Magic Dragon Portal,



Do the fans have both a power and a signal input (signal for on/off or PWM speed control)? Or are you looking at an h-bridge or motor shield to provide that?

Chris

[Magic Dragon Portal]

12V fans and water-pump are either always on or else only on for a few seconds when needed.

 

- Eyebrow fans ... always on (see attached pic). Subtly move the fiber-optic eyelashes so that Dragon appears to be in a world where there is wind blowing. These are the only ones not controlled by NetDuino.

 

- Dry-Ice water pump ... on for a few seconds when its time for the Dragon to exhale. Send hot water from large thermos into Dry-Ice compartment.

 

- Throat fans ... on for a few seconds in sync with water pump. Send the dry-ice fog generated by the hot water out the mouth.

 

- Nose fan ... on for a few seconds when its time for the Dragon to inhale. Nasal cavity is air-tight compartment about the size of a toaster with large concealed fan blowing air out. Fan is hidden in the roof of the mouth, which is closed during inhalation. Only air intake path is the two large nostrils, so I expect (not proven yet, but ever hopeful) that the fog will be sucked into the nasal cavity and make it appear that the Dragon is inhaling. At the same time, the yellow lights in the nasal cavity glow brighter and the servos attached to the nose slowly raise it up a few inches.

 

So ... short answer ... all I need for NetD to do is cause 12V to be turned on for a few seconds and then off again. Don't need to vary the 12 volts. Played with that initially, but found it wasn't really necessary since short on/off bursts do the trick just as well.

 

Attached Files

•  20141226_1438331.jpg   143.11KB   0 downloads

[Magic Dragon Portal]

I bought the attached, thinking that I would probably need it to control the servos that I'm going to use for the eyelids.

 

I'm going to search for a tutorial on what it does specifically, and how to make it do that.

 

I'm not very good with soldering iron ... destroyed two Maker Shields already and about to order a third and try again.

 

But wondering now if I should just buy NetDuino GO instead? I've watched a few videos on it, and love the plug-and-play capability. Concerned that it only has 8 "sockets" though.

 

I need to somehow do everything in my Dec 19 post. I can figure out the programming, but don't know what to buy. If I switch to Net GO, what modules do I need to buy to do the stuff in my Dec 19 post? I can spend a couple hundred dollars if I need to. Maybe need two Net GOs? What modules to make servo's move? 

 

I know you're busy ... perhaps just point me to the right articles/videos?

Attached Files

•  Adfruit.png   420.53KB   2 downloads
•  Servos.png   260.34KB   1 downloads