Shades of EAVE September 15, 2015
Posted by dvgibson in Uncategorized.2 comments
There was a Mini Maker Faire in Dover, NH recently and I noticed a photo of Darrell Morris, apparently from the Portsmouth Navy Shipyard doing a demonstration of Sea Perch, a small underwater robot. Reminded me of the time I spent working on EAVE, an autonomous underwater vehicle being developed and tested at the Marine Systems Engineering Lab at UNH. EAVE was an AUV, meaning she was on her own once released and Sea Perches are ROV, remotely operated. This program is a STEM project to use building an underwater robot to introduce kids to science and technology. I know that MIT, UNH, PNSY and Bath Iron Works have all participated in this program. I am hoping I can find some connections and perhaps volunteer my time to helping out with this in the Seacoast area.
You can learn more at: http://www.seaperch.org/about
A few shots of EAVE leaving and returning from a mission on Mendum’s Pond, New Hampshire, probably summer 1983.
Drawing Your Own Circuits. September 10, 2015
Posted by dvgibson in Prototyping.add a comment
I saw Circuit Scribe mentioned on Facebook yesterday and decided to go look it up this time. The concept sounds really intriguing to me after so many years of hand drawing circuits and then tediously translating them into breadboards or finished products. I want to see what happens quickly and get back to the drawing board. I have seen verious conductive ink pens being used before but I did not know that Electronicinks has a kit out that you can get on Amazon, or direct from them to get you rolling. This is something I really want to give a try.
What I see as drawbacks is that the circuit diagram needs to be to scale to fit the parts, and corrections might be a problem. They do provide a template so I am guessing you would want to do quick pencil sketches to get the idea going, then a more refined drawing, and then ink it in. But I see there are plenty of videos available to get you going.
I think the most fun would be to do this with some young kids. Maybe my granddaughters would be interested?
Electroninks: Creators of Circuit Scribe Conductive Ink Pens
Deep Ocean to Deep Space 