HARI KRISHNAN R.

EkInBot- Obstacle Detection

2011-09-28T01:04:00.003+05:30

Phase 1 Completed......

EkInBot- Walking forward, backward, turning left and right-2

2011-09-27T00:59:00.001+05:30

EkInBot- Walking forward, backward, turning left and right

2011-09-21T17:32:00.001+05:30

EkInBot- Initial forward walking Movement

2011-09-04T12:12:00.005+05:30

COMING SOON..............EKINBOT

2011-08-10T20:20:00.003+05:30

EKINBOT is a simple Humanoid robot specifically for Human Robot Interaction.

EKINBOT is the abbreviated form of Elektronically Interactive Robot.
Simple Design.
The robot has a total of 8 Degrees Of Freedom. 2 DOF at each legs and 2 DOF at each arm.
Employs 4 servomotors, 2 Geared DC motors and 2 brushless DC motors.
Heart of the robot is PIC16F877A or 18F452.

More details coming soon....... The pictures are designs using SolidWorks. The exact robot will have changes.

FIRA 2010, BANGALORE VIDEOS

2010-11-21T16:41:00.004+05:30

News Coverage TV9 News

News coverage, Amritha TV

Footage by Deligates from University of Plymouth

FIRA 2010, BANGALORE PHOTOS

2010-10-02T08:01:00.001+05:30

FIRA 2010, BANGALORE

2010-08-14T16:40:00.001+05:30

A 2 DOF PC CONTROLLED CAMERA MOUNT

2010-04-19T07:12:00.014+05:30

TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED FAN

2010-04-18T08:58:00.008+05:30

What if, the speed of the fan is controlled depending on room temperature? This is a small initiative to this idea. The heart of the project is PIC 16F873A. The technical support for this project is provided by Blue apple technolabs Pvt ltd, Kaloor , Kochi.

The project employs an LM35 temperature sensor, L293D motor controller, An LCD for displaying the temperature and a small SMPS fan for the demo purpose. LM 35 is widely available, simple transducer. L293D is used so as to control the speed of the fan by inputing PWM output of the microcontroller.

Output of the LM35 is connected to the RA0 pin of the PIC16F873A. The Operating temperature range of the system 24 degree C to 62 degree C. 24 degree C is the lower cut off range and 62 degree C is upper cut off range. The fan stops operating at this cut off points. The speed of the fan gradually increases as the temperature increases from 26 degree C.

Plse click on the thumbnail below for the program.

Tools required:- MPLAB IDE v8.10, HITECH PIC C Compiler

Temperature based ...

Hosted by eSnips

FIRA 2010, BANGALORE

2010-03-26T15:15:00.003+05:30

ROBOTICS, INDIA AND THE FUTURE- Prof Prahlad Vadakkepat

2010-01-04T18:14:00.000+05:30

ROBOTICS, INDIA AND THE FUTURE is an article authored by Prof Prahlad Vadakkepat covered in the DIGIT Magazine. (January 2010 issue). This article points out present and future developments of Robotics in India. The author also introduces his projects like GeNUS and The CREO through this article. He also provides an idea about the robots playing foot ball game.

Click Here to Read........

ROBOTICS : DO YOU HAVE IT IN YOU?

2010-01-04T15:42:00.005+05:30

The Robotics industry is growing at an exponential pace in India for the last few years. Let's explore whether it could be your forte............

ROBOTICS : DO YOU HAVE IT IN YOU? is an article that was published in 2009 December issue of ELECTRONICS FOR YOU. The article was authored by Sudeshna Das, consultant- editorial, industry & academia at EFY. The article covers present and future of robotics industry in India, together with suggestions and interviews of the experts in Robotics field like Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat.

Click here to read............

FIRA 2010

2009-09-02T22:03:00.003+05:30

Prof. Vadakkepat receiving the FIRA flag from Prof. Kim Jong-Hwan, FIRA President : 20 Aug 2009, Inchon, Korea

ALARM CLOCK USING PIC 18F452

2009-08-29T12:48:00.025+05:30

I programmed a PIC microcontroller to be employed as the heart of an Alarm Clock. I know, it is not a big thing, the thing is that I have not interfaced any Real Time Clock ICs or any devices that provides Real Time Values. When I thought of doing this project a couple of weeks before, I just googled thinking in my mind that I would get some help from some forums, but alas the result was negative. I dint stop , went ahead and now the breeze of relief is touching my mind. Yes the net product has some limitations, then too I have did it. I would like to share this with you people.

The PIC Microcontroller that I used was PIC 18F452, having 32K of flash memory, 1536 bytes of RAM and 256 bytes of EEPROM memory. It is a 40 pin IC having about half a dozen of inbuilt peripheral modules. I dint design a dedicated circuitry for the whole project, rather I used PIC development board and associated peripheral modules designed and supplied by our company, Blue Apple Technolabs Pvt Ltd.

Modules and Components Used:-

1.PIC 18F452

2.PIC development board

3.4x4 Keypad Module

4.2x16 LCD Module

5.Buzzer Alarm Module

6..FRC Cables for interconnections

Software tools:-

1. MPLAB IDE v8.10

2. HITECH PIC18C Compiler

3 PIC 18 Simulator IDE for software Simulation.

Basic Idea

Basic idea of the project is so simple.

. A stop watch which counts from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 , which resets to 00:00:00 and again continues the count.

. While pressing a particular key, say a TIME EDIT KEY, first line of the LCD will display HH:MM:SS. Now values can be entered into the Hour , Minutes and Seconds location through Keypad.

. When an invalid value is added in Hour, Minutes and Seconds locations, say a value 75 in minutes location , an ‘X’ sign will be displayed in the same line and the display is reset to HH:MM:SS. User has to re-enter all the values.

. Upon pressing an ENTER key the counter should start counting from the entered value in seconds location . Upon reaching 59, a 1 should be added to the value entered in minutes location and upon reaching 59 in minutes location a 1 should be added to the value entered in hours location. And this process should go on.

. Alarm can be set and the alarm time is displayed in the Second line of the LCD.

. While pressing a ALARM EDIT KEY, values can be entered to HH:MM:SS location.

. Here too, an ‘X’ sign will be displayed in the second line upon entering an invalid value.

. When the clock value ( Displayed in the 1^st line) and the Alarm value (Displayed in the 2^nd line) becomes same, an alarm will be generated using a buzzer.

. Alarm is stopped by pressing Alarm Stop key

Interfacing

Interfacing an LCD was discussed earlier. Data lines of the LCD is connected to PORT D and Control lines to RA0,RA1 and RA2. Please go through my older posts. The next module that is to be discussed is the Key pad module. As told earlier a 4x4 keypad is used. The interfacing is done in the simplest way.

Steps

Connect the keypad to any of the ports of the PIC. Here PORT C
Output 0F through PORTC.
Read back PORTC and store the value in variable1. A value other than 0F will be available from PORTC, if a key press is detected
Output F0 through PORTC.
Read back PORTC and store the value in variable 2. A value other than F0 will be available from PORTC, if a key press is detected

Take variable 3 and save the logical ORed result of Variable 1 and variable 2 in it.
Particular value of the key pressed is assigned to the value in Variable 3 by using switch statement.

Values in variable 3 when each key is pressed.

Please Refer program for further clarifications.

Video Demo

Program
Tools Required- MPLAB V 8.10 and HITECH PIC18 C
To download the program click on the thumbnail below-

Alarm_clock.rar

Hosted by eSnips

Happy Learning :)

FIRA ROBOT WORLD CUP 2010, Article Infokairali computer Magazine

2009-08-24T20:46:00.006+05:30

The article covered by me, for Infokairali Computer Magazine (Sept 2009) on upcoming FIRA 2010. Infokairali is Kerala's 1st and India's 2nd media that covered the news on FIRA 2010 My sincere thanks to Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat.

Click on the image to enlarge

Simple 8 bit 16x2 LCD interfacing with PIC 16F

2009-05-02T06:56:00.011+05:30

LCD PIN OUTS

(From left to right)

Vss- Ground

VDD- Power 5V

VEE- LCD Contrast Adjustment

Control Signals

RS- Register Select

There are 2 very important registers in LCD

Command Code register
Data Register

RS=0 à Instruction command Code register is selected, allowing user to send command

RS=1 à Data register is selected allowing to send data that has to be displayed.

R\W- Read\Write

R\W input allows the user to write information to LCD or read information from it. How do we read data from LCD????? The data that is being currently displayed will be stored in a buffer memory DDRAM. This data could be read if necessary.

R\W=0 à Reading

R\W=1 à Writing

E- Enable

The enable Pin is used by the LCD to latch information at its data pins. When data is supplied to data pins, a high to low pulse must be applied to this pin in order for the LCD to latch the data present in the data pins.

Eà Toggle

Data Bus- D0-D7

Power for Backlighting LEDs

VDD-Power 5V

Vss- GND

General Explanation

We have to prepare an LCD properly before the character we need, has to be displayed. For this a number of commands have to be provided to the LCD before inputting the required data. The commands will be discussed in the later part of this tutorial.

LCD doesn’t know about the content (data or commands) supplied to its data bus. It is the user who has to specify whether the content at its data pins are data or commands. For this, if a command is inputted then a particular combination of 0s and 1s has to be applied to the Control lines so as to specify it is a Command on the other hand if a data is inputted at the data lines then an another combination of 0s and 1s has to be applied to the control lines to specify it is Data. (Hope you are not confused!!!!). The combinations are as follows-

Command à RS=0, R\W=0, E=1\0

Dataà RS=1, R\W=0, E=1\0

Various Commands used in LCDs

Interfacing with PIC

Here 2 ports PORT B and PORT C of PIC 16F877A is taken. PORT B is used for providing control signals and PORT C is used for providing Data signals.

Of which pins of PORT B are specified as below.

RB0à RS

RB1à R\W

RB2 à E

Programming Steps

1) Before sending Data to be Displayed to the LCD, it should be prepared to hold that particular value.

2) For this certain initializations are to be done as per the Instructions.

a. Move Value 0X38, 3 times.( Applied max 3 times due to rise time factor)

b. Move Value 0X06, 1 time.

c. Move Value 0X0F, 1 time.

3) After each initializations command function and delay should be called.

4) After Initialization Move Data to the LCD

5) Call the Data Function and delay.

( 2 functions , one for command and the other for data is being written for the simplicity of the program)

Program

#include"pic.h"

#include"delay.h"

void main()

{

void command(); //function for command manipolation

void data(); //function for data manipulation

int i;

char a[ ]={"haripanangad"};

TRISC=0X00; //Made Port C Out put port (to use with in main function)

TRISB=0X00; //Made Port B output port (to use with outer function)

DelayMs(1);

PORTC=0X38; //to select the mode of the LED 0X38 - 8 bit 2 lines

command(); // Call command function

DelayMs(1);

PORTC=0X38; //to select the mode of the LED 0X38 - 8 bit 2 lines

command(); // Call command function

DelayMs(1);

PORTC=0X06; // to activate entry mode

command();

DelayMs(1);

PORTC=0X0F; //to get a blinking curser display

command();

DelayMs(1);

for(i=0;i<12;i++)

{

PORTC= a[i];

data(); //To show that the given values are data

DelayMs(1);

}

while(1);

}

void command() //command function definition

{

RB0=0;

RB1=0;

RB2=1;

DelayUs(1);

RB2=0;

}

void data() //data function definition

{

RB0=1;

RB1=0;

RB2=1;

DelayUs(1);

RB2=0;

}

PIC SIMULATOR IDE VIEW

FIRST SNAPS FROM CHANDRAYAAN 1

2008-11-01T07:42:00.003+05:30

The Terrain Mapping Camera on Chandrayaan 1 was successfully operated on 29th oct 2008. The first picture was taken at 8:00 AM IST from a height of 9000 KMS which shows northern coast of Austrailia. The Second Picture taken from a height of70000 KMS shows Austrailia's Southern Coast. This picture was taken at 12:30 PM. The TMC is one of the payloads of Chandrayaan 1. The instruments having a resolution of 5 meters can take Black and White pictures.

MITHR- Real Time Self Configurable Robot

2008-08-15T07:55:00.006+05:30

The final year Electronics and Communication students of Kidangoor Engineering College created a real time controllable self-reconfigurable robot, which can be operated on land as well as in water. Monu V Cherian, Raj Philip, Lizjo John and Ajith G under the guidance of Deepak V K who is the lecturer in charge of Electronics and Communication department of the college came up with this fabulous robot project which works fully under the control of a computer while comparing with other existing robots this model has a great lot of novelty and differences.
One of the unique characters of this robot is that it can be operated both in water and on land. Robots with this particular specialty have not been created in any other countries before. According to the changes happening in environment and circumstances this robot can make changes in its structure and thus the name self-reconfigurable suits to it. It uses wheels to move on land but when it touches water it changes its structure volunteerly, in such a way that it is suitable to be in water. This sort of behavior happening to a robot is a new thing in the history of ‘amphibious robotics’.
These robots can take water and put off fire using pumps and water reservoirs attached to it by entering places vulnerable in catching fire and in tunnels where humans cannot reach. The robot can hold, collect and defend its obstacles using its hands and fingers. This has a special eye to take the video pictures of places where humans cannot pass through and copy them to the computer that operates it. Communication is possible in this robot with the help of voice message service and short message service .In circumstances such as, at the time of earthquakes or other natural calamities where men is trapped in isolated areas where humans cannot be reached, these robots can be utilized to collect the information and send messages to the related computer.
Robots of this series can make revolutionary changes in the field of defence .If this is produced and imported from other countries this costs almost one crore rupees per robot. Within this short period of time this project achieved many laurels. Our former president Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam who went through the details of this project asked the report for study and he promised to give necessary advices and helps for the development of this ‘Robot technology’. The firstly created robot, which traveled only on land, won II nd place in the project presentation conducted by I I T Mumbai. This model has won first place in project presentations, which was held in more than ten colleges in Kerala.
This project is a promised gift of the future .The team is waiting for more encouragements and co-operation regarding the future plan of this project. From the designed piece we can assure that this will be a great success.

WORKING OF MOBILE JAMMERS

2008-04-01T23:46:00.002+05:30

A cell phone works by communicating with its service network through a cell tower or base station. Cell towers divide a city into small areas, or cells. A jamming device transmits on the same radio frequencies as the cell phone, disrupting the communication between the phone and the cell-phone base station in the tower. Jamming devices overpower the cell phone by transmitting a signal on the same frequency and at a high enough power that the two signals collide and cancel each other out. Cell phones are designed to add power if they experience low-level interference, so the jammer must recognize and match the power increase from the phone. Cell phones are full-duplex devices, which means they use two separate frequencies, one for talking and one for listening simultaneously. Some jammers block only one of the frequencies used by cell phones, which has the effect of blocking both. The phone is tricked into thinking there is no service because it can receive only one of the frequencies. Less complex devices block only one group of frequencies, while sophisticated jammers can block several types of networks at once to head off dual-mode or tri-mode phones that automatically switch among different network types to find an open signal. Some of the high-end devices block all frequencies at once, and others can be tuned to specific frequencies.
A jammer contains an Antenna, A Circuitry that includes a Voltage controlled oscillator, Tuning circuit,Noise generator and RF amplifier and last not the least the Power supply.

For more reading log on to- http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone-jammer.htm