Higher Ground

Storm rumbling in last night, I went to see how he was doing putting away clothes.

Whatcha doing up there?

“In case it floods.”

We’re on top of a hill.

“No, I mean from rain pouring in the window.”

Yesterday was Robotics and Aeronautics day. Zane had spent a birthday gift certificate the night before and bought an “everything flies” kit. Airplanes, discs, spinners, and even a special type of balloon that flew. Other than being nearly impossible to inflate the balloon was really cool. It had a type of long nozzle on the end which helped it fly and made a kid friendly sound. This movie illustrates it the best.

Meanwhile I’d been brainstorming on some type of circuit to open/close the chicken coop door for us. Just needed to figure out the drive motor. After unsuccessful rummaging in the garage I ran across our old Roomba. Jackpot! It has two powered wheels with integrated motor and gears, the gearing making it slow and nearly unstoppable. There were two other motors, one without gears and one with less aggressive gearing, along with a plethora of switches and sensors. My robotic assistant and I spent a couple hours pulling it all apart and experimenting. You can see a couple short movies: here and here