Next project: Meeples with heart

Katie and I enjoy a good game of Carcassonne but the basic set has no purple meeples, a big omission (according to Katie anyway)!

This Shapeways meeple model, personalised with a heart should do the trick...

Purple meeple with heart

Woodbug

Happy holidays!

I made this hexapod with my laser-cut wooden construction kit and a bunch of M2 screws. I've shared (CC license) the plans for the construction kit on Ponoko http://www.ponoko.com/design-your-own/products/construction-set-6760.

Construction set: rods of various lengths

Construction set: angle brackets with T-slots for M2 screws

ArduRoller

Second iteration of my ArduRoller balance bot with an all new wooden chassis.

Specs:

• Chassis: laser cut 2.7mm bamboo ply (Ponoko); various M2.5 machine screws from Amazon; Instamorph low-melt-point thermoplastic to fill in the gaps.
• Brains: 1 x Arduino Uno
• Motor driver: 1 x Sparkfun Ardumoto
• Motors: Sparkfun 2 x 24:1 gearmotor
• Wheels: 1 set Sparkfun 70mm -- repaired with Instamorph after they cracked around the axle
• Gyro: 1 x ADXRS613 (Sparkfun breakout) mounted at the axis of rotation
• Accelerometer: 1 x ADXL203CE (Sparkfun breakout) mounted at the axis of rotation
• Batteries: 2 x 3.7V Li-poly 850MAh (Sparkfun)

I've shared the code and assets at github.com/fasaxc/ArduRoller.

Video is at www.flickr.com/photos/fasaxc/5944650602/

Data Watcher v1.10

I just updated Data Watcher with a couple of new features:

• The graph view now allows you to select which type of usage you want to see and over which period.
• Pressing menu within the app gives you the option to report a problem, collecting useful technical diagnostics along the way.

Battery Watcher v1.21

I just uploaded Battery Watcher v1.21 to the Market.  Here's the changelog:

• Added button to open battery usage screen.
• Made interface use tabs to show preview/stats and preferences (this works better on smaller screens).
• Made the icon in the widget reflect the current charge level.  This was a feature requested by several users.
• Fix bug that made the widget say a droid could report 1% increments when in fact it's only capable of 10%.
• Change the application icon to be different from the widget to avoid confusion.

Happy downloading.

Moving house

I've been moving house (from the UK to US) over the past few weeks so I've not had time to do any updates.  Should be back to normal in a few week.

Froyo problems

Since HTC started pushing out Froyo, a lot of people are seeing problems (like battery draining) that may or may not be down to my widgets.  I've now got Froyo on my test phone.  I should be able to investigate soon.