class project

Hayden9009

New Member
hello everyone, I am new to picaxe and I am looking for some help on a project my teacher has assigned me.
he wants me to build a box that a dog can put it's toys away in and when the dog does it dispenses a treat. it used and IR sensor to tell when the dog is putting a toy away and it has a motor to drop the treat. what I need my program to do is to use the IR sensor to tell when the dog has put the treat in the bin and then to spin the motor forward till the treat falls, then to spin backwards to reload another treat. I am using a picaxe 28x1 project board.
Thanks!
 

manuka

Senior Member
Sounds interesting! What sort of toys & dog (!) do you have in mind? Diverse issues should first be considered- Border Collies would probably even do the programming for you, while Labradors may blunder around & try to eat the entire setup! When food is involved some animals can be gluttons of course- human monitoring may be needed. Other reinforcements may be more reliable- recorded "Good Boy" voice etc.

Best you specify your electronics,programming,technical experiences,facilities & time frame. Is this assessed? Are you allowed external help ? PICAXE IR is quite powerful & can carry encoded data- have you read about it in the manual (s)?

Perhaps check a Sierra College automatic ball tosser =>http://www.realskillsrealjobs.com/projects-6.gal Stan.
 

rq3

Senior Member
Sounds interesting! What sort of toys & dog (!) do you have in mind? Diverse issues should first be considered- Border Collies would probably even do the programming for you, while Labradors may blunder around & try to eat the entire setup! Stan.
Thank you for making me spew Cabernet on my keyboard. I haven't laughed so hard in quite some time.
Rip
 

SAborn

Senior Member
Like Stan i also see a few pit falls (or should that be Pit Bulls) with the project idea.

Perhaps using a servo for dispensing the treat might be easier than a motor.

Please tell us more about your project ideas.
 

manuka

Senior Member
Border Collies sure can be smart. I recall a rural dog day competition item titled "ABC", which transpired to mean "Anything But Collies". That smart breed will otherwise usually dominate any field.

Aside from electronic (& smart dog) issues, best that classic Reinforcement Schedules are pondered early on. Awareness of these is essential for successful training of both man & beast. Behaviour "extinction" may be important too, else the subject may keep firing on something that it's mastered & become neurotic. Stan.
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
Behaviour "extinction" may be important too, else the subject may keep firing on something that it's mastered & become neurotic.
Ain't that the truth, Stan. Coming from a farming background (many years ago) I've seen several border collies which retired from farm work (Ie their owners retired) become quite neurotic from boredom.
 

oracacle

Senior Member
i saw something alog these lines on the new the other day, something called tidy dog

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608889985/the-tidy-dog-bin-your-dog-will-love-to-pick-up-the

it works using load cell to detect if a toy has been put away and a helix despenser so the motor only has to turn in one direction and will automatically reload.
if you can find some load cells that can easily be interfaced with picaxe the project shold be a doddle. building the bin will be harder than the electronic and programming
 

SAborn

Senior Member
I agree with load cells, if it was my project i would use a load cell, but that is because i have worked with load cells and a picaxe.

Its not easy getting a good reading from a load cell with a picaxe without a interface chip/circuit.
I use the ADS 1231 chip from Texas Instruments, which is a SMD chip and not easy to mount for the beginner in electronics.

It all depends on what direction you want the project to take on and what your skill level is.

A load cell allows for many directions the project can take, but a simple IR system might also suit the project requirements ............we need to know more information.
 

oracacle

Senior Member
yes agreed, if it going to be a simple break bream type aragment then a treat would be dispensed averytime the dog wint into the box, soon learning that it not only gets treats when it pus stuff in, but take it out, or even just puts its head into the box without adding or removing anything from the box.

however a smart dog may realise that it can sit there all day put the same to in and out of the box and getting a treat every time
 

sghioto

Senior Member
Seems everyone is forgetting this is just a class project. I think the point is to figure out the programming required with the given hardware. Whether it's practical or not is probably not important.:)

Steve G
 

oracacle

Senior Member
I thought the idea of going to class was to learn, we quickly learnt that a simple IR break beam isnt pracitical.
some issues can be over come by programing to the correct hardware.
we know that IR break beams can be used to track direction providing there are 2 beams, this mean we should be able to figure out when it goes in. or if mulitple levels of were used the level of toys in the box could be detected, meaning a treat would only com out when the level went up instead of down. this sort of idea would negate the complication of load cells keeping the electronics fairly simple, however would not get over the issue of IR interference cuasing the beam not to break, simple bright sunlight, or the run of the mill remote control unless carrier signals are used, then you will need band pass filters and alikes.

there are much better examples of programing to required hardware, traffic light is a good exaple, the one at the crossings, 5 LEDs with resistors a push switch and a pull down and your laughing. such hardware can also be used to teach things like multiplexing.
 

MFB

Senior Member
I thought the modern trend to get children interested in 'coding' is to start with an ARM based single-board computer running Unix. They could then jump straight into programming with an object-oriented language, probably on a project that uses high resolution graphics, WiFi and web access. No need for that old LED, switches and motor control stuff.
 

oracacle

Senior Member
you mean the old stuff that still works and still run our "modern" world.

being able to interface on a hardware level will always be important, most have become lazy due to the advent of libraries that alreadt have this interface code writen meaning it take the hard work out of making something work - in other words, kids today are lazy and too quickly take the work that somelse has done to get the final result without undertanding the work that the other person has done, they essentially do nothing and learn very little in the proccess.

switches and LED should allow the connection between the input and output and how they can affect the ouput with what they do between the put and and output.

IIRC with a bit of charlie plexing traffic lights shold be possible with a 08M2 while leaving the download circuit in place.
 

MFB

Senior Member
Oracacle, couldn't agree more. I was just taking a swipe at a certain over-hyped fruit pie!
 

Goeytex

Senior Member
Many times, when a student realizes that no one is going to do their class project for them, they go "poof".
 

Goeytex

Senior Member
"Poof" as in disappear.

I have found that it is generally a good idea to consider the context if there is doubt about the intended meaning of a word or phrase.

It's pretty sad these days when words or phrases change meanings or have different meanings from one culture to another, where the new meaning can be offensive to some (who would seek to "ban" its usage) regardless of previous usage...especially when there are so many folks out there that are looking for reasons to be offended.

I read in the news last week, where certain folks want to ban the word "bossy", because it is offensive to women. But if the word "bossy" is banned, then what would you call a bossy woman?
 

SAborn

Senior Member
I was not offended, just found the expression comical with its double meaning.

Yes it is getting out of hand with political correctness, and they even tried to ban Ho,Ho,Ho, at Christmas time because in the USA it has a different meaning, than a santa greeting.

But if the word "bossy" is banned, then what would you call a bossy woman?
Errr! ...... the wife?
 

papaof2

Senior Member
I was not offended, just found the expression comical with its double meaning.

Yes it is getting out of hand with political correctness, and they even tried to ban Ho,Ho,Ho, at Christmas time because in the USA it has a different meaning, than a santa greeting.



Errr! ...... the wife?
SWMBO - she who must be obeyed ?
 

manuka

Senior Member
radiogareth: Your "Piggyaxe" PCB samples have just arrived. Many thanks! A very profesional build quality - where are they made? Minimum order quantities ? (The popular Kiwi Patch Boards are produced in China in 1000 up batches. There were naturally significant setup costs too) Stan.
 

Hemi345

Senior Member
Poof, must have a different meaning in Texas, as here its slang for homosexual.
That gave me a chuckle.

"Well, I told my girlfriend that I couldn't take her to a movie tonite because I needed to work on my class project. So I posted for some help on the PICAXE forums and *poof* I, ummm, I think I want to ask Brian out on a date..."

LOL
 
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