RN1 Earthquake Position

[Humanoido]

We've had a series of earthquakes. Not wanting my Robonova-1 to fall to the hard tile floor and end up in a mash of broken pieces, I decided to come up with an idea. It's called the "Earthquake Position."

The photo shows EP; a braced position where RN1 is crouched to lower his CG, braces himself within the shelf, and reaches backwards displacing his weight to the rear, thus making him more stationary and stable during vibrations. So far, it worked. Last week we had a series of earthquakes, enough to shake the buildings. Went I went home, RN1 was crouching safe on his shelf.



Humanoido

[robokoi]

very nice. how are you triggering this position? do you have gyros or just leave hime in that position when off?

[DirtyRoboto]

I reckon it is triggered by seismometer

[Humanoido]

It's not that elaborate, as it just sits there in a power-down state. However, an extra switch mode and a simple tilt sensor could trigger it. Possibly an inertial switch would also work, or a vibration sensor. Parallax Inc. is selling a low cost vibration sensor that looks like it could work nicely. I have one and it's on a breadboard for experimentation. Below are some links including a sample program for a Basic Stamp 2. One could easily use the same device with a port on the RN's MR-3024 controller. However, don't read the sensor when RN is moving! I'm working on a connection between the sensor, controller, and speech synthesizer. Not only will he "assume the position" but announce the earthquake as well.

Parallax Inc.
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=605-00004

Data Sheet
http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/co ... Sensor.pdf

Piezo Film Informaton
http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/co ... zoInfo.pdf

Piezo Film Trigger Source Software Program Example (.bs2)
http://www.parallax.com/dl/src/prod/Pie ... rigger.bs2

Basic Stamp 2
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=BS2-IC

Humanoido

[DirtyRoboto]

Try this...

Turn off servos 18 and 00 (the feet) and setup a read of the servo position. Now get it to trigger if the feet servos are checked and found to be +/- 2 of the zero settings. this will deal with L/R movement. you can also setup checks for servos 19 and 01 for F/B movement, but leave these servos on.

Marcus.

[Humanoido]

That's a great idea. One question though - can you feel the single resolution degree increment when RN is off? I can slightly move the arm and feel it's single servo jump ever so slightly from one position to the next. Is that one degree of resolution? ...expect it is but just wondering. If so, I could measure the inertial force required to overcome a single degree of resolution on one servo and then equate that to the size of an earthquake tremor.

So looks like we have RN as an earthquake detector. I wonder what size earthquake jolt it would need to register. I can feel very tiny quakes that are smaller than a 1 or 2. Most people feel 3. If RN could feel a 1 or 2, he could be a great detector and warning person. For example, a couple weeks ago we were having supper at the table. Suddenly I could feel a motion of twisting and slight up and down. I announced to family that we we were having an earthquake. They sad, "no we're not." A few seconds later, we had a #3 quake and everyone believed me. It would be nice to get similar consistent results from RN. He'd become quite popular!
Humanoido