blog/data/2016-11-04-lego-htway.txt

   1 Title: My own self balancing Lego Segway
   2 Tags: english, debian, robot, lego
   3 Date: 2016-11-04 10:15
   4
   5 <p>A while back I received a Gyro sensor for the NXT
   6 <a href="mindstorms.lego.com">Mindstorms</a> controller as a birthday
   7 present.  It had been on my wishlist for a while, because I wanted to
   8 build a Segway like balancing lego robot.  I had already built
   9 <a href="http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/segway/">a simple balancing
  10 robot</a> with the kids, using the light/color sensor included in the
  11 NXT kit as the balance sensor, but it was not working very well.  It
  12 could balance for a while, but was very sensitive to the light
  13 condition in the room and the reflective properties of the surface and
  14 would fall over after a short while.  I wanted something more robust,
  15 and had
  16 <a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=NGY1044">the
  17 gyro sensor from HiTechnic</a> I believed would solve it on my
  18 wishlist for some years before it suddenly showed up as a gift from my
  19 loved ones. :)</p>
  20
  21 <p>Unfortunately I have not had time to sit down and play with it
  22 since then.  But that changed some days ago, when I was searching for
  23 lego segway information and came across a recipe from HiTechnic for
  24 building
  25 <a href="http://www.hitechnic.com/blog/gyro-sensor/htway/">the
  26 HTWay</a>, a segway like balancing robot.  Build instructions and
  27 <a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/upload/786-HTWayC.nxc">source
  28 code</a> was included, so it was just a question of putting it all
  29 together.  And thanks to the great work of many Debian developers, the
  30 compiler needed to build the source for the NXT is already included in
  31 Debian, so I was read to go in less than an hour.  The resulting robot
  32 do not look very impressive in its simplicity:</p>
  33
  34 <p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-robot.jpeg"></p>
  35
  36 <p>Because I lack the infrared sensor used to control the robot in the
  37 design from HiTechnic, I had to comment out the last task
  38 (taskControl).  I simply placed /* and */ around it get the program
  39 working without that sensor present.  Now it balances just fine until
  40 the battery status run low:</p>
  41
  42 <p align="center"><video width="70%" controls="true">
  43    <source src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-balancing.ogv" type="video/ogg">
  44 </video></p>
  45
  46 <p>Now we would like to teach it how to follow a line and take remote
  47 control instructions using the included Bluetooth receiver in the NXT.</p>
  48
  49 <p>If you, like me, love LEGO and want to make sure we find the tools
  50 they need to work with LEGO in Debian and all our derivative
  51 distributions like Ubuntu, check out
  52 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the LEGO designers
  53 project page</a> and join the Debian LEGO team.  Personally I own a
  54 RCX and NXT controller (no EV3), and would like to make sure the
  55 Debian tools needed to program the systems I own work as they
  56 should.</p>