Fun with a laser, servos and microcontrollers

Let's Make Robots Tutorials
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This is actually not a robot, sorry. But.. If you have an old laser-pointer, and are building robots:

 

  • Hook up the laser to the microcontroller. Now you can tuen on/off a laser
  • Set one servo on top of another, now you can control 2 axes
  • Set a mirror on one servo, point the laser to it..
Now you can precision-control where your laser points, if it is on / off etc. There are a million posibilities. Video is from when I was setting up a game of "pong" / "TV-game" so I could play with friends on large buildings at night ;)
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Crap video, sorry, will make

Crap video, sorry, will make better one day!

/ Frits

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really crap video? - oh whew

really crap video? - oh whew - i thought it was my puter :slight_smile:

did you ever get to play pong on a building - i think it was a great idea…

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ish!/ Fritsl

ish!

/ Fritsl

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Pong?
What servos did you use? The ones I have move at about 60RPM. No way fast enough to do even a simple vector graphic.

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THis is why you use a

THis is why you use a mittor. If you do not know what that is, it is because I made a typo. It should be a mirror.

Shooting at a mirror ensures maximum effect, you can hit the very angle where… well you know. Please don’t ask me to drawings etc :smiley:

You can also just place the laser on the servo - but make sure that the emitting bart is sort of at the axle. And then get some distance, like at least one meter.

 

However. I know you have a lot of servos laying around unused. THis is what I would have a look at in the theme of next week (This week being sunshine-week). Personally I think you should make a tirdnkwiit-kind of project; Have some fun, do some snaky stuff that you have no clue will end up with.

tirdnkwiit’s are fun - I want to play with mine, but have to make ##Q€(/!! tutorials.

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Mirror

Hmmm… I see why you’d use a mirror, but don’t you lose and awful lot of resolution that way? Like you only have about 2 degrees of movement in your servo!

“Mirrors.” Those are the things used for looking at your self, aren’t they? I know nothing about them.

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I see what you mean, but
I see what you mean, but then just do not point the laser at the very axle, you see :slight_smile: