diff --git a/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central.md b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0dcd0df5 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +title: Antisocial robots and Makers Central +date: 2025-05-15 +draft: true +tags: [robotics, events, makers, neural networks, opencv, raspberry pi, raspberry pi pico] +thumbnail: content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/fleet-of-coder-dojo-robots.JPG +--- +This week I've been having fun, and with a weekend of Makers Social, I've more to come. + +## Robots at the Coder Dojo + +I mentor at Coder Dojo KU, a coding club for kids. +I've been working for a while (with help!) on a fleet of Micropython based robots based on the Raspberry Pi Pico. +Last Saturday was their second outing, and they were a hit. +Kids got them to follow lines, avoid obstacles, or asking the question "what if I turn on every IO pin in a for loop?" + +All the robots survived, the kids had fun, and I'm looking forward to next months dojo. +There are discussions afoot on making an up to date bill-of-materials for the robots, and maybe even a kit. + +{% img_responsive "content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/fleet-of-coder-dojo-robots.JPG", "Fleet of Coder Dojo Robots" %} + +## Antisocial robots + +This week I've been playing with Neural Network detection systems on a robot. +I was able to use OpenCV on a Raspberry Pi with a detection deep learning model, loading a Yunet face detection model. +I got a reasonable frame rate, and had the code outputting face locations via MQTT. + +I then built a behaviour to consume these messages, and drive a pan/tilt servo mechanism to point a camera at the detected face. +A small error in my code however meant that the camera would be avoiding faces. +If you put a face in front, it would try to look away. +With multiple faces, it was amusing to watch it try to find somewhere to look. +The fixes were simple - the error input to the PID was inverted. +I've kept this code though since the behaviour was fun, quirky and gave it some personality. + +{% img_responsive "content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/antisocial-robot.JPG", "Antisocial Robot" %} + +## Makers Central + +This weekend I will be at Makers Central in Birmingham at the NEC +I am there as a punter only, but happy to talk about robotics with anyone with ears! +I'll be there on both days, with a bright red hat. diff --git a/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/antisocial-robot.JPG b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/antisocial-robot.JPG new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7a15be35 Binary files /dev/null and b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/antisocial-robot.JPG differ diff --git a/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/fleet-of-coder-dojo-robots.JPG b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/fleet-of-coder-dojo-robots.JPG new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0822195a Binary files /dev/null and b/content/2025/05/15-antisocial-robots-and-makers-central/fleet-of-coder-dojo-robots.JPG differ