I'm still here!

Hello everyone!  I'm back from a long absence.

There has been a lot of updates since my last post, and I want to post some of them here.

MINDSENSORS

Mindsensors has released their newest product!  The Servo Operated Pneumatic Valve Kit!  This is their servo-controller pneumatic valve.  For $22.95 you can get it WITH a valve included or $19.45 WITHOUT a valve.

On other news, they6 also have a new "Coming Soon..." sensor!  The Dual-Relay driver for NXT.

"With this device, you will be able to control two relays. (You could also use it to power on/off high power motors).
Rated for 18 Volts, 10 Amps." (Mindsensors)

 

HITECHNIC

For hiTechnic, They have a new block out!  The PID motor block! It gives the ability to accurately control a NXT servo motor.  It was used in their new sample model, the IR RC Kart, that uses the PID block instead of a differential.





DEXTER INDUSTRIES

And, last, but not least, Dexter Ind.  They have been a bunch of busy bee's with their WiFi sensor and their dGPS sensor (And now the new Thermal IR Camera sensor!).  Let's start with the WiFi sensor.

Their new WiFi sensor (not yet for sale) gives the user the ability to control their robot through the internet!  Xander Soldaat has been beta testing it and has created a camera and a few simple commands that YOU can give to HIS robot through the INTERNET!!  You can play around with his NXT too!  Just go to his blog: http://mightor.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/want-to-play-with-my-nxt/

Next, is their Thermal IR Camera Sensor.  It was just mentioned today by D.I. themselves. With it, you will be able to tell the temperature of an object...WITHOUT touching it!  If you've ever watched the TV show "MythBusters", you might know what these are.  They are a special camera that shows a "heat map" of the object(s) the camera is looking at.  The sensor D.I. is going to use can measure objects as hot as 380 degrees Celsius!

Well, hope you enjoyed this LONG re-cap post!

jojoguy10

P.S.  May be moving back to Blogger soon!  YAY!

Mindsensors "mystery" sensor named!

You know that mystery sensor that mindsensors had on their "Coming Soon" page?  Well, they named it!  Yup, now, it's a "Touch Screen Overlay for NXT"  "This Touch Screen Overlay is designed to fit on the NXT brick, over the LCD, and correspond the touch point with LCD pixels."

Pretty neat!

jojoguy10

More new sensors!

YAY!  Don't you just LOVE new sensors?  I do!  Well, Mindsensors does too!  In their "Coming Soon" page, they have added two more sensors:  a "Dual Relay Driver for NXT" and a "Pneumatic Control from NXT".

Dual Relay Driver

"With this device, you will be able to control two relays. (You could also use it to power on/off high power motors).
Rated for 30 Volts, 13 Amps."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="NXT relay Driver"][/caption]

Pneumatic Control

"This Servo Operated Pneumatic Valve can be controlled from NXT using NXTServo-v2.
The kit will include the valve, servo and necessary hardware and instructions to assemble the valve."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Pneumatic Control"][/caption]



Good job Mindsensors!  I'm really looking at the Pneumatic Control and thinking "YAY!"  I've always had trouble working with the valve and trying to make it work with the NXT motor, and now I can!  I hope it will be accurate!

jojoguy10

More "coming soon" stuff from Mindsensors!!

A few months ago, I posted about Mindsensors' Altimeter that will be coming soon. Now, Mindsensors has added two more items to the list! Here they are: a Numeric keypad, and a OBD-II interface. The numeric keypad should be self-explanatory, but the OBD-II interface is a little more advanced. The OBD-II interface will allow the NXT to record data from...guess...your CAR!  Quoted from Mindsensors' "coming soon" page:

With this interface, you will be able to connect NXT to a car's computer, and
- Find out and log actual mileage of your car.
- Get performance characteristics and log that data.
- Find out engine codes and/or reset them.

more about OBD-II: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obd-ii#OBD-II

jojoguy10