Monday 31 October 2016

My (and my son's) #Mozfest Experience

Just to be different I thought I would do this in a number tweets



























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Monday 24 October 2016

video tools and machinima for animations

I was challenged to find come up to produce a video welcome message for a module, the problem is I dislike appearing in a video - I tend to use an avatar in place of a picture of myself.


Here are two example video introductions using two different tools.

Example 1: Photostory 3
A free piece of software (http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=11132) that takes photos and allows you to add narration, music and some effects. Moviemaker software will do in it's place.

 The module was a MSc Computing dissertation module giving a short overview of the module.


Example 2 and 3: Machinima
A second approach was to use a package that allows you to guide/direct a character, scripting what they say, etc. The package used was an early version of Moviestorm (newer educational version can be found here) it allows you to 'direct' the character and save me having to appear in it! 









This module is an introduction to artificial intelligence module.
 

The second one is an introduction to a problem solving and programming module.

Placed inside a VLE:



Ok, they were done as a couple of experiments and a bit a fun; but are worth a play with.



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Saturday 3 September 2016

Miniproject: Micro:bit can now control a junkbot

A new direction has been developed for the junkbot project (http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/); previously Raspberry Pis have been used to control the junkbot’s movement (http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/python-junkbot.html) – but what about the recently released Micro:Bits; can it be used to control a junkbot?

Matthew Hole, a student from Wrenn Academy, Northamptonshire ; has been investigating this idea whilst on a Nuffield Research Placement (http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements) working with Dr Scott Turner, University of Northampton. The project was to look into developing junkbots controlled using a Micro:bit and also to produce some materials for schools to use with or without outside assistance.






What is a Junkbot?
For this project, it is a moving ‘bot’ made from waste materials, combined with an electric motor and a programmable device (in this case a Micro:Bit) to control (or try) it. An example is shown above. More details on junkbots can be found at http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/


Approach used in the project.
A Micro:Bit was selected for two reasons. First, there was been a BBC supported project to give year 7 (or equivalent) students a Micro:bit (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4hVG2Br1W1LKCmw8nSm9WnQ/the-bbc-micro-bit), so they are available in the schools. Secondly, Kitronik produce a motor driver board, and provide quite a bit of support for it, for the Micro:Bit (the latest version of the board can be found at https://www.kitronik.co.uk/5620-motor-driver-board-for-the-bbc-microbit-v2.html ). Using Micropython via the online editor https://www.microbit.co.uk to program the board and therefore the junkbot connected. The board with the Micro:Bit attached can be seen in the figure above carried on the junkbot.

An example piece of code is shown below:

from microbit import *

def startIt():
   pin8.write_digital(1)
   pin12.write_digital(0)
   pin0.write_digital(1)
   pin16.write_digital(0)    

def leftTurn(duration):
   pin8.write_digital(0)
   pin12.write_digital(1)
   sleep(duration)
   
def stopIt():
   pin8.write_digital(1)
   pin12.write_digital(1)
   sleep(2000)

while True:
   startIt()
   
   if button_a.is_pressed():
       leftTurn(100)
   
   if button_b.is_pressed():
       stopIt()



Suggested Resource List
  • Small Electric Motor
  • Kitronik Motor Board
  • Battery Pack
  • BBC Micro:bit
  • Pens
  • Junk (Can or Bottle)
  • Wires
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • Broken Propeller or un-balanced load
  • Screw Driver


Related Links


           

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Excel to build and training a single artificial neurone

Two videos produced within the Department of Computing, University of Northampton, Uk on using Microsoft Excel to simulate a single artificial neurone, as a step towards building a neural network.

In the first video, Excel is used to build and show the principles of a single neurone.

 

In the second video the ideas from the video above are now extended to show, in a relatively simple way, how a single neurone can be trained.

 

The opinion bit - I think this is a relatively easy way to start playing with neuronal ideas. What would be interesting to find a way to build this idea into a simple neural network. Comments and ideas are very welcome.
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Consumable Robotics UFO lands

CBiS Education generously sent me two of their new range of robotics development kits - Consumable Robotics (consumable-robotics.com), these are a range of cardboard based kits (so far a robot and a UFO) with electronic components for example LEDs; sensors and buzzers,  depending on the kits. What makes the kits interesting though is they are designed to be controlled by either by a BBC Micro:bit or a CodeBug.

This blog documents, briefly, an initial play with the UFO kit (see below) using a Micro:Bit for control. 

The UFO model came together readily, the instructions were fairly easy to follow. Personally, a feature I especially liked about the model was the LEDs being both on the top and bottom of it - increasing it usefulness. CBiS Education.

 They have also provided a webpage / portal with some example projects and code. 


My first project I built, was to pulse the LEDs on and off (one set of LEDs on Pin 0, the other on Pin 1). Pin 2 was connected to the buzzer, so produce a low buzz every few seconds. The code below is written using the Block Editor (https://www.microbit.co.uk/create-code)

The video below shows the LEDs pulsing. I do need to decorate the UFO though!


 


Now I am going to play with it a bit more and add the light sensor, included in the kit, to it; so it can detect different light levels. Again it is controlled using the Micro:Bit.

Stage 1 - Decorating it
The kit comes with some stickers so I added a few.

Stage 2 Wiring
Pins 0 and 1 are outputs to the LEDs
Pin 2 is the input from the light sensor
The red lead from the light sensor connects to 3v and the grounds to the ground.


Stage 3 Code

The light sensor works more as a low light level detector, the darker the higher the value returned (in this case) on pin 2. So in low light level,  the LEDs flash relatively quickly, when the light level rises half of the LEDs start to pulse more slowly.




 All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with.
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Sunday 12 June 2016

STEAM champions: Simone Giertz

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) is a passion and I would like to do a short series of occasional blog posts about some of those I think are making a difference in this area. Strangely they are not all going to be scientists in the traditional sense.

 To start with Simone Giertz whose videos often go viral and has been nicknamed the Queen of Sh***y robots. Hint the language is a little strong for some people - Parental Advice warning. 

 The robots are fun and mix many elements together. Here is a sample of the videos.




All views in the blog (but not the videos) as the authors.
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Saturday 21 May 2016

Social Network analysis 2- informative but fun

Previously I have been playing with a piece of Social Network Analysis software Socioviz.net and some the results can be seen in an earlier post (http://scottjturnerranting.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/social-network-analysis-fun-and.html).

 This week I have been playing with another free Social Network Analysis software  - TAGs from Martin Hawksey (Twitter: @mhawksey). The software is available from https://tags.hawksey.info/ and provides, among other things, a way of collecting Twitter data into a Google Sheet document via a template. How it is set up is on the site (https://tags.hawksey.info/) and especially useful is the video  on the site, that I have also embedded below.
 


As an experiment I was curious about the network of twitter users using the hashtag #CCUKchat this week; so it seemed like a good opportunity to try it. The filled in template for this task (after the set-up procedure is completed) is shown below, it was then run (an option that is found in the TAGS pull-down menu that will have been created during the set-up operation).

At the bottom of figure above you see two buttons at the bottom of the page, clicking on the one marked TAGSExplorer you get a URL which takes you to an interactive page with the network shown.


Clicking on retweets produced

I am still getting my head around what these show or mean. One of the tools included that is helpful can be found back in the google sheet. Under the  TAGS pull-down menu, there is an option to create a Dashboard which is an another sheet, an example is shown below.

 It is informative. To add a bit of context #CCUKchat is a tweetchat that took place on the 18th May 2016 20:00-21:00 BST. The results show the spike and then a lower-level of usage after for a few days.

 This is a piece of software I will be exploring more and would encourage others to have a go with themselves. There are lots of option to explore both in the template but also on the interactive network graph.
Related posts

Mapping Tweetchat #caschat over a week

Tools than can be used to create network graphs of twitter data.



All views are the authors only and do not represent those of any organisation the author may be associated with.

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