[Gghc-discuss] Duinolab, robots, and other topics from yesterday's GGHC meeting

[Jonathan Manton]

An expansion from our discussion yesterday...


Here are some requirements that seem to be pretty clear:

- It needs to be portable and easily stored (stacked if you have  
multiple ones).  Something that closes up, can fit in a laptop case  
(along with the laptop), and can be shaken around without breaking  
anything.

- It should have, with some high probability, all the electronic  
components you need to work on whatever project you are working on  
*right now*.  This includes wires, discrete components, and commonly  
used chips.  Does not include other tools, such as a laptop,  
multimeter, wire cutters, power supply... (do we want to build in  
storage for one or two important tools?  Do we want to build in a  
power supply and/or multimeter?)

- Setup and cleanup should be very fast, easy, not at all annoying.   
Setup should consist of taking it out and opening the lid; cleanup  
should consist of closing the lid and putting it away (maybe a USB  
cable plugged/unplugged in there too).

- It should use the Arduino development environment and libraries for  
programming.

- It should be something that can be made with the resources available  
to an average maker/hacker.  If anything specialized is required  
(e.g., the parts, case, whatever), it should be available for order in  
a straightforward way.

- You need to be able to switch between in-progress projects quickly,  
easily, and non-destructively.  No pulling out wires where you aren't  
quite sure where to plug them back in later.  The incremental cost for  
having another project should be much less than the cost of the whole  
'lab (order of magnitude less).




We need to decide what the 'lab's primary purpose is, and then  
optimize for that.  When I wrote that blog post I was writing it as a  
tool that I would use for myself.  But I think for the GGHC we need to  
take a somewhat different focus.  There are some requirements and  
constraints we need to figure out.


- Who will be the primary audience for the 'lab?  Two alternative  
answers are individuals working on their own projects, and people  
learning about electronics in a school or other structured setting.   
My suggestion is we focus on the use case of students learning in a  
classroom environment (either in a school or a makerspace/FabLab).

- How important is cost?  We could build something for (rough numbers  
here) $50, $100, $200, including the Arduino.  My guess is that $50 is  
going to be too tight.  I think $100 would be a good goal to shoot  
for, but we shouldn't get too worried unless it goes above $150-$170.   
I'd rather buy vs. build for some stuff (e.g., the Arduino) due to  
tight timeframes.

- How important is ease of building?  My concerns here are that this  
should be something someone with intelligence but not a lot of  
experience can make from the plans.  Through-hold soldering is OK, but  
maybe not requiring surface-mount.  They should be able to source the  
circuit boards from something like batchpcb.com, and anything laser  
cut from ponoko.com.

- Will it be optimized for general use, or for a set collection of  
exercises/use cases?  This is the trickiest one in here, and I am not  
really sure.  Ideally it would be optimized for one, but still be  
useful for the other.  My guess is we won't have a bunch of specific  
use cases when we finish the project at the end of this month, but  
maybe we could have 3 or 4.

- Does it need to be expandable/customizable, or have a fixed  
configuration?  Probably for the contest it should be fixed.  This is  
a good long-term question.

- Will it be used to develop something that later is used outside the  
'lab?  This depends heavily on the "optimized for general use or  
collection of use cases" question.

- Will it be used *without* a computer never, sometimes, or always?   
(obviously not always, otherwise the arduino is kind of superfluous).   
I think that for the contest we make it so it needs to be connected to  
the computer, simply because that makes the power supply simple (well,  
it means the Arduino does the power supply).  I suppose we could put  
in the provision to have 4xAA batteries, and drive the Arduino from  
that.  Or maybe a 9v battery?  I don't think the Arduino draws much  
current.