Handheld RC2014 System (RetroChallenge (sorta))

One of the great things about making stuff is that you can make stuff that doesn't yet, or shouldn't exist.  

I honestly didn't get anything done on my RC2014 projects for RetroChallenge this year, other than an idea, and some 3D printed stuff within the final few days of the month.

I've had it in my head for a while to make a gameboy formfactor RasPi system for a while now, even though I already have a portable Pi emulation system in my Atari Lynx enclosure.  So I found a model for the "super retropipod" enclosure on Thingiverse and printed it out, and ordered and then modified a 3.5" lcd and shoved it all into the case.

I decided i didn't want to make a PCB or hack up a perfboard to support tact switches, and I had a bunch of largeish 12mm tact switches, so I modeled and 3d printed mounting boards for those too.

Then I had an awesome-horrible idea.  I would mount a RC2014 inside the enclosure as well!  If I managed to make the enclosure a little thicker (about 1cm) I could easily fit a RC2014 mini or micro inside the case along with the pi and all of its fun stuff.  I could even probably also fit in the TMS9918A video card piggybacked onto it inside the enclosure.  So I modeled and printed out the thickness extension too!

Long story short, I have the beginnings of my ultimate multipurpose Pi/RC2014/Llichen-80 handheld!  And she's a chonky beast too!

I modeled and printed a piece to sandwich between the layers of the "pi-boy" enclosure I printed, and added a space for a nice switch for power on the side.  I still need to wire it all up, but I'm on my way to having this thing be AWESOME!  

Although I still want to make a "tall-boy" at some point... take two GB DMG enclosures, and extend the screen space to be taller, and put in a rotated, vertical monitor in the space there.  eg, use a 4" or 5" lcd in portrait instead of a 3.5" in landscape...

Next actions on this project:

• Wire up the buttons to the GPIO header
• Wire up the LED on the front panel to the GPIO header
• figure out a power solution for the system (batteries, recharging, etc)
• Mounting solution for RC2014 inside the enclosure without it moving around
• Make a 2-board backplane for the RC2014 so I can also have the TMS board internally
• Wire the TMS to the monitor too, and figure out a quick way to switch inputs... perhaps two NC momentary buttons that disconnect the monitor from each of the two inputs, so it will auto-switch to the other input. (or short the input to ground via 75Ω resistor?)

Links:

• Super Retropiepod enclosure
• Retropiepod enclosure extension and tact switch mounts
• GPIOnext (formerly GPIOneer) software to use GPIO inputs as keyboard presses

Anamatronic Avian: Skeleton Experiments

I'm about to start making the skeleton for my animatronic Tiki-Room Macaw.  Rather than futzing with drawing up detailed plans in some cad program, Iv'e decided to instead get the basic shape made, and then just build one out of foam core.  My thought was that once I have the shape worked out, I'll disassemble it and come up with plans for 3d printable parts that can be attached together, and eventually some vacuum formed parts as well for the head and beak, which need to be lightweight... although I'm starting to think that they could all be 3D printed, with a skin stretched over them for feathers and fur, after seeing the posts on Hack-A-Day about using acetone vapor to smooth out parts... anyway..

One of the things I was unsure of was the control linkages, and how the articulation points can be made.  It needs to have a few points of articulation to match the birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room:

• Perch rotation - 270 degrees, spins the bird around (not shown)
• Lean - +20, -20 degrees, to lean forward and backward at the point where the legs connect
• Head yaw - +45, -45 degrees back and forth
• Head tilt - +15, -15 degrees up and down
• Beak - 30 degrees, could be all open or all closed (shown in the diagram as 15 degrees)

I was thinking that after I constructed the foam version, I could figure things out from there, but after seeing this post on Hack-A-Day with a "HOG Drive", I realized I could leverage off of this design for the head linkages.

I chatted with Skip at Interlock, and by the end of this past Tuesday evening, I had two 3-D printed versions of this, using ABS, rather than the PLA material I am more familiar with. (Here's the Thingiverse link for the design.) Since I wasn't going to be mounting a motor, we (and by "we" I mean "he") replaced the motor space with a flat plate with a mounting screw hole.  He also replaced the back control arm with just a peg, since the bridge-like shape wouldn't hold up properly on his printer.

The first print (on the left) has a failed control peg on the center disk.  It was adding material onto printed material that didn't cool yet, so it just kinda globbed up.  This was improved by Skip by adding a second post, seen in the second version on the right.  He also added some material around the screw holes in the frame, to improve durability.

After printing and having this in my hand, I'm realizing that it won't quite work for me, although it does give me an excellent starting point.  The center disk is too small to mount the head on.  It's only about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I think I'd want something about 2-3" in diameter, with plenty of mounting points and space for securing the head ,as well as space for wiring for the beak servo (or linear motor, or solenoid, or whatever).  It really showed me the design considerations for actually constructing something, not to mention it really emphasized that whatever design I can think of, I can print... which is pretty futuristically awesome.

But the important thing is that I know have ideas to build on for the final version.  I'll still be constructing a foam core model, and I'll be using this above design as a kick-off point.

(This post is cross-posted to the Interlock blog as well.)