HI Lloyd, You have the right attitude. I to have had 3 strokes over the last 4 years. I lost the use of my left arm and my left leg. With lots of therapy and Determination I can now use my left arm and leg. Sometimes I fall down, but I get back up. My brain sometimes just forgets how to do think. But it does not last too long. MY goal is to build a service robot. To help people like you and me.

I wish you the best of luck, You can do it!

BC

@BC that's some inspiring stuff right there!

If you need any help building your robot, you know how to find me!

@ BC : It would sem you and I are, brothers in arms, so to speak. Encouraging to know that multiply strokes can be overcome. I agree with you..........................the mind lapses are the hardest thing for me to deal with. I recovered from the first one; which was a mild one. Still took time and deter mination to come back. I was going to try working on a robot arm for my left hand; but............Budget won't allow right now. So, I'll fall back on mechanical devices for now.I'm going to focus on Gizmo as an assistence bot. I'm going to document the build in the "projects" section. I'd relly like your input. Maybe working together we can design a really useful design.

@ Niek : You seem to be a very intelligent young man. I hope your invitation to BC is the same for me. BTW, how old are you, if you don't mind my asking? Are you good with wiring LED's? Would you mind verification of the following? Gizmo's head will be removable so I want to run his "eyes" from a battery pack in his head. It will also save from using I/O ports on the EZ-B. I want to use one 10 mm blue LED in the center of the eye mounted in an aluminum tube. Then I will use 12 , 5mm ,blues around the center "eye". I want to power the upper six on one circuit so I can turn them on and off. I'm trying to achieve a "blink" effect. I can wire the bottom 6 leds from a switch connected to a battery pack. (Three AA batts. 4.5 volts). Should I put a 15 ohm resistor in front of the LED's just to be on the safe side?????? Any ideas on a circuit to make the upper LED's turn on; then back on, say every 3 or 4 seconds? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Lloyd

@Lloyd

Thanks! I've started electronics bu witing leds and buzzers to my door as an alarm when i was about 7, i'm 13 now.

As for yout question, could you tell me the exact LED specs(most importantly the current) and describe how you are thinking of wiring it up (maybe a drawing)

Remeber, ohm's law is your friend!

Niek, I'm sorry. I should have given you all the info. I attached 3 pics of the basic set up of Gizmo's head. A project box from Radio Shack; and two flashlights from Harbor Freight. You can see the reflector from one of the flashlights with the alum. tube, which will house the 10 mm blue LED. The 12; 3 mm LEDs will be placed in a circle around the tube; placed in holes drilled in the reflector. The 10 mm LED has a forward voltage of 3.2 to 3.6 volts. The 5mm LED's have a forward voltage of 3.2 to 3.4 volts. All of them are typical 2mA current draw. Using our friend, Ohm's law, is how I determined a resistor value of 15 ohm. The six upper LED's will be on the "on-off " circuit and the lower six on a separate circuit. Does that sound right to you? What I need help with is the make-up of the circuit that will turn the six upper LED's off and on, ( ie...the blink!) I think it would look more human like if the "blinks" happened somewhat ramdomly, say based on every 3 to 10 seconds. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks Niek, I will take you up on that offer at some point. Right now I am looking into AI for my robot. I have a picture of it in my mind and I need to get it on to paper before I forget it. For you age you are very intelligent And I look forward to you help.

Lloyd yes we are bothers in arms so to speak. I am new to robotics. I have been this for about 6 months now. I would love to give you input as I come across things. I do agree working together we can design a really useful design for a service/companion Robot. I don't know how far you are into this? I am making a list of what the Robot should be able to do. I will pass it to you when I have completed it and you can add or delete things from it.

Thanks BC

Lloyd,

Looks fair enough, how can your blue leds only consume 2ma? Mine consume at least 20.

I'll draw you a schematic when i get back from school.

@ Niek: I guess I just didn't get the 0 added onto my 2! I meant 20.