A while ago I had mentioned that I would be starting a video podcast that functions as technical classes for homeschool students. I had also mentioned that I would go all in if I did it. Well, I went all in. My office has been converted to a video podcaster's paradise. Last weekend I was able to get the mixer, compressor, gate, Audio interface, green screen, dynamic mics, cameras, lighting and sound dispersion panels installed in my studio. My hosts (Tanner and Stori) both have a JD now and are learning about them by going through the LMS curriculum that was developed. We will start some "test" shows on Thursday evenings which will help the hosts to be more comfortable in front of the camera and allow them to get really comfortable with the robots and the technology behind the video podcast. The podcasts will be live so you will get to see all of the fun if you want to
On another project, I have been working with a group in the middle of nowhere Texas that is setting up a ranch for people who have aged out of the foster care system in Texas. Next week I will be setting up their firewall, NAS, domain server, some workstations, network and such. They will be using the class mentioned above for their students to teach them about robotics on the EZ-Robot platform. I want to do a show from the ranch but the logistics could make that difficult.
I will post the links to the video podcast streams later. We will be streaming on Youtube and Twitch. We also will have the RTMP feed available to be viewed directly. We have a mumble room and IRC channel that I will publish also. These allow participation in the discussion that is happening and in the show. Along with that, 662-4ROBOT1 is a direct phone number into the show, and Skype is also available. If you want to check out our early tests, I will post the links later. The official start is on May 6th 2017. We will be broadcasting from our booth at a Homeschool show in Oklahoma City.
I want to also do a show on Saturdays on more generic topics but all relating to technology. Nicholas (my son) will be teaching an Intro to Programming class. The next semester we will move up to intermediate programming and robotics classes.
SM@RT Club is the Patreon support page for the classes. I still have some work to do on it, but it is there at least.
I guess I still need to clean up some cables...
7 PM US Central time zone - Part 1 of the review of LattePanda and an interview with Tony Ellis who has been building robots for 47 years. Learn more about him and his robots, along with his experiences with EZ-Robot.
https://www.gearupforrobotics.com/techtoday.php
Another GREAT show! The best yet.... Thanks David
Just published the review with Tony Ellis and part 1 of the review of the Latte Panda board.
David, another great show, thank you so much for letting me participate, it was great fun! The Latte Panda review was very informative and so interesting that I am checking this neat little PC out myself, so looking forward to part 2 next week.
Fantastic to hear that your video views are reaching 20K - you deserve this with all your hard work.
Tony
Thank you Tony for the interview. It was a pleasure. This show was long for sure. I plan on doing a more extensive review of the Latte Panda now and how it runs when connecting via usb vs wifi, along with using a usb camera vs EZ-Robot's camera, along with using the Arduino that is built in more. It is interesting to see what this little board can do when attached to the EZ-B. Hopefully that segment of the next show won't be as long now that the Latte Panda is built and running ARC well.
Dave, From what I saw it was a great show! I was working and just caught a snippet here and there when I had time. What a tease that was. I'm going to sit down this weekend and watch the whole thing. This is going to be a treat after a crazy week.
When you again discuss thePanda and how to connect to it could you lend a few thoughts on what you think the best way to connect multiple EZB's and the Panda would be? I understand that it wold be a snap to connect through WiFi just like on a Windows laptop but how about connecting several EZB's using the V4/2's USB feature?
Hey Dave,
Each of the V4 1/2 boards would be setup with their own comport. You would just connect to each board using the comp port (COM7 COM8 and so on) instead of searching for them.
There is an interesting thing about connecting this way. In my scenario the comm port connection is slower than the Wifi connection even with a baud rate of 921600. They are more stable though from the standpoint of tests under different conditions have a 20% variance unlike the 48% variance that the wifi connected devices have. These have all been used from within my office, so I haven't tried these benchmarks from greater distances than about 20 feet and through a wall from my Wifi Access point.
Anyway, I have tested the pandora bot, microsoft speech, microsoft vision and Omron plugins, along with a few other things. If put in with specific considerations for power and not using max resolution on the camera, I can keep things pretty stable. Low resolution keeps it the most stable. Higher resolutions become unstable from what I suspect is a lot of traffic going across the wifi and slowing things down.
Anyway, these are all recorded and I will show them in the next show.
Awsome show. I think Tony's interview was the best yet. Very informative and professional! What a great guy. He's right we have an amazing forum and community with a passion for robots.
I am really excited about the Latte Panda and ordered one to test with. I'm sure the next round will be even more powerful. Thanks David for walking us through the setup. I'm looking forward to part 2!
20,000 views, now you're cooking with gas as my grandmother used to say!