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...
Hey guys, I could not agree more...this was a great show! Suddenly people from the forum turn into real human beings!
I really enjoyed @Toymaker talking about the Omron sensor, it is still sitting in my shelf awaiting further testing!
And yes I guess I will order my Latte Panda today, so when the show progresses I can also try out the features being explored!
Awesome show @CochranRobotics thanks for the effort this is a great thing for the community!
Latte Panda should send you a sample next version free so you can review it !
I am now powering the LattePanda from a power supply and limiting the current to 5V 10A using a Castle UBEC. This seems to have made the LattePanda more stable. The devices connected to the LattePanda (Omron HVC-P, Logitech 920C, Microphone and the FTDI for the com port connection to the EZ-B) are all being run through a powered USB hub connected to the USB3 port on the LattePanda. The keyboard and mouse are connected to a USB hub that isn't powered but is connected to one of the two USB2 ports.
This seems to have brought greater stability to the LattePanda. I still can't run the camera at 640x480 but at the lowest setting of 160x120 the LattePanda is performing pretty well with the project that I created.
The project includes the following Speech Recognition component Speech Settings component Camera component connecting to the Logitech 920C camera Variable Watcher component Script manager component with a script to fire off the Omron HVC-P plugin Omron HVC-P plugin Microphone component Benchmark component Bing Speech Recognition component Microsoft Cognative Vision component PandoraBot component
I have tested the controls in the sample JD project as well.
The Camera Component is configured to track an object (me).
LattePanda config Windows 10 Pro (would work with Windows 10 Home) - I will discuss this more in the next show. Pretty much all of the enhancing features of Windows turned off including Cortana. When I say Cortana is removed, I mean it isn't running at all on this computer even in the background. I do have Windows Defender and the firewall for windows turned on. I have also uninstalled all of the bloatware that comes with Windows on this computer.
With all of this running, CPU is at about 60% with memory at about 44%
I ran a benchmark tool on the board and on my PC that I broadcast the show from. The PC I use and broadcast the show from rates in the top 20% of computers tested and is a 4 year old computer. The LattePanda rates in the bottom 5% of all of the computers tested on these benchmarks.
With that said, it does work pretty well with ARC for simple projects and works OK so far with more advanced projects. I wouldn't use this as a daily driver type of computer, but for a robot build, it is pretty good, especially if you take time to evaluate how you power all of your devices and the LattePanda.
There is another board that is being crowd funded now by UDOO. It looks pretty promissing for this type of device also. It is a quad core running up to 2.56 GHz with up to 8GB RAM and a 32 GB eMMC. With those specs it comes in at $259.00. It also has an Arduino 101-Compatible board onboard. Some other things it has is a M.2 Key B SSD slot, M.2 Key E slot for wifi and bt module, SATA connector and a gigabit ethernet port. The Wifi module is an additional $15. This board does have a built in 6-axis combo sensor with accelerometer and gyroscope. The size of this board comes in at 120mm x85mm (4.72" x 3.35"). It is a higher end board coming in at about twice the cost of the LattePanda.
https://shop.udoo.org/usa/preorder-x86/udoo-x86-ultra-power-supply-us.html
Thats interesting news! I can't wait for the next show...
Doombot will be on this week's show. His video is about 15 minutes long. Along with this we will continue the review of the Latte Panda computer. This video is about 15 minutes long and shows the Latta Panda running the Omron HVC-P along with being connected to the EZ-B V4 1/2 via usb. I review the performance of the EZ-B V4 when connected this way vs via Wifi. I also show some of the cloud services that are available from Microsoft via ARC skill plugins. I will also discuss the most stable method that I have found for running ARC on the Latte Panda.
The overall show will be short. I am still prepping for the convention that I will be attending next week so time has been a bit short for me. Swing by at 7:00 Central for the show at https://www.gearupforrobotics.com/techtoday.php .
Has this show been uploaded to YouTube?
nope. I had a technical difficulty when recording with my ISP and I didnt record it locally. Yesterday I didnt have time to re-record the show. I hope to have time today but I dont know if I will.
There is no way that I will have time to do that show again this week. I will have to do this show from the convention that I am going to this weekend. Expect the show to air Friday afternoon sometime hopefully.
The first of the month is a horrible time for me at work, and getting ready for the convention this week and getting the homeschool co-op all setup is another added thing that I have to prep for so fitting a show in won't happen unfortunately until this weekend.