the activity club

Next Meeting

2005-07-21T00:08:00.000+05:30

Next meeting will be held at the BC on Saturday,23rd July at Noon. (timings tentative).

Currently planned agends - Puzzle Solving, Anagrams,(you get the idea) & Quizzes. All members encouraged to contribute.

C ya There,

Cheers,

general trivia quiz

2005-07-18T21:02:00.000+05:30

Here's a quiz i conducted a week back. take it and mail me the answers. i'll put them up in a few days.

1.Who is now the second largest shareholder in Juventus FC, after Giovanni Agnelli (of Fiat), who has a stake of 63%?

2. "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring" were his last words. He used to sign his paintings with a pseudonym meaning 'Its done'. A movie 'Infinity' was based on his life. Who?

3.American scholar Clement Moore's 1822 poem, 'A visit from St.Nicholas' gave rise to what popular tradition?

4.For which Olympic event is there no official World Record? Why?

5.The 13th century brothels of Paris were the first to have what, following a royal order that they should use something to demarcate themselves from normal houses?

6.This started as "Fourscore and seven years ago----." What did it end with?
hint- you've heard it a million times.

7.What is a circumorbital hematoma commonly known?

8.In 1791, a Dublin theatre owner James Daly is said to have made a bet that he could introduce a word into the English language within 24 hours. However, this word was originally used to describe an annoying person who tended to snoop into others' affairs. What word?

9.He studied Western Classical Music at Trinity College. He was a member of bands like Magic, Nemesis Avenue etc. Who?

10.This bowler has dismissed 67 batsmen on a zero in his Test match career, which is a record. Who?

10.When his experiments required accurate timekeeping, he invented the pendulum clock. His arguments with the church led to his being placed under house arrest - he got off lightly as others had been subjected to the inquisition for less. Who?

11.He invented a system for canceling used postage stamps. When building a gun that could fire rotating projectiles, he discovered that the barrels were quickly wearing out under the strain. So, what did he invent to solve this problem?

12.This company was originally known as the Gutta Percha company, as they had a monopoly on the production of Gutta Percha insulated wires (that is, insulation made of paper and cardboard) for telegraph cables etc. Now, they are one of the largest players in the teleco and ISP sector (even now they are the monopoly telco in most parts of the Caribbean, for example). Name them.

13. Usually bottled in one of three categories: plata ("silver" – aged no more than a couple of months), reposado ("rested" – aged about a year), and añejo ("aged" – aged from 1 to 3 years), this liquor has been marketed with a worm" Hipopta Agavis"in each bottle.Name the liquor?.

14.A style of documentary-making used in film and television, the name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them and called the "Fly on the wall" techniuqe.How do we know these works better as

15.How do we commonly know a DEL Number? .

16. Which product was first certified by ISI?

17. Which is the only 3-wheeler vehicle (in India) which does not require a license?

18.Shiv Ratan Agarwal, the MD of Shivdeep Industries started of by making a product for soldiers to carry with them for days together. This company now controls a 70% share in the Indian market. Name the company.

19.. Prior to his current assignement, he was a Professor of Technology and societal Transformation. Who?

this sat

2005-07-14T20:05:00.000+05:30

we're meeting this saturday at 12. the agenda (tentatively) is as follows-
1. a talk on the stock markets.
2. a talk on biodiesel
3. brainstorming for VJTI's technovanza. that is, seeing what events we can take part in and discussing all that stuff (if at all anybody's interested)

so kindly haul your asses to the boat club at noon.

meeting on saturday

2005-07-06T12:22:00.000+05:30

the activity club

We're meeting on saturday afternoon at about 2.00. we plan to discuss the line tracer robot which doesnt seem to be getting beyond the discussion stage. we then plan to head off to PSPL on senapati bapat road for an open quiz at 4.30. be there.

Robotics

2005-07-04T21:05:00.000+05:30

LINE FOLLOWING

VEHICLE

Contents

Introduction

Differential Turning

Its implementation

Transmitter and receiver circuitry

Working

How to go about?

Notes

Introduction

One of the most fundamental functions that any automated vehicle or Robot
must perform is to move along a fixed path without manual control. The
path may be defined in terms of a marking on ground, colour of side-walls,
obstructions in field, or towards a sound or heat source.

A Line following vehicle is designed such that it traces the the path of any
curve which is marked in white colour against a dark background (usually black).
The curve is about 2-3 cm thick and is generally zigzag with sharp turns.

Differential turning

DT is the simplest and hence the most commonly used mechanism for directing a
vehicle. Consider the case when we want our vehicle to take a right-turn. Our
vehicle must rotate about the point of contact of the right wheel and the
ground. This can be achieved by stopping the right motor and hence allowing the
vehicle to rotate about the point of contact with the left motor.

Thus, the vehicle would take a right-turn. Just remember that the motor in
the direction in which we want our vehicle to turn must be switched off while
the opposite motor remains on.

Implementation

DT can be implemented using a very simple logic. Assume that initially the
white line is exactly below the centre of the vehicle. As soon as the white line
curves towards right, our right motor must be switched off, i.e. as soon as the
right wheel is close to white line right motor must be switched off.

We place a sensor sufficiently close to each wheel and a transmitter
equidistant from both sensors.

The transmitter emits Infra-Red radiation which are incident directly
on the surface below. We assume that the black part completely absorbs the IR
radiation while the white part completely reflects it. The sensor on each side
will detect the the type of surface (black or white) exactly below it depending
upon whether IR radiation is incident on it or not.

When the sensor sees white below, it will send a signal to switch the motor
on its side off. If it sees black below it sends a signal to keep the motor
running. Thus, the vehicle will trace out the path formed by the white line.

Back to Contents

Receiver
and transmitter circuitry

The main circuit components used are listed below

R = 1.87 k D = 1N4007

C1 = 1 nF C = 0.01 uF
IC LM555 IC TSOP 1738

M = Motor

Working

The IR LED is connected between terminals 3 and 4. The resistance and
capacitance values are selected such that it operates at a switching frequency
of 38 kHz. Diode D is shunted across R so that the voltage across the IR LED is
in the form of a square wave.

Switching frequency of the IR LED = 1.44/RC = 38.4 kHz

The IC TSOP 1738 gives output HIGH when IR radiation is not incident
on it. This drives the base of the Power Transistor and pushes it into
saturation making current pass through the motor. When IR radiation is incident
on the TSOP (which is reflected from the white line below), its output
goes LOW and drives the power transistor into cut-off. The motor is
switched off and the vehicle turns in the required direction.

How to go about?

While designing the electronics part here is a step-by-step procedure.

Check the motor specs - Max. Voltage, Max. Current, Speed and Torque

Finalize the Power Supply method. Check the number of components requiring
power supply and their respective voltages. Hence design an appropriate
potential divider.

Check LED specs. - Max Current, use suitable current limiting resistor.

Check TSOP specs. - Input voltage etc.

Modify the circuit as per available components

Use appropriate power transistor- Check saturation base current, max
collector current etc.

Design Physical Layout of the circuit - for example IR LEDs, TSOPs should
be on the underside while the power transistor must be well exposed.

Test each component separately and then mount on the circuit.

Notes

In differential turning, the vehicle is pivoted about the stopped wheel.
This makes it necessary that the wheel must stop instantly when its power
supply is cut off, i.e. the motor must not roll after switching off. Thus,
choice of motor becomes important. DC motors make a good choice.

The TSOP sensor will be placed near each wheel. When the vehicle is
turning about a wheel, the Sensors will also rotate and eventually the surface
below them will also change.

The sensors must be placed such that they are sufficiently away from each
other and sufficiently in front-of the wheels.

The sensors must not be too high above the surface.

The sensors must be capped by a black paper on the side of the IR LED.
This is to be done because the TSOP must respond only to the reflected
radiation and not that coming directly from the source.

Just imagine what happens when the vehicle turns. The entire vehicle is
rotated about by a single motor and thus must produce high torque. In case of
a four-wheeled vehicle the rear-wheels and the rear body require a lot of
torque to rotate about the front wheel. This will make the vehicle insipid.
Moreover the rear wheels roll over might change the direction of the the
vehicle and make it lose the white line.

A two wheeler is a safer choice because of its low torque requirements and
low weight. The design needs to be precise, however.

Back to Contents

meeting tomorrow

2005-06-30T14:01:00.000+05:30

though nedstsat tells me that not too many people read this blog, there is an activity club meeting tomorrow at 12. thats july 1 2005 at noon at the BC.
agenda:
jam session ( conducted by a non-member). so kindly haul up your ar@#s and be there on time.

Electronics Encyclopaedia

2005-06-30T13:18:00.000+05:30

here's an amazing site for electronics reference
epanorama.net

check out the extensive microcontroller notes.

GOD!

2005-06-27T23:11:00.000+05:30

Here's a link to Ashish Bhat's website. He's got some amazing facts about the robots he has made. Check out the flood-fill algorithmn to solve micromouse and details of his micromouse. Click here for electronic nirvana.

about the next meeting

2005-06-19T14:44:00.000+05:30

I think we have made some progress on the robtics line tracer part.Lets keep a target to complete the working model b4 college reopens.the line tracer circuit has been sorted out and so has the conceptualisation of the robot vehicle. its now left to putting the pieces together. we gotta finalise and get down to actually making it after the next meeting.

hello.....

2005-06-15T22:43:00.000+05:30

hey ppl ,, great job .... the acti club blog n all.....neat!!!!!! n e ways i m absolutelu obsessed with the stock markets and desperately tryin to learn more bout it...... here are a couple of websites where i think u can take tutorials and basic stuff.....
hdfcsec.com
equitymaster.com

me hasnt tried it yet so feel free to inform me how it is.........

and any futball enthusiasts chek out skysports,com for all the rumour mills regardin transfer....
Its awsum the stuff these people come up with.... check it out......

Here we go...

2005-06-15T12:29:00.000+05:30

We guys finally met today. As there were just 5 of us, not much happened. For the benefit of those absent, here’s what we discussed (I shall try to be very concise)

1. robotics- preparing working prototypes at this stage will prove to be rather expensive. Hence we plan to mainly improve on our theoretical knowledge and do the designing part. When the “ robotics season” starts around Dec. we shall be well placed to take part and do well. It was suggested that each of us gained a thorough ( or at least tried to) knowledge of those aspects concerning his own branch and then shared the same with those of other branches. That is the minimal requirement because a complete understanding of all aspects is a sin quo non. Get in touch and start immediately.
2. Quizzing- a business quiz is in the offing. A detailed post by Abhishek on how to go about quizzing and preparing original quizzes (for the benefit of all of us ignoramuses) shall be expected soon.
3. a proposal to start a blog-based debate forum was made. However I feel that this should serve some purpose and not be one of those pointless exercises we had in school where the loudest shouter and smoothest talker won. I am clueless about how to go about that so I’m waiting for a good topic to start with. (Blog-based mainly because there wouldn’t be enough time to do it at the meetings.
Any ideas???
4. We’re looking forward to Abhishek conducting a few jam sessions.
5. My suggestion of having a competition of preparing business plans was regarded as a good one. Even though we’re not going to actually do anything with those plans (unless someone comes up with something really earth-shattering) it will certainly give us a chance to learn a lot about business and prove to be especially beneficial for those interested in pursuing management or having an entrepreneurial bent.
The first plan we plan to prepare is ( not surprisingly, for every COEPian has discussed this umpteen times) how to improvise the Boat club canteen without depriving it of the old-world laidback charm (I use these words very loosely) it now has. I’m sure this needs no elaboration and everyone completely understands what I’m talking about. Start jotting down ideas and in a few days I’ll put up something more about this.

6. the main aim behind starting this “club” was that friends get together and share with others their knowledge and information so that we all become better and competent engineers (Phew!!! Nice aim, if only we actually did anything). So members are requested to post here or give a talk at the meetings about any topic that interests them or about any book that they read ( better not be fiction or erotica ;-) ) for example a brief talk on the stock markets is in the offing. I request everyone to come forth, grab some initiative and contribute whatever
you can. Only you stand to benefit.

So far, I seem to be the only one posting here, but I hope others shall start soon in right earnest. And please spread the word around. I really look forward to some comments and suggestions from you guys. These are only a few ideas, you can suggest and start whatever you feel like ( that’s the whole idea.).

The next meeting shall be in about a week’s time and is expected to have better attendance.

next meeting

2005-06-13T11:10:00.000+05:30

The Activity Club finally meets on Tuesday at about one. The agenda is likely to be as follows-
1. Quiz by aseem and maybe kapeesh
2. deciding on "other" activities (don't start getting ideas, you sickos)
3. stock talk, if there's a large-enough audience.

be there.
think of how we can start doing something worthwhile w.r.t. the following themes-
1. robotics(without spending too much money)
2. how about a debate club sorta thing.
3. I've kinda developed a fascination for nanotech. so if you guys have anything about it, plzz let me know and i'll be reallllyyy nice to you.
4.what do you think of starting a competition (amongst ourselves, of course) of preparing business plans and stuff( dont start laughing, i'll elaborate in person, but it surely will be a very productive exercise).
5. anything u fancy.

Continuing links.....

2005-06-10T12:29:00.000+05:30

Hi !!

“THE ACTIVITY CLUB BLOG", sounds great to me.
Although I'm not a blog - worm, but I will try to contribute to this blog, being one of the member of the activity club. (I have registered my two blogs way back but never posted anything).

Anyways...
To add to the maverick’s list of useful links I just came across this one “Micromouse Resources". It contains absolutely everything about micromice starting from what is a micromouse to how to construct a full fledged one. So just have a look at it.

Adios

2005-06-08T20:08:00.000+05:30

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

MIT OpenCourseWare

2005-06-08T11:02:00.000+05:30

here's this awesome online resource that i came across a few days back. MIT (the great-grand-daddy of all IT's and not its two bit namesake) hs put up plenty of details of most of their courses online. that is, the syllabus, a few notes, assignments, reference books, projects, the works...and if you have a broadband connection then its even better. check it out for COEP cannot hope to match those standards anytime soon.

MIT OpenCourseWare

the story so far...

2005-06-08T07:51:00.001+05:30

The activity club has so far had about 4-5 meetings. We meet typically on Saturday afternoons though that may change in the future. We have, on these occasions only conducted quizzes, mainly by Abhishek and an introductory talk on the Theory of Relativity by Vineet. Attendance has ranged from five to ten people.

I hope that our activities gather momentum soon. If there is something that you wish to suggest, I lay out the red carpet for you. Also I propose to open membership to people from outside COEP as well.

doosara

2005-06-08T07:48:00.000+05:30

Never mind the corny title to the post. I may have created the blog but Abhishek beat me to the task of putting up the first post. Given that most COEPians I know aren’t as net-savvy as the two of us,( net-savvy does not include countless hours of porn, ok no more attempts at humour here, this blog will be only serious stuff) I am skeptical of its success. However I hope to have a few converts soon.

The philosophy of the group is simple. Without resorting to lofty prose, it basically aims at pooling together the knowledge resources of all its members and thus creating value addition for all members.

To start off, I’m adding some useful web-links that I’ve come across lately. More to follow soon…

Pahela Pahela Post Hai . . .

2005-06-07T14:53:00.000+05:30

Hey,I feel this blog is a great idea - a blog is a far more open and far more accesible mode than egroups. This could be an allied forum for all activities and yes, groups members can get to know each other. Also non-blogger members can taste their first experience of the vast possibilities that blogger in particular and blogging in general offers.
So here's to a long innings on the net - and indeed for The Activity Club

Cheers,
Abhishek