Saw this short article about an internet enabled coffee table:

 

 http://hackedgadgets.com/2007/09/12/internet-enabled-coffee-machine/

 

But this comment made me LOL:

 

My co-worker and I (both computer technicians) made one of these three or four months ago.

The design was not as clean. We used a CD-ROM tray’s PCB, and wired the eject button to the power button on the coffee maker. Using one of the small exhaust port holes to trail the wires out of, we had the computer sitting beside the coffee-maker, and could use the Windows “Right-Click -> Eject” feature over a remote desktop connection to power on the pot.

We turned it on one night at my apartment, went to work and then had some coffee already made. IT pwnt. Sitting in the back room now though, buried underneath a bunch of other little frankensteins ..

 

Less WTF if it's one of these modern PCs without a parallel port.

Back then this was SO simple... port[$378] := $A3, and it set the data wires to 10100011. 8 wires to REALLY EASILY toggle from DOS apps... those were the times.

Now, good lock doing that via USB. MUCH more complex... 

Helix:

The design was not as clean. We used a CD-ROM tray’s PCB, and wired the eject button to the power button on the coffee maker. Using one of the small exhaust port holes to trail the wires out of, we had the computer sitting beside the coffee-maker, and could use the Windows “Right-Click -> Eject” feature over a remote desktop connection to power on the pot.

 

ITAPPMONROBOT 

 

OperatorBastardusInfernalis:

Less WTF if it's one of these modern PCs without a parallel port.

Back then this was SO simple... port[$378] := $A3, and it set the data wires to 10100011. 8 wires to REALLY EASILY toggle from DOS apps... those were the times.

Now, good lock doing that via USB. MUCH more complex... 

 

Not really all that complex.

 

int fd = open ("com9", O_RDWR);

write(fd, "DIR1 00", 7);

write(fd, "OUT1 A3", 7);

You do need £25's-worth of usb gpio board, of course, it's not builtin anymore.  But it's still pretty simple.

Just rig the switch on your coffee maker through a pic microprocessor with ethernet support. If you can't get ethernet, use a serial/ethernet convertor from www.tibbo.com.  They even have wifi hookups you can use and trigger it thorough your wireless lan. Simply program it so that either a switch or external command can activate the coffeemaker.  Add a simple relay for any isolation and you're good to go.

OperatorBastardusInfernalis:

Less WTF if it's one of these modern PCs without a parallel port.

Back then this was SO simple... port[$378] := $A3, and it set the data wires to 10100011. 8 wires to REALLY EASILY toggle from DOS apps... those were the times.

Now, good lock doing that via USB. MUCH more complex... 

 

Yeah...sounds really simple.  Its a wonder EVERYONE wasn't using parallel ports!

pitchingchris:

Just rig the switch on your coffee maker through a pic microprocessor with ethernet support. If you can't get ethernet, use a serial/ethernet convertor from www.tibbo.com.  They even have wifi hookups you can use and trigger it thorough your wireless lan. Simply program it so that either a switch or external command can activate the coffeemaker.  Add a simple relay for any isolation and you're good to go.

 

 That's too much work.I usually just reverse the polarity of the main deflector.

Soviut:

OperatorBastardusInfernalis:

Less WTF if it's one of these modern PCs without a parallel port.

Back then this was SO simple... port[$378] := $A3, and it set the data wires to 10100011. 8 wires to REALLY EASILY toggle from DOS apps... those were the times.

Now, good lock doing that via USB. MUCH more complex... 

 

Yeah...sounds really simple.  Its a wonder EVERYONE wasn't using parallel ports!

Cause they die easly, and printers used to be attached to them. Great for tinkering around with hardware. Sure, USB is more usefull for the general user, but it sucks from a hardware tinkering point of view.

And you can still access ports like that. I bring you, porttalk: http://www.beyondlogic.org/porttalk/porttalk.htm
And under linux you can use simular functions as root.

And I bought a new PC a week ago, and it still has a parallel port.

Daid:

And I bought a new PC a week ago, and it still has a parallel port.

Whoah.

It's like the coelecanth. Or a floppy drive.

belgariontheking:

Whoah.

It's like the coelecanth. Or a floppy drive.

I intentionally made sure when I built my newest computer that it had a parallel port, serial port, and a floppy drive.

If only floppies didn't degrade over time. I can't rescue the data off of most of the ones I have.

If it was me, I'd put the cdrom drive in front of the "on" button for the coffee machine. Then I'd log in remotely, type "eject /dev/cdrom", and I'd know that the cdrom tray would pop out and whack the "on" button. There you go, coffee made, and life's even easier!

should have just brought the best computer you can find and then purchased a usb floppy. You could always add a PCI parallel card if you wanted to

 

I almost want to find a way to do this with my lawnmower.  I could just sit at my comp and get a live video feed to I could control where it was headed.  Giving it some custom AI would be awesome too, although A LOT more work.

galgorah:

I almost want to find a way to do this with my lawnmower.

I've wanted to do that for years. But considering I have zero experience with custom electronics, I doubt it will happen anytime in the near future.

AbbydonKrafts:

galgorah:

I almost want to find a way to do this with my lawnmower.

I've wanted to do that for years. But considering I have zero experience with custom electronics, I doubt it will happen anytime in the near future.

 

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9727482-1.html

Just buy one then.

galgorah:

I almost want to find a way to do this with my lawnmower.  I could just sit at my comp and get a live video feed to I could control where it was headed.  Giving it some custom AI would be awesome too, although A LOT more work.

Don't forget to add a pyrotechnic device (or 2) that you can fire straight up that will give you a birds eye view to see if you missed any spots...  Or just have another feed mounted to your house... seconded as a security camera. The physical challenge for the lawnmower is the steering. You'd have to notch out room and add the mechnical parts and sheild them from the cutting area. Boxing it all in would be best.  You should be able to use a hobby reciever /remote like you use for model airplanes. Any system that is a candidate for autonomous operation should also be able to work in a manual mode. The software can override the manual mode to do some custom AI. however, I wouldn't do it from afar, because you never know what could happen with a lawnmower. If you run over your neighbors flower garden (or pet) or something worse, you'd be in a real fix. It would make a nice hobby, but I would still supervise the lawn mower from a short distance to avoid being a hazard.

MasterPlanSoftware:

Just buy one then.

What's the fun in that?

pitchingchris:

You should be able to use a hobby reciever /remote like you use for model airplanes.

That's what I was thinking. Building a steering system wouldn't be hard as the mechanics are relatively simple. As you pointed out, it would definitely have to be shielded from the cutting. I think the thing that would take the most work is rigging up a controllable self-propulsion system. I haven't owned a walk-behind self-propelled model, so I don't know what type of control it has (manual clutch disconnect, resistance disconnect, etc). Either way, it would still probably need some work because I doubt a self-propelled on its own could go as fast as someone pushing it would.

pitchingchris:

If you run over your neighbors flower garden (or pet) or something worse, you'd be in a real fix.

Actually, chasing the neighbor's pet might be fun. I doubt it could run over it, though. Honestly, have you seen a pet sit still in front of an oncoming lawnmower? My dog freaks at the sound of a vacuum cleaner.

pitchingchris:

I would still supervise the lawn mower from a short distance to avoid being a hazard.

If I rigged one up, I'd build a curb around the yard that it couldn't run over. I doubt I could otherwise chase down a runaway 6HP autonomous lawnmower.

AbbydonKrafts:

I doubt I could otherwise chase down a runaway 6HP autonomous lawnmower.

Don't need to... use a remote throttle cut feature that will kill the engine. Most 6 channel R/C remotes already have a button for that.

Some all terrain tires won't hurt either. Most push mowers have crappy tires.

pitchingchris:

Don't need to... use a remote throttle cut feature that will kill the engine. Most 6 channel R/C remotes already have a button for that.

Well that would be there, but when I say "runaway", I mean a complete disconnect from the lawnmower -- one in which the fail-safes.. well.. failed. Obviously it's a remote possibility, but if we are talking about a homicidal overlord lawnmower akin to something out of Maximum Overdrive, then all possibilities must be considered.

pitchingchris:

Some all terrain tires won't hurt either. Most push mowers have crappy tires.

That would be mandatory in my case. I must have 20+ species of grass and weed in my yard, some of which are tough enough to push over. Also, there are varying slopes and ruts to deal with. If the lawnmower has to pull/push itself through all of that, it would definitely need some tires that get traction -- not those cheap Playskool hard-plastic things they come with.

AbbydonKrafts:

pitchingchris:

Don't need to... use a remote throttle cut feature that will kill the engine. Most 6 channel R/C remotes already have a button for that.

Well that would be there, but when I say "runaway", I mean a complete disconnect from the lawnmower -- one in which the fail-safes.. well.. failed. Obviously it's a remote possibility, but if we are talking about a homicidal overlord lawnmower akin to something out of Maximum Overdrive, then all possibilities must be considered.

yeah, you're right.. Although two other things could be done... is a built in fail-safe that powers down when it goes out of range (but this is not good because it could take awhile :)) The other one would be to use ultrasonic accostics or something to try to detect your distance from "home"

pitchingchris:

AbbydonKrafts:

pitchingchris:

Don't need to... use a remote throttle cut feature that will kill the engine. Most 6 channel R/C remotes already have a button for that.

Well that would be there, but when I say "runaway", I mean a complete disconnect from the lawnmower -- one in which the fail-safes.. well.. failed. Obviously it's a remote possibility, but if we are talking about a homicidal overlord lawnmower akin to something out of Maximum Overdrive, then all possibilities must be considered.

yeah, you're right.. Although two other things could be done... is a built in fail-safe that powers down when it goes out of range (but this is not good because it could take awhile :)) The other one would be to use ultrasonic accostics or something to try to detect your distance from "home"

 

This whole thing is overblown and retarded already, but ultrasonic distance detection??

Why on earth wouldn't you just buy and modify one of the 'invisible fences' they use to keep dogs in yards with??

 

This is would end up being the SSDS version of a lawnmower if you had your way...

MasterPlanSoftware:

This whole thing is overblown and retarded already, but ultrasonic distance detection??

Why on earth wouldn't you just buy and modify one of the 'invisible fences' they use to keep dogs in yards with??

 

This is would end up being the SSDS version of a lawnmower if you had your way...

I disagree with you. I've used ultrasonics a lot in the industrial field. It is usually much more reliable than optical methods and otherwise. Heres a sample of what I was thinking about, although it does not have enough range for our project. http://www.hobbyengineering.com/H1053.html

 

pitchingchris:

I disagree with you. I've used ultrasonics a lot in the industrial field.

 

I have used them too.What you are talking about is still way overblown for what you need though.

However this whole thing is pretty ridiculous so far... But I hope you two really do go ahead and make it, and post it. Should be a great read!

The WTF Lawnmower... Maybe we could all pitch in and ship it to Spectate.

pitc