Monthly Archives: October 2021

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Arduino Lifter

Testing a Work in Progress Arduino Linear Actuator Controller

It is surprisingly easy to scale up small microcontrollers to manage serious production systems. In this case an Arduino microcontroller capable of handling milliamps is sending signals via a 12 volt H-Bridge to control a 3 amp linear actuator capable of exerting 150Kg of force. The H-Bridge is a standard configuration of power transistors which allows high power systems to be managed by very low power systems. Linear actuators are like big pistons, able to push or pull objects with enormous force, except instead of a pneumatic or steam piston, this push / pull actuator is completely electronic.

The most surprising part of this assembly is the low cost – all the hardware you see in the picture above or the video below costs less than $50.

In this case the actuator will form part of a robotic system push lifting a heavy load. A second H-Bridge and actuator will complete the system, along with sensors to prevent the linear actuator exceeding its design tolerances, all managed by the microcontroller at the heart of the system.

Before you spend 10s of thousands of dollars on a bespoke electro-mechanical system which comes in a fancy box and does not really do what you want, consider contacting Desirable Apps, to see if there is a better way of fulfilling your electro-mechanical, Internet of Things, mobile app, software or hardware requirements.

3D Chess Board

A True 3D AI Web Based Chess Game

In between creating internet of things prototypes, or writing mobile apps, I love to play a good game of chess.

There are plenty of great chess sites out there. But given my interest, I thought – how can I create my own contribution to the great game?

The result was chess-3d.com . With Chess-3d you can play the computer just by visiting the website, or if you want to play a friend, ask them to create an account, then challenge them by logging in and clicking their name in the list of opponents.

You can even message your friends while playing.

I would love to hear from you, if you have any suggestions for how I can improve the site. chess-3d is a work in progress, so if it is down or glitches I’m probably working on something – try again later.

The chess-3d.com AI is powered by stockfish. I tried writing my own AI, and it worked to an extent – I may use it in a future screen saver. Writing a basic chess AI is surprisingly easy, and an excellent coding exercise if you are interested in AI. But stockfish is the product of 10s of thousands, possibly millions of hours of effort by a large open source team. In the end I decided there is no need to re-invent the wheel.

I would love to hear from you, if you are fellow chess enthusiast. Let me know what you think. Or challenge “Eric” on chess-3d.com, if you fancy your skills as a chess player.