Introduction:

With Professor France Cadet and Professor Jean-Pierre Mandon - École Supérieure d'Art d'Aix-en-Provence (France)
Start: Monday, 23rd of April, 10:00 AM
End: Friday, 27th of April, 6:00 PM
University of the Arts Bremen (HfK), Studio for Temporal Media - Room: 1-12-070

We're very happy to announce that our Atelier für Zeitmedien (Studio for Temporal Media) is hosting Prof. France Cadet and Prof. Jean-Pierre Mandon from École Superiéure des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence (France).

France Cadet and Jean-Pierre Mandon are well-known for their work in the field of the Liberal Arts and Mechatronics. During this week they are offering a workshop on topics like Hardware Hacking, Electronics (PCB Design) and Behavior Design, introducing in particular their own PIC-microcontroller architecture for robotics and related areas.

Students:

Day 1: Monday 23 April

10h - 12h

Presentation of France Cadet’s works realized by hacking the robotic dogs:
- Dog[LAB]01
- Dog[LAB]02
- Bug[LAB]01
- Do robotic cat dream of electric fish?
- Hunting Trophies
- Wild Puppet Circus

Presentation of My Real Baby:

- one new baby before modification
- one extra head with its new electronic board able to control the head motor

Presentation of the Monkey Head: "Alive Chimpanzee" from WowWee company:

Watch the commercial advertisement

13h - 18h30

Presentation and installation of:
- a Text Editor: to write the programs - Language used: C ConTEXT
- a C compiler: to translate C language into machine code (file processor) SDCC
- a Programmer/Bootloader: to transfer the program to the processor
Assembler and linker GPUtils Download

GPUtils is a collection of tools for the Microchip (TM) PIC microcontrollers. It includes gpasm, gplink, and gplib. It's distributed under the terms of the GNU Public License. See the gnupic page for other GNU PIC tools such as gpsim, a gputils compatible simulator

Adaptation to PC, MAC and Linux.

Short introduction to microchip, electronics.
Realization of a test board with a PIC controller.

How to use the software.
How to download the bootloader.
How to download a program.

Day 2: Tuesday 24 April

10h - 13h

Realization of a printed circuit board (PCB)

Presentation and installation of:
- Kicad
Kicad is an open source (GPL) software for the creation of electronic schematic diagrams and printed circuit board artwork. This software is MULTI-PLATFORM. It is running under LINUX and Windows (XP or 2000), for which updates are regularly provided.

Realization of a test board with a PIC 18F2520: Test 1: blinking a led

Realization of the PCB with Illustrator!!! For a MAC.

Realization of a PIC programmer: soldering the components.

14h - 19h

How to draw a PCB : 1st Method: (Mc Gyver method ;)

1. DRAW.
Draw the circuit with a PCB software or a drawing software.
Circuits has been drawn with:
- Illustrator



- Kicad



- Eagle (freeware edition)

2. PRINT.
Print the schematic with a laser printer on photo paper

3. EXPOSE/DEVELOP.
With this method we don’t use the traditional UV light machine and develop liquid.
We must first clean the board with aceton.



Then we iron the paper onto the epoxy board.



Then we wash the board in water with liquid dishwasher to remove the paper.

Only the toner remains now on the copper side.

Day 3: Wednesday 25 April

10h - 13h

How to draw a PCB : 1st Method: (Mc Gyver method ;) Part II

4. ETCH. Etch the circuit in Iron-III-Chlorid with a special device.

5. DRILL.

6. SOLDER. Solder the components…

14h - 19h

How to draw a PCB : 2nd Method: More (or less ;) traditional method.

1. DRAW.
Idem than previous method.

2. PRINT.
Print the schematic with a laser printer on transparency paper.

3. EXPOSE.
A UV machine for people to get brown has been modified for electronic boards.

4. DEVELOP.
A traditional liquid to develop the electronic boards has been used in a plastic bowl.

5. ETCH.
Idem than previous method.

6. SOLDER.
Idem than previous method.

Some circuits have been drawn, realized and tested:
- A board with a capacitive sensor using a QT110
- A testing board for a PIC 18F458
- A PIC programmer
- A TTL/RS232 converter

The hacked Baby Robot has been presented, manipulated and tested. (electronics, Delphi software…)
The New Baby Robot has been presented, manipulated and opened.

Day 4: Thursday 26 April

10h - 13h

Working on the chimp head :
Demo of the mechatronics head in the normal mode. The robot can make sound, be controlled by the remote, have different moods, react to several touch sensors, …

Opening the head.



Localization of the different motors and sensors:

In the head there are:
- 8 motors: (6V DC motor)
- Head Left-Right
- Head Up-Down
- Mouse Open-Close
- Eyes Left-Right
- Eyes Up-Down
- Eyebrows Up-Down
- Eyelids Open-Close
- Nose up-Down
- 1 limit switch (for the nose motor)
- 7 encoders (potentiometer indeed) for the other motors
- 1 touch sensor (chin): pressure sensor
- 2 touch sensors (top of head) pressure sensors
- 2 sonic sensors (ears)
- 2 touch sensors (ears)
- 2 IR sensors (transmitter+receiver): tracking vision

Adaptation of the Python script of the Pic downloader, to make it run on a Mac.

15h - 20h

Realization of some new PCBs with the second method (the more traditional one) using the UV light and the positive developer for presensitized boards).
Photo sensitive lacquer for production of printed circuit boards to fix failed experiments..)

Day 5: Friday 27 April