KamtraK: November 2008

Research notes.

WEEK 1

Monday 6 October 2008

Briefing on engineering project. Ideas proposed and initial idea completely changed because it would be too hard.

Thursday 9 October 2008

Brain storming and class discussion on ideas. Began to really think about what I could do.

Friday 10 October 2008

Ideas and research into some ideas. I liked the idea of using object recognition software and motion tracking. Google motion tracking found some videos on youtube of programmers using it.

WEEK 2

Monday 13 October 2008

More research. Looked at b-hague website but videos show that the movement of the camera isn’t designed for fast pan and tilt actions. Could uprate the servos inside. Have emailed them to ask. Feedback received on 24th October.

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/pan__tilt_power_head.htm

WEEK 3

Thursday 23 October 2008

Looked at cctv heads from denmark and emailed

http://www.2bsecurity.com/00085/ to ask how fast these heads can move.

Friday 24 October 2008

Found an American website that deals in robotics that make fast pan and tilt heads but these are for small cameras. Have emailed this company about providing the same speed of movement but for a handheld camera weighing 2.7kg

http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop/default.asp

Feedback on project proposal received. Need to rewrite aims and objectives and then write a Gantt chart to follow these aims.

Spoken to contact at hiflyer productions who referred me to an engineer will speak to him soon.

Spoken to a friend and have arranged for track testing with go-karts to find out the speed of pan and tilt needed. Will then test product here aswell.

Received feedback from B-Hague original message sent on 13th October copy of email below

“Andy,
The power head units can only be supplied at the speeds that are listed on the website but we do have a USB controller for them which can be found further down the power heads page.
Kind Regards,
Mark Scotton
B-Hague & Co Ltd
45 Mile End Road
Colwick
Nottingham
NG4 2DW
www.b-hague.co.uk
www.cameragrip.co.uk
mark@b-hague.co.uk
BUY OUR VIDEOS PRODUCTS ONLINE NOW AT www.cameragrip.co.uk
Phone : +44 (0) 115 987 0031
Fax : +44 (0) 115 987 2900
-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Buckland [mailto:awbuckland@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: 24 October 2008 10:30
To: info@b-hague.co.uk
Subject: Hague pan and tilt power heads
Hello,
I'm an engineering student studying broadcast engineering. For my final year project i need to find a pan and tilt head and that is how i came across your website. I really like these devices but having watched the videos i found that the pan and tilt action was too slow for the application i need to use it for.
Is there any way the servo system can be sped up or uprated to achieve faster pan and tilt actions?
Also is there anyway that instead of the control being plugged in can the head be plugged into a laptop for control?
Any help would be much appreciated
Andy Buckland
07763 694 876”

Thursday 30th October 2008

Reading tutorial for C++ http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

Still confused about some aspects of structure, functions and general language.

Thursday 6th November 2008

Found a project similar to mine that was done over a year ago. Posted a reply in a forum to the person who did it might not hear anything back as the forum is old.

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

Found a website from the forum that deals with servo systems

http://picprojects.org.uk/projects/zcode/index.htm

Found a video on youtube of a turret that moves really fast and is a good idea for design of the rig

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg1hSx-_iHs&feature=related

* Tutorial with Lecturer, came up with some action points.

Look at reference for image data processing on Moodle project brief.

Action points block diagram of hardware DONE

Clear idea of mechanical – have it ready DONE
Market research

Sunday 9th November 2008

Scavenged servos, motors, RF receivers, controls, and other parts from old model cars to use with project.

Monday 10th November 2008
and
Tuesday 11th November 2008

Drew up plans for basic ideas with notations and multiple views. Have designed mechanical parts of which there are three main parts to the product. Have looked at materials and aesthetics as well as weight saving issues.

Thursday 13th November 2008

Looked at servos taken from model cars. Found that they can be modified to turn fully 360 degrees if needs be. They currently turn at about 90 degrees. But they can do 180. The controller will need to be modified.
Also made a logo in photoshop.
Tested servos with controls to make sure they still worked SUCCESS!

* Tutorial with Lecturer

Action points

Set Gantt chart to display in weeks rather than days DONE

Look at Blog writing DONE

Make a different log of links and references as a crossover document to tie in with log

Saturday 15th November 2008