[General] RFID help - Thank You!

Faye Lynn Thompson watersprite at charter.net
Mon Jan 7 19:49:29 CST 2013 

Ooops Sorry,
  Yes, Saturday Jan 12th, Grissom High School
http://alabamafll.org/eventsinfo.php

I don't have the exact schedule yet.  Doors usually open by 8:00 for teams to set up.  Robot games will probably start right after lunch.

Look for A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.   team # 13679  wearing blue shirts and fezzes.

Faye Lynn


On Jan 7, 2013, at 8:18 AM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:

> What time and where will it be on Saturday?  I'm assuming you mean this coming up Saturday January 12.
> 
> On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 8:01 AM, Faye Lynn Thompson <watersprite at charter.net> wrote:
> Mentor it is.  
> We'd love to have you visit the teams display Saturday.
> All of us involved with this team plan to spend more time with you.
> Thanks again.  
> Faye Lynn
> 
> On Jan 6, 2013, at 9:51 AM, Matthew H <hendrix04 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> IDK how lego league does it, but FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) uses the word mentor a lot.
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 9:46 AM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:
>> That's a very great question!
>> We could use the publicity.
>> But I wonder if consultants is the right word? One of the greatest uses of a makerspace is getting help with a project through the resources of knowledge and skill of the members.  I know I've had several projects that were easily finished with the help and ideas from the other members. For that I'm thankful I found this place and want to pay it forward any chance I can. 
>> Anyone else want to say if it's ok to put us down as helped on a robotics project? I will vote yes but don't take my say as final.
>> 
>> On Jan 6, 2013 8:29 AM, "Faye Lynn Thompson" <watersprite at charter.net> wrote:
>> May my daughters robotics team list makers local 256 on their display board at competition as "consultants"  ?
>> 
>> Faye Lynn Thompson
>> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>>> From: Faye Lynn Thompson <watersprite at charter.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [General] RFID help
>>> Date: December 31, 2012 7:05:28 PM CST
>>> To: General discussion about makerslocal <general at lists.makerslocal.org>
>>> 
>>> Thank You!!
>>> We've got it working with your help.  Now we're making it "pretty"
>>> On Dec 31, 2012, at 12:50 PM, James Fluhler <j.fluhler at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Also as a side note those ftdi chips are really great and robust; they are absolutely a very simple USB to serial chip and used in many consumer devices. 
>>>> 
>>>> James F.
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 28, 2012, at 12:59 PM, Arthur <Arthur at cd-net.net> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Yep, it looks like those use an FTDI chip to look like a good old serial port.  Here's the driver page for them.  http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm Though, last I checked on most newer Operating Systems (Linux at least) you don't need to install a driver.  It just works.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't know what controller you're using, but if it's the Lego NXT, here's a python module for that as well:  https://code.google.com/p/nxt-python/
>>>>> 
>>>>> Since it looks like the tags are preprogrammed with a unique ID, it looks like you don't have to configure them as well.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Based on the datasheet, to activate the reciever you need to set the DTR pin to high on your virtual serial port.  This pySerial command should do the trick "ser.setDTR(True)"
>>>>> 
>>>>> Here's a simple pySerial program to test this:
>>>>> 
>>>>> import serial
>>>>> #This is COM? on Windows systems
>>>>> ser = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyS1', 2400, timeout=1)
>>>>> #Enable the serial module
>>>>> ser.setDTR(True)
>>>>> #Do this forever
>>>>> while(True):
>>>>> 	#The datasheet says the module returns a 12 byte string
>>>>> 	#If timeout happens without reading anything, it should print a blank line
>>>>> 	print(str(ser.read(12)))
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hope this helps,
>>>>> Arthur Moore
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 10:20 AM, Faye Lynn Thompson <watersprite at charter.net> wrote:
>>>>> > Wow, y'all are already being so helpful.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > This started as an add on to my daughter's FIRST Lego League robotics team
>>>>> > project.  The team is trying to use RFID to find misplaced items without the
>>>>> > need to replace batteries.  The one we have is too short range, but it is a
>>>>> > good way to learn we hope.
>>>>> > We have this one...
>>>>> > https://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/517/Default.aspx?txtSearch=rfid+usb
>>>>> >
>>>>> > It is built/designed by Grand Idea Studio....
>>>>> > http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/rfid-reader/
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I think the usb port is an add on to the board from FTDI chip
>>>>> > http://www.ftdichip.com/index.html
>>>>> > but I'm not sure which driver to use.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > We are using my early 2009 macbook pro and osx 10.8.2 because it's portable. 
>>>>> > We have windows 7 available on other machines and dual boot on the laptop.  
>>>>> > Just to make it trickier we'd like to be able to compile the code on a
>>>>> > friends linux machine too.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I suspect part of our problem is just not being able to make time to get it
>>>>> > our brains wrapped around it.  Now we'd like to have something that looks
>>>>> > nice for the teams display at state competition on Jan 12th in Huntsville. 
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Thank You so much already
>>>>> > Faye Lynn
>>>>> >
>>>>> > p.s.  You are all invited to the state competition.  Dates are still a
>>>>> > little fuzzy but it will be in Huntsville.  Jan 12th or 19th at Huntsville
>>>>> > High or Grissom
>>>>> > http://alabamafll.org
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Dec 27, 2012, at 11:36 PM, Arthur <Arthur at cd-net.net> wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > That sounds like a fun project.  Could you give me some details about it. 
>>>>> > Does the reader use a virtual serial port?  If so, I would suggest pySerial. 
>>>>> > The other question is what do you want to do with it?  There are so many
>>>>> > great ideas for RFID.  Which one are you looking at?
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Arthur Moore
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Friday, December 28, 2012, Faye Lynn Thompson wrote:
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> My daughter and I are trying  to get a usb RFID reader to work and look
>>>>> >> good doing it.  We can get it to read and display the tags in a monitor /
>>>>> >> shell window.  (ugly but it works)  We'd like to do something in python.  So
>>>>> >> far we have lots of bits and pieces of code, but are having trouble getting
>>>>> >> it all together.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Any advice, urls, etc you can throw our way would be great.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Thanks
>>>>> >> Faye Lynn
>>>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>>>> >> General mailing list
>>>>> >> General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>>>> >> http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > --
>>>>> > Sincerely,
>>>>> > Arthur Moore
>>>>> > (256) 277-1001
>>>>> >
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>>> > General mailing list
>>>>> > General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>>>> > http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>>> > General mailing list
>>>>> > General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>>>> > http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>> Arthur Moore
>>>>> (256) 277-1001
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> General mailing list
>>>>> General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>>>> http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
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>> -- 
>> 
>> 
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