Humanoid Robots

A Humanoid may be defined as something that resembles or looks like a human and having characteristics like opposable thumb, ability to walk in upright position, etc. Nowadays the concept of humanoids is being widely implemented in robotics and these robots are called Humanoid Robots or may be simply “Humanoids”.

In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a 'face', with 'eyes' and 'mouth'. Androids are humanoid robots built to resemble a male human, and Gynoids are humanoid robots built to resemble a human female.

Robotics

What does one visualize while thinking of a Robot? Does a robot roll as R2D2 (from Star Wars) or walk upright as C3P0? Does it have expressionistic face or a mechanical one? Does it function as vacuum or picks objects for you? As there are many uses of Robotics, it is reasonable to think that there are various designs too. To know how these complex yet intelligent machines move, one needs to look at their engineering, physics closely.

Other than the sci-fi movies, the Robots can be seen around us assembling the cars, in bottling factory etc. The robots have been in the industry for last two decades because of their continuous working ability in an atmosphere, where humans are not even able to stand for minutes, without any supporting equipment, like space.

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Robotics

What does one visualize while thinking of a Robot? Does a robot roll as R2D2 (from Star Wars) or walk upright as C3P0? Does it have expressionistic face or a mechanical one? Does it function as vacuum or picks objects for you? As there are many uses of Robotics, it is reasonable to think that there are various designs too. To know how these complex yet intelligent machines move, one needs to look at their engineering, physics closely.

Other than the sci-fi movies, the Robots can be seen around us assembling the cars, in bottling factory etc. The robots have been in the industry for last two decades because of their continuous working ability in an atmosphere, where humans are not even able to stand for minutes, without any supporting equipment, like space.

Read more on Robotics

PIC Microcontroller

The microcontrollers played revolutionary role in embedded industry after the invention of Intel 8051. The steady and progressive research in this field gave the industry more efficient, high-performance and low-power consumption microcontrollers. The AVR, PIC and ARM are the prime examples. The new age microcontrollers are getting smarter and richer by including latest communication protocols like USB, I2C, SPI, Ethernet, CAN etc.   

PIC microcontrollers 

History:

The PIC microcontroller was developed by General Instruments in 1975. PIC was developed when Microelectronics Division of General Instruments was testing its 16-bit CPU CP1600. Although the CP1600 was a good CPU but it had low I/O performance. The PIC controller was used to offload the I/O the tasks from CPU to improve the overall performance of the system.

In 1985, General Instruments converted their Microelectronics Division to Microchip Technology. PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller. The General Instruments used the acronyms Programmable Interface Controller and Programmable Intelligent Computer for the initial PICs (PIC1640 and PIC1650). 

RFID

RFID is a tracking technology used to identify and authenticate tags that are applied to any product, individual or animal. Radio frequency Identification and Detection is a general term used for technologies that make use of radio waves in order to identify objects and people.

Purpose of Radio frequency Identification and Detection system is to facilitate data transmission through the portable device known as tag that is read with the help of RFID reader; and process it as per the needs of an application. Information transmitted with the help of tag offers location or identification along with other specifics of product tagged – purchase date, color, and price. Typical RFID tag includes microchip with radio antenna, mounted on substrate.

The RFID tags are configured to respond and receive signals from an RFID transceiver. This allows tags to be read from a distance, unlike other forms of authentication technology. The RFID system has gained wide acceptance in businesses, and is gradually replacing the barcode system. 

Projects using RFID & 8051 Microcontroller

RFID Interfacing

Interfacing RFID using Serial Interrupt

RFID based Toll Plaza

RFID Based Secured Access System

Projects using RFID & AVR Microcontroller

Interface RFID with AVR

Interface RFID with AVR using Interrupts

RFID based Toll Plaza

Electronic/automated toll collection systems are very popular these days. They do not require manual collection and operation of toll barriers. The details about the vehicles and payment are stored in an RFID based system.

This article explains the working of a simple toll plaza system interfaced with RFID. Each user holds a unique ID for his vehicle. When the user scans his tag while passing through the plaza, a certain amount is deducted from his account. A user may also recharge his account in case of insufficient balance. The project has been developed by interfacing RFID with AT89C51 Microcontroller. The relevant messages are also displayed on a 16x2 LCD. The free source code for the program is available in C.
also see these tutorials

RFID

8051

Microcontroller

Microcontroller Projects

AVR Microcontroller

Microcontroller can be termed as a single on chip computer which includes number of peripherals like RAM, EEPROM, Timers etc., required to perform some predefined task.

Does this mean that the microcontroller is another name for a computer…? The answer is NO!

The computer on one hand is designed to perform all the general purpose tasks on a single machine like you can use a computer to run a software to perform calculations or you can use a computer to store some multimedia file or to access internet through the browser, whereas the microcontrollers are meant to perform only the specific tasks, for e.g., switching the AC off automatically when room temperature drops to a certain defined limit and again turning it ON when temperature rises above the defined limit.

There are number of popular families of microcontrollers which are used in different applications as per their capability and feasibility to perform the desired task, most common of these are 8051, AVR and PIC microcontrollers. In this article we will introduce you with AVR family of microcontrollers.

Read architecture of AVR Microcontroller

AVR Projects

8051 Microcotroller

Microcontroller

Microcontroller Projects