yes, this fun project for ee572, "digital control systems," has definitely been a real source of insanity for the muppet. in the last week, team thrasher have assembled a working analog robot, actually a feedback control system, which will follow a flashlight.
our idea was to make a "light-follower" using a rotating base and some light-detecting diodes. it actually works pretty well -- it will follow chase's mag-lite just about anywhere with really good response time -- , and, like its creators, likes to stare at windows unless you can distract it.
however, this fully analog system doesn't contain a digital controller... and it is, after all, a digital controls class. therefore, i've been here in the lab for the last seven hours (or more) trying in vain to teach myself (badly) to write a (bad) program in the assembly language of the motorola MC68HC11 microcontroller unit... a cryptic and unforgiving environment... all to make a motor controller to have the digital system working by 5pm.
somebody shoot me now.
4:17am, 8 May 1997... nearing the end of finals week
i'd like to wish absolutely NO goodwill to the janitor who locked me in the lab this morning, shortly after the first writing of this page. why the deadbolt is keyed on both sides of the door is beyond me, but after three hours, given the amount of caffeine in my system, i was ready to increase the temperature of the rain outside the window by the time my good friend came by to rescue me at 8am....
when i grow old and rich and fat and decide to patronize my alma mater and donate things to the college of engineering, definitely one of the first things will be a couch for the controls lab... those chairs just aren't comfortable for sleeping!
1:00am may 9-- approximately 1.5 hours of sleep since may 7