SparkFun Electronics Commentsurn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f82492024-03-19T06:51:41-06:00SparkFun ElectronicsRobotDude on On The Trail of the Black SwiftRobotDudeurn:uuid:b1107742-438c-5594-3dd9-62d3f0e8f5fe2012-03-22T09:36:49-06:00<p>Simple and elegant. Very Cool!
A family member of a friend of mine was seriously hurt years ago becuae he fell asleep while driving. Drove in to a corn field. My friends solution was to develop a micro powered system that used a compass and a drive shaft sensor and clever code. The unit could memorize routes and warn the driver of the above situation when it recognized that the driver usually slowed and stopped on that part of a route. GPS not required. Would like to work on such a system.</p>
Customer #276435 on On The Trail of the Black SwiftCustomer #276435urn:uuid:b72fa1b0-89e3-dd50-eb71-4669f2b980702012-03-22T01:42:47-06:00<p>Great Article! A good creative solution. Thank you Glen, Terry and Tod.</p>
Ted M on On The Trail of the Black SwiftTed Murn:uuid:306ecab2-aae4-afb3-5470-2d353ad8c5e42012-03-21T15:56:29-06:00<p>Now, can anyone think of a way to use this technology in the Sparkfun AVC?</p>
sgrace on On The Trail of the Black Swiftsgraceurn:uuid:05c43116-6694-35c1-6b74-e63d1bb3e41a2012-03-21T13:45:03-06:00<p>Reminds me what my professors said, "Keep it simple, Stupid! Now, back to deriving Schrodinger's equation for a lattice structure of Silicon doped with Germanium."</p>
MikeGrusin on On The Trail of the Black SwiftMikeGrusinurn:uuid:7c17dfe4-1c2b-ef63-9fb7-4296324cb30c2012-03-21T13:41:00-06:00<p>Two good ways to do this are lowering the clock speed (for example PICs (edit: and AVRs) can be run down to 32kHz - note the k! - on the internal clock), and keep the chip in sleep mode as much as possible. Nate did a great tutorial on this: <a href="http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/309" rel="nofollow">Adventures in Low Power Land</a>.</p>
bhunting on On The Trail of the Black Swiftbhuntingurn:uuid:76f7e13f-e8c8-3e84-4a44-acdd174fa1952012-03-21T13:04:59-06:00<p>Great post. We all know there are tons of geeky technology out there, but seeing a really interesting application of some of that geekness is cool.</p>
war_spigot on On The Trail of the Black Swiftwar_spigoturn:uuid:f2817513-fd12-aa36-876a-5e5a2474db6f2012-03-21T11:53:13-06:00<p>Read the first paragraph in the professor's voice(as I can't help but do with all of Mike's comments, and make sure to add "Good news, everyone!"), add to the end that they are going hunting on a strange planet, and BOOM Futurama episode.<p>But seriously, this is pretty cool. Those things probably cost 1/10th of what a GPS one would have.</p></p>
StudioLou on On The Trail of the Black SwiftStudioLouurn:uuid:d0e1b2c1-fe6f-56ea-a0d9-8356f68fbcd22012-03-21T10:45:47-06:00<p>Posts like this are why we love SparkFun!</p>
JordanH on On The Trail of the Black SwiftJordanHurn:uuid:e44c2b6c-952b-3286-b0bd-9b20661ac1eb2012-03-21T10:44:53-06:00<p>Even I'll admit--working for Digi--not everything needs to be wireless.<p>Excellent article! I enjoyed it very much!</p></p>
hikebikeclimb on On The Trail of the Black Swifthikebikeclimburn:uuid:a4576407-a8f4-2519-1c8e-da590f12d9342012-03-21T10:37:58-06:00<p>This is a really great lesson to learn from that thinking outside the box is a great way to solve problems such as this.<p>This is soooo cool with the simplicity of the solution! This definitely falls under K.I.S.S.</p></p>
TheRegnirps on On The Trail of the Black SwiftTheRegnirpsurn:uuid:f9f3daf6-355b-f12b-5957-dfa9498a9cda2012-03-21T10:26:29-06:00<p>Wow. They like tropical forest and high mountain water falls. Where will they over go with climate change? I wonder where they went last time?</p>
Nick Poole on On The Trail of the Black SwiftNick Pooleurn:uuid:21ba0b9c-4687-ce40-82a6-f01e6d975f6d2012-03-21T10:21:16-06:00<p>heck yes. love this</p>
Nick Poole on On The Trail of the Black SwiftNick Pooleurn:uuid:1c0296b9-1564-8504-8b06-02c47d790a362012-03-21T10:20:58-06:00<p>also brings to mind one of my favorite of Rams' 10 principles:
"Good design is as little design as possible"</p>
marcusfg on On The Trail of the Black Swiftmarcusfgurn:uuid:d7e54cac-ce7b-e926-de17-5799f14d0f8d2012-03-21T10:11:22-06:00<p>A great article to remind us that less is more when trying to reach engineering perfection. Reminds me of a quote by Antoine de Saint-Expury<p>"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."</p></p>
Customer #150666 on On The Trail of the Black SwiftCustomer #150666urn:uuid:73ef0588-a224-e927-3a3a-f0618f383e222012-03-21T09:38:16-06:00<p>The battery power is what I find really amazing. I hope I can design something so efficient.</p>
aimee on On The Trail of the Black Swiftaimeeurn:uuid:833e647e-1698-b245-7186-c537b4962d7c2012-03-21T09:07:18-06:00<p>Thanks Mike, this post is fantastic!</p>
customer207 on On The Trail of the Black Swiftcustomer207urn:uuid:77be8e1d-5ac8-1367-f8f9-612d75a911a22012-03-21T08:54:11-06:00<p>This was really inspiring. Thanks, Mike!</p>
nagmier on On The Trail of the Black Swiftnagmierurn:uuid:4b29ae27-ab49-2804-539a-9651479bff902012-03-21T08:53:29-06:00<p>Awesome "Backpack"! interesting read love seeing things like this!</p>
TECH GEEK on On The Trail of the Black SwiftTECH GEEKurn:uuid:0c868ab5-d218-ed03-43c1-7928de7866e42012-03-21T08:49:33-06:00<p>Comment: That 2nd pic makes me hungry 4 swift... mmmmmmmm! :P</p>