Introduction: Fabric Machine Learning Toy
In this attempt to build a fabric toy I am going to tell you how I came to the idea and what are the chances to reproduce it so you can build your own.
Because this is a somewhat complex'll try to mix some text and a couple of video system videos last about three to five minutes however try to be as clear as possible so that videos can visualize how the system works without us having to explain it in text and see it practically.
Step 1: Software and Services
The toy was made using IBM bluemix services, I chose nodejs and the nodejs SDK for watson because it can run pretty smoothly on my mac and very easy and without any major complications on the raspberry, yes it is a little bit of slow, but I am pretty sure with technology as it is now, those problems won't exist in a near future.
If you want to test the code by yourself you can have a look at my repo at this address
remember the main application is located at:
dialogApp.js
you can execute it as:
node dialogApp.js
Don't try to run the application on windows or macos as it is, the GPIO library will generate an error, you can comment those lines.
The application can run on watson smoothly, just make sure to install the latest nodejs, install watson cloud, get a bluemix account and, that's it.
Step 2: Selecting Components
The idea of component selection is explained in the next video.
The most basic components that can be found in our home or in our office are used.
The first is web we then take fabric and thread are also going to occupy patterns to design arms legs head and body but at the moment I do not have images to share because copy it by hand however I can link to a place where they have several models that they're able to download and take the raspberry.
Secondly we have the use of a USB sound card, USB card this type are becoming more economical can find from one dollar to three dollars so it does not represent a significant expense if you want to replicate this model. Third'll need a microphone and headphones if a speaker is possible. No need to have the speakers completely available as with hearing aids is more than enough Fourthly we will require a battery, several batteries we can use that are rechargeable batteries, however it is very likely to be very large so if you have rechargeable batteries for cell disposables can use.
Step 3: Testing the Components
To test the components need to first configure correctly in raspberry or any other microcomputer system we are using, remember that we are using nodejs and therefore we must ensure that all the libraries that we will use are compatible with our system.
Step 4: Testing Everything With a Battery
it is very easy to operate a computer system when we have a high specification, however in systems that are microcomputers must be careful and we must also take advantage of the size and features that have, so it is important to get for example to turn microcomputers battery large enough to provide power as long as possible but without compromising size or weight of the project.
Step 5: Testing Fabric Toy
Now in the next video we will be testing the first steps to the toy.
Start the test directly with the microcomputer connect everything in place and began the writing that allows us to run the test, we must ensure that all libraries are running properly and so we can connect directly to IBM servers