These pages may not present clearly on some small smartphone screens; please use a normal large screen on a desktop, laptop, or tablet in landscape mode. Thankyou. © Robin Lovelock.
GPS Guided Trans-Atlantic Robot Boat
Click here for Robin's Home Page on www.GPSS.co.uk Click here for page on robot boat to cross Atlantic from UK to USA <- Click here to see Robin's Home page, so you know who he is. Click here to read about Snoopy the Viking ->
Scroll down on a big screen to see the content. Useful links like thebackshed.com Forum are near the end.

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Click on a flag above, to translate this page into your preferred language.

Home . GPS . Contact . Family . AVL/Chase . Links . History . AsOnTV . Holidays . Grumpy . Bigger Picture . Snoopy white strip

Robin's Australian Micromite page.

Last update 1400 UK time ( also 1400z GMT/UT/GPS Time ) Sunday 30th January 2022. Add 11 hours for Melbourne, Australia. e.g. 0100 Monday :-)
Newsflash 30/1/22: GPS data for testing hardware loaded with Robin's Autopilot program. Tennis Final in Melbourne: Nadal(ES) v Medvedev(RU) :-)

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Robin Lovelock Ozi Man Phil's MicroMite Autopilot board G'Day Cobbers ! First a headline from Snoopy's Robot Boat page: "See the MicroMite Computer - fantastic software from Australia, better than that for the Arduino. Our MicroMite Autopilots go into other robot boats". This is that linked page. An important update was Easter Sunday 1st April 2018.

Mick Gulverston Thanks to Mick Gulovsen in Australia for his good work on the MicroMite, and helping me with my 'strine. Previous to that, my advice came from the Australian Cultural Attache, Sir Les Patterson , a close friend of Dame Edna Everage, who is practically Royalty here in UK. Liz and Philip ( sorry: Queen Elizebeth and the Duke of Edinburgh ) once lived just down the road from us in Sunninghill, and many is the Royal Garden Party in Windsor, where I've sat a few places along the royal table, and overheard Sir Les swapping obscene jokes with Phillip. That one about a shiela, trying to hitch a lift from an Ozi lorry driver, outside Alice Springs ... but I digress.

Geoff Graham The fantastic MicroMite software was written by Geoff Graham, also in Australia, but in Perth, on the west coast. Click on Geoff, on the right, to visit his About page. From there you can visit his "Home" page on geoffg.net . I love Geoff's words about Microsoft. Me too Geoff ! :-)

This "MicroMite" page was given an important update in March 2016, after fast progress on my MicroMite Autopilot program, MMAUTOP1. At the end of August Snoopy had his second sail on Bray Lake, using a MicroMite Autopilot. He completed The Bray Lake Test twice. Checkout the videos further down. I now have four boards from Phil working: click on that picture to the right. In due course, I hope to do more - helped by my friends, who do the hard work ;-)

For background, please see my Home page and others, like Aleksey's Sailing Saucer , but - most important of all, the Snoopy page - Snoopy's Robot Boats intended to cross the Atlantic. We might be able to use a MicroMite Autopilot in these - eventually !

Roy's MicroMite Board works Software was not on my critical path for MicroMite Autopilots: it was getting several of the required MicroMite board systems assembled by someone. "Build or Buy ?" - Definitely BUY ! :-)

There are sufficient details below to provide a specification. e.g. Futaba compatible pins from board, for connecting devices like rudder servo, GPS, TTS, USB PC Monitor for software load, Compass. Ideally the boards might include similar connectors for a second servo. e.g. Direct Wind Vane position, or Wind Vane Clutch, as described in Aleksey's Sailing Saucer page.

Roy's MicroMite Autopilot Roy's MicroMite Autopilot Peter's MicroMite Autopilot

Team-Joker member Peter took an interest applying the MicroMite to robot boat autopilots: you may like his candid video on the right. But click on Roy's Micromite Autopilot made in July and see the small size by counting the 0.1" hole spacing !

I am happy to buy such boards, then pop them into Snoopy's Robot Boats being tested at Bray Lake, elsewhere in UK, and anywhere in the World.

Boat12 Mobius UNEDITED video on 31 August 2017 10 Minute video at Bray Lake on 16th August 2017

Check out the videos on the right, showing Roy's MicroMite board sailing Eric's Boat 12. One is the first sailing of the Autopilot using Australian technology. You may also like my Australian SatNav, heard on the video. You will see Peter, range testing his ship-to-shore communications on Boat 11 - the one being prepared for the 2017 Microtransat Atlantic Attempt - from the UK south coast to the USA, where the Pilgrim Fathers landed.

Gardening and Australian Gnomes Maybe you experts can see how the same board, or an enhanced version, could support other things. e.g. a "C: Drive hard disk" using an SD card, or even sound output supported by MMBASIC playing of .WAV files ? If so, memory permitting, much of my Pocket PC Autopilot could be ported across, including recorded voice, in any language. I would particularly like to play .wav files so that I could give a MicroMite based Autopilot a suitably 'Strine accent.

But remember those wise words from an American Avionics Engineer: "Keep It Simple, Stupid" (KISS). white strip

Micromite hardware assemblies. e.g. Micromite chip and components on printed circuit board (PCB) and test leads ...

Update on 18th January 2022: These pictures and videos are intended to support discussion between Robin and Mick, then a wider audience, towards clarifying the Micromite assemblies Robin is seeking, complete with the components on the board, and flying Futaba leads, for initial testing then use.

Hopefully Mick can provide several boards from what he has in stock, but maybe, we will find someone for whom it would make "business sense" to sell the assemblies at a sensible price, to anyone.

Unfortunately, Robin's first attempt of pictures and video had a big mistake: he was using an old Picaxe computer, instead of a MicroMite ! However, for now he has two videos here, and - in slower time - maybe we will replace with something better. Maybe even add links to guys who can sell these via a trusted route such as Ebay or Amazon ? :-) white strip MicroMite Bits Video #2 MicroMite Bits Video #1 MicroMite Bits Video #2 white strip

Tap or Click on pictures below to expand and see details. Update on 19th January 2022: Just found: two drawers of Micromite bits. Spare built up boards, and that connection diagram now below ! Yes, that top drawer does say "Roy" :-) 22nd Jan: Photos on RHS below help. e.g. version of board is MuP Version 2; 5v power input pin; TS2950CT for 5v to 3.3v Voltage Regulator (VR). white strip MicroMite drawers MicroMite connections and spares MicroMite board photo MicroMite board photo white strip

Robin Lovelock Micromite Explorer Micromite Explorer Phil Boyce has an excellent website https://micromite.org/ and supplied me with advice, chips, and built up boards, years ago. I took a visit and saw this Micromite Explorer 28, and wondered if it would do the job above. But maybe Phil should charge a lot more, or get others overseas to build them ? The name of the game, for me, has always been to get others to do the time-demanding work ! :-)

Since this page has an Australian flavour, I hope Phil does not mind my saying here that his wife is called "Shiela" :-) white strip

Release of Robin's experimental Autopilot program for Micromite for testing hardware system - but without Trans-Atlantic route - yet :-)

Snoopy's Trans-Atlantic route Update on 15th January 2022: For those interested, source code for Robin experimental MicroMite autopilot is in mmap1b.bas version "Bravo" from 19th September 2017 . To read the BASIC source, including comments, open this as a text file. e.g. Windows Notepad ? This should load direct into the MicroMite.

Start of Snoopy's Trans-Atlantic route Note that this does NOT include waypoints for the Microtransat Transatlantic route. For that, see Robin's Snoopy page. e.g. pictures like that on left and right. Tap or Click on them to expand.

Robin is still using the same Picaxe autopilot, unchanged for years, because the software has not needed to be changed. BUT, one day, maybe he, or someone else, will have time to add those waypoints into his MicroMite Autopilot - AND test it ;-)

They may wish to start with small pond near them :-) white strip

Release of recorded GPS data for testing Micromite hardware system loaded with Robin's Autopilot, if no GPS available ...

Update on 30th January 2022: Here is file br355.nme - the recorded GPS data, in standard NMEA format , recorded while Robin walked from his doorstep, to "robin's Corner" ( located with Differential GPS in 1980s while working for EASAMS , prior to The Barossa Operation and own Sunninghill Systems business .

Recorded GPS data for MicroMite Assembly testing Tap or Click on the picture on the right, to expand it, and see the fine detail. The important part is the thin white track showing the NMEA GPS data. If this data is played from a suitable source, such as an old PC, it can simulate a GPS, and see if the total MicroMite system is giving correct rudder servo movements, and speaking correct information, such as distance and direction to the next waypoint. e.g. "Robin's Corner", "Lampost", or "Robin's Doorstep".

For those not familiar with the standard NMEA GPS format, here is a sample from that file, for the three seconds after 1407:

$GPGGA,140700.000,5123.8271,N,00039.5885,W,1,05,2.7,89.6,M,47.1,M,,0000*7A
$GPRMC,140700.000,A,5123.8271,N,00039.5885,W,2.28,190.72,010812,,,A*72
$GPGGA,140701.000,5123.8265,N,00039.5886,W,1,05,2.7,89.3,M,47.1,M,,0000*78
$GPRMC,140701.000,A,5123.8265,N,00039.5886,W,2.26,183.42,010812,,,A*7A
$GPGGA,140702.000,5123.8258,N,00039.5886,W,1,05,2.7,89.2,M,47.1,M,,0000*74
$GPRMC,140702.000,A,5123.8258,N,00039.5886,W,2.26,187.81,010812,,,A*7C

Globalsat BR355 S4 GPS The Globalsat BR355 was configured by Robin to report, every second, two lines:
$GPGGA with time in hours, minutes, seconds. e.g. 140700.000.
Latitude in degrees, and minutes. e.g. 5123.8271 = 51 + 23.8271 / 60 to convert to decimal degrees used by Robin's program.

That'll do. It's easy to find the NMEA standard - but no need if you are simply using Robin's software to test the total hardware system :-)

Tap or Click on the Globalstar BR355-S4 on the left, to visit Robin's Snoopy's Robot Boat Design Page .

Have fun Mick, or whover is testing Micromite hardware ( with firmware ) assemblies :-)

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The section below is much earlier work from 2017, but starts with useful extracts at top :-) ...

Robin's MicroMite Pin Connections Snoopy the Viking

Useful links ...

A message to Australians from Snoopy the Viking ...

G'Day Bruce ! Robin, the mug who builds my robot boats, assures me that most of you guys are called "Bruce", and that your women folk answer to "Shiela". He is wrong, of course, and I'd like to apologise for him not including a 'Strine translation flag at the top for you. Some of his workmates in NATO then EASAMS came to New Zealand and Australia, perhaps to get away from him. When Rudi, now in Sydney, and Robin, worked on a bid into Australia, they were briefed on Australian Defence Strategy.... "Come On In !". What Nation would be so daft as to try to invade and occupy a country of desert, and full of poisonous snakes and spiders ? Robin has been heard boasting of his Royal Tea Parties, with Liz, Phillip, and Dame Edna Everage. He fondly recalls overhearing your Cultural Attache - Sir Les Patterson - cracking an obscene joke with Phillip: something about the conversation between an Ozzy truck driver, crawling out of Alice Springs, and a young lady hitch-hiker. It seems the MicroMite is very much an Ozzy creation, and so Robin asked me to add a few words for him. Maybe, if Robin get's a MicroMite based autopilot working, it will be easy for him to program it for a journey south, from UK to Australia. If so, I will give you plenty of warning. There is one snag: I don't have a criminal record, and Robin insists that one is obligitory for entry to Oz :-)

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Snoopy's MicroMite page ( Can anyone sell Robin assembled cards ? But see above )
( Tidy up in progress, before a little work on MMAUTOP1, then filming a Tea Tray Test )
( There it is below, but automatic subtitles completely confused by the Text-To-Speech :-)

Updated 1955z Thursday 16th March 2017 UK Time

Robin Lovelock Click here for GPS Software on Pocket PC From Robin: This page provides my notes and the latest status on my experimental work with the MicroMite. It was Roy, seen on the Snoopy pages, who got me started on the Picaxe, years ago, when Snoopy's Autopilot was iPAQ Pocket PC based. The Picaxe 08M2 has been used on all Snoopy's Atlantic Attempts since the first in 2012. In recent years, we have experimented with the Picaxe 28X2 and additional sensors such as a Compass. This "work" is documented on BlogX . In late 2016, Roy introduced me to the MicroMite, and he very rapidly got one working, including taking data from GPS, a CMPS11 Compass, and driving a servo.

News on Thursday 16th: In short: After an Optomistic early start at 0600, I had my new software, MMAUTOP1.BAS working well enough by 1500. I could walk around that waypoint at the end of my drive, called "Robin's Corner", with it speaking accurate range and direction to it. As it happens, that GPS reference, now marked with a white stick, was calibrated in about 1991 with DGPS, to one metre, when I started dabbling with GPS at EASAMS. Why so optimistic ? Click on that animated picture on the right - my GPS Software from the early 1990s, was written in practically the same language as MMBASIC. That later Pocket PC, from ten years ago, included Snoopy's first Autopilot !

CP2102 USB to TTL Module There is a lot more work that I should do on my MicroMite software, but this should show rapid progress. All the difficult work has been done - mostly by Roy. He built the working hardware, plug and software compatible with my early notes on this page, such as MicroMite pin connections with GPS, Servo, Compass, and PC. It's a miracle Roy got as far as he did with the software: he was starting from scratch on that platform, with no better GPS software than my primitive Picaxe Autopilot Software. I've not used any of Roy's code, but saved time finding one or two I/O primitives. The main thing is he gave me my first suitable MicroMite hardware platform - and we know it works.

MicroMite AutoPilot Tea Tray Test at Robin's ho,e Our adoption of the CP2102 USB to TTL Module was clearly the right decision. It's not the lower cost, of less than 5 GBP each delivered, but the fact that it matches our requirement exactly. The flying leads that come with it, plug directly into Futabba compatibe pins. After software loading, it is removed completely, not taking any power at all. In this autopilot application, even a lit LED is power-significant.

Dick, Snoopy, Roy, Robin at 2015 Launch Roy's the guy in the funny hat on the left, at the launch of Snoopy's 2015 Atlantic Attempt - the most interesting one so far. It ended with an "alleged" Royal Navy Marines rescue. If you watch the video, listen to Roy wittering on about a "launch check list" :-)

I was up early, and knew there was a chance have Snoopy's new MicroMite Autopilot software working well enough to do a "tea tray test", with it given spoken GPS guidance, and servo rudder control, around "Robin's Corner" and up to that "Lampost", then back to our house. It might even have "steered" me over to my friend Eric this afternoon, when I go over for tea and cake. But first I had to take a cup of tea up to my wife June, or she would not get up to go to work ;-)

Setting up the BR355-S2 GPS I've swapped the Globalsat BR355 GPS that I'd given Roy (by mistake), to a BR-355 S2. When I got data, I saw it was the earlier version, with LOTS of other NMEA sentences. I put a Futaba lead onto the BR355-S2 so it plugs onto Roy's Board - and they work together ! I needed to apply a firmware patch, and set up the GPS so that it ONLY outputs $GPRMC sentences. That makes an enormous reduction in the work that any Picaxe or MicroMite must do. The BR-355 S2 set up process is documented in BlogX.

News on Wednesday 15th February 2017: Roy's MicroMite AutoPilot Board Works !

First some relevant videos from the Snoopy page: see that "Snoopy's Drones" on the right, from earlier this week. and my last paragraph here.

Utube video Utube video Utube video Utube video Utube video white strip

Roy's MicroMite Board works

On Wednesday 15th February, after I'd been busy on things like charity stuff and having fun with Dick, including many hours editing that Snoopy Drone video, I got a couple of 'phone calls from Roy, in addition to the emails. The second was to say his MicroMite Autopilot board was fully working, with GPS, Compass, Servo, and his Autopilot Software. The board ready for me to see tested with a Parallax TTS ( very expensive at 100 GBP from the USA into UK ), then collect.

I was around there in 20 minutes, and the only significant delay was Roy waiting for his soldering iron to warm up. After several years of test on tea trays and boats, one loudspeaker wire chose to drop off just then. Everything worked as it should, and as I had seen it on my desktop PC. We found no linefeed was needed for TTS on the PRINT to COM2 because it already happens.
OPEN "COM2:9600" AS #2
PRINT "S Hello I am Snoopy's MicroMite AutoPilot"

I thought it wise to update and document what I then took away, before testing it here on my PC: probably reported here tomorrow. Roy's system will be on that same wooden tea tray, and when I have his autopilot software loaded and running, I'll simply unplug that USB plug from the PC. We did that, and Roy's software continued to operate, allowing it to be carried outside the house, or even driven around in a car.

After the first step above - repeating here what was done at Roys - I would appreciate any simple guidance on the instruction(s)* so that my loaded program will restart when I unplug then plug back that portable 5v supply - the radio control battery.
OPTION AUTORUN ON '* thanks Phil / White Wizard for such a quick answer on the Forum.

Yes, I will repeat that I am very interested in anyone providing a completely software and plug compatible board: not a kit. Note that Roy used that cheaper USB/TTL interface, and not the smaller one provided by Phil. I prefer Phil's, since you will see, in the pictures below, that it can sit nicely on a board, and simply take a mini USB plug.

Time is money, but with me, I don't mind spending sensible money to save even an hour of my time.

Finally - that "Snoopy Drone's" video DOES have stuff that is relevant to the background of some of our Team-Joker guys. e.g. Those "Grumpy Old Men Behaving Badly With Rockets". I have already been asked, seriously, by a neighbour's school boy son, if Snoopy's boat could be fitted with a sea to air missile. You will see our tests with SAMs and Air-To-Air Missiles, a few years ago. A counter-measure to TV Network Drones, getting too close to Snoopy's Boat ? But one step at a time :-)

Work's at Robin's too ! Including starting on power up ! :-)

More here tomorrow: it only took 5 minutes to plug it in and run my program. Unplugged from PC, and it starts up ! Off out with the wife to celibrate :-)

Roy's board at Robin's

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Click on pictures to expand: 1) Robin's mess of a workplace, testing the second MicroMite board with the Parallax EMIC Text-To-Speech (TTS) unit .... 2) Google Earth map used to choose to local lat/lon positions for first software tests on the MicroMite ... 3) Results of that old subroutine LLLLTORB ( Lat0!,Lon0!,Lat2!,Lon2!,r!,b! ) were even better than expected .... 4) MicroMite Pin Connections to be compatible with Robin's AutoPilot software and Roy's Tea Tray Test board ....

white strip Robin's MicroMite Mess Robin's MicroMite Test Waypoint 'Robin's Corner' Robin's MicroMite Robin's MicroMite Pin Connections

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Following technical information still true. e.g. MicroMax pin connections and THE REQUIREMENT :-)

MicroMite AutoPilot Concept Latest Status (BUT SEE ABOVE): I'm now looking for something like that on the right, that works, so I can do what should be easy for me: the software. I was delighted to get my first test program, LLLLTORB.BAS working, with Phil and Roy's help. It shows that software progress should be fast, including simply holding lat/lon in floating point degrees. My problem was to get TTS to work ( see below ). However, after a shopping trip to Maplins for things like a smaller soldering iron, and 28 pin sockets, then soldering up a second MicroMite board, I can see that my construction skills are not up to it. The benifits of much simpler software are obvious, but I don't wish to spend time in construction - even if I had the skills. For now I will shelve my MicroMite bits and continue with Picaxe - easy to assemble kits which take little time or skill to assemble. However, if I'd found the MicroMite a few years ago, my decision might be different :-)

white strip Veroboard polarity ? Update on Sunday 11th: I regret my project is "shelved", despite this morning's optimism - inspired by our long visit to see Roy and his wife yesterday, I woke up early and remembered a scrap of Veroboard which would make wiring into those MicroMite pins so much easier. I also needed to double-check that I've got the polarity correct for those poorly documented Maplin tantalum 47 Micro Farad capacitors. Click on the picture to enlarge (Thanks Phil that OK). Also important: confirmation that those 1K resistors are all that is required to protect the MicroMite 3.3v system from those 5v devices like the Globalsat BR355-S2 GPS and Parallax EMIC TTS units on COM1 and COM2 ? (Thanks Mick that OK) Is my MMPINS.GIF diagram below correct ? I've ordered another four MicroMite 28 pin PIC32MX170 (programmed) and two USB to serial modules from Phil, to do a bit more "work". Imagine my delight, when checking my emails, to see those from Mick in Oz. Yes, he has seen that message from Snoopy at the end, as my friends near Sydney had. Checkout Kristina in the puppy dog video on my TAM page :-)

white strip Latest attempt top Latest attempt underneath My optimism was short lived, after what - for me - was still a fiddly process with vero board. You may see wiring mistakes in these pictures, or even blobs of solder across tracks. I used Phil's USB/Serial interface from the working system, knowing others will be in the post, for someone more capable than me to use. I've confidence in the components used, but this unit behaves like the one where I used an alternative USB/Serial interface: no echos of characters and "detected version 0.0" that may be familiar to some of you. Time to put all my bits in a "MicroMite Drawer", and see if anybody local to me can get a similar module to work. If they do, I'll be happy to supply simple test programs, then pay a suitable price, and give due credit where it is due.

white strip Idea for a MicroMite Autopilot The photo on the right shows a working Picaxe 28X2 based autopilot, which includes a Globalsat BR355-S2 GPS and Devantech CMPS10 Compass. The software is loaded from a PC via a serial lead, which can also be used for monitoring during software development. One serial output is to a Parallax Text-To-Speech unit, only used for testing on Bray Lake. Details of Picaxe based autopilots will be found in places like Snoopy's BlogX and Design pages.

Below the Picaxe board is my concept for a MicroMite solution to do the same thing, using similar components. My problem is one of construction. Can anyone help - at the right price ? :-)

Earlier Plan: I hope to get a protototype MMAUTOP.BAS working, with output to the TTS. Then try controlling a servo. Then reading $GPRMC sentences from a BR-355 GPS. Then maybe test the MicroMite/TTS/GPS/Servo, on a tea-tray, steering to the end of my front drive - see map below. If I get that far, it should not take more than an hour to pop in the extra waypoints, for a Bray Lake Test, in one of Snoopy's boats.

Last Problem before I paused work: My problem now is getting Text-To-Speech (TTS) working. I tried COM2 but saw that I may have blown this pin 9, with 0v Ground having been connected to it, instead of Pin8. However, after re-wiring, I get no TTS response using COM1.
OPEN "COM1:9600" as #2
PRINT #2, "S This is Snoopy's MicroMite Autopilot", 10
( I've tried both 10 and CHR$(10) as the Linefeed, needed by the TTS unit ).

Snoopy the Viking

Useful links ...

A message to Australians from Snoopy the Viking ...

G'Day Bruce ! Robin, the mug who builds my robot boats, assures me that most of you guys are called "Bruce", and that your women folk answer to "Shiela". He is wrong, of course, and I'd like to apologise for him not including a 'Strine translation flag at the top for you. Some of his workmates in NATO then EASAMS came to New Zealand and Australia, perhaps to get away from him. When Rudi, now in Sydney, and Robin, worked on a bid into Australia, they were briefed on Australian Defence Strategy.... "Come On In !". What Nation would be so daft as to try to invade and occupy a country of desert, and full of poisonous snakes and spiders ? Robin has been heard boasting of his Royal Tea Parties, with Liz, Phillip, and Dame Edna Everage. He fondly recalls overhearing your Cultural Attache - Sir Les Patterson - cracking an obscene joke with Phillip: something about the conversation between an Ozzy truck driver, crawling out of Alice Springs, and a young lady hitch-hiker. It seems the MicroMite is very much an Ozzy creation, and so Robin asked me to add a few words for him. Maybe, if Robin get's a MicroMite based autopilot working, it will be easy for him to program it for a journey south, from UK to Australia. If so, I will give you plenty of warning. There is one snag: I don't have a criminal record, and Robin insists that one is obligitory for entry to Oz :-)

from Robin: After the above "Ozzy Culture", here is a little "English Culture" below - check out my running skills too, in "Man Rescues Antelope" ! :-)

Sunday 1st April 2018 and our Spaghetti Tree is in flower again ...

spaghetti tree planting tagliatelle Robin poses proudly beside the Spaghetti Tree in his back garden which continues to flower every year. The tree is now over 40 years old, having been raised from a small seed collected by June and Robin during a holiday in northern Italy in 1976. The trip was funded by NATO, we hired a Fiat 500, and Samantha, just two years old, shouting "Spaghetti !". We stayed in Abbano Terme near Monte Venda ;-)

These Spaghetti trees, very rare outside Italy, cannot be grown from cuttings or the fruit - many have tried planting spaghetti, but with disappointing results. We've also tried tagliatelle, but that also did not grow. This particular variety is "Spaghetti Monstera Grande" - known to some seasoned gardeners as "Big Whopper". You can see the original BBC TV broadcast about the 1957 bumper italian spaghetti harvest if you click here or the first youtube video below. After that are videos of Robin's latest robot boats, built for Snoopy to cross the Atlantic, from UK to USA. That was Robin who saved the antelope. white strip spaghetti tree Snoopy's Cat Snoopy's Windmill Boat Man Rescues Antelope white strip

Pictures and data from Saturday's Tea Tray Tests ( in February 2017 ) ...

Robin's MicroMite stuff In brief: the Pocket Pal started up reliably whenever we powered it up, the first being Wisley Gardens, where June wanted to visit: it was a glorious spring-like day. We are members, but it was closing early, so we made our way home, with a much more thorough "road test" ( similar to those Picaxe Autopilot "Pub Tests" ). June suggested the route, so we could stop at places we might buy that magazine with Phil's article in it. We included landmarks, many of which have significance to what is on my pages. e.g. Eric's Silvermere Lake for model boat testing. Think of it as the "Test of the Tests" - just a bit of aritmetic to be fixed, maybe, and get that GPS handling better. Might only take another hour changing code and PC testing, but my experience is that more than 99% of time is "testing in the field". It helped to have 10,000 testers, in 150 countries, testing GPSS/GPSSppc over the past 20+ years. That's from where I am pinching my own code. But remember: all the important work was what Roy achieved from scratch, with about 2 man weeks or more, of effort. Snoopy's startup speech gives suitabl credit to Roy and other Grumpy Old Men. You will need to hear the video, and see the Tea-Tray MicroMite Autopilot sat on our car dashboard, with June driving, all the way home. I'll upload pictures as I collect them, and add annotation, then layout as soon as I can. Robin at 1910, with June back from dropping off Samantha at the Party :-)

Google Earth map display of MM180217 recorded by Robin's Pocket Pal. See the Pocket Pal and Jack on my Chase page. See also Jack Ponsford . Click on pictures to expand ...

Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff Robin's MicroMite stuff white strip

Three copies of unedited video were burnt onto DVD for myself and Team-Joker guys like Roy. It contains a lot of stuff probably best NOT published :-) Major tidy up of this page needed too. All subject to things like an email from Siberia, and - of course - what June wants to do :-)

Aleksey's Sailing Saucer

On Sunday, June wanted to go to Wisley Garden again ... the Russian Connection !

In short, June wanted to Wisley Garden again - but this time get in. I chose not to disuade her. The road test there and back was even better, and I am about to go and watch TV with her, while this PC burn's today's archive DVD. The big surprise was the impact it may have, both ways. Aleksey knows of this Forum and at least one member now knows the link to the Sailiung Saucer page - expected to be public in a matter of days. I've advised Aleksey to get the blessing of close friends and family. Here is what I've just put in the page ....
April 2018: Aleksey's page has been public for over a year since above was written, so you can see Aleksey's Sailing Saucer Page .

Who has visited this page ?

Robin Lovelock From Robin: It's very convenient for me, that there are so few visitors to this page: just those given the link. See map and words near end of my Home page ;-)

Visit Counter after reply to Microtransat Group The visit counters may give a rough indication on who else is visiting, or has visited, this page. I don't hide or disguise my visits, but they may appear as "Ascot", or miles away, like "Southend-on-Sea, England" (on my Lounge PC), or "West-Drayton, England" ( on the Study PC). Positions may not be accurate, but times are. These may change at any time, without control by me. e.g. if we have a power cut, or I reboot a router. So, you may see if I'm "working" in the Study, or "playing" in Lounge :-)

Not all visits are seen, and some browsers hide location, but you may find Revolvermaps livestats for this Micromite page interesting.

The video on the right shows several guys visiting at the same time, after I posted the link on the Microtransat forum :-)

© 1991-2021 Robin Lovelock.

There have been Hit Counter by Digits visits to this page counted by www.digits.net. since 11th February 2017.