Subject:
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Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.smart
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Date:
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Thu, 7 Oct 2004 14:00:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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2890 times
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In lugnet.org.us.smart, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
> Hey, SMART guys...
>
> I must say I really love your Crate Contraption. In fact, I like it so much,
> I'd like to steal the idea. Sort of. Let me explain...
>
> After Brickfest, I've spoken with a couple people about creating something for
> the Mindstorms room that falls in line with the Space and Castle standards, that
> allow anyone to build "module" that is able to connect together with the other
> modules.
>
> We talked about different ideas, and have finally come to the conclusion that
> the Crate Contraption would be the perfect thing.
>
> The general idea is to define a standard that will allow anyone to make a
> modular contraption where balls are passed from one machine to the next, down a
> long line, until they reach the end (and are manually returned to the beginning)
>
> Or, the machine can be built into a giant loop, where the last one will feed
> into the first. (assuming they all work) :)
>
> Each module will have a crate on the left that will be filled by it's neighbor,
> and a crate on the right, that it will fill for it's other neighbor. Each
> "machine" won't actually have to move a crate. Some may just funnel balls onto
> a conveyor.
>
> We're trying to pound out the details, but I was wondering if anyone had any
> suggestion/comments about how your current Crate Contraption has been working.
>
> Once we get this all figured out, I'll get something posted, hopefully, to allow
> anyone to build interchangable modules.
>
> Thanks
> Steve
Steve - We've discussed this a few times too. What keeps blocking us is trying
to define an interface that is flexible enough. Here are some of the issues we
saw:
Different interface types:
Balls
Crates (e.g., drop & pick up)
Lines (e.g., crate mover)
RR tracks (e.g., train moving crates)
We also tend to use a ball sorter and combiner in our bigger contraptions, which
adds to the complication, as those modules have 2 incoming or outgoing crates
(ball chutes, lines, or tracks), and 1 complementary outgoing or incoming crates
(ball chutes, lines, or tracks).
Also, picking a standard size for a module is tough. For example, right now I'm
working on an overhead crane (like a big construction crane) that has a 27"
reach. That would require a module roughly 4' on a side to contain the crane,
and really it needs to overlap other modules to work (other robots servicing the
crates it moves).
What we've ended up doing is basically just piecing together a contraption using
tape lines between modules, obviously with some pre-planning of what would feed
what (drawing ball flow & crate flow diagrams, and mapping out how that would
all fit together).
If you can come up with a system that works, we'd be super intersted!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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| (...) I suspect it will be somewhere between very difficult and impossible to define and interface that is truly flexable enough to do everything you (we) will be interested in doing. However, the goal is to define an interface, so anyone can build (...) (20 years ago, 7-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Crate Contraption Standard
|
| Hey, SMART guys... I must say I really love your Crate Contraption. In fact, I like it so much, I'd like to steal the idea. Sort of. Let me explain... After Brickfest, I've spoken with a couple people about creating something for the Mindstorms room (...) (20 years ago, 7-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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