Subject:
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RE: mindstorms NXT vs the Competition
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 9 Jan 2006 04:31:42 GMT
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Highlighted:
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(details)
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8714 times
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I'm somewhat bemused by the comments on limited memory, CPU
capacity, features, etc on the new NXT brick.
At $250 it fits right in the middle range of the other
popular consumer hobbyist robotics kits which range in price
from $100 to $500. These kits include the Parallax Scribbler
($100), the Parallax Boe-Bot ($150), the Radio Shack VEX
($300 kit + $150 for software) and several less popular /
less well-known products.
The VEX and Scribbler have both been on the market for less
than six months so they represent a good data point for
price and feature comparison. The NXT product appears to
blow them both away.
Scribbler is lowest priced at $100. But it is not a kit.
It's a pre-assembled robot. Feature set is awesome - two
motors, line follower detection, sound, infrared distance
sensors - for this price. But there is absolutely no
customization. You can use preloaded programs or write your
own. It's brain is a Parallax Basic Stamp. I think there's
less than 256 bytes of RAM in a Basic Stamp. The version
used in the Scribbler is a masked-ROM Microchip PIC CPU. PC
programming connection is via RS-232 cable. The RCX is a
better / more flexible system than this.
The VEX system is essentially an erector set with
electronics. It comes with two motors, two servos, two bump
sensors and an awesome RF system. It has a host of optional
sensors. But it's really expensive. It uses dual PIC 18F8520
CPUs; this is a 8-bit CPU with less capacity than the H8 in
the RCX. One processor is for system functions and one is
for user programs. There's a total of 32K bytes flash and
1.8K of RAM. PC programming connection is via RS-232 cable;
a USB-to-RS-232 adaptor is included with the VEX kit. It's a
nice system and very robust mechanically but everything
takes ages to assemble using nuts and bolts. It's very hard
to program.
When you compare the announced specs of the NXT, the
difference is dramatic. More RAM, more flash, 32-bit vs
8-bit CPU, great LCD display vs none, high speed USB link vs
serial, integrated Bluetooth wireless, etc.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: mindstorms NXT vs the Competition
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| (...) I hadn't looked at the Scribbler prior to this post... and I am stunned at how much their programming language (Scribbler Program Maker GUI) resembles the original RIS software: (URL) I'm guessing that they designed theirs on the "success" of (...) (18 years ago, 9-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: mindstorms NXT
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| (...) Right, see my other post about ARM7 and USB (I wish I knew how to link it but this web interface is killing me!). The biggest issue is one of the devices would have to implement a host constoller interface and a USB storage class driver. (...) (18 years ago, 9-Jan-06, to lugnet.robotics)
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