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    Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
   After more than a year since its conception, I am proud to announce the completion and publication of Competitive MINDSTORMS: A Complete Guide to Robotic Sumo Using LEGO MINDSTORMS. As many in the LUGNET community know, there have been many good (...) (20 years ago, 17-Aug-04, to lugnet.announce, lugnet.robotics)  
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Steve Hassenplug
   (...) David, I was looking over the robots & code listed in your "bonus chapters", and I must confess, I'm a bit disappointed. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'd be interested to know how these robots have actually done in competition. Maybe you (...) (20 years ago, 19-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
     (...) Hi Steve, I think I see where you're getting confused. Summed up, some of the concepts presented in this chapter build upon Chapter 6 in Competitive MINDSTORMS, so it's important to understand the concepts in that chapter before reading the (...) (20 years ago, 19-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Steve Hassenplug
      (...) Right. I can see the two motors connected to port B will slide the axles and switch the drive train from "fast" to slow. (...) ...But I don't see how LBump will detect the opponent. Or better yet, how does it know when it loses sight of the (...) (20 years ago, 19-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
      (...) First, let me assure you that the searching light sensor method does work - I've tested it, and my technical reviewer has tested it. This is how it works, and the following is part of ZR1's chapter: "It’s commonly known among MINDSTORMS fans (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Steve Hassenplug
      In lugnet.robotics, David Perdue wrote: given this piece of code: ---- (...) <snip> (...) <snip> (...) void Calibrate2() { <snip> thresh=LBump; <snip> } ---- 'thresh' will be reading the ambient light in the room. (from the calibrate2 function) The (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —David Perdue
      (...) This is actually incorrect - I see where you're getting confused. You are thinking that the Calibrate2() function is always running, and the "thresh=LBump;" is always being updated, correct? You see, Calibrate2() is only run just once, and (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Steve Hassenplug
      (...) No, that's not what I was thinking. I see Calibrate and Calibrate2 only run at the beginning of the program. (...) Actually, it says that if LBump is less than OR EQUAL TO the value of thresh... Which means if the light in the room NOW is the (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —David Perdue
      (...) Yes, that's correct. (...) There is one piece of missing information you've missed that is causing the confusion: When the program starts, the program doesn't put the normal light value of the room into the variable thresh - read this from the (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Steve Hassenplug
      (...) Again, this sounds really good, but it just won't work. Just to prove it to myself, I did a little test. I connected a light sensor to an RCX, and set it so I could read the values. As it turns out, I have four sumo robots sitting around, so I (...) (20 years ago, 21-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —David Perdue
      (...) Here's a quote from the chapter: "TIP It is a great deal of fun to try out different levels of sensitivity for the searching light sensor.Hold out your hand farther when calibrating, and ZR1 will be very sensitive. Put your hand very close (...) (20 years ago, 21-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Steve Hassenplug
      (...) I suspect this is where theory departs from reality. That would be clear, if you had been to a LEGO sumo event. You seldom have control over the room lighting, much less the other robots. I've seen events where sunlight was shining directly on (...) (20 years ago, 21-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Chio Siong Soh
      (...) Yes, it'll be good to see just how the robots described in the book stand up in actual competitions. And I'm looking forward to seeing someone beat Steve for a change. He's been winning far too many medals ;-) C S (20 years ago, 24-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: try again... —Steve Hassenplug
      (...) :) I welcome the challenge. (20 years ago, 24-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Brian Davis
     (...) By "speed", do you mean those are the gear ratios? What is the mass and wheel radius for Brain-Bot? And how many driving motors does it use (i.e., how many motors actually apply torque into the drive train, as opposed to shifting gears for (...) (20 years ago, 19-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
     (...) 1:15 and 1:75 are, in fact, the gear ratios. I achieved these ratios not by the rotations--for instance, an 8t gear turning a 24t would result in a 3:1 ratio--but by counting the teeth--for instance, an 8t gear turning a 24t gear would result (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Brian Davis
      (...) Hmm. The way I see it, pushing power is limited (in an ideal world!) by one of two factors: applied torque (a function of motors and gearing), and the frictional force between the wheels and the surface (controled by the weight of the 'bot and (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Joe Strout
       (...) two, where Gargantuan-Bot takes on any willing contenders just for fun? Best, - Joe (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
      
           Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
       (...) Now that would be fun! However, it all depends on whether or not I'll be able to attend the event, and if I was to do that and bring another robot as well, I might have to get myself some more parts! :) Thanks, David J. Perdue (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
     
          Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
      (...) Wow! That's a lot of math. I see now where the 900 N cm comes into the picture. (...) Unfortunately, BL58 does weigh over 2 lbs, but as Brian suggested, I could bring it anyway and we could have several rounds with it just for fun. Thanks, (...) (20 years ago, 20-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS - at Sumo-bot 6? —Steve Hassenplug
     (...) David, It would be nice to meet you, and see your robots at Sumo-bot 6 (on Sept 18th). It sounds like you don't have enough pieces to build them all at the same time (along with anything else you may have built). I suggested to Jona that I (...) (20 years ago, 28-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS - at Sumo-bot 6? —Jon Gilchrist
      (...) Should be able to write off the whole trip as a business expense too. -Jon (20 years ago, 28-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS - at Sumo-bot 6? —David Perdue
     (...) Well, after a look at a map, it appears that about the only reasonable way for me to get to the event would be for me to take an airplane. That being the case, I probably won't be able to attend Sumo-bot 6 - however, I'll watch the (...) (20 years ago, 1-Sep-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS - at Sumo-bot 6? —Steve Hassenplug
     (...) As I said before, I have the parts, so I could build the light and fast robot and see how it actually does in competition, if you'd be willing to send me the building instructions (just for that robot). If not, I imagine I could come pretty (...) (20 years ago, 7-Sep-04, to lugnet.robotics)
    
         Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS - NOT at Sumo-bot 6? —Steve Hassenplug
     (...) I built a version of the light and fast robot, and it was actually too fast. It wouldn't even stay on the sumo ring. By the time the sensors would detect the edge of the circle, the robot was too far to stop. So, I won't be taking it to (...) (20 years ago, 14-Sep-04, to lugnet.robotics)
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Brian Davis
   (...) I finally downloaded and read the bonus chapters as well, and (of course) got confused. I've only been using NQC for a little over a year, so it could be my inexperience, but I knew C for several years prior to using NQC, so I'm not a complete (...) (20 years ago, 22-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
   (...) Yes, from what you say, both logical and bitwise AND would work. My book is only a guide, so although I use bitwise, you can feel free to use logical. (...) The trick is, there isn't code that stops the counter-rotating wheels or task Spin! (...) (20 years ago, 23-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —Brian Davis
   (...) Given what you say in the boxed text, do you ever use logical AND in a program? (...) Well, here's the code in question. I've removed blank lines, but the spacing & punctuation is preserved: task Crash() { SetPriority(1); while(true) { (...) (20 years ago, 23-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
   
        Re: Competitive MINDSTORMS: Now in a store near you! —David Perdue
   (...) Truthfully, I rarely use any type of AND, so I can't really say! :) (...) Excellent observation! I guess, when I was creating the code, I just decided to put that code in with the Crash task. You can however, place it elsewhere where it won't (...) (20 years ago, 23-Aug-04, to lugnet.robotics)
 

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