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I had this really sick idea last night, and I thought I'd throw it out for
discussion.
In theory, you could control up to six Micro Scouts or Code Pilots using two
motor outputs and one sensor input.
Each of the six fiber optic cables from the fiber optic module go to a
single Micro Scout's light sensor.
One motor output runs a motor that turns the fiber optic module. A rotation
sensor tells the RCX where the shaft is, so the correct Micro Scout can be
selected.
The other motor output is connected to the fiber optic module. The RCX now
pulses this output to send VLL commands to the selected Micro Scout.
Note that as specified here this is a "pure Lego" solution! The guys with
glue and X-acto knives can also get into the act if they want (ewww....)
If we had a way to split and join fiber optic cables, we can control
multiple Micro Scouts with one of the six channels available from the fiber
optic module. For instance, you could control five Micro Scouts
individually, and the sixth channel runs to every Micro Scout so you can
tell them all to do something simultaneously (like to turn off all the
motors).
You could use TFM's light/motor block
<http://www.akasa.bc.ca/tfm/lego_l_m.html> to run the motor and flash the
LED in the fiber optic module with a single motor output.
Come to think of it, a directional transmission or a simple ratchet would do
the same thing. Run the motor forwards, it turns the FOM (which is also
connected so it's lit up while the motor runs). Run it backwards, the
ratchet engages and keeps the FOM from turning and you can pulse the power
to send VLL code. The drawback is that when it's turning forwards the light
is on, but the Micro Scout will probably ignore the flash as the LED goes
by.
Something to think about, anyway.
--
Doug Weathers, http://www.rdrop.com/~dougw
Portland, Oregon, USA
Don't spam me - I know how to use http://www.spamcop.net
"On a clear disk you can seek forever"
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