Subject:
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RE: process control and automation
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 12 Jun 2000 13:43:45 GMT
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Original-From:
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Reinis Kanders <RKANDERS@USAsaynotospam.NET>
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Viewed:
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769 times
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I just bought RCX and thererefore do not take my statements as absolutes, I
basically spent a day going around and reading info on WWW, so this is all
second hand experience.
Go to this link and start from there: http://www.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/
Here are RCX internals described: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics/
Here are RCX opcodes for IR comms:
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kekoa/rcx/opcodes.html
Lot dependends on what firmware you have on RCX.
> 1) is there a documented comms protocol to the rcx ?
It is documented. http://www.geocities.com/winlnp/ this is for windows
implementation.
> 2) can i read the state of inputs back to a pc from the rcx
> during runtime
Yes
> 3) can i set variables, outputs in the rcx from the pc during
> runtime ?
I think yes, but not 100% sure.
> 4) is there an rs232 connection available to the rcx?
Way it works right now is that rs232 (serial) port of PC is connected to IR
tower which in turn communicates to RCX. I think that comms can be done to
up to 30ft(or m, not sure) or more depending on battery power and ambient
lighting.
> 5) is there an RF connection available?
I am not aware of any.
> 6) is the rcx addressable, i.e. if i have two rcx devices can
> i set their
> addresses so i talk to one in particular?
I think you can, especially if you use LegOS.
> 7) do you think it is possible to do the above in less than a
> day, i.e. of
> primary concern to us is the requirement that building of the
> device to
> monitor/control takes the minimum of effort - our focus is
> the monitoring
> software not the rcx!
All depends on how much money you have...
If you get someone whose done RCX programming extensively, then you could do
it. I personally do not see a reason for using lego brick for this. I
would get couple of stepper motors to control the blade (RCX does not come
with stepper motors, so battery power fluctuations will affect performance
and determination of blades positioning, you would need rotation sensor).
To monitor foreign objects you could use some sort of camera. Hook it all
up to LabVIEW using serial port or what not and you have PC time (not real
time) control. If you want real time control then use LabVIEW RT. This way
you do not need to worry about communications with RCX brick and you will
have easier time finding someone to do it. Anyways if you do it in day I
ould not want to be that foreign object.
Good luck and have fun,
Reinis Kanders
>
> any assistance you may have to offer in this area will be greatly
> appreciated,
>
> denis o'sullivan
>
> PILZ Ireland Industrial Automation
> 11 Emmet Place
> Cork
> Ireland
> Tel: +353 21 274883
> Fax: +353 21 274894
> dosullivan@pilz.ie
> www.pilz.com
>
> --
> Did you check the web site first?:
http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | process control and automation
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| list members, i work for a major international industrial safety systems company. As part of our current research we have a requirement to model an industrial process and to visualize this model on a pc. We are thinking of using lego for our (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jun-00, to lugnet.robotics)
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