Subject:
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Re: Very Newbie Question regarding remote control
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 22 Jan 2001 23:53:44 GMT
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Viewed:
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694 times
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> What I want to do is establish a system where the agent AI is hosted by a PC
> (so I can write it in ruby or whatever without limitations); the robot
> communicates remotely (no wires) it's sensory information to the PC, and
> then the PC sends remote commands to control the robot.
>
> Therefore, my question is: Is this possible to set up? If so, is it
> relatively easy? I'm good with software, so its mainly the hw issue I have
> questions about.
I have only worked with the RCX under windows 98, and then mostly using NQC
(Not Quite C, a nice programming language/environment supplied by David
Baum)but here is my two cents.
The PC communicates with the RCX brick via an infrared tower which plugs
into a serial port on the PC. The Lego software used to communicate with
the serial port via an ActiveX control called spirit.ocx. I have written a
few simple programs in visual basic, and some excel macros using VBA where
all the heavy duty data processing and decision making occurred on the PC.
With version 2.0 this is changing, but I think that backward compatability
is maintained.
I don't have any knowledge of ruby, but if it can use ActiveX controls you
shouldn't have any problem. There are also environments for RCX programming
on Linux. One called LegOS looks especially enticing. Hopefully someone
knowledgeable can provide information about how host applications can
communicate with the RCX in Linux.
Other things to know about programming.
1. Under RXC V1.0 and V1.5 all variables are global. Even those declared
locally. And there are only 32 of these variables available. Version 2.0
has support for local variables (16 per task I think) and more global
variables (64?).
2. Before V2.0 there was no support for arrays. Even with 2.0 you have to
keep your arrays small because they come out of your variable pool.
3. There is no floating point support.
4. There are not a lot of types of sensors provided by Lego. The kit comes
with two touch sensor and a light sensor (that is very sensative to
infrared). A temperature sensor and a rotation sensor (kind of a 16 count
per rev rotary encoder) can be purchased separately. I just got the Vision
Command camera which I plan on using as an intelligent sensor. I don't know
if the vision command software can run at the same time that another
application is using spirit.ocx to talk to the RCX though.
5. There are some pretty good books by David Baum (and friends), and another
by Johnathan Knudson that are worth looking at. The online community is
great. Some really smart people who are very supportive.
6. The RIS does not (in my opinion) come with enough lego technic parts to
do anything really interesting. Plan on spending a few hundred dollars
extra on sets to get "additional robot parts". The Droid Developer kit is a
good deal if you can find it < $50. I got a Silver Champion from Walmart
for under $30 (what an incredible steal!) but would be willing to pay $60 -
$70 for the ton of parts that it has.
Time to stop rambling. I would by the RIS no matter what. If you can use
it for class, great. If not, you still have a really great toy.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Very Newbie Question regarding remote control
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| Greetings all, I am persuing a grad level course in AI agents, and the course requires that I to do a project. One idea I have is to create a robot and have it do something AI-ish. Since I'm not very adept with hardware, using a Mindstorms robot for (...) (24 years ago, 22-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics)
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