Subject:
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Re: Even better, RIS 1.5, $99.99
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 6 Jun 2002 23:34:27 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <sjbaker1@+Spamless+airmail.net>
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Reply-To:
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SJBAKER1@AIRMAIL.NETstopspam
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Viewed:
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725 times
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> This brings up another question I have. Since I will now have two RCX's can
> someone give me a short summary of how to use them? Can both be used from the
> Mindstorms software, or is something better required (since I've only had 2.0
> a week, I haven't gotten frustrated enough with the Lego software to abandon
> it yet)?
You can program each RCX independantly. You need to turn one off or put it
out the way of the IR tower while you are downloading the program to the other
of course!)
That much is pretty obvious - but where the fun comes is when you get the
two RCX's to talk to each other via IR. I don't use the Lego programming
environment - I'm an NQC fan - but I'm pretty sure it works the same way.
There is a command to send (and another to receive) a single byte message
via the IR link. So, with one command, you can send any number in the
range 0..255 (actually, zero is to be avoided for various reasons) to
whichever other RCX's (or Scouts) that are within IR range and pointing
in the right direction.
EXAMPLE:
~~~~~~~~
So, you could have a robot that needs more than three motors (for example)
and you could use a pair of RCX's - one that does all the 'thinking' and
one who is the 'slave' who's only job in life is to drive the other three
motors. You could send a single byte message from the 'thinking' RCX to the
'slave':
Message 1 -- Turn off motor A
Message 2 -- Turn on/forwards motor A
Message 3 -- Turn on/reverse motor A
Message 4 -- Turn off motor B
Message 5 -- Turn on/forwards motor B
Message 6 -- Turn on/reverse motor B
Message 7 -- Turn off motor C
Message 8 -- Turn on/forwards motor C
Message 9 -- Turn on/reverse motor C
...now, the 'thinker' can just pretend that it has six motors - sending
IR messages to the 'slave' to turn them on and off.
You can actually get much more fancy than this - having both robots do
some heavy thinking and having them pass back and forth messages about
their sensor readings.
The only thing you need to be aware of is that if they both happen to
send IR messages at the same time, things will get messed up.
However, there are ways around that. I once had an RCX controlling *FOUR*
Scout's - telling them how to drive their motors *and* when to make sounds
*and* reading back their sensors. With that setup, I could drive 11 motors
and read back 11 sensors all in one gigantic machine.
Now if only I could find a *use* for all of that!
----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
Mail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
URLs : http://www.sjbaker.org
http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net http://tuxkart.sf.net
http://prettypoly.sf.net http://freeglut.sf.net
http://toobular.sf.net http://lodestone.sf.net
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Even better, RIS 1.5, $99.99
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| There's one way for solving the problem with multiple IR communications at the same time. The method used for old computer networks is called a "token" wich is passed from PC to PC giving each one a chance to "speak". This could also be used for (...) (22 years ago, 9-Jun-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Even better, RIS 1.5, $99.99
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| (...) This brings up another question I have. Since I will now have two RCX's can someone give me a short summary of how to use them? Can both be used from the Mindstorms software, or is something better required (since I've only had 2.0 a week, I (...) (22 years ago, 7-Jun-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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