Subject:
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Re: Spybotics - A great disappointment
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 25 Jul 2002 01:52:54 GMT
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Viewed:
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1111 times
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I had a perfect opportunity to speak with Brad Justus, Jake McKee and Jeff
Ardis at BrickFest on the subject of Spybotics.
First of all, it was pointed out that the box says its being aimed at 9 year
olds and that it doesn't say its a Mindstorms product. The product is not
intended to appeal to AFOLs like us and is not intended as an extension to
that product line.
I didn't have a box handy, so I wasn't sure what it had said. I later
checked and although it is in the style of a Mindstorms box, it doesn't, in
fact, say Mindstorms, so that's fair enough. Where, it appears, I was misled
was that it is listed in the Mindstorms section of the online shop at home
web site.
As support for the new device grows - mainly thanks to Dave Baum who, I
assume, must have been working on this for a while - we will see how well it
integrates into the Mindstorms family even if it isn't initially targeted
there. I am having a difficult time trying to discover what the actual
hardware resources are which the new API definition in NQC describes.
Perhaps someone knows how many actual input and output ports are really in
there and what they do?
The most crucial aspect of the specification is if it can communicate its
sensor readings to an RCX via any of its photonic based systems. If it can,
then its IR direction finding capability may be very useful as an
enhancement to the RCX while retaining 100% Lego parts purity (as opposed to
using any kind of 3rd party devices).
I have been observing the posts concerning the available user memory and
cannot make much sense of it yet either.
It is common when discussing EEPROM capacity to refer to total bit capacity
rather than byte capacity. If this is true, and based on some of the
lego.direct posts, it may be, then the program storage device has 4k
capacity. If that is a standard 4k EEPROM, then that's only 512 bytes.
That's not much, especially if they take 1/4 of that for saving firmware
variables.
I thought it was very helpful for the Lego representatives to turn up at
BrickFest and do a good overview session. I think, if the Lego store had had
stock, they might have sold quite a few.
As a slight aside;
I let quite number of people "test drive" my new RC Racer which is an
astonishingly good piece of Lego engineering and destined to be one of the
most useful source of new parts - including the new 9v motors - in the
future. I made a point of mentioning what a great set I thought it was to
Brad and co. The upshot of my enthusiasm was that the Lego store completely
sold out and I was unable to purchase a second one :(
So, as far as I'm concerned, as it related to the new Spybotics devices, the
jury is still out til evidence of the guts of the new brick comes to light.
As far as the new RC Racer goes, and the new IR RC Nitro goes too, they are
great new toys for FOLs of all ages :)
JB
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Spybotics - A great disappointment
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| (...) I haven't spent much time with Spybotics yet. It was pretty much a one-evening project to get program download working, then a few tweaks such as task numbering, sub numbering, etc. Three inputs: touch sensor, light sensor, and battery voltage (...) (22 years ago, 26-Jul-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Spybotics - A great disappointment
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| After much anticipation it arrived in the mail today. I don't think I have ever been quite so disapponted by a new Lego release. Grabbed a pack of AA first thing, gotta get it powered up. It uses two different sizes, some AA and some AAA. Oh well, (...) (22 years ago, 18-Jul-02, to lugnet.robotics)
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