Subject:
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Re: A Generic Idea
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sat, 4 Jan 2003 17:52:10 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmailSPAMLESS.net>
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Viewed:
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691 times
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Henrik Erlandsson wrote:
> The Vision Command camera was great - until you discovered it had a cord :)
> and thereby understood that Lego *faked* the robot in robotics inventions
> commercial...)
>
> This is my very first post and so I don't know if this idea is new, but I'm
> suggesting that until Lego understand they have to release an IR-connected
> camera, that you can
It's even more than that really.
Sending live video over IR really isn't feasible - there isn't anywhere
near enough bandwidth to do that. What you *REALLY* want is to have enough
on-board CPU power in the robot to process the images locally - but that would
require a much faster CPU than the one in the RCX.
Failing that, you need a radio link to send data back to the PC for processing.
The problem with that (from Lego Inc's perspective) is that Radio is legally
regulated - and those regulations vary dramatically from country to country.
They'd have to make half a dozen different sets of electronics operating at
different frequencies - and then get them through each of the various
certification processes. It's a lot of hassle for them.
So, they are rather stuck. IR won't work, they don't want to redesign the
RCX and they don't want to use radio.
Not only that - but they probably want to use the exact same camera design
as the movie director sets - and those *must* connect to the PC.
As always, Lego designs are a compromise between what's idea for Robotics
and what fits with their product line.
I strongly agree that the TV ad for vision command was incredibly misleading.
> 1) Use any cel phone to eavesdrop, for example making a rover that reacts
> to something "interesting" by turning the phone on, dialing a number (or
> recording) i.e. sending sound via the microphone, and when the receiving end
> hangs up, times out after a certain time and turns the phone off.
You could certainly build an evesdropping robot using a cel phone - just make
it press a single digit and use a one-button dialling shortcut to make the
call!
> 2) The robot could call an automated answering service, which sends a
> message thru the mobile's speaker, or even the time of day if you call that
> number! oo - a clock on wheels which gives you the time in Andorra at the
> clap of a hand! (Or two, as the case may be :)
:-)
> 3) The same would of course be true for the phone types which have the
> ability to take, send and receive pictures.
Yep - that would give you the ability to send 'spy photos' - but for
robotics applications, you really want to be able to get those pictures
into a computer for analysis so the robot can navigate based upon what
it can see.
> 4) Two robots with a mobile each could possibly send modem noise (at low
> bitrates, probably) to communicate digital information. One of them could be
> stationary and sit by the IR tower, thereby allowing the other to stray far
> away (the next country, even!) and still send info to your PC. (Which could
> be running some sort of AI program - in effect _providing the faraway robot
> with that intelligence_.)
Yep. Of course you can use the Internet to do a lot of that these days.
My phone can send email - so (in principle) a robot could email my PC
and communicate like that.
> Sending info via cel phones is the only way that I can see which could
> expand the robot's capabilities beyond 32K memory. (See above)
Well, you can use multiple RCX's to extend the capabilities of your
robots. If you are running low on free memory, the best way to get more
is to dump the Lego firmware and switch to BrickOS. You can pack a lot
more into the available space that way.
---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkEmail: <sjbaker@link.com>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
http://tuxkart.sf.net http://prettypoly.sf.net
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: A Generic Idea
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| "Steve Baker" <lego-robotics@crynwr.com> wrote in message news:3E171F4A.400050...ail.net... (...) :) (...) inventions (...) I'm (...) IR-connected (...) enough (...) would (...) processing. (...) legally (...) country. (...) at (...) Ok, if radio (...) (21 years ago, 5-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: A Generic Idea
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| (...) Hmm I chose cel phones because they are pretty standard products (unlike Radio links etc), simple to use (few presses) and so on, but of course, any link to a unit with memory/cpu could be an expansion... (...) ...Like an IR link to another (...) (21 years ago, 5-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | A Generic Idea
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| The Vision Command camera was great - until you discovered it had a cord :) and thereby understood that Lego *faked* the robot in robotics inventions commercial...) This is my very first post and so I don't know if this idea is new, but I'm (...) (21 years ago, 4-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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