Subject:
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Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Wed, 5 Nov 2003 14:55:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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2189 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Rand Krakora wrote:
> I think we're starting to cross the boundary that lego faces, they want this
> thing to be used by kids ( and I guess adults now also ). If they jam a ton
> of I/O in the controller, the cost goes up, parents may tend not to buy it
> for their kids. But if they don't add more I/O, the adults will look
> elsewhere for a more powerful controller.
Reading this thread, I am struck by one thought: who would actually pay for a
souped-up RCX with intelligent sensors and BlueTooth in every sensor? I could
see BlueTooth in every RCX, but it would be overkill for talking with sensors.
A stand-alone sensor with its own microcontroller, watch battery (to go dead)
and a BlueTooth chip would cost $50 at least. The RIS 3.0 set would be $500 if
it included a set of components that was comparable to what 2.0 offers.
Besides, could you imagine your typical hacker trying to build a custom sensor
if they had to imitate all of this functionality just to hook it up to the RCX?
Be careful what you wish for- you might actually get it.
I think it would be better for them to stick with hard-wired sensors, but to
scale down the RCX and make it smaller+cheaper so that you could afford to
combine several RCXes in a single robot. This would give us the I/O expansion
capability that we (sometimes) desire.
Even the concept of adding a Compact Flash slot seems misguided. Adding an
empty CF slot would probably cost as much or more than simply adding a couple
megs of memory right into the RCX, which is what you really want anyway.
I do like very much Paul Kleniewski's axle electrical connector replacement for
the 2x2 electrical brick. It is much more compact (allowing for a smaller RCX)
and has the advantage of allowing a wire to be passed through a Technic pinhole.
Of course, I would hope that they would also create an adaptor brick to convert
one type of connector to the other so the old stuff would work with the new.
The most important feature in my mind is to keep the system open so that
hard-core fans can continue to create our own programming tools, sensors, and
actuators. Maybe they could even sell a reference manual that documents all of
the internals so that we don't have to wait 3 weeks for Kekoa to
reverse-engineer the brick.
Just my less-than-humble opinion.
- Chris.
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| (...) I agree - it's basically a good idea - but it's probably too expensive. (...) Using bluetooth for communications between RCX's - or between RCX and PC - is a bit of a non-starter, the range of bluetooth is intentionally rather short. An 802.11 (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| "Chris Phillips" <drvegetable@attbi.com> wrote in message news:Hnvw3v.23z3@lugnet.com... (...) i know this thread shouldn't be any kind of discussion but just to explain my idea i've to say i thought about just possibility to join blue tooth (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| While this might not be a "need" per se, I'd like to see another option for communication between RCX's than just infrared. Specifically, a port to be used specifically for this purpose, and a communication API. As far as I/O, some kind of bus (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | RE: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| (...) As I've pointed out many times in the past, the RCX is faster and has more memory than the comuter in the LEM that allowed astronauts to got to the moon and back. (URL) The difference is that we are missing I/O expansion - and on top of that (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| I think you are right on... Rand "Chris Phillips" <drvegetable@attbi.com> wrote in message news:Hnvw3v.23z3@lugnet.com... (...) this (...) ton (...) it (...) for a (...) could (...) sensors. (...) dead) (...) $500 if (...) sensor (...) RCX? (...) to (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| Here is the perfect idea: Basicly, the new RCX comes with several components: 1.sensors, motors and so on as now (perhaps with some new ones) 2.a large "base unit" that would have a good CPU, communication with the host PC for programming, LCD (...) (21 years ago, 6-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| What they need to do is make it like a PDA with a compact flash slot. Then you could expand as needed. You could connect two controllers to communicate via 802.11 or bluetooth, etc. Or a CPU with CAN? It would be fairly cheap. Connect everything (...) (21 years ago, 4-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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