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 19:44:28 GMT
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Original-From:
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Rob Limbaugh <rlimbaugh@greenfieldgroupNOMORESPAM.com>
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Viewed:
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1024 times
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All the thoughts on this subject are really interesting reading! As
several people have said before, the reality is that LEGO designs things
for kids who are probably at the mercy of what their parents will buy.
So, anything LEGO does has to accommodate that notion.
Based on what I understand of the RCX architecture, I would investigate
the following ideas (as a designer):
1) Dedicate 8 bits of memory (in the mask ROM area) to touch
sensors. That's 8 sensors. If there are 8 unused bits in memory
somewhere, there are your 8 "free" sensors. Leave the other sensors
ports as they are. This means you could use up to 11 touch sensors "out
of the box". By removing the beveled edges of the RCX and adjusting the
size of the screen/buttons, 8 more ports should be easy to add and still
fit within the current RCX form factor.
2) Move the memory to a cartridge that plugs into the address and
data bus (think old game and computer systems, like the Commodore's and
Atari's). Children could simply plug in different memory carts that
they've downloaded programs to. This not only gives you the ability to
swap OS's (and programs) almost "on the fly", but it also opens up the
address and data bus for people like us. With access to that bus, you
could create your own extended architecture to do whatever you want. If
the RCX isn't powerful enough, you could offload tasks to PIC's and
Stamps (or anything else, I'd imagine).
3) Find any additional spare bits and turn them into flags or
additional control lines. I would add an RS-232 IrDA chip to the RCX
and use one of those bits to toggle the mode between Serial IrDA and the
CIR method LEGO already uses (38Khz IR).
4) I'd wire in an external connection for the RS-232 port
(currently used by the IR circuitry on the H8 chip) and use a bit or two
for flagging which port(s) are available for use.
5) Rewrite the RIS firmware as appropriate
6) Change the battery area to use a re-chargeable battery pack
(cells wrapped in plastic coating)--disposable batteries are wasteful
and harm the environment... LEGO SHOULD KNOW BETTER!
7) Not only put a power pack connection back, but make it require
DC and include a trickle charger for the above mentioned battery pack.
8) Write consumer software that can be used on Mac's and IBM
Clones. (This should be done anyway!)
Those of you wanting wireless could add it through the address bus
access or through the external RS-232 connection. I highly doubt LEGO
is going to implement anything wireless due to regulations and/or
today's security concerns.
If I left anything out conceptually, please let me know.
It's sort of funny to realize that while the RCX may run on an 8-bit
16MHz processor, the 8-bit 1MHz 65xx computers of the 80's had more
potential for expansion.
- Rob
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Mindstorms 3.0 Wish List
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| (...) Now this is a good idea. Basicly, a small simple socket that exposes the data bus, address bus and also some control bus lines (like Read/Write or whatever else is needed) plus power (obviously) would be perfect. One would need to have (...) (21 years ago, 6-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics)
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