Subject:
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Re: The Great Ball Contraption
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:33:31 GMT
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Reply-To:
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Geoffrey Hyde <GDOTHYDE@BIGPONDDOTNETDOTAUihatespam>
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Viewed:
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7118 times
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"Steve Hassenplug" <Steve@TeamHassenplug.org> wrote:
> Actually, it's pretty interesting, if you consider how complex making a
> pair of
> turns really is. If you make a 90 degree right hand turn on a 32x32
> baseplate, the
> module must output right next to it's own input. But, bins on a left-hand
> turn are
> on opposite corners of the plate.
Why not universalize the standard so that a module that can turn must be
configurable to turn either to the left or the right? A few ways this could
be done are movable output stages, EG a sliding or drop-in output that can
be placed where needed.
> Again, a big problem comes when one of the turns don't "work". So, if you
> have
> exactly four turns (two right, two left) and one doesn't work, then none
> of them can
> be used.
Have the standard changed so that a module that can turn must also accept a
feed from the back if needed.
> In any case, there's not much you can do on two modules that you can't do
> on one,
> more complex module. For example, the splitter/combiner could be built as
> one
> module.
Question on the splitter/combiner modules, will there be rules for what
modules can be placed before/after them? Obviously it's not going to be
much use if someone builds a mechanical feeder that doesn't care what balls
it passes on unless there's a splitter/combiner module ahead of it, and not
one behind it.
> Even things like my "train" can be laid out as "one module". By switching
> the
> direction of the train, instead of taking balls back to the beginning, it
> can just
> carry them and deliver them to the next module downstream.
The only problem I can see there is that a module which expects the train
will have to be equipped with a holding crate which can hold a certain
number of balls, if there are going to be multiple pickup and delivery
points, in case a train is overfilled for some reason.
> One challenge would be to make a module that can be configured as a
> straight
> pass-through OR a turn.
That's not so much a challenge as a necessity. If all modules had standard
left-feed and straight-feed rules to obey, you could theoretically make any
module into a turn module without any trouble at all, as per my earlier
statement above.
> At this point, we're not interested in making the standard more complex,
> and
> increasing the difficulty of setting it up, when it really doesn't add any
> functionality to the whole contraption.
Well, perhaps some things need more complexity, although I would agree a
standard anyone can use is preferable. The big challenge is getting the
degree of complexity as best you can for all parties which will be involved.
Cheers ...
Geoffrey Hyde
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: The Great Ball Contraption
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| (...) Actually, it's pretty interesting, if you consider how complex making a pair of turns really is. If you make a 90 degree right hand turn on a 32x32 baseplate, the module must output right next to it's own input. But, bins on a left-hand turn (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)
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