Subject:
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Re: Still waiting for a Mindstorms RIS?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 28 Jan 1999 22:30:14 GMT
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Original-From:
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doug@knowpeace.=IHateSpam=com
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Viewed:
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1379 times
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At 01:06 AM 1/25/99 GMT, you wrote:
> For those of you who (like me) haven't been willing to drive for hours,
> bribe someone, or break into a neighbors house in order to get a
> Mindstorms RIS I have good news.
I too was (and still am!) anxious to get my hands on a Mindstorms kit.
I ordered one from www.tigerdirect.com a few weeks ago, and they just
sent me a notice saying it will be shipped on Feb 5th. Waiting ...
After poking around at the MIT site though, I got even more interested
in the Handy Board that they use for university level stuff. I ordered
a Handy Board, Expansion Board, and Sensor & Motor kit from Gleason
Reasearch (www.gleasonresearch.com). This will allow me to go WAY
beyond the RCX limits of 2 outputs and 3 inputs. Check out the specs:
The Handy Board ($299) provides:
- Motorola 68HC11A1FN microcontroller with 256 bytes internal RAM,
timer/counter & analog-to-digital subsystems. Additional 32k of
battery-backed RAM (will store program when powered off).
- Built-in 9.6v nicad rechargeable batteries, adaptor, and built-in
trickle-charge circuitry (ZAP mode charges in 3 hours, trickle
charge mode prevents over-charging -- can leave plugged in).
- Digital outputs for two TI H-bridge motor driver chips, can control
4 four bidirectionally controllable DC motors. A red/green pair of
LEDs on the board indicates the state of each of the four motor
outputs. Also one servo motor output.
- 16 sensor headers (9 digital, 7 analog). Each header has polarized
3-wire connection (+5v power, ground, and signal). Three of the
digital inputs connect to built-in 6811 timer hardware. The analog
inputs connect to the 6811's built-in Ananlog-to-Digital subsystem.
- Built-in Sharp infrared decoder receives signals from household
TV/VCR remotes. Built-in 40 kHz modulator and drive transistor
allows easy attachment of IR LEDs to broadcast IR signals.
- 16x2 text LCD display, with printf() function to display messages
and dynamic data. Two user push-buttons and one knob allowing
manual input for menu navigation. Piezo beeper for audio output.
- PC interface card (RS232 serial) and connection cable.
- Free Interactive-C software. Good free compilers and assemblers
available if you want get "closer to the metal". Tonz of drivers
and documentation available. Tech support discussion mailing
list with lots of knowledgable users.
The Expansion Board adds:
- 12 more analog inputs
- 4 LEGO sensor inputs
- 8 digital outputs
- 6 servo motor outputs
- external servo power connector
- connector for polaroid 6500 sonar
- open prototyping area
- plugs right into Handy Board
Sensor & Motor Kit ($35) includes:
- 4 DC motors 9v
- 2 CdS photocells
- 2 reflective infrared sensors
- 2 SPDT lever switches
- rolling ball inclinometer
- header strip, ribbon cable, heat-shrink tubing
This setup provides serious capabilities for $400. Mine should be
here any day now (patiently waiting ...). Some plans and ideas I
have are:
- Wireless RF modem for dynamic communication between host PC
and robots, both for output control and input of collected
data.
- Wireless FM video transmitter and tiny camera on bot, pan/tilt
controlled by the robot itself (based on sensor input of what
is around), plus manual over-ride from host PC end. Display
video on standard TV (channel 59) or capture images with TV
tuner (or video capture) card on PC.
- CCD camera on bot that provides IR illumination, meaning it
can see in the dark, and I can watch it on my laptop screen!
- Tiny ultrasonic radar on the bot that can also be vied on
my laptop screen. Is this cool or what?
http://www.columbia-center.org/fascinating/rad/radar.html
- Wireless RS485 peer-to-peer wireless networking between
multiple autonomous bots. This will allow them to talk to
each other, share data, and collaborate on tasks!
- Speech recognition and control of bot using Java! I have
the IBM ViaVoice speech regonition engine software and
the JavaSpeech APIs on my laptop. Using the Java Comm API
and wireless RF modem, I can tell the robot to "go left"
or "pan right" or "spin around".
- Tiny circuits are available for speech synthesis, driven
by simple text strings. The robot will be programmed to
say "detected obstacle" and "battery power low" and
"hello human" and "here kitty kitty kitty" :)
- I found a guy who has ported Java to the 68HC11 in almost
the exact configuration as the Handy Board (32k static RAM).
He also has protocols for the RS485 networking. I plan to
wrap the Handy Board drivers (in assembler and C) around
this Java implementation. This will allow me to do Java
on both the host PC end AND on the controller itself!
Anybody else interested? I plan to set up a web site for
this and an exchange for docs, drivers, software, etc.
- I defintely want to build a hexapod walker, but what I
really want to do is build an autonomous submersible that
can dive in monterey bay among the kelp forest and give
me spectacular video output. Yikes.
Okay, so maybe I've gone "over the edge" but this stuff is
WAY COOL! It's amazing how much you do for relatively cheap
these days. A few years ago this setup would have been
major bucks. Now I can do most of the above for <$1000.
The submersible will cost quite a bit more when complete,
but hey, I can take it diving with me at the outer edge
of the great barrier reef and have it videotape both me
and the white-finned reef sharks!
-- Doug (some kids just never grow up ...) =8^/
--
Did you check the web site first?: http://www.crynwr.com/lego-robotics
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Still waiting for a Mindstorms RIS?
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| For those of you who (like me) haven't been willing to drive for hours, bribe someone, or break into a neighbors house in order to get a Mindstorms RIS I have good news. eToys (www.etoys.com) appears to have gotten them back in stock. I just ordered (...) (26 years ago, 25-Jan-99, to lugnet.robotics)
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