Subject:
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to analog as rcx is to programming plastic
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.rcx
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Date:
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Sat, 1 Nov 2003 16:26:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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3774 times
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With electronic circuit design, as with the plastic mechanics and computer
programming of the RCX, do people play somewhere near here?
I ask now because recently my local planetarium sold me an "Elenco snap
circuits" kit:
http://www.elenco.com/toys/page2.html
http://www.elenco.com/snapcircuits/snapinfo.pdf
To me, those Elenco snap circuits feel much like Lego. Components of standard
mechanical dimensions snap together, much like Lego. Rechargeable AA batteries
available separately, same as Lego. Standard circuit symbols appear printed on
the parts, especially for orientating polarities. Google claims pricing near
US$45 for some 60 parts, shipping from Illinois, USA. Snapping together both
components and conductors lets you build a circuit that visually resembles the
corresponding schematic.
And not just to me do those snap circuits feel like Lego. Last week I tried the
300-project kit out on three students, one at a time, aged about 7, 9, and 18.
I let the students lead with questions. The nine-year-old fell immediately into
discovering that a disconnected capacitor holds charge, that more capacitance or
resistance means discharge and charge more slowly. The seven-year-old surveyed
which components work the same no matter if current flow reverses.
But that Elenco kit lacks the polish of a Lego product. Elenco needs
competition, or at least a fanzine on the web. For example, stretching and
turning upside down the suggested circuit layouts makes swapping out components
and reversing the battery easy. Also, indexing the projects lets you choose a
component to investigate before choosing a circuit, etc. Also, the job of
decrypting the integrated circuits begins but does not end in that snapinfo.pdf.
Furthermore, the Elenco parts break much more easily than do many Lego parts.
Myself I let the magic smoke out of an LED and out of a 2.5V lamp by letting the
invention of the students get ahead of my analysis of fun variations on the
official circuits, in violation of the Elenco warranty. The manual strongly
warns against leaving a powered circuit unattended: I suppose that shorting and
storing power can melt and burn things.
But the play is fun, same as RCX, so here now I ask:
With electronic circuit design, as with the plastic mechanics and computer
programming of the RCX, do people play somewhere near here?
Thanks in advance, Pat LaVarre
P.S. No hits yet appear in:
http://www.google.com/search?q=analog+link%3Amindstorms.lego.com%2F
http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/?q=elenco
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: to analog as rcx is to programming plastic
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| (...) ...snip... This reminds me of a modular circuit design set that my family had when I was very young. Circuit elements were housed in square plastic boxes about 1-inch on a side. The cases were clear plastic, except for the tops, which were (...) (21 years ago, 5-Nov-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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