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Question about what the board of education is capable of? — Parallax Forums

Question about what the board of education is capable of?

Mikester111Mikester111 Posts: 2
edited 2009-08-05 05:12 in BASIC Stamp
ok im looking to buy a parallax board but i logged back in and the servo controller was discontinued and was woundering if the board of education could do the same.
what i need is a board that has real time refresh to be controled by a joystick, the board will need to be able to control 6 servo motors at the same time max and if at all possible 4 web cams tied in to the same board to veiw all 4 at the same time but i know thats pushing it
what i really need is the full know how but imjust getting started in it
is this at all possible
and how easy can it be done????

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2009-08-04 00:54
    A Stamp is pretty hard pressed to control 6 servos and do much else. None of Parallax's microcontrollers is going to be able to handle a webcam let along several webcams other than to position them using motors.

    For 6 servos and a joystick, you might consider a Propeller which can certainly handle all that and more. A Propeller could handle a single camera, but not a webcam. It would need to be an image sensor made for reading by a microcontroller. One of the people who frequent the Propeller forum has done some experimentation with a camera like that, but hasn't had the time to finish the project so it would be usable by others.
  • Mikester111Mikester111 Posts: 2
    edited 2009-08-05 00:20
    ty mike but i got another question this whole curcuit will be about 160 or so feet away (teathed) to the computer im wanting to run the joystick on the computer and have the computer feed the controller· 160 feet away to control all or one of the motors what ever this is needed would that help take some some of the trouble out or non at all

    once agian thanks for the help and suggestions
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2009-08-05 05:12
    If you want to use a Stamp, consider using a couple of ServoPALs (www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/txtSearch/servopal/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/481/Default.aspx). Each can handle 2 servos and will repeat the servo control pulse needed every 20ms thus freeing up the Stamp from that job so the Stamp can spend the time listening to the PC.

    You could just use RS232 signalling for the 160 foot distance. You'd need to use something like a MAX232 at the Stamp end to do the signal level translation. Do a websearch for articles on the MAX232 for details. You'd want a good cable for the distance, probably shielded twisted pairs. You could use Ethernet cable for this. The Stamps are good but marginal on receive up to maybe 9600 Baud. Over that distance I'd limit it to 4800 Baud.
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