Boe Bot Help
write2teach
Posts: 3
I am using Boe Bot Robtics kits for my Grade 12 Computer Engineering students. For their final summative, I am thinking to implement few extensions to existing Boe Bot. I am trying to simulate a mine detecting robot which is capable of detecting mines in a war like scenario and sends back the approximate location back to the base station. A base station is set up to command the mobile robot and a mobile robot with various sensors mounted on it is used to detect the mines and send back the location of the mines.
During the research, I found that I need to have following hardware:
Hardware:
o NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board
o BASIC Stamp 2 module (BS2-IC)
o BOE-BOT.
o 2 row x 16 character Hitachi-compatible parallel LCD with custom manufactured
cable
o Infrared transmitter
o Infrared receiver
o RF transmitter
o RF receiver
o RF antenna
o Digital IR Range finding sensor(GP2D12)
o Photo resistors.
I have 7 groups of students. I am not sure if I only one base station (NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board) will work all 7 different mobile robot. Due to the financial issues, I am unable to order 7 (NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board) so that my students have better experience.
Is it possible for propeller professional developmental board to communicate with 7 mobile robots?
Can anyone please suggest me what should I do in this case to make this plan feasible for my students?Any suggestions in terms of how many quantities do I need to have in order to run this project will be greatly appreciated.
During the research, I found that I need to have following hardware:
Hardware:
o NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board
o BASIC Stamp 2 module (BS2-IC)
o BOE-BOT.
o 2 row x 16 character Hitachi-compatible parallel LCD with custom manufactured
cable
o Infrared transmitter
o Infrared receiver
o RF transmitter
o RF receiver
o RF antenna
o Digital IR Range finding sensor(GP2D12)
o Photo resistors.
I have 7 groups of students. I am not sure if I only one base station (NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board) will work all 7 different mobile robot. Due to the financial issues, I am unable to order 7 (NX-1000 BASIC Stamp Experiment Board) so that my students have better experience.
Is it possible for propeller professional developmental board to communicate with 7 mobile robots?
Can anyone please suggest me what should I do in this case to make this plan feasible for my students?Any suggestions in terms of how many quantities do I need to have in order to run this project will be greatly appreciated.
Comments
First, let me say that you don't need 7 base stations, just 1. It will need a way to communicate with each robot, which will probably be over some kind of radio link. There are a few different ways to do this, but if you can afford it, I suggest that you use XBee modules, which are designed for building wireless mesh networks. An XBee network would allow the robots to communicate with the base station and with each other. For an example of using them with the Propeller, see the free downloadable chapter for the new Propeller book: www.parallax.com/Store/Books/Propeller/tabid/171/ProductID/637/List/0/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName.
Although that chapter is written towards the Propeller, XBee modules can be used with the Basic Stamp. Martin Hebel, the man that wrote that chapter, has some info on his website for using XBee's with the BS2: www.selmaware.com/appbee/index.htm. I'm certain that there are other articles & resources out there somewhere.
If you can't use XBee modules, you can still use radio transceivers, such as those sold by Parallax. What you'll need to watch out for if trying to use multiple robots at once is radio interference if they are too close to each other.