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First robot Arduino vs Boe Bot — Parallax Forums

First robot Arduino vs Boe Bot

Cubuntu28Cubuntu28 Posts: 7
edited 2012-03-31 11:33 in General Discussion
Hi everyone! I am interested in learning more about robotics. I plan to begin building my first robot shortly. I do have limited programming experience with Python and Java. Basically I know more than anyone who has never programmed before, but less than anyone who has lol.
  • Is building a bot with an arduino chip a lot more difficult? I read that if you run linux (which I do) that arduino is the way to go, but I dont know why.
  • How much "estimate" would it cost to build a bot comparable to the Boe Bot, but with a arduino chip. ( a link to a kit would be much appreciated)
  • Will going the Arduino route require difficult soldering? My experience soldering is rather limited.
Thank you

Comments

  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-03-31 09:11
    I assume when you say BOE-Bot you're not talking about the hardware specifically, but the BASIC Stamp board commonly used with it. You can now readily combine the BOE-Bot hardware with the Arduino, if this is your preference:

    http://www.parallax.com/BOEShield

    The BOE-Shield lets you attach an Arduino Uno or compatible to the BOE-Bot frame. You can get just the shield itself if you already have the BOE-Bot hardware, or get a BOE-Bot kit with the shield, but without the BS2 board. You supply your own Arduino.

    With this arrangement, there is no soldering involved, and the cost is about the same with either Arduino or BS2.

    -- Gordon
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2012-03-31 11:33
    If you want to learn to make a program robots, it's hard to beat the Propeller as a microcontroller.

    There are many times when controlling a robot that you want do be able to do more than one thing at a time. With many (most?) microcontrollers, if you want to play a sound, you have to stop the robot because you can't control the servos and gnerated the sound at the same time. The Propeller doesn't have any trouble doing multiple tasks at once.

    I hope you take a look at my PropBOE-Bot project. I'm pretty sure, the little I've done so far wouldn't be possilbe with an Arduino.

    If you don't want to spend the money on a PropBOE, a QuickStart would be an enexpensive way to start learning to use the Propeller.

    Jose, upgraded his BOE-Bot with a QuickStart board. I thought he did a good job.

    Another big plus with learning to use the Propeller are all the people (including myself) on the forum willing to help when you get stuck.

    I hope you take a look through post #2 of my index which lists my various Propeller projects. I think you'll see the Prop has a lot of different uses.
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