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control with comp [off topic] — Parallax Forums

control with comp [off topic]

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2004-03-11 14:53 in General Discussion
Does anybody know any links or suggestions to use a labtop instead of a
micrcontroller or use a labtop through a microcontroller in order to make a
robot. I want to use a labtop as the brains of the robot. I went to
evolutionrobotics.com but they only sell expensive kits.


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Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-03-11 13:05
    Even if you want the laptop computer to be the 'brains' of the robot, you
    need to do extensive interfacing between it and the robot controls, motors,
    sensors, etc. that will be a nightmare of timing loops, and interlaced code.
    Just make life simple, and hand off the functions like sensor detection,
    motor control, etc. to a dedicated microcontroller and let the laptop be the
    brain and have the microcontroller report to the 'brain' and let the 'brain'
    tell the microcontroller to do one or more of it's programmed functions.
    You can talk to the microcontroller (stamp) via the serial port. Check out
    this web site for information about interfacing to various output devices.
    jim
    http://www.geocities.com/jimforkin2003/


    Original Message
    From: Kyle Cooper [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=p9OFQp9GTPuTIrOIe37gYuNvbmQeaw3LPw_3nEHX4etxsBgjS3SFIdnepe7G3_yvCk1SWFow-YugHkZ0xw]crazykurby@y...[/url
    Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 7:07 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] control with comp [noparse][[/noparse]off topic]


    Does anybody know any links or suggestions to use a labtop instead of a
    micrcontroller or use a labtop through a microcontroller in order to make a
    robot. I want to use a labtop as the brains of the robot. I went to
    evolutionrobotics.com but they only sell expensive kits.


    Do you Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Search - Find what you’re looking for faster.

    [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-03-11 14:53
    Sure.
    The TAB SumoBot has an OEM BasicStamp 2 (BS2) on
    the controller card, along with the programming
    RS-232 port, all for $60 to $100 depending on
    where you buy it.

    All you'd need to do is design a simple control
    protocol between your laptop and the BS2.
    Program the BS2 to take the commands from your
    laptop and turn them into motor commands for
    the SumoBot. Program the BS2 to read the sensors
    (IR 'Whiskers', CdS light levels) on the SumoBot
    and send data packets to the laptop.

    You'll need a 'tether' RS-232 cable, and some way
    to make sure the cable doesn't get tangled, so
    the laptop can talk to the BS2 all the time.

    An RF link would be nice, but they are $100
    for each end. An IR link could be built with
    2 IR-Buddy modules, but you'd lose control if
    your robot left line-of-sight of your laptop.


    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, Kyle Cooper <crazykurby@y...>
    wrote:
    > Does anybody know any links or suggestions to use a labtop instead
    of a micrcontroller or use a labtop through a microcontroller in
    order to make a robot. I want to use a labtop as the brains of the
    robot. I went to evolutionrobotics.com but they only sell expensive
    kits.
    >
    >
    >
    > Do you Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Search - Find what you're looking for faster.
    >
    > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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