RoboGames Scrolling LED Medal - Available For A Limited Time

Lauren Davis

RoboGames Scrolling LED Medal·(#28099)·- Available for a Limited Time


············
········
Parallax sponsored the 2007 RoboGames by designing the awards for contest winners. The award is an SX28-controlled array of three 5 x 7 red dot-matrix LEDs side-by-side.

The Medal uses the SX/B compiler for the SX28AC/SS microcontroller. The SX/B compiler makes it a snap to customize the displays by simply changing one line of code which stores the character string in the SX’s EEPROM. The code examples are available for download.

The considerations towards programming the RoboGames medal for your own use are that you need an SX-Key and a 5V power supply. The Medal requires two RL123A batteries (Not Included), but only 4.5V and 5V are required for programming SX chips. The SX-Key is available in our SX Tech Tool Kit PLUS.

For more information, or to purchase the RoboGames Scrolling LED Medal, visit http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28099.


▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
·
Lauren Davis
Marketing Manager
Parallax, Inc.
916-624-8333
ldavis@parallax.com
·

Ken Gracey

This medal is blue.

Robolympics winners received them in Gold, Silver and Bronze (no blue).

The batteries are CR123s. We are selling them for less than $3 each. Don't buy them at a drug store - you'll pay too much. We've tested every major brand on the market and the Rayovac has 95% of the amp-hour capacity of an Energizer with 200 mA current draw. In fact, it performs better than an $8.00 Duracell!

Ken Gracey

Joss

I had time to play with the RoboMedal today and I must have done something wrong.

I compiled the programs (Badge and RobOlyCodeSXB151) and now nothing works. Being the slow-witted person I am, I sort of need a walkthrough on what I should be doing to get this thing up and running.

I had connected my SX-Key directly to the medal and it seemed to take the program okay. No barking from the IDE. But I am left with a device that doesn't make a sound or show a light.

Can you help this old man?

Regards,

Joss
·

Migs

Joss:

First install the SX software and download the two sample programs for the medal, and then this update (right below the product listing) to have version 1.51 of the programming environment:

SX/B Update - SX/B version 1.51(.zip 200KB) [noparse][[/noparse]Dated: 07/24/06]
found here:

http://www.parallax.com/sx/sxb.asp

Then proceed as follows:

Hook up the medal with the SX key circuit side up. Turn the medal on (batteries installed) Use a USB to serial adapter to the USB port on your computer. Load any of the two program listings on the Parallax site (below the product), and open it in the SX-Key v3.2 application. I recomed the program they used for the robolympics (RobOlyCodeSXB151.SXB). Change the text that prints the scroll text. Comment out the line of code as I did below (its near the beginning):

'IRC_CAL IRC_4MHZ This is the line I commented out (see the fist character of this line)

change this line as I did for it to say what you want, like this for example:

Data " Je m'appelle Brandon Reznicek, j'ai 10 ans et mon pere c'est un Dork. ",0

(I wrote this in French for my son)

Select "Run", and watch it program the medal

Done!

Ask me if you need more help. -Migs

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"Sometimes we forget that the world itself is paradise." Douglas Coupland, 'Microserfs'
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite" - William Blake
"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." Carlos Castaneda
"One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer. " G. E. Lessing
“How much of human life is lost in waiting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be remembered for their vices and follies than not be noticed at all.” Harry Truman
My website: www.intoku.net my e-mail:mreznicek@pretensa.com me:Miguel Reznicek

Post Edited (Migs) : 7/20/2007 2:58:37 AM GMT

Joss

Migs,

Thank you!

It worked like a charm.

I need to look up that value on the line you had me comment out.

The other difference was that I was going through a straight com connection instead of USB to RS-232. I'll try that again.

Much appreciation to you!

Regards,

Joss

T&E Engineer

I would also like to let Parallax know that the schematic needs to be fixed for the RobOylmpic's badge for the SX-28 connections. I compared them to the PDB SX-28 connections (after I wired up the RobOlympics schematic) and saw that it did not work. Just some pins are off that's all - but should be fixed all the same.

Thanks.


Post Edited (T&E Engineer) : 8/29/2007 1:48:10 PM GMT

Migs

Friends (Maybe Parallax friends):

Does anyone know where to get the rings to put arund the medal, which frame it and allow it to be hung?

Thanks,

Migs

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"Sometimes we forget that the world itself is paradise." Douglas Coupland, 'Microserfs'
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite" - William Blake
"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." Carlos Castaneda
"One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer. " G. E. Lessing
“How much of human life is lost in waiting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be remembered for their vices and follies than not be noticed at all.” Harry Truman
My website: www.intoku.net my e-mail:mreznicek@pretensa.com me:Miguel Reznicek

Bean

I have posted code here http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=670447 that will turn your robogames metal into a magic 8 ball.

At power-up (and every 5 minutes) it will display "Ask me a question...". Pressing the reset button displays a random response.

Bean.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
I know what I know, don't confuse me with the facts...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
www.hittconsulting.com
·

Migs

Cool Bean! I'll try it!-Migs

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"Sometimes we forget that the world itself is paradise." Douglas Coupland, 'Microserfs'
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite" - William Blake
"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." Carlos Castaneda
"One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer. " G. E. Lessing
“How much of human life is lost in waiting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be remembered for their vices and follies than not be noticed at all.” Harry Truman
My website: www.intoku.net my e-mail:mreznicek@pretensa.com me:Miguel Reznicek

Chris Savage

Timothy,

I think the problem is that you are looking at the pin connections for a DIP version of the SX-28, whereas the Robo-Medal uses the SMD version which has a different pin out. I also noticed your corrections refer specifically to the PDB which uses the DIP version. Unless there is something else I am missing or some other detail I have to assume our schematic is, in fact, correct. Please, let me know exactly which pins are in the incorrect locations for clarity.

Note: I am cross-posting this (against our own guidelines) so that both threads are addressed.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

T&E Engineer

My Appologies! You are correct. I never thought about that SMD parts may have different pin outs than DIP parts (that I work with on the professional development board)

Thanks for catching this Chris!

kf4ixm

does anyone still have the source code for the medals? like the two example programs·that are mentioned above that use to be on the website?·it's not on the parallax site anymore, or i just couldn't find it.

Post Edited (kf4ixm) : 2/17/2010 3:48:47 AM GMT

Bean

I don't have the original code, but here is my code to make it into a Magic 8-Ball.

Bean



▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Use BASIC on the Propeller with the speed of assembly language.

PropBASIC thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=867134

March 2010 Nuts and Volts article·http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/cols/nv/prop/col/nvp5.pdf

T&E Engineer

Here is a link to a modification I made of the RobOlympics Badge (Original version and JonnyMac's Badge version) so that it worked with a 40x8 display instead of the RobOlympics size of 15x7.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=670557

Attached you will also find the code (in the link also). All you should have to do is look for the CONSTANT (CON):

MsgLen··CON·40 '15···' Message Length
MsgLenMinus1·CON·39
MsgLenPlus1·CON·41

Where you see the commented numbers (e.g. 15) this was the original value I beleive. Look through the code and replace the 40 with the 15 and follow suite for the Minus1 and Plus1 CON useage.

I know I have the original on my home computer but not at the moment at work. If I find the originals I will also post again.

I do know that·JonnyMac's original code was·far superior (more graphics and scrolling effects) than the original Parallax code and·his code·is·called something like Badge.sxb

kf4ixm

@T&E and Bean
Thank you very much!

kf4ixm

@ T&E or Bean...

i have one more question for either one of you (or anyone else for that matter). in the data area, for the fonts, if i wanted to change the font to be more compressed, say like:

DATA %00111110 ' C
DATA %01000001
DATA %01000001
DATA %01000001
DATA %00100010

To like:

DATA %00111110 ' C
DATA %01000001
DATA %01000001
DATA %00100010

would i just have to change that data string in all the characters, or would i have to something else also in the way it scrolls the data? i found the badge.sbx code, thats the one im using.

T&E Engineer

kf4ixm,

That's right. Now you will have a font that is 4x7 (or really 4x7 because the last bit is 0).

I have attached the 2 RobOlympic code programs also.

kf4ixm

Thanks T&E!

kf4ixm

got another question, on the bottom left pads marked rb.0 to rb.6, are these open pins, can they be used? im wanting to add a ds1820 for temperature display. i couldn't find a schematic for the badge. also in the badge.sbx, how would displaying a varible inside the SCROLL_LT work? like SCROLL_LT "the temp is " temp "Deg. F". storing the temp data into VAR temp?

Post Edited (kf4ixm) : 3/2/2010 2:03:43 PM GMT

Ken Gracey

Hey kf4ixm, think I found the schematic you're asking about.

Let us know if this fits your needs.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.

kf4ixm

Thanks Ken! that's exactly what i was looking for. I'm gonna start working on the program today and see what i come up with.

Thanks again!

Ken Gracey

I thought that the schematic I provided was for an older revision of the PCB, but I'm not certain. I don't know what our last revision number released was. If I recall correctly both A and B were the same circuitry.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.

kf4ixm

Thanks Ken, i believe that one will work for me, comparing it to my badge, it tells me all i wanted to know anyway. i'm now stuck on a programming issue that i believe merits another thread...

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=886745


Post Edited (kf4ixm) : 3/3/2010 6:39:51 PM GMT