a noobie question
zemkacz
Posts: 19
I just got into robotics but i know basic electrical stuff like watt volts, transistors, and stuff like the lm386 amplifier. I also know a bit of blitz3d programming, which some people say is similar to basic programming, i am also very fluent in c++ ( like if and c-out/in) but since im new to all this microcnotroller robot stuff i need a couple of questions.
Compilers: what does this atually do to the chip, does it change it into assembelly or something? What languages could i program the basic stamp 2 in? Please send me some links of some compilers for basic.
The robotic guts: I noticed alot of people put the ping sensor on their robot, could a bs2 handle like 3 of them being checked per every 200ms? how powerfull is the bs2 actually? does it give you ppl all the processing power u need for making a bot go forwards right left and back while doing basic obstical aviodance with a ping sensor? What is an ir sensor?
The bs2: how could i add more memory to this, (not variable space but program space)? Could i "Overclock" the bs2 by changing the crystel or giving it more power? Would i be able to when i know how to use the propellor chip with 8 cogs to run that with the bs2? I bought the bs2 develepemnt board and sappoused to get it tomrrow, so any advise for my first coupe of hours of initiation into robotics?
Thank you very much for your time to read this even thought it has really cheap spelling, ( i can't type good)
Compilers: what does this atually do to the chip, does it change it into assembelly or something? What languages could i program the basic stamp 2 in? Please send me some links of some compilers for basic.
The robotic guts: I noticed alot of people put the ping sensor on their robot, could a bs2 handle like 3 of them being checked per every 200ms? how powerfull is the bs2 actually? does it give you ppl all the processing power u need for making a bot go forwards right left and back while doing basic obstical aviodance with a ping sensor? What is an ir sensor?
The bs2: how could i add more memory to this, (not variable space but program space)? Could i "Overclock" the bs2 by changing the crystel or giving it more power? Would i be able to when i know how to use the propellor chip with 8 cogs to run that with the bs2? I bought the bs2 develepemnt board and sappoused to get it tomrrow, so any advise for my first coupe of hours of initiation into robotics?
Thank you very much for your time to read this even thought it has really cheap spelling, ( i can't type good)
Comments
The BS2 can certainly handle a variety of things including more than one PING sensor. It is a single threaded processor in that it can only do one thing at a time (although it can interleave several operations). For example, when it's counting pulses or receiving serial input, it can't do anything else until that operation is finished. If it's counting pulses, it will miss any serial data sent to it.
If you really need multi-processing or some kind of buffering or overlap, use an SX or Propeller processor instead.
You can't add more program memory to a Stamp. Some Stamp models come with multiple "pages" or "slots" for programs, up to 8 x 2K slots.
You can't overclock a Stamp. The firmware (interpreter) assumes a particular clock frequency.
Parallax has a tremendous amount of tutorial information on Stamp use for all sorts of control applications. Look at the Stamps in Class tutorials and the Nuts and Volts columns ... all downloadable from the Downloads menu item on the Parallax main page. Another good resource, particularly for interfacing with sensors and some arithmetic topics is www.emesystems.com.
The Propeller is a very different processor with a completely different programming language (Spin). There is a BS2 compatibility library that does many of the operations performed by built-in statements on the Stamps. A number of people have made the change from Stamps to the Propeller with much less trouble than they had imagined.
Post Edited (Mike Green) : 10/30/2007 3:32:11 AM GMT
I'll just answer the stuf I'm most familiar with. is the bs2 powerful enough... it depends on the application. I have a bot the uses a bs2sx, that runs the motors, IRPD, PING, 2 xais accelerometer, compass and servos. I'd say that's pretty powerful. but I do think I was reaching about 75% of what it could do. Basic Stamps aren't multi tasking and don't have interupts, so you can monitor as many pinks as you could connect but it wouldn't be all at the same time and you couldn't do it in 200ms. Look in the completed porject section and you'll get a pretty good idea of what a stamp can do.
I don't quite get what your saying about the propeller and the BS2 they can communicate with each other but I wouldn't say you would run the propeller with a stamp.
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A complex design is the sign of an inferior designer. - Jamie Hyneman, Myth Buster