What should I make it's "brain" out of?
Helge Øyvind Hoel
and he showed me some video-clips of very advanced robots, and also built a
simple robot with Lego mindstorm. Anyway, I got hooked, and now want to
build one myself. The one thing I'm wondering about now, is what I should
use to control it? Lego mindstorm naturally comes to my mind, but I don't
feel like learning a Lego-language (or whatever they use). What I think
would be fun, was to use a board from Soekris. This one for example:
http://www.soekris.com/net4501.htm. That would be cool, cause having a full
Linux operating system at my disposal would give me lot's of freedom. I
could choose nearly any programming-language and would have access to
several hundred libraries/programs. Internet-access through wlan would also
be nice :)
The other option I've thought of so far, is using a Palm Tungsten T as it's
"brain". I haven't done much reasearch on how the hotsync-port on the Palms
work, but from how much extra-equipment you can buy, that connects through
it, I guess it's possible to get detailed information about it. Hopefully
without paying PalmOne for it.
Both these options would give me the benefit of using C++ which I already
know. Going for the Soekris-option would even give me the benefit of using
high-level script-languages like Perl/Python for trying out things "quick
and dirty".
The third option I can think of, is buying a ATMEL AT90S8515 (or similiar)
CPU. Some years ago we did som assembly-programming for that CPU at school.
So what do you guys use/recommend? I think I'll go for the Soekris-solution,
since I know Linux very well, but I would like to hear what you guys
thought.
Best regards
Helge Ųyvind Hoel, Norway
Peter
oopic-r which is a very easy to start board.
Simple programming language in syntact style you choose (basis, C of
java), easy connection to PC (rs232) and easy connection to servo's
etc.
Includes about 30 I/O ports including 8 A/D convertors. Very much
samples (code and technical) for interfacing with sensors.
Big problem with PC boards like the soekris or via mini-itx or
whatever is the lak of i/o possibilties and the big power consumption.
Peter
Helge Ųyvind Hoel <he...@vvizard.net> wrote in message news:<4002...@news.ringnett.no>...
Helge Øyvind Hoel
> I'm using a OOpic which i bought at www.totalrobots.com. I've got the
> oopic-r which is a very easy to start board.
> Simple programming language in syntact style you choose (basis, C of
> java), easy connection to PC (rs232) and easy connection to servo's
> etc.
> Includes about 30 I/O ports including 8 A/D convertors. Very much
> samples (code and technical) for interfacing with sensors.
>
> Big problem with PC boards like the soekris or via mini-itx or
> whatever is the lak of i/o possibilties and the big power consumption.
Guess you got a point. Isn't mini-ITX the "full"-fledged computers with
(physical) small motherboards, used in the shuttle (and others) products?
If so I think the Soekris uses a lot less power than that one. It's run by
5V DC at least, using ~ 11 Watt if I don't remember wrong. But since I'm
new to this, I don't know if 11 Watt is a lot or not for robot-building.
Lack of I/O could of course be a problem. It got at least one (possible
with two) standard serial (COM) ports. It also supports both a mini-PCI and
a standard PCI-slot. I don't know shi*t about PCI-boards, but I figure some
time into the future, when I get skills for it, it might be very well
possible to pull my own PCI-board to use for I/O extensions? What kind of,
and how many I/O ports I'll need, I don't know much about yet. I'm sure
gonna start out with a simple robot. So in the beginning, this won't be a
big problem I guess. But if I'm buying the Soekris, I'll hope to use it in
projects further into the future. Some of the big reasons for why I want a
full Linux-system on it, is that a lot of things can be done real simple.
For example I can use the Festival-program to give the robot
speech-abilities with minimal effort. I have a full System-logger for
logging every possible error I might be interested in, and so on. But I
understand that power-consumption and I/O ports might be a problem. Some
good information in helping me choosing a controller-unit would be much
appreciated. It must be programmed in C/C++. I don't feel like
learning/programming Basic.
Peter
Q) How much power do I need for my mini-itx board?
A) The EPIA-800 board consumes an average of ~10W while the EPIA-M can
consume an average of ~15W.
Helge Ųyvind Hoel <he...@vvizard.net> wrote in message news:<4003...@news.ringnett.no>...
Mike
LPT: ports etc, a fully fledged PC). This draws about 15W.
Power is a problem. I'm using 2off 12v 2.8Ah batteries to power it +
everything else. My rover robot runs for about 20-25 mins before it
needs a recharge. Just long enough to see if my latest tweaks work,
but that's about all.
As you say, it does have the advantage that it can run Linux etc, so
the development tools are good.
Mike