Hi!
I’m just another beginner that doesn’t really know much about robots. For the past year or so I’ve been working with the Boe-Bot…not much. I’m still almost an absolute beginner. I’m planning on buying the Tri-Track robot. I can’t decide between the PS2 combo or just the chassis (on which I will put BS2 etc.). The problem is in the Basic Atom Pro… Is BA appropriate for beginners, or should I go with the BS2?
Thanks for help!
That is always a difficult question to answer.
I think the BS2 may be a little bit easier to learn, mainly as there are far more books, examples of code and the like available to you. However a lot of them may be too limited to do a lot of things with it. However there are some higher end ones that do fine and there are a few members up here that use them and like them alot.
The good news is the majority of the stuff you learn and the code you write for a BS2 directly works on an Atom or Atom Pro(BAP). There are exceptions to this that you have to look out for and maybe rework a little. A benifit of the BAP is that the majority of the stuff you see up on this website are written for the Atom or the Pro and there are a lot of people who can help you out. Also there is sample programs for running the tri-track the you can download and play with.
I am personally biased toward the BAP. Either way you can not lose!
Good Luck
Kurt
P.S. - We all started off as beginners and you can learn a lot with the Boe-Bot…
If you have been playing with the Boe-Bot you are ahead of me. I wish I had started on the Parallax “Whats a Microcontroller kit” before I jumped into the Atom Pro. IMO you should be ok if you understand stamp, I didn’t and now I’m trying to con my wife into getting me the WAM kit, just to learn so I can understand things better.
This forum is super helpful, I have made great strides in my ability by lurking here
This question has come around many times and it’s understandable. The BS2 is the best beginner MCU around, but it is also one of the slowest MCUs with several limitations. The Atom Pro has many features not available on the stamp, and it’s many times faster. The one feature about the Basic Atom Pro (BAP) that I like is the program space is larger, and not chopped up into ridiculous “slots” like the stamp MCUs so you are free to program without the hassle of running out of room in any one slot. This is ideal for programs larger than 2k.
Since you started on the boe bot, I think it would be good to upgrade to a Basic Atom Pro. There are several differences between the two and the IDE takes some getting used to, but if you want to get more serious about robotics, you need to break away from the stamps. The BAP is a much better MCU for robotics.
I personally have a BS2, BS2px and a BAP. They all are great in their own way depending on the application. For robotics, the BAP is #1 and for general purpose use the stamps are great. I find my self experimenting new ideas on the stamps and then port the programs over to the BAP. I find the debug features of the stamps are a little more user friendly and really help me with developing new programs. Whatever fits your needs, there is really no wrong way.
