Well, regarding your – '
Well, regarding your – ’ “time of motor on” into distance travelled or angle turned. ’ – that’s one of the good things of wheel encoders, you keep score of distances & speeds through counting the wheel rotations ( /time for velocities). Anyhow considering the problems you describe in the wake of that with the tracks traction and whatnot, there are still some engineering grips you’ll have to deal with. Alas I cannot be any help, as it is my own b4short is barely holding it together, so my “finish line” for it will be to make it somewhat efficient at avoiding obstacles. After that I’ll try and follow your footsteps and carefully plan a developing/testing robotic plattaform.
P.S. - I failed so miserable at trying to make the wheel opto-encoders for b4short that for the time being I gave up on them, at least for b4short. 
good question
i think its the very fact its rubber that is the problem - id have to remove so much that i couldnt guarantee the track would remain on the wheel
you really aint having much luck
picaxe28x1 lacks enough inputs to go in that direction (which actually makes me happy) - the timing thing was only to give it a rough idea of what it was doing - akira is designed to evolve as time goes by, starting with cheap stuff i can discard and moving on to better things
Re: light for magnifier
Some 3d printer builds are adding light rings near the extruder. The light rings are sold on eBay. They are LED rings meant for installation around automobile headlights. You may find a size that would work. Then, you would only need to run 12v to it.
** I just wanted to stay:**
I just wanted to stay: "Stop avoiding the programming part, it’s f’ing easy, seriously! Programming is all about logic (and tidy thoughts is a bonus, OCD anyone? :P). Although I know next to nothing about the BASIC programming language, how hard can it be? It’s called “basic” for goodness sake
That said, it’s also important for your platform to be structurally sound 
So get that bot moving, I’m curious to see a video of if
i’m not REALLY avoiding it
i just got a bit distracted when the programming i did do ripped it apart - most of the program modules are secure in thier selves and just need slotting together now.
Also there was the “wire to pin” - the origional was a mess so im building a better version with push switches and DIP switch arrays.
… and did i mention my bedroom ceiling caving in… anyway.
I too want a film of my little rover - dont suppose you know a good place for getting copyright free music to play alongside it?
Dom
found just the place
Music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com
(given him credit despite the fact i havent used a damn thing yet - he lets people create thier own mini films and only asks for a little credit at the end)
I’ve been entertaining the
I’ve been entertaining the thought of adding music to my vids for a while now, but oh well… for the time being I’ll leave them at “motor & wheel music” with the ocasional bump
one step closer…
I just downloaded DIA - a flow chart creation software - perfectly suited to Pbasics linear nature - so i can start proper work on the programming now (I’ll be able to integrate the modules much better with a visual setup option that i can tweak)
Dom
I might suggest that you look in to Raptor
http://raptor.martincarlisle.com/
With that software you can make a flowchart that you can actually run.
cool
thankyou bird - that looks superb - less graphics and more maths
busy busy busy
raptor will have to take a slight pause for now as im using DIA to plan out the programming - i’m just wondering tho - how usefull is the ability to flow maths? ie - what would you normally use it for? is it more of a circuit creation device?
Dom
Raptor is used to teach programming.
Not only can you produce flow charts and step through them, but, once they are done and work, you can actually output code; C, JAVA, and BASIC for sure.
output code?
thats the one thing that annoyed me about purely pictoral versions - i’m still going to have to write the code.
tho i must admit DIA was a lot easier to pick up on than raptor - and the ability to at least get started without direct assistance is a major selling point for me - i learnt DIA in one night and completed the flowchart on the second - with raptor some minor detail i hadnt noticed stopped me from even getting started - i know it will become obvious when i read the instructions but frankly i need a flow chart break for a few days now - you know youve been at it too long when the decision to get out of bed presents itself as a diamond.
Dom
Programming
Dom,
That is a terrific-looking robot. I really like the blow-by-blow description of your progress.
My advice on programming is to start with something little and continue to make it bigger and bigger. Perhaps, get the left motor working - able to go on/off, forward/reverse, fast/slow etc. Then add the right motor. Then do different combinations of left and right to get the bot to go forward/backward, turn, spin, stop. Then add another piece etc. Of course, the order of implementation is whatever makes sense to you. But the idea is to have something working then, add on to it. That way if you break it, you know it has to do with the little bit you just added.
Programs never work the first time you try them. It helps to have as little difference between the previous working version and the current broken version so that you can figure out the mistake more easily.
Edit, test, debug, edit, test, debug etc.
Just my two cents,
- Ralph
exactly my style
my mistake was doing a big chunk all at once (of the central program) but thankfully i know the modules all work (gosubs) as i tested them individually
So get that bot moving, I’m curious to see a video of if