OK. Fine! You won. Big deal

Let's Make Robots
,
1

All my projects has been mechanical excercises and/or remote controlled thingys.

And after I posted my first biped here I recieved messages like "It needs a micro controller!" For that reason I've refrained from posting any of my other projects...

I even posted a rant on the forum about that robots might be robots even though they dont have brains.

But, finally I've caved in to the relentless ranting of the LMR-crowd. I revieved my first shipment from TechSupplies yesterday, I unpacked it to find my very own Picaxe 28x1 starterkit with a ultrasound range finder, motordriver chip and a usb cable. And I'm as excited as a kid on christmas eve!

-so I hope the wife and kid will leave me alone this weekend, cause it's gonna be blinking LED bonanza!!

2

Robots and processors

Hello Maneuver,

Microprocessor, Microcontroller, Neural net or remotely operated, still all arguably robotic.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>I don’t think you need to have a microprocessor to be considered a robot, if we look back to the 60’s researchers at Johns Hopkings built a series of robots which used just transistor logic to exhibit quite complex behavior.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>On of the things I would like to explore is Subsumptive architectures (see Rodney Brooks at MIT) logic but using transistors as basically neurons.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>How ever having said that, I think you will enjoy your foray in to Microcontrollers, you will get a kick out if it each time you program a particular behavior and the robot does it, then sometimes you get behaviors which are totally unexpected.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>Also, I don’t think the “it needs a microcontroller” comments were intended as criticisms but as suggestions for the next step.<o:p></o:p>

all the best

Cliff

3

But, are you absolute sure,

But, are you absolute sure, 100% sure, that microcontrollers are a step FORWARD, not just a step further?

Ha! There’s something to think about on a hungover sunday:-P

4

It’s a good question

I am not sure microcontrollers are a step forward, if we look at W. Grey’s turtles, complex behavior from what amounted to two transistors or neurons.

<o:p> </o:p>

However, before dismissing microcontrollers and microprocessors they can be a good solution to a defined problem. The question is, what is the defined problem!<o:p> </o:p>I look at the lower order creatures, ants for example; they exhibit very complex behavior with reasonably small “processors”.

<o:p> </o:p>

A number of researchers have gone down the analog path with some success, however this takes time.

<o:p> </o:p>

Anyway the point of this site is to build robots and have a bit of fun, good luck with yours.<o:p></o:p>