Im interested in programming a robot with C# or Java. The main problem is that most of the simple robot kits(like a put it toghether and it works robot or something like mindstorms… (I’m looking for this kind of stuff becouse im not a technician)) dont have 2 way communication possibilities. I want a robot with sensors, (sound, touch, possible webcam etc.) that communicates with a pc in realtime. So I can read the values of the sensors and act on them sending new instructions. A simple version would be a little car/bot that walks around and makes realtime a map of my room.
Well, I’m trying to do a similar project at the minute.
What I’m using is a mini-ITX motherboard, on board the bot at interfacing with the parallel port, using PICAXE microcontrollers to relay data to a central microcontroller, which then sends data streams to the parallel port which is interpreted by a VB program which acts on that and possibly passes it on to a multi-kernal program for action.
You don’t need to go into such complicated stuff, though - you could just control two motors with two pins of a parallel port.
HTH
theChipmunk
P.S. If you find anything interesting, please PM me - we could exchange info…
At this moment I’m thinking about bluetooth or wifi to communicate. IR is not good enough for possible obstacles.
It would be cool to let it talk, but then also, there will be just a speaker in the bot… the actual sound will be produced on a pc.
Did you check out gumstix? They are mini linux computers.
I have seen some micros that do C# or java. But if you do run it on your computer, you will still need a micro or something on your robot to send/get data to/from the computer. You can get a Mini Atom Bot Board with a Basic Atom Pro and a BlueTooth or WiPort module and have it send an array of sensor values to the pc, the pc will then do w/e it needs to do and send back an array of new motor speeds or servo pos. Then the robot will do a for loop and set the new motor speeds or positions, send back some sensor values and wait for new motor speeds/pos I think it would work just fine.
I have several robots and all talk to my pc. I am an electronics engineer and computer programmer so I might have an upper hand. Any one can learn Visual Basic for example look on the web or ask me. This programming language like all of them allow for a PC to communicate to the serial port relatively easily. I put on the serial port a chip that can send data wireless. I prefer the Linx product line of wireless chips because most have a small footprint, are inexpensive and very simple to interface to the basic stamp. I like to use decoders and encoders. Don’t forget USB is just as easy to interface requiring an interfacing chip also. Perhaps there is a chip for all of you wonderings. I have always been able to find an integrated circuit (chip) just needed to dig through miles of catalog pages.
After this all that is next is to program the basic stamp to communicate to the pc.
Here is a link to some of the wireless interfacing chips linx has to offer. I know there are others but I found these easy to implement.
, i guess i misunderstood your wording