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Posted by bob on November 18, 2005, 9:53 am
i'm looking for some advice please. i'm a mechanical engineer looking
to get into amateur robotics. my mechanical background is obviously
strong, my electrical not too bad, my electronics is weak and my
programming almost non-existant! initially i think i'd like to get my
hands on a programmable microcontroller and try my hand at writing some
programs to control, say, a motor.
i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
which one of these would be recommended? i'm also keen to get into
visual basic, if this is appropriate for programming these controllers.
would the lego inventions be a good option? does the lego
microcontroller support visual basic?
thanks
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Posted by The Artist Formerly Known as K on November 18, 2005, 10:32 am
bob wrote:
> i'm looking for some advice please. i'm a mechanical engineer looking
> to get into amateur robotics. my mechanical background is obviously
> strong, my electrical not too bad, my electronics is weak and my
> programming almost non-existant! initially i think i'd like to get my
> hands on a programmable microcontroller and try my hand at writing some
> programs to control, say, a motor.
>
> i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
> which one of these would be recommended? i'm also keen to get into
> visual basic, if this is appropriate for programming these controllers.
>
> would the lego inventions be a good option? does the lego
> microcontroller support visual basic?
>
> thanks
>
The BasicX is a good, fairly easy-to-use-for-newbies controller, and supports a
VB-like language. The OOPIC is also a decent and easy to use device. The Stamp
is older, and has lot's of code (and great docs), but you will likely outgrow it
quickly -- I usually recommend that people avoid it these days, but others may
disagree. The Stamp's basic is not VB-like. The OOPIC allows you a choice of
syntaxes (vb-like, java-esque, or c++-ish), and everything is done over a nifty
object-oriented framework.
If you really want to learn VB (and I'm not a big fan of VB, personally) there
may be better ways than go than using a microcontroller, as the implementations
are all vb-like, but not really vb.
Personally, I'd go for the OOPIC, with the BasicX a close second.
Hope that helps -- m
--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html
Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!
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Posted by Joe Strout on November 18, 2005, 10:44 am
> i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
> which one of these would be recommended?
I'm not a big fan of any of these. I'm still pretty new to robotics,
but my more experienced colleagues have strongly recommended the Amtel
microcontrollers, which (among other advantages) have free, open-source
development tools that run on any platform. Pololu makes a couple of
very nice boards (at amazingly low cost!) based on these: the Orangutan
and Baby Orangutan. Check 'em out at <http://www.pololu.com/> .
> i'm also keen to get into visual basic, if this is appropriate for
> programming these controllers.
I don't think you can directly program any microcontroller from VB, but
you *could* control something like a serial motor controller board (and
again, Pololu makes a good one at a very low price -- and no, I don't
work for them, I'm just a big fan!).
> would the lego inventions be a good option?
Yes, that's a great way to get started! The RCX controller is a decent
one that is almost impossible to kill through abuse, and there are a lot
of good programming options for it.
> does the lego microcontroller support visual basic?
No, not AFAIK.
Best,
- Joe
,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| joe@strout.net http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'
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Posted by Dale Stewart on November 23, 2005, 1:23 am
Hi
>> i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
>> which one of these would be recommended?
I have personally bought Basic Stamp, which I highly recommend for fun and
great resources, but have had more use using , Microchip PIC and recently
AVR. If you want to get professional experience in programming
microcontrollers-FORGET BASIC. One of my teachers said to forget BASIC for
professional development. Programming in BASIC is fine for enthusiasts,
however, C is the industry standard language for programming
microcontrollers.
AVR is DEFINITELY the cheapest option, and a good introduction to C
programming is a book found at www.smileymicros.com - using the *awesome*
AVR Butterfly. I am going through that book myself. Later I will probably
use the Butterfly on my first ( second overall ) AVR bot.
The Microchip PIC is the world's biggest selling microcontroller, and the
best value C compiler is the CCS C compiler, which can be integrated into
the free IDE from Microchip. According to EE Professor peter Anderson, this
is the best for value and functionality.
>> would the lego inventions be a good option?
Yes! I would recommend this as the best overall robotics solution. Even
though there are relatively few inputs and outputs, it's a great little
processor and you can do a lot of stuff with it. Great components, heaps of
books available, can be programmed in 'pure' C, and derivations of C;
Interactive C, and Not Quite C, and you can make your own homebrew sensors.
Check out my (neglected) website for stuff on Lego Mindstorms, and for the
official FAQ for this News Group:
http://www.users.tpg.com.au/daleste/
>> does the lego microcontroller support visual basic?
> > Yes. The spirit.ocx is an ActiveX control that can be used in VB to
> > interact with the RCX (brain). It is available on the Mindstorms CD ROM
> > (not sure about version 2.0). Go to my web site, and you will find a
> > link to a VB tutorial for Mindstorms. There is a software development
> > kit from Lego too.
I have VB and it is a great way to create a GUI to any electronic
peripherals projects. If you don't want to spend any money on a VB ( or C# )
IDE and compiler check out www.sharpdevelop.net for a free VB compiler and
IDE ( actually for VB.NET ). It is a brilliant application for FREE, but
would be a larger learning curve, as MS VB has hundreds of books etc out
there. However, there is a helpful forum with SharpDevelop
By the way, get the earlier versions 1.0 or 1.5 of the Lego Mindstorms RCX
with the serial conection to the IR tower. It is cheaper used, and the
latest firmware can be downloaded any way. And it has a connection for a
AC-DC power pack which is great if you have a static project and saves
batteries.
Have fun!
| -]
Dale
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Posted by slacker on November 25, 2005, 9:52 am
i second this about atmel AVR microcontrollers.. my uni seems to love
them as all of the courses use them. in the past PIC was the
microcontroller of choice, but has recently been replaced with AVR.
Joe Strout wrote:
>
>> i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
>> which one of these would be recommended?
>
> I'm not a big fan of any of these. I'm still pretty new to robotics,
> but my more experienced colleagues have strongly recommended the Amtel
> microcontrollers, which (among other advantages) have free, open-source
> development tools that run on any platform. Pololu makes a couple of
> very nice boards (at amazingly low cost!) based on these: the Orangutan
> and Baby Orangutan. Check 'em out at <http://www.pololu.com/> .
>
>> i'm also keen to get into visual basic, if this is appropriate for
>> programming these controllers.
>
> I don't think you can directly program any microcontroller from VB, but
> you *could* control something like a serial motor controller board (and
> again, Pololu makes a good one at a very low price -- and no, I don't
> work for them, I'm just a big fan!).
>
>> would the lego inventions be a good option?
>
> Yes, that's a great way to get started! The RCX controller is a decent
> one that is almost impossible to kill through abuse, and there are a lot
> of good programming options for it.
>
>> does the lego microcontroller support visual basic?
>
> No, not AFAIK.
>
> Best,
> - Joe
>
> ,------------------------------------------------------------------.
> | Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
> | joe@strout.net http://www.macwebdir.com |
> `------------------------------------------------------------------'
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> to get into amateur robotics. my mechanical background is obviously
> strong, my electrical not too bad, my electronics is weak and my
> programming almost non-existant! initially i think i'd like to get my
> hands on a programmable microcontroller and try my hand at writing some
> programs to control, say, a motor.
>
> i've looked on the web and found the basicX, basic stamp and oopic.
> which one of these would be recommended? i'm also keen to get into
> visual basic, if this is appropriate for programming these controllers.
>
> would the lego inventions be a good option? does the lego
> microcontroller support visual basic?
>
> thanks
>