updated 2009-02-17.
This is something I threw together that I thought you might find useful. I can only write about what I hear about, so if you know something that I've left out, please tell me. Comments?
includes:
Much of that stuff isn't used in most robots, but I haven't found a better way to organize it yet. [FIXME: this is getting long. delete redundant stuff ... break into several files ?]
2002-07-25:DAV: I had no idea. According to http://www.androidworld.com/prod05.htm , as of 03/10/2002 my little collection of links here is the 4th largest robotics page in the world. Whee !
David also maintains related files:
[Consider making a "parts" section of robot_links; make CPUs a subs-section.] [FIXME: this page is way to large. Split into smaller pages and cross-link; trim out some of the lower-quality stuff]
[FIXME: do I need a section on AI (artificial intelligence) ?
]
(see also #androids for some amazing pictures).
[FIXME: should I comb out prosthesis and put them in a seperate section ?]
the da Vinci(TM) Surgical System(ISRG on NASDAQ)
Frederic Moll, M.D., Robert Younge and John Freund, M.D. formed Intuitive in 1995 based on foundational robotic surgery technology developed at SRI International
the da Vinci Surgical System is ... still [2002-12-11] the only operative robotic system FDA-cleared for performing any type of cardiac surgery.
see also tiny CPUs computer_architecture.html#simple_cpu .
On one end of the scale we have isolated autonomous robots.
In the middle we have swarms of small robots that communicate, but try to avoid crashing into each other.
Over at #modular I talk about robots that are built out of physically attaching many identical modules. In theory, the base module can be even simpler than the simplest isolated autonomous robot.
Some ideas that drive me towards tiny robots:
some "tiny robot" projects:
The Cricket is a tiny computer, powered by a 9 volt battery, that can control two motors and receive information from two sensors. Crickets are equipped with an infrared communication system that allows them to communicate with each other.
... based on the Microchip PIC ... User programs are downloaded to the Cricket via its infrared communications system. ... LEDs on the Cricket ... Crickets are programmed in a dialect of the Logo programming language ...
[FIXME: very cool. build some ?]
Cricket Logo http://el.www.media.mit.edu/people/mikhak/sas99/
tiny robots
[Some of these overlap into my "flying robots" category -- merge ?]
the single chip mote vision is a reality. The high level details are that it measures approx 2mmx2.5mm, has an AVR-like RISC core on it, 3K of memory, 8 bit On-chip ADC, FSK radio transmitter, Paged memory system, communication protocol accelerators, register windows, 32 Khz oscillator, SPI programming interface, RS232 compatible UART, 4-bit input port, 4-bit output port, ... memory-mapped active messages, FLL based frequency synthesizer, Over-sampled communication synchronizationJason Hill [FIXME: read more about "TinyOS"]
Many devices (printers, etc.) now use not just standard Internet Protocol but have a small web server embedded in them for input and to indicate status rather than using floppy disks or LCD panels or tiny little keyboards or other proprietary communication protocols.
[FIXME: Is there a better file for me to keep this category ?]
web appliances; embedded web server
TINI Networked Microcontrollers http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/microcontrollers/tini/
1. IP (Internet Protocol) and ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) 2. TCP (Transport Control Protocol, supporting two concurrent sockets) 3. UDP (User Datagram Protocol) 4. ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) 5. DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) 6. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) 7. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
From: plackle bart Subject: Re: Accessing HTTP through a serial port Date: 31 Aug 1999 00:00:00 GMT Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded Mike Godin wrote: > I'd like to be able to access an embedded controller with a HTML browser. > It should be pretty easy to get the embedded controller to speak HTTP, but > getting it to speak to a network is going to be pretty difficult. It can > only talk through a serial port, so I'd like to use my PC as the network > interface. Is there an easy way to tell a network that my serial port is a > remote computer? Is there another kind of serial-to-network device I can > use? > > Thanks in advance, > Mike Godin Probably, the most easy way to interface with the embedded controller . 1. setup an http deamon on your system (e.g. apache for linux) 2. write / use the program which connects serially with the embedded system. 3. place this program under the cgi-bin directory. 4. to send commands to this cgi-program (e.g. localhost/cgi-bin/yourprogram ? first param + second + ... 5. the httpd browser pipes this information towards your program 6. your programs serializes this via a specific protocol 7. your serial program (display towards the stdout) prints the html response 8. this responce will be fed back towards your browser So this all you need to do Kind regards Bart Plackle
I hear "netcat" could be useful. ftp://avian.org/src/hacks/nc110.tgz
Other than Apache, http://www.imatix.com/ also has a free web server. Lots of open source software here.
anonymous proxy server in 100 lines of Perl http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/libwww-perl/archive/1996h2/0404.html
See also nanotech.html and computer_architecture.html#replication for some more ideas on self-replication.
Control of Stepping Motors, a tutorial Douglas W. Jones http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/
Basic Stepping Motor Control Circuits by Douglas W. Jones http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/circuits.html
``Peter Dilworth ... at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leg Laboratory ... That walk put Troody in the vanguard of a small group of elite robots that can walk, run, hop and even perform tucked somersaults. As it turns out, getting robots to walk on two legs is a surprisingly difficult task.'' ... It took Dilworth two years to put together the aluminum bolts and springs that make up Troody's body. ... it took Dilworth one year to get Troody just to stand up. After another year, he got Troody to step side to side. Three years later, he got Troody to balance on one foot. In the end, five years had passed before the fateful October night when Troody took her first steps. ''
"Servo Basics" by Ahmet ONAT http://geocities.com/ahmetonat/servobasics.html has a nice, simple, NE555 + variable resistor, schematic for testing servos /* was: http://turbine.kuee.kyoto-u.ac.jp/staff/onat.html */
Newsgroups: comp.robotics.research From: Dave Novick Subject: Re: Looking for Walking Robotic web sites. Organization: Center for Intelligent Machines and Robotics Date: Sat, 5 Apr 1997 10:42:59 GMT > Looking for Robotic web sites that have Biped or two leged robots or > walking robots of any kind.
----------------------------------------------------------------
/| |___| |\ David Novick
/ | | | | \ 300 MEB, CIMAR
/ | | | | \ Univ of Florida
/ \___/ \___/ \ Gainesville, Fl 32611
| | P: 352-392-0814 Fax:352-392-1071
| DAVEMAN |
\ _ __ __ _ /
\ / | | | | \ / http://www.me.ufl.edu/~dkn/
\ | \ / | / Center for Intelligent
\| | |/ Machines and Robotics
----------------------------------------------------------------
--
************** comp.robotics.research (moderated) **************
Summary: Academic, government & industry research in robotics.
Archives and information: http://www.robot.ireq.ca/CRR
Charter: ftp://ftp.robot.ireq.ca/pub/crr/Charter
Meta-discussions/information: crr-request@robot.ireq.ca
From: (Skip Carter) Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc Subject: Re: help: Robot movement Date: 20 Nov 96 11:16:41 GMT Organization: Taygeta Scientific Inc. ... deMilo <demilo at geocities.com> writes: |> Hello, |> I'm currently on a project to build a mobile search robot using |> mechanical legs. The thing is, I haven't a clue of how the leg assembly |> would look like. Doesn't anyone know of a source where I can find more |> info on the subject? Also, I've seen something called a pantograph |> mechanism. Anyone know anything about that? |> Take a look at the book: Song, S-M and K.J. Waldron, 1989; Machines that Walk: The Adaptive Suspension Vehicle, MIT Press (ISBN 0-262-19274-8) This book has not only material on leg design but a very useful analysis of gaits for statically stable robots. For dynamically stable robots, the math is quite different, for that kind of walking robot see: Raibert, M.H, 1986; Legged Robots that Balance, MIT Press (ISBN 0-262-18117-7) For a discussion of just leg DESIGN issues (for statically stable robots) see: Binnard, M.B; 1992; Leg design for a small walking robot, S.B. Thesis Mechanical Engineering Dept. MIT There are pointers to other walking robot resources at http://www.taygeta.com/robotics.html -- Everett (Skip) Carter Phone: 408-641-0645 FAX: 408-394-5561 Taygeta Scientific Inc. 1340 Munras Ave., Suite 314 UUCP: ...!uunet!taygeta!skip Monterey, CA. 93940 WWW: http://www.taygeta.com/skip.html
The Walking Machine Catalogue http://www.fzi.de/ids/WMC/preface/walking_machines_katalog.html has lots of links to other walking machines , and MPEG videos of walking and climbing robots.
From: Richard Steven Walz
Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc
Subject: Re: Beggining 6legged Walker
Date: 26 Jan 1997 20:15:22 GMT
Organization: The Armory
Lines: 91
In article <503637475wnr@frasco.demon.co.uk>,
><morbidde at sprynet.com> writes:
>> Hi,
>> I'm pretty new 2 that Robotix, I've built the Movit WAO 2 and programed
>> it, I know computers and all, yada yada, but I have a problem, If I were to
>> build a 6 legged insect like robot like
>> so:
>> _____________
>> (6) =====| |===== (1)
>> | |
>> | |
>> (5) =====| |===== (2)
>> | |
>> (4) =====| |===== (3)
>> -------------
----------------------------------------------------
I had to FIX THAT!!
FIRST!!! PEOPLE!!: *NEVER* USE Tabs in An ASCII Diagram!!!! *NOT EVER*
It turns to garbage after it is posted once, as people's OWN Tab settings
make trash of it!! Use SPACES ONLY!!!
-Steve
>> and I set it up so that each leg, represented with a series of = signs, had
>> a servo controlling it. How would I go about, or if anyone of you have, a
>> program to make, for example legs 1, 3, and 5, all move forward, then pull
>> back, then alternate as 2,4, and 6 do the same? Thanx for you time
>> Morb
>>
>> PS. I've heard of a tripod gait and I was wondering if anybody Could
>> explain it to me? ThanX agin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sure. Simple. First 1,5,3 lift into the air. Then 6,2,4 swing backward
propelling it forward. While this occurs or before or after, 1,5,3 remaining
in the air swing forward. Then 1,5,3 lower to ground and support it, and
then 6,2,4 rise up into the air, and they swing forward, either before,
during or after, the 1,5,3 which are still on the ground swing backward,
again propelling it forward. Turning is a tricky devil, but there are
several work-arounds, namely segmented joints between leg pairs that can
be bent slightly left or right so as to flex the body one way and then the
other and maintain that direction for how ever many cycles of turn you
desire, or you can make the swing of the legs variable for any one leg.
This is a bit fiddlier, but it will be a chore at any rate either way you
go. The reason it wasn't clear to you before is that your drawing has the
legs straight out, which is not at all instructive for the motions which
take place, and the legs usually are stopped with them in "swung"
positions, or with three in the air still if the legs stick out perfectly
straight as your diagram suggests. The diagram is more like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
/ \ --- = legs in 3 positions |^| ^
X= foot on ground (tripod) X X----o|o----O
O= foot in air \ |^| v | |
o= hinge o|o | |
^ |^| | | \ |^|
X O----o|o----X | | O ^ |||
|^| / | | v |^| X O----o o----X
o|o | | ||| / | | v
/ | | |^| o o | |
O | | ||| ^ / | | |^|
X |^| X----o o----O O | | ||| ^
\ ||| v | | X |^| X----o o----O
o o |^| \ ||| | |
| | \ ||| o o ^
|^| O ^ | | | | \ fig. 4
||| X O----o o----X ^ O moving
| | / | | v fig. 3 OPPOSITES
o o ^ stopped of fig. 2:
/ | | fig. 2 OPPOSITES all feet moving
O ^ moving of fig. 1: NEW "O"s moving
fig. 1 all feet moving: OTHER feet, forward in the
stopped "O"s, in air NEW "O"s, air, AND while
feet in air, "O"s, move forward, in the air, NEW "X"s move
have just risen, "X"s, on floor after the backward on the
feet on floor,"X"s move backward NEW "X"s floor propelling
were there before propelling it came down. it forward.
those raised up. forward. NEXT: Fig. 1
2, 3, 4 over...
And that's the way it is done by nature's walking-sticks and other insects!
Of course they do fine variation in stride and can back up by reversing the
procedure and while turning as well!
-Steve
--
-Steve Walz http://www.armory.com/~rstevew/
-Lots of New FTP Electronics Stuff!! 700 Files/40 Dirs (Full Mirror ==> *)
--
-Steve Walz ftp://ftp.armory.com:/pub/user/rstevew *
Europe:(Italy) ftp://ftp.cised.unina.it:/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com *
Oz: (Australia) ftp://gold.apana.org.au:/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com *
(U.Cinci) ftp://ieee.cas.uc.edu:/pub/electronics/mirrors/ftp.armory.com *
From: Thomas Thornton <mandtsys at ix.netcom.com> Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc Subject: Re: Beggining 6legged Walker Date: 28 Jan 1997 12:40:22 GMT ... I use a combination of output port (one for each servo) and mechanical linkage to achieve a tripod gait with three servos. 1---4 2-|-5 3---6 One servo drives 1-3 fore and back, one servo drives 4-6 fore and back, and the third servo drives 2-5 vertically. This lifts first 1-3 for the swing phase and then 4-6. Robotic Regards, Tom Thornton KE6NJC http://www.netcom.com/~mandtsys/robots.html
modular robots: robots that are built from *lots* of identical pieces.
Buzzwords: metamorphic; reconfigurable; smart matter; ...
reconfigurable robots: robots with parts that can be disconnected and then re-connected in a different configuration. (The really cool ones can reconfigure themselves "self-reconfigure", rather than requiring a human with a screwdriver).
[is this related to replication computer_architecture.html#replication ?]
(Should I move this section to http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Robotics:_Exotic_Robots:_Modular_and_fractal_Robots ?)
robot modules that can reassemble itself (pins and latches) in several different configurations. Apparently each module has its own power and CPU and sensors and 1 or 2 motors. Each module communicates with any modules attached to it via infrared. Lots of details; good pictures.CONRO will be miniature and is to be made from identical modules that can be programmed to alter its topology in order to respond to environmental challenges such as obstacles.
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 23:40:19 -0400 (EDT)
To: nanocomp at coollist.com
From: Bill Spence
Precedence: list
Subject: Molecular Nanotechnology Company Goes Public
(A sponsor of the Team...)
-NEW COMPANY TO AGGRESSIVELY DEVELOP MOLECULAR NANOTECHNOLOGY-
NanoTechnology Development Corporation
(http://DevelopNanotechnology.com)
- Industrial "Digital Matter" Product in less than Two Years-
(Houston, Texas)
NanoTechnology Development Corporation announces formation and a multi-path
approach to development of the Molecular Assembler and Assembler Dependent
Products.
"NTDC" was formed in May '98 with offices on NASA Road One, "...to
aggressively pursue the development of atomic precision manufacturing and
all that such technology entails." according to Greg Timmins, NTDC's V.P.
of Financing.
The Board of Directors includes "Operations Consulting Director", Michael
Rothe, presently Exec. V. P., Contract Compliance & Quality Control of
Rothe Development Inc., a San Antonio, Texas R&D firm contracted to NASA,
DOD and other government agencies. His firm has developed aerospace
hardware and computer technology since the late 1950s. The Board also
includes noted Russian computer scientist and biophysicist Dr. Andrew
Adamatzky, University of the West of England, UK, molecular pharmacologist
Dr. Maharaj K. Ticku of UTHSCSA and Michigan Molecular Institute's Dr.
Donald A. Tomalia. Two other "science board" nominees are expected to be
announced by year's end.
On June 29, the company submitted the required documents for a public
offering of stock directly to New York State investors. Funds will be used
to facilitate a public awareness campaign and a much larger international
stock offering to fund at least three projects, late this year.
Big Issue Solved?
Quoting an unnamed source in the "MNT Community", "I personally believe
that the best thing TODAY is for nanotechnology to be invested in only by
non-profits, or by a very few knowledgeable, patient and wealthy private
investors who go in with their eyes open... ...It would be incredibly easy
... to create hype of that (great) magnitude with nanotechnology... ... the
people who do IPO's have about an 18 month time horizon. I just don't
believe there's going to be payback (in that time frame, resulting in a
-next Artificial Intelligence or Virtual Reality- investor perception, a
spoilage of MNT credibility)."
First Product, to Market in less than Two Years?
NDTC's first development start-up is Robotic Construction International
(RCI). Although assembler and assembler dependent products will require at
least 5-10 years of development (longer for some dependent products), the
RCI "package" is most unusual in that an initial "product" of great utility
and original attributes can be ready for market in less than two years.
RCI uses a "Top Down" approach for scaling down to the molecular realm and
has already produced what may be termed as macro (hold in your hand) sized
"nanorobot" prototypes, possessing AND performing many of the desirable
features of mature nanomachines (as described in Drexler's, Engines of
Creation, Unbounding the Future, Nanosystems, etc.).
Enter, Fractal Shape Shifting Robots, Programmable "Digital Matter"
For the last year, British engineer Joe Michael has been demonstrating
12-inch wide prototype robotic "cubes". They work, and are built with "off
the
shelf" components and a screwdriver. This same basic cube design can be
scaled up to meter size for construction use (NTDC's likely first
commercial product), or scaled down in generations exhibiting greater
industrial value. But along the way, as the dimensions shrink, these
nanotechnology compatible fractal robots have huge markets to explore.
A simple can opener or a complex asphalt paver are both, single purpose
machines. Ask them to clean your floor or build a radio tower and they
"stare" back blankly. A computer is different, it is a multi purpose
machine -- one machine that can do unlimited tasks by changing software...
but only in the world of bits and information.
Fractal Robots are programmable machines that can do unlimited tasks in the
physical world, the world of matter. Load the right software and the same
"machines" can vacuum the carpet, paint your car, or construct an office
building and later, wash that building's windows. This is the beginning of
"Digital Matter".
Fractal Shape Shifting Robots look like "Rubic's Cubes" that can "slide"
over each other on command, changing and moving in any overall shape
desired for a particular task. These cubes communicate with each other and
share power through simple internal induction coils (or surface contacts in
some
models), have batteries, a small computer and various kinds of internal
magnetic and electric inductive motors (depending on size) used to move
over other cubes.
When sufficiently miniaturized (below 0.1mm) and fabricated using
photolithography and E-Beam methods, the machines may exceed human manual
dexterity and could then be programmed to assemble complex fractal
aggregates or even to maintain the photolithographic and E-Beam equipment
itself! The ultimate goal is self sustaining systems and "self-assembly"
features that can drop cost dramatically and enable successive generations
of robots exhibiting greater utility and value, to be built along the way.
RCI's "Top-Down" work in these areas directly supports the Company's
principal objective of molecular nanorobot development in two ways. First,
the work provides direct engineering experience with large numbers of
independently controllable mobile devices of decreasing size.
This experience will prove essential once the availability of ("bottom-up")
molecular assemblers permits the construction of atomically precise
nanorobots in large numbers. Thus the Company will gain essential knowledge
directly applicable to the control and coordination of large numbers of
nanorobots (when such can be built).
Second, RCI's program is expected to produce a large number of commercially
viable spinoff products which will generate revenue. The Company may use
this revenue to support preliminary molecular nanotechnology device design
and, ultimately, fabrication of molecular nanorobots once molecular
assemblers become available.
The development work to be performed by RCI represents a pragmatic
engineering exploration of numerous issues relating to "Fractal Digital
Control of Matter" using fractal robot technology. This exploration will
include issues of power supply and communication, individual and group
locomotion, integration of spatially diverse real-time sensor data, and
physical and conditional multirobot metaconfigurations. As RCI proceeds to
smaller individual device sizes, RCI's investigations will expand to
include scaling issues, including the changing demands of locomotion in
fluids at low Reynolds numbers, power density and cooling, reliability,
electrostatic vs. electromagnetic/magnetic actuation, and van der Waals and
electrostatic inter-robot adhesion effects.
A definitive technology demonstration is in the works. See:
http://DevelopNanotechnology.com/Family.htm#demo
-Next Assembler Project & First Assembler Dependent Products -
According to the webpage, the next assembler project will be a "Bottom Up"
approach and is now in negotiations. An announcement with specifics is
expected by late-summer. Similarly, the first assembler dependent product(s)
development project that is now in negotiations and will not be announced
until late '98 or early '99. One other such project under consideration but
not presently under negotiation may be announced late summer. All of these
projects possess longer term development time lines, but have long term
return for investor potential unparalleled in present technology. "What
could be more profitable that digital information? Digital matter."
Can Houston beat Dallas in the real Super Bowl?
"It looks like Texas is going to be the field of development (says Timmins,
a New Yorker), with Zyvex (developing an assembler) outside of Dallas and
NTDC south of Houston nestled next to NASA. This is Nanotechnology and not
only are there more than one Assembler design patentable, MNT engineering
for assembler
dependent products is the really big field for expansion, after the
assembler arrives. We will aggressively develop 'ADPs' including some
exciting space systems. We expect to succeed and we expect Zyvex to
succeed, increasing our market for ADPs. Society should be the big winner."
Subscribe to:
NanoTechnology Magazine webpage: http://nanozine.com
(808)737-0628 FAX (808)735-0638
4451 Sierra Dr. Honolulu, Hawaii 96816 USA
------------- JOIN the NanoComputer Dream Team ------------
"To Design and Build the World's First Nanocomputer"
http://www.nanocomputer.org
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Free mailing list by Cool List. http://www.coollist.com/
PARTS founder Marvin Green organized the first PARTS Mini Sumo competition at OMSI in 2000. He developed an inexpensive kit to sell to contestants and stimulate interest in the event.[Mini Sumo]
"Use anonymous ftp to obtain a list of a variety of lego information and application programs from: location: earthsea.stanford.edu directory: /pub/lego /CAD/ languages for specifying models /faq/ latest faq for alt.toys.lego /games/ /images/ pictures and drawings of sets and instructions /upload/ Place your files here! ..." MIT has papers on LEGO projects available via FTP from: site: kame.media.mit.edu dir: pub/el-memos file: memo8.* "LEGO/LOGO: Learning Through and About Design"
[FIXME: move elsewhere ... to its own file perhaps ?] [microdisplays ... wearable_electronic.html ]
(in no particular order)
The exact opposite of these LCD panels is huge projection displays such as http://www.virtual-reality.com/ .
microcontroller chips (AVR, PIC, BASIC Stamp, etc.) that can be used to build Robot Brains . (what about 16 bit and 32 bit microcontrollers, like the 680x0 and ARM ?)
cross-assemblers (M680x, etc.)
From: falstaff at xs4all.nl (Frank A. Vorstenbosch)
Newsgroups: comp.archives.msdos.announce,sci.electronics
Subject: as??_108.zip - Assemblers for M680x/8048/6502/8080/Z80
Keywords: simtel, msdos
Summary: Reposted by Keith Petersen
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 00:08:41 GMT
Followup-To: comp.archives.msdos.d
Sender: msdos-ann-request at simtel.coast.net
Organization: SimTel, the Coast to Coast Software Repository (tm)
I have uploaded to SimTel, the Coast to Coast Software Repository (tm),
(available by anonymous ftp from the primary mirror site ftp.coast.net
and the secondary mirrors of SimTel):
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as02_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as05_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as09_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as48_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as65_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/as80_108.zip
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/crossasm/asrd_108.zip
SimTel/msdos/crossasm/
as02_108.zip Assembler for M6800/6801/6802/6803 microproc.
as05_108.zip Assembler for M6805 microprocessor
as09_108.zip Assembler for M6809/H6309 microprocessor
as48_108.zip Assembler for i8048/49/50 microprocessor
as65_108.zip Assembler for R6502/65SC02 microprocessor
as80_108.zip Assembler for i8080-Z180 microprocessor
asrd_108.zip Sample code to read as??.exe debug info files
Common Features:
- fast two-pass assembly.
- supports binary, s-records or intel-hex output file formats.
- optionally generates debug information file.
- three segments (code, data, bss) for ROM-based programs.
- 'struct' keyword for easy declarations.
- instruction cycle count in listing.
- full conditional assembly.
- C-style expressions, accept base 2...36, using either % and $
prefixes or <base>#<value> format, 32-bit calculations.
- runs under MS-DOS 3.x or higher.
New in version [1.08]:
- added || and && operators.
- added AS48 assembler for 8048/49/50.
- added Z180 support to AS80.
Copyrighted, but freely distributable on the net. Uploaded by the
author.
Frank A. Vorstenbosch
falstaff at xs4all.nl
including PIC C compilers C language
[FIXME: move all this info to http://massmind.org/ ]
PIC Microcontroller Programmers http://massmind.org/techref/microchip/devprogs.htm
Is this the same as
CCS C compiler for Microchip PICmicro MCU designs. http://www.pic-c.com/
[FIXME: I have 68HC11 stuff scattered back and forth between here and #68HC11. Should I merge them together, or how to discriminate what goes where ? ]
DonTronics http://www.dontronics.com/ has lots of free information. sells "Simmsticks" (tiny, low-cost little boards with a MicroChip PICmicro microprocessor or a Atmel 89Cx051 microprocessor), programmers for them that plug into a PC parallel port, and some software tools to write programs for them (assembly, BASIC compilers, C compilers). Interesting "paperless" business concept: only physical hardware is delivered; everything that other people handle with shipping disks or paper documentation is handled instead via the web or email.
PIC16C84 info http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/3656/ including a free C compiler and other GPL utilities for the PIC.
Microchip PIC and parallax STAMP microcontrollers http://www.pacifier.com/~mcginty/
microEngineering Labs, Inc. http://www.melabs.com/mel/picproto.htm sells "raw" PIC prototyping boards (buy the PIC, crystal, capacitors, regulator, etc. seperately) for about $10. (It seems that the board + all the parts should run less than $30 but I can't tell whether it needs a $50 programmer or not).
Square 1 Electronics http://www.zapcom.net/~squareone PIC book _Easy PIC'n_
``The first and only C++ compiler for PICmicro and Scenix processors'' (Shareware $90) ``Pascal-compiler for PICmicro and Scenix micros'' ``The SmartBow® Software is a way to easilly create an HTML-document with a set of Virtual Controls (LEDs, buttons, displays etc.) connected to you code running on Microchip®, Scenix® or any other microprocessos.'' and other PIC related shareware and postcard-ware. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/3656/ Pavel Baranov
Subject: New BASIC Stamp mailing list! From: Tom Mornini <tmornini at sun.parallaxinc.com> Newsgroups: comp.realtime,sci.electronics,comp.arch.embedded,comp.robotics Date: 26 Jul 1995 06:55:27 GMT Parallax, Inc. is now sponsoring a BASIC Stamp mailing list. This is an open subscription, unmoderated list. It will focus on the Parallax BASIC Stamp, BS1-IC, BS2-IC, and all peripherals and derivative products, including hardware, software, implementation, programming, etc. Please feel free to join into the discussion, or just sit on the sidelines and monitor the conversation. To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@parallaxinc.com. In the body of the message, type "subscribe stamps". You will get a confirmation and short instruction page returned to you. This will verify that you are indeed on the list. -- Tom Mornini ---------------------------------------------------------- -- Parallax, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------ -- Makers of really cool PIC development tools & the BASIC Stamps ------ -- http://www.parallaxinc.com ftp://ftp.parallaxinc.com/pub --
Scenix Semiconductor Inc. http://www.scenix.com claims to sell "world's fastest 8 bit µcontroller" Scenix designed the SX-18 ($3.24 in 1,000 units in 1997 Aug _Electronic Design_ p. 50) and SX-28 ($3.48 in 1,000 units in 1997 Aug _Electronic Design_ p. 50) chips to be pin- and object-code- compatible with the PIC 16C5x series from Microchip, but at 50 MHz (1 instruction per clock, branches 3). Also In-Circuit Programmable, 2028x12bits EEFLASH, 136 Bytes RAM, all outputs sink and source 30 mA, etc.
http://www.sx-forum.com/ has an online discussion forum about the SX series of processors from Ubicom http://www.ubicom.com/ (formerly known as Scenix).
Parallax http://www.parallaxinc.com uses the Scenix chips in a $199 "SX Development System" including 2 SX chips, a board, software, and a manual. Includes ICE-like single-stepping, full-speed emulation, in-circuit programming, etc.
Microchip Technology Inc. 1-888-MCU-MCHP
http://www.microchip.com/
produces lots of interesting components:
Produces the PIC "FLASH RISC MCU"
PIC microcontrollers (Don Lancaster is enamored with).
Some PIC chips have "2-wire In-Circuit Serial Programming(tm)".
(free technical library CD-ROM)
KeeLoq code hopping devices
Serial EEPROMs
QuickASIC (?)
$0.75 each (in 1 000s) 25LC640: 8 pin serial EEPROM, 8 K * 8 bits; 2 MHz clock; 2.5 V to 5.5 V (price from EEPN 1998 July p.17)
The chips that have FLASH program memory ($6.60 in ones from Digi-Key) that can be erased and reprogrammed by plugging a In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) programmer into a 5 pin ICSP socket look pretty cool. Too bad that (as of 1998-08-07) none of the FLASH memory PICs have a PWM peripheral. (Looks like they're planning some for next year...) [FIXME: move information to http://massmind.org/
see computer_architecture.html for more about CPUs and microcontrollers in general.
http://www.mot.com/SPS/RISC/netcomm/ "Motorola's Next-generation PowerPC™ (MPC8260 PowerQUICC II™) Communications Processor Simultaneously Supports Fast Ethernet, 155 Mbps ATM and 256 HDLC Channels"
$10 (in 100 000s) ADSP-21065L SHARC 32 bit DSP advertisement in _IEEE Signal Processing_ 1998 May 32 bit fixed point and 32 bit floating point and 40 bit floating point 180 MFLOPS (16.67 ns cycle time => 60 MHz clock)
Also consider using just a small programmable logic chip rather than a full-fledged MCU + RAM.
New Micros, Inc. includes with their el-cheapo $39 8051-based SBC a monitor in ROM for downloading programs into on-board RAM, a Small-C compiler, BASIC51, MAX-FORTH, and a communications utility for the PC host you download from. New Micros is at http://www.newmicros.com. I'm not endorsing them in particular, just giving an example. (Though $39 is ridiculously inexpensive for what you're getting. Just the parts on the board would tally up to >= $39 if you bought them yourself.) "an I/O board with D/As, A/Ds, encoder counters and some digital I/O lines .... for controlling a PUMA robot w/ the CPU of your choice ... user's manuals avail by anonymous ftp: ftp ftp.cs.cmu.edu login as "anonymous" cd /usr/anon/user/deadslug get trc4um.ps a PostScript file that can be printed or viewed ... get trd0001.ps shows the board diagrammatically."
PC-104 single-board computers. (I suppose one *could* use them for other purposes).
see ucontrollers for more detailed robot brain info (and alternatives to PC-104 Robot Brains).
Also see vlsi.html#pci for more PCI information (relevant for PC/104-Plus) and schematic.html for some information relevant to designing PC-104 boards.
Information about programmable chips, and the devices needed to program them. (FIXME: move devices needed to program ucontrollers such as the PIC to #udevelopment ).
See also vlsi.html ( vlsi.html#PCI_on_FPGA ) for more detailed information on chip design and using FPGAs, and computer_architecture.html#FPGA for information on reconfigurable computing.
-- Robert YoungYou have your choice of schematic capture, VHDL or Verilog. Or you can combine them. Other development "languages" such as Handel-C are available but generally not free. Abel and Abel-like languages are also available free. I typically use VHDL but I know a lot of people who prefer Verilog. In theory, anything you can do in one language you can do in the other. If properly constructed, both should reduce down to the same gate level implementation. Both Xilinx and Altera have lots of extra tools for optimizing, pin selection, I/O drive etc. You can use these tools or just create the configuration files yourself with a text editor and run from a command line instead of the company's idea of a good IDE. Start small, and see if you decide to go with VHDL, the best book I have found is Essential VHDL RTL Synthesis Done Right by Sundar Rajan. VHDL is kinda funny in that you can write perfectly legal code that cannot be synthesized. It will run in a simulator but cannot be made to run in silicon.
-- Herbert GrafThe main contenders are VHDL and Verilog. ... Most companies are switching to only use Verilog in new designs.
+-----------------------------------------------+
|\ FPGA and uController Rildo Pragana \
\ \ Design & Implementation PO Box 7440 Recife \
\ \ System Software * Linux Brazil 50,630-970 \
|\ +-----------------------------------------------+
\| * phone:55-81-4591776 |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
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From: Matthias Sauer Subject: Re: FPGA VGA interface Date: 10 Nov 1998 00:00:00 GMT Organization: Siemens AG, Semiconductor Division, Munich Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga You might want to take a look at Oxford Universities Hardware Compilation Group pages. They did a few examples driving VGA monitors (more or less directly, modulo some resistors to do the D-to-A conversion). They use a C-like programming language to develop the FPGA netlist, which makes it very straight forward to get a VGA driver up and running. The URLs are: http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/hwcomp.html http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/groups/hwcweb/video/video_games.html Cheers, Matthias
see also 2-way infrared data communication
The advantages of a decentralized system ... we introduce the Army-ant scenario.
[FIXME: move to "modular robots" ?] (used Matlab) shows that robots can be designed to carry out some task without any central controller -- with no direct communication at all. (see also http://home.earthlink.net/~unsal/ )
[FIXME: mail Dr. Ali A. Minai http://www.ececs.uc.edu/~aminai/sites.html , Bob McDaniel http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/weblinks/spaceeconomy/transport.html and http://www.informatik.uni-bonn.de/~belker/mobots.html and http://www.d.kth.se/~d90-mst/courses/mip/ and give them updated links for the above link and for: ]
related links that refer to this thesis: "Complexity and Artificial Life" by Anders Sandberg http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Tech/Complexity/ ,
[FIXME: move to serialport ?]
From: "Zanthic Technologies Inc." <zanthic at zanthic.com> Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc Subject: Announce: 68HC11/CAN Development System Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:10:53 -0800 ... Whether you are doing 68HC11 programming or CAN (Controller Area Network) development, you will want to check out our web page. Our boards power up with a working 1Mbps twisted pair network that allows our Windows based monitor software to download, run, and debug your programs across the network. Routines are provided to send and receive network messages easily both from the 68HC11 and from the PC under Visual Basic or C. ... http://www.zanthic.com/public/zanthic From: efa at teleport.com (Edwin) Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded,aus.electronics,sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: HELP!! CAN controller (or similar) needed. Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 09:20:29 UNDEFINED Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 ... >From: Michael Warner <mvw at ozemail.com.au> >Subject: HELP!! CAN controller (or similar) needed. >Date: 21 Mar 1997 03:06:53 GMT >A friend and I are about to win a contract involving about 500 embedded >networked devices. I was planning to use CAN for this, but checking with >local Philips and Intel reps has me worried. >The Philips 82C200 will soon be replaced by the SJA1000 - the local agent >quotes a 14-week lead time on either. The Intel agent has never heard of >the 85256 or 85257 - they're looking into it at the moment. My agent had trouble too, at first. The trouble was he needed the full part number. They should be able to find it just from the part number 82527, but they couldn't. They needed the full part number which is: AN82527 After that they didn't have any trouble. I bought mine through the Hamilton Hallmark, company. I hope this helps and you should check out my web-site if you need help with the programming http://www.teleport.com/~efa/can.html Regards; Edwin ... ------------------------------------------------------------------- Edwin Armstrong | | Everything should be made 4841 20th AVE S. | | as simple as possible, Salem, Or. 97302 | local = GMT - 7 | but not simpler. ------------ Web Page "http://www.teleport.com/~efa/"--------------
look at: ...
http://www.unitrode.com DC motor drive chips audio amp chips
Zagros Electronics (robot parts ?) http://walden.mo.net/~zagros/zagros.htm
robot company http://www.rwii.com
sells tiny RE016-042 motor, 16 mm diameter, 43.5 mm long, maximum continous torque over 5 mNm, efficiency exceeds 80%. Maxon Precision Motors, Inc. http://www.maxonmotor.com
"BEAM, which stands for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics (amongst others) is a system founded by Mark W. Tilden while at the University of Waterloo (Canada) that allows first time [robot] enthusiasts to get started easily."
DAV personally is interested in machines that do stuff that humans can not do or would prefer not to do.
Other people try to make androids -- machines that look and act as much like humans as possible.
Flying robots, sometimes called UAVs (autonomous unmanned vehicles
).
This includes every (?) artificial thing that flies that both
perhaps distantly related to 3d_design.html#paper_airplanes
[FIXME: consider merging with http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/unmanned_aerial_systems ]
TOKYO -- Seiko Epson Corp. has developed a micro robot weighing just 8.9 grams that can sort of fly. ...
... [wired to] a 3.5V DC power supply ... The robot has a lifting power of 13 grams, providing surplus lifting power for an additional battery.
The "Micro Flying Robot" ... two contra-rotating propellers powered by four 7x2x1-mm sized ultrasonic motors. The motors were originally developed for wristwatches. ... The robot operates at 300 kHz and generates power of 1W per gram. Epson claims this to be the world's highest power-weight ratio.
Epson developed the robot to demonstrate its homegrown micromechatronics technology. The robot consists of a 2.5 gram control module with two CPUs; a 1.3-gram Bluetooth module; a 1.3-gram sensor unit with a gyro-sensor, an accelerometer and an image sensor; and a 5.1-gram mechanical unit including two contra-rotating propellers, four ultrasonic mortars, a stabilizer and a posture control unit.
... Copyright 2003 © CMP Media LLC
Laima ... It was the smallest plane to have ever crossed the Atlantic. It was the first unmanned plane of any size to have done so. It was a harbinger of the future of over-ocean meteorological research.but then gives the UAVs a bad reputation by associating them with the possibility that terrorists *might* use them.
...
The focus on high-tech terror weapons is part of a major, but largely unnoticed, switch in U.S. national security policy, Pike said, from defending against "probable" threats to defending against "describable" threats, regardless of their likelihood. ...
This outlook actually detracts from national defense, turning focus away from small, manageable, no-tech measures that could prevent terrorist attacks, Pike said.
...
[FIXME: ...]NASA's Ames Research Center is building a "personal satellite assistant" ... The robot is a six-inch sphere inspired by the sparring droid that Luke Skywalker fights in the movie "Star Wars"
This inch-long helicopter made its maiden flight yesterday in Mainz, Germany ... the helicopter weighs one-hundredth of an ounce ... September 4, 1996http://www.eskimo.com/~ghawk/minihelicopter.htm
-- http://robots.net/article/510.html (weighing 0.1 gram)Robofly http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020610/robofly.html ... they're hoping it will be airborne by 2004. When it does take flight it'll likely be the smallest autonomous flying robot. ... The little critters are expected to cost $10 a pop when they become available!
Is this the same as http://AeroVironment.com/ | http://www.solaraircraft.com/
/* pinpoint straight-line */We are particularly interested in using small aircraft to improve weather forecasting. ...
... The powerplant, a highly modified model-aircraft engine with one little 20-cubic-centimeter cylinder, was really no more reliable than the Vimy's early V-12s ...
An Aerosonde's Anatomy. Each of these $25,000 craft weighs 29 pounds and has a 9-foot wingspan ... Inside each Aerosonde's graphite/ honeycomb shell ... equipment, including a ... GPS receiver, with its antenna mounted in the aircraft's right wing. For communication with the ground, each craft carries a UHF modem with a dipole antenna mounted on the left side of the tail section.
The Aerosonde has two onboard computers. The main computer handles various tasks, including communications, flight control, and GPS processing, while the second computer conducts meteorological calculations for temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind. Each computer uses a 16-Mhz, 32-bit microcontroller. Power is supplied by an engine-driven AC generator.
Flight control sensors include pitch- and yaw-rate gyroscopes and transducers for dynamic (pitot) and barometric (static) pressure. Calculations are done at 5Hz and command model-aircraft servos controlling the throttle and aerodynamic surfaces -- flaps, ailerons, and "ruddervators" on the tail.
... Aerosondes cruise at about 50 knots ...
In the future, we will be able to track the craft over water using such emerging satellite-communications systems as Iridium and Orbcomm. ... two-way relay ...
I think it's kinda cool that NASA links to my list of flying robots http://w2.nasatech.com/WWWboard/messages/761.html .
see also 3d_design.html#submarine
`` a boat building method using steel wires covered with a sand and cement plaster, patented in 1855 by the French... Ferciment boats built before 1855 are still in existence and at least one is still afloat. ... Ferro-cement, often referred to as "concrete". It is the cheapest and easiest form of construction for boats over 25 ft. And apart from strip-plank composite construction, it is the only viable material for large round-bilge boats within the amateur capability, without the requirements of special tools or a weather-proof building. ''
See also servo. Servo motors have built-in electronics that make them simpler/easier/cheaper to use than trying to interface directly to a motor.
PID algorithms, PID tuning techniques, and related things.
[FIXME: move to massmind ?]
H bridge circuits and H bridge chips [FIXME: more on schematic.html ?]
Dave Dilatush <dilatush at HOME.COM> on 2001-04-25 04:47:17 PM Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLIST at MITVMA.MIT.EDU> To: PICLIST at MITVMA.MIT.EDU cc: (bcc: David Cary/TULSA/BRUNSWICKOUTDOOR) Subject: Re: [EE]: RMS vs Average voltage? ... OK, well for what it's worth, here are my PID bookmarks: http://www.mcjournal.com/main/vol1num2/articles/tutser2/tutser2.htm http://www.expertune.com/tutor.html http://www.expertune.com/artCE87.html http://members.aol.com/pidcontrol/pid_algorithm.html http://rclsgi.eng.ohio-state.edu/matlab/PID/PID.html http://instserv.com/pid.htm http://www.jashaw.com/pid/ Maybe one of those will help. ... Dave
From: Bob Ammerman
Date: 2001-04-26 05:32:57 AM
Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLIST at MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: [PIC]: Antijitter digital display filter
One technique I like for this is to maintain an 'integrated error', when
this exceeds a certain limit I update the display:
To make it concrete, assume we have a new value of the process variable 10
times per second.
integrated_error = 0
displayed_value = process_variable
for each sample of the process variable (1/10 seconds):
error = process_variable - displayed_value
integrated_error = integrated_error + error
if (integrated_error > ERROR_LIMIT) or
(integrated_error < -ERROR_LIMIT) then
integrated_error = 0
displayed_value = process_variable
endif
end for
This has the advantage not only that large changes in the process value are
reported quickly, but also that even small long term changes are reported
eventually.
ERROR_LIMIT controls the tradeoff between displayed jitter and
responsiveness.
Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems
(contract development of high performance, high function, low-level
software)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Russell McMahon" <apptech at CLEAR.NET.NZ>
To: <PICLIST at MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 6:04 AM
Subject: [PIC]: Antijitter digital display filter
> I'll put this under [PIC]: although it obviously has more general
> application.
>
> I'm looking for good ways to reduce "LSB jitter" in a digital display.
> Jitter is due both to LSB quantisation and genuine process jitter.
>
> Has anyone got any better suggestions than the following????
>
> I effectively wish to display a varying process output on a digital
display.
> With stable input the LSB "hunts" and in some cases there is a slow
> semirandom variation of process output. I wish to minimise LSB hunting and
> "smooth" genuine variations while not excessively compromising accuracy or
> response time. (As usual, choose any two :-) ). The genuine process output
> varies more rapidly and widely than is desirable for user viewing. A
> significant amount of filtering has already been carried out as part of
the
> overall processing. This portion relates entirely to user-sanitising a
> genuine data variation.
>
> The display is 3 digits, 0 <= DISPLAY <= 500
> Accuracy of result is to some extent less important than display
stability.
> The various median and averaging filters discussed here may be applicable
> but something cruder and simpler may suffice.
> I have run several simulations and get quite good results from the
following
> 2 simple filters.
>
> FILTER1
>
> IF NEW > (OLD+x) then OLD = NEW-x
> IF NEW < (OLD+x) then OLD = NEW+x
> DISPLAY OLD
>
> ie if the input differs from the display by more than X move the display
to
> within 2 counts of input
>
> Setting X = 2 produces quite impressive improvements without adding
> excessive "flat spots".
> X=1 is still too jittery
>
> The filter
>
> FILTER2
>
> IF NEW > (OLD+x) then OLD = NEW
> IF NEW < (OLD+x) then OLD = NEW
> DISPLAY OLD
>
> ie if Input differs from display by more than X then set display to input.
>
> is substantially inferior in display stabilisation.
> It frequently pulls the display to the peak value on a short local peak
> rather than reducing the range of fluctuation as in FILTER1
>
>
>
>
> Russell McMahon
> _____________________________
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
> mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu
>
>
--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu
...
Bob Ammerman on 2001-04-28 01:54:25 PM Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> Subject: Re: [PIC]: Antijitter digital display filter ... > > [Did anybody see my 'integrated error' solution to this problem. I have > > implemented it and it works _very_ well!] > > > Yep I saw it and straight away thought it looked > similar to the way we stop servomoters hunting > when they are at rest but still allow for good > speed transitions. > > But I never would have thought of suggesting it > for a method of stopping display jittering... > Very clever! :o) > -Roman My original application for it was for reporting data from a remote data acquisition device back to a master computer over a limited bandwidth link using a 'report-by-exception' scheme. This is often done with a simple 'deadband' scheme, but that a value that differs from the last reported value by less than the deadband is never reported. Hence the integrated error scheme. Bob Ammerman RAm Systems (contract development of high performance, high function, low-level software) -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics
SGS-Thomson
The L293D, motor driver on a chip, is an SGS-Thomson part and is second sourced by Unitrode. In spite of its utility it is not readily available in small quantities. This part is a dual full H-bridge that can drive motors up to 0.6A.
The significance of the 'D' in L293D is that it is diode protected. There is a reverse biased diode that shunts the reverse EMF from a motor to the V+ supply. The L293B doesn't have this diode so it must be provided externally.
servo motor information (the kind used on RC model aircraft)
see also oscillator schematics schematic.html#oscillator
servo motor protocol: It's a digital 5V protocol. 2 ms lo is full forward. 1.5 ms lo is neutral. 1 ms lo is full reverse. The rest of the period it is high. Servos and speed controllers should not care exactly how long the period is. Typical R/C receivers send a new pulse every 16 ms; 20 ms seems almost as common. There is a 3 pin plug, carrying GND, +5V, and the data line (which switches between GND and +5V). Unfortunately, the plug is not standardized. Plugs should be keyed so that they only plug in the right way.
Subject: Re: [Q] How to convert analog to PWM for servos?
From: Byron A Jeff <byron at cc.gatech.edu>
Date: 13 Jan 1996 03:51:17 GMT
In article <30F6E1BB.2E63@ucsd.edu>, Nathan Parker < ngparker at ucsd.edu > wrote:
>Does anyone know of a simple circuit to convert a 0 -> 5v
>analog signal to the 1 -> 2ms pulse width modulation required
>(one pulse every 20ms or so) for RC servos? I'm interested
>in connecting something like a pot-joystick to a couple of
>these servos.
A PIC 16C71 microcontroller from Microchip would probably do a very good
job. It's an 18 pin part with EPROM, 36 bytes of RAM, and 4 channel A/D
converter along with a 8 bit timer with pre-scaler.
So it could do the job all by itself.
It's serially programmable and there are several inexpensive programmers
available. You can check out Microchip's web page at
http:/www.ultranet.com/mchip
Hope this helps,
BAJ
--
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel - And Using Linux!
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
###
Subject: Re: [Q] How to convert analog to PWM for servos?
From: Robert Hazen rhazen at eskimo.com
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 22:48:31 GMT
Nathan Parker (ngparker at ucsd.edu) wrote:
: Does anyone know of a simple circuit to convert a 0 -> 5v
: analog signal to the 1 -> 2ms pulse width modulation required
: (one pulse every 20ms or so) for RC servos? I'm interested
: in connecting something like a pot-joystick to a couple of
: these servos.
Run the analog signal into on input of a comparitor and connect a
triangle generator to the other input. You can probably get by with a
free-running oscillator connected to a simple RC to give an approximation
of a crude approximation of a triangle. (It'll be exponential, but that
ought to be ok.) Bear in mind, depending on the values you pick, you can
run the circuit lock-to-lock, that is always high or always low. You'll
need to select values and perhaps divide down the 5V so you output always
stays in the duty cycle you want.
###
Subject: Re: [Q] How to convert analog to PWM for servos?
From: CC015012 at brownvm.brown.edu (john 015)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 11:52:46 EST
In article <30F6E1BB.2E63@ucsd.edu>, Nathan Parker said:
>Does anyone know of a simple circuit to convert a 0 -> 5v
>analog signal to the 1 -> 2ms pulse width modulation required
>(one pulse every 20ms or so) for RC servos? I'm interested
>in connecting something like a pot-joystick to a couple of
>these servos.
Generate a triangle wave (555, CMOS Schmitt, op-amp [using
positive feedback]) with the right freqency. Compare this
voltage with a variable voltage and voila.
john
###
Subject: [Q] How to convert analog to PWM for servos?
From: Nathan Parker
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 14:33:31 -0800
Does anyone know of a simple circuit to convert a 0 -> 5v
analog signal to the 1 -> 2ms pulse width modulation required
(one pulse every 20ms or so) for RC servos? I'm interested
in connecting something like a pot-joystick to a couple of
these servos.
-- Nathan Parker
###
Subject: Re: [Q] How to convert analog to PWM for servos?
From: Kipp Bradford kib at vegas.cs.brown.edu
Date: 13 Jan 1996 22:47:42 GMT
I think that the easiest way is to use
a 556 timer (two 555 timers).
The first timer is set up to generate your pulse train at a given frequency.
(something like 50 Hz for servos)
The second 555 is a one shot triggered by the first. The width of
the one-shot depends on the analog input voltage
The whole circuit will cost less than $1.00...
-kipp
>>Does anyone know of a simple circuit to convert a 0 -> 5v
>>analog signal to the 1 -> 2ms pulse width modulation required
>>(one pulse every 20ms or so) for RC servos? I'm interested
>>in connecting something like a pot-joystick to a couple of
>>these servos.
>Generate a triangle wave (555, CMOS Schmitt, op-amp [using
>positive feedback]) with the right freqency. Compare this
>voltage with a variable voltage and voila.
>john
###
Medo http://www.medousa.com/ seems to have a linear motor in their air pumps (only 1 moving part ?)
Bayside Motion Group http://www.bmgnet.com/BMGHome.nsf sells linear motors.
Anorad http://www.anorad.industry.net/ sells linear motors
Northern Magnetics, Inc. http://www.normag.com/ manufactures linear motors (some used for VLSI silicon wafer handling)
Anorad Corporation http://www.industry.net/c/mn/03tvt linear motors ???
[FIXME: gather other fuzzy logic links here.] [Perhaps merge with PID, since many applications can use either PID or fuzzy logic, and the process of "tuning" is somewhate similar between them]
1% resistor color codes
Newsgroups: sci.electronics From: Dan Carson <dbc at tc.fluke.COM> Subject: Re: The number 47 Organization: Fluke Corporation, Everett, WA Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 03:27:20 GMT Lines: 63 If you don't have something like this taped to the wall, you should: +-- .1% --+ +-- .1% --+ 1% 1% 10% 5% 100 101 316 320 10 11 102 104 324 328 12 13 105 106 332 336 15 16 107 109 340 344 18 20 110 111 348 352 22 24 113 114 357 361 27 30 115 117 365 370 33 36 118 120 374 379 39 43 121 123 383 388 47 51 124 126 392 397 56 62 127 129 402 407 68 75 130 132 412 417 82 91 133 135 422 427 137 138 432 437 140 142 442 448 143 145 453 459 147 149 464 470 150 152 475 481 154 156 487 493 158 160 499 505 162 164 511 517 165 167 523 530 169 172 536 542 174 176 549 556 178 180 562 569 182 184 576 583 187 189 590 597 191 193 604 612 196 198 619 626 200 203 634 642 205 208 649 657 210 213 665 673 215 218 681 690 221 223 698 706 226 229 715 723 232 234 732 741 237 240 750 759 243 246 768 777 249 252 787 796 255 258 806 816 261 264 825 835 267 271 845 856 274 277 866 876 280 284 887 898 287 291 909 920 294 298 931 942 301 305 953 965 309 312 976 988 -- Dan Carson Senior Staff Chief Principal Analog Design King (I didn't get the raise, but I got the promotion!) dbc at tc.fluke.COM Fluke Corporation Everett, WA -2 silver -1 gold 0 black 1 brown 2 red 3 orange 4 yellow 5 green 6 blue 7 violet 8 gray 9 white Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts, But Vodka Goes Well Bright Boys Rave Over Young Girls But Veto Getting Wed Bad Boys Rape OUR Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly For Gold And Silver. From: Michael Covington <mcovingt at ai.uga.edu> Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Resistor Color Code Mnemonics Date: 21 Jul 1995 09:16:38 GMT Organization: University of Georgia, Athens Lines: 20 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Most of the colors are in the same order as in the spectrum. black \ brown - color of increasing temperature red / \ orange \ yellow \ green | Spectrum, in conventional ROYGBV order blue / violet / gray -- Almost white (which it's next to) white -- Opposite of the other end, which was black So even without funny phrases, the colors are in a memorable sequence. -- Michael A. Covington http://www.ai.uga.edu/faculty/covington/ Artificial Intelligence Center <>< The University of Georgia Unless specifically indicated, I am Athens, GA 30602-7415 U.S.A. not speaking for the University.
some sensors that might be interesting to put on a robot.
battery info batteries
It seems like lots of people spend a lot of time analyzing batteries. If we could share this information, it would save a lot of time.
"Alkaline batteries ... Yes, cold storage has kept the batteries fresher -- but not by much. ... AA cells ... at room temperature, retaining more than 96 percent of their charge after 2.5 years. The refrigerated C and D cells showed only about a 10 percent greater charge than those stored at room temperature after the same time span."
"Left unused, nicad batteries [rechargeables] lose about 1 percent of their charge each day"
"Supposedly, if nicad batteries are recharged before they're completely exhausted, a "memory effect" can stunt their capacity. We didn't see that in our tests."
"Most dry-cell batteries have no mercury and can be discarded safely ... Alkaline batteries ... Heavy-duty batteries ... Lithium batteries ... but Nicad batteries contain Cadmium, a toxic metal ... for the nearest drop-off point, contact the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., a nonprofit company .... phone: 1-800-8-BATTERY. Web site: www.rbrc.com ."
...IEEE P1625 (TM), "Standard for Rechargeable Batteries for Portable Computers," will help guide how battery systems are developed to support mobile computing applications.
The standard is being created by the IEEE P1625 Laptop Battery Working Group ... A draft standard should be ready for final balloting in May 2003.
[FIXME: categorize things by *function*, not package; move all these to the appropriate category: #sensors , switching_power.html , etc. ]
[FIXME: move items into category above, or delete irrelevant items]
\ / | | | | \ / http://www.me.ufl.edu/~dkn/
\ | \ / | / Center for Intelligent
\| | |/ Machines and Robotics
"mailing list ... to discuss robot controller boards .... Administrative address: <listserv at oberon.com> (send a message containing the word "help" for directions) Mailing list address: <robot-board at oberon.com> maintainer: <gkulosa at oberon.com> ."
REXIS (Real-time EXecutive for Intelligent Systems) is a
small multi-tasking preemtive real-time executive ... distributed
as shareware ... requirements: an ANSI C HC11 cross compiler and
a HC11 target with at least 24K of RAM .... for more info,
contact Richard Man P.O.Box 6 North Chelmsford, MA 01863
Learning Autonomous Robots IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics ... I prepared a Mosaic (WWW) page containing the Editorial (in HTML format) and abstracts of the accepted papers. The page URL is: http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/dorigo/SI/Special_Issue.html Marco Dorigo, TSMC Guest Editor IRIDIA Université Libre de Bruxelles Avenue Franklin Roosvelt 50 CP 194/6 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/dorigo/dorigo.html
All Electronics Corporation http://www.allcorp.com/ Lots of low-cost surplus electronics components
Circuit Specialists Inc. http://www.cir.com/ "DMM ... measures ... DCV ... DCA... ACV ... Resistance ... $19.00 any quantity" lots of low-cost surplus electronics components; CCD camera; free catalog 1.800.811.5203 ext. 5
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. http://www.wiley.com/ Book publisher; lots of electronics and computer-related books.
_Electronics Now_ magazine _Popular Electronics_ magazine
_Poptronix_ online electronics magazine http://www.poptronix.com/ ("will feature complete text and artwork of selected articles from both _Electronics Now_ and _Popular Electronics_")
Linear Technology Corporation http://www.linear.com/ ... http://www.linear-tech.com/ ... sells ADCs and other chips. In 1998, LTC claimed that "The LTC1604 is the fastest monolithic 16-bit sampling ADC in the industry ... 3 us total conversion time ... 333 Ksps ... 5 MHz full power bandwidth ... $23.50 each in 1000-piece quantities"
nice D/As and A/Ds Burr Brown http://www.burr-brown.com/ $8.15 (in 1 000s) ADS1213 (_EDN_ 1997-09-01 p. 25) delta-sigma 4 analog differential inputs multiplexed ADC; SPI compatible synchronous serial interface; 2-wire mode; effective resolution of 16 bits at 1 KHz sample rate; effective resolution of 22 bits at 10 Hz sample rate.
$??? OPA594 (8 A continuous, 10 A Peak, 60 V supply) thermally protected, "a logic output signal on the shutdown pin tells you if thermal shutdown has occurred" unfortunately no price
$3.98 (in 1 000 s) ADS7844 (ADC, 12 bit, up to 200 KSamples/s, 8 channel single-ended or 4 channel differential input, ... uses 3 mW from a a single 2.7 V to 5 V supply) serial interface ... http://www.burr-brown.com/
$6.95 (in 1 000 s) PCM3002 and PCM3003 (20 bit stereo audio codecs) Burr-Brown http://www.burr-brown.com/ (1998-05)
$3.60 (in 1 000 s) DRV102 (high-side PWM driver) $3.60 (in 1 000 s) DRV101 (low-side PWM driver) load current: 2 A, supply voltages: 9 to 60 V, internal 24 KHz oscillator, adjustable (with external cap) initial full-on start-up time; adjustable (with external resistor or voltage controlled) PWM duty cycle. Digital error flag signals when load current is too high, too low, or thermal shutdown has occured. Surface-mount and TO-220 versions. Burr Brown http://www.burr-brown.com/ (price in 1998-12-01 _Electronic Design_)
$6.22 (in 1 000 s) TLC5618 (_EE Times_ (http://www.eet.com) 1997 Nov 10 p. 69) programmable, dual, serial input voltage-output 12-bit DAC, in 8-pin SOIC package (*CS, SCLK, Din, Vcc, Refin, GND, OutputA, OutputB). 1.21 MHz update rate (at 20 MHz clock). http://www.ti.com/sc/5048 ; programmable settling times of 2.5 us (8mW) and 12.5 us (3mW) and power-down mode (1 uA); 5 V single-supply operation.
$9.95 TMS320C32 40MHz floating point DSP TI Texas Instruments http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/dsps/dsphome.htm (price on web site 1998-08-13)
$?? TMS320C24x has interesting features useful for robots: On-chip A/D Conversion, On-chip Control Area Networking (CAN) Module, High resolution PWM TI Texas Instruments http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/dsps/dcs/c24xblk.htm
(from article "Robots take over the world" by Dr. Steve O'Neil <steveo at micromo.com> of Micro Mo Electronics, Inc. in _designfax_ 1997 March p. 65 )
National Semiconductor http://www.national.com/design/
Subject: fischertechnik US distributors Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc From: Gordy Keene <gkeene at antispam.primenet.com> Date: 9 Apr 1997 11:31:00 -0700 I have recently created a "fischertechnik price watch" page with links to several distributors. If anyone is interested in buying fischertechnik products, you are welcome to visit: http://www.primenet.com/~gkeene/fischerprices.html As always, have fun! -- __________________________________ ____ ___ ____ ____ _ _ Gordy Keene / ___|/ _ \| _ \| _ \| |_| | mailto:gkeene@primenet.com | | _| | | | |/ /| | | |\__ | http://www.primenet.com/~gkeene/ | |_| | |_| | |\ \| |_| | __| | __________________________________ \____|\___/|_| \_|____/ |___/
Gordy Keene, "fischertechnik price watch"
Electronics Information Online http://www.eio.com/ -- Surplus electronics
HSC Electronic Supply http://www.halted.com/ "the techno-tinkerer's premier high-tech shopping place" has a "Gizmo of the week" new and surplus
W.M.Berg, Inc. http://www.wmberg.com gears, gear boxes, fasteners, etc.
Maxon Precision Motors http://www.maxonmotor.com/
MicroMo Electronics tiny motors. http://www.micromo.com Performance Motion Devices motion control ICs http://www.pmdcorp.com Infranor, Inc. servomotors http://infranor.com HD Systems how do their "harmonic drive" gearheads work ? http://www.hdsystemsinc.com
http://www.emags.com/epr/electron/issue2/weblnk.htm lots of electronics and robotic links
From: Mike Halloran, 71601,546 To: Adam Fritzler, 73053,3213 Topic: PWM Msg #24648 Section: Computer Hardware [8] Forum: Eng. Automation Date: Tue, 1994 May 31, 22:17:02 You can run stepper motor drivers directly from the PC parallel port with pretty simple code, provided that the PC doesn't have to do much else at the same time. In assembler, the core code is just a few lines, to increment and clip an index, use the index to look up a four bit pattern from a 4 position table, and write the pattern to the port. That code would run as an isr, pointed at by a timer interrupt. The isr changes the timer argument to ramp the motor, and vectors to a null return to stop it. Using a PWM bitstream and a S/P converter seems too bizarre for me. You can buy slightly intelligent stepper controllers that need only step clocks and direction inputs. You can buy somewhat more intelligent stepper controllers that can ramp the motor up and down and read sensors to stop it. One such, the CY525 from Cybernetic Micro Systems, can be paired with their CY232 interface chip to accept high level step commands in ASCII over the serial port. Okay, you could use the same timer isr and lookup table as above to periodically write data out to the serial port, and then hang a s/p converter (not a shift register) on the other end of the cable. I'd be more inclined to put a cheap microcontroller, like a PIC, out there near the motor to provide some local intelligence, and timing unaffected by the PC's interrupts. -Mike- [12:39a Wed 01-JUN-1994] from Miami, FL using Tapcis & Recon.
Techno-Sommer Automatic http://www.techno-sommer.com/ pneumatic components for pick-and-place and other robots.
"Borrowing a cue from the aerospace industry, the manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and related equipment are switching to data bus systems to transmit information from sensors ... to the gauge cluster ... The J1708/J1587 protocols set down by the Society of Automotive Engineers ... ... Wiring is via simple RS-485 twisted pair lines and Packard quick connects. ...
BIOMIMETIC ROBOTICS ftp://neurobotics.bu.edu/pub/biomimetic
FARO Technologies http://www.faro.com/ FaroArm(r) articulated measuring arm.
Velmex http://www.velmex.com/ X-Y Tables
>Go to http://www.lewistown.net/, the select 'Trailhead Project' and then on >the right column, 'Crick Data' and you will get the sensor readings >last taken (later they will set up automatic every hour readings) >whereever you are in the world. ... > >So 100% of every word spoken in the 20 session hours of the 2 days, was >taped, and will be converted by Dragon Speaking Naturally software into >ASCII text, all of which will be, when done, put on our >wireless.oldcolo.com and the emerging wireless web site at GWU.
PacTec http://www.pactecenclosures.com/ plastic enclosures
Ocean Optics http://www.OceanOptics.com/ has a nifty handheld "Fiber Optic Spectrometer". (I hear that Neumatics has a even smaller spectrometer).
Causal Systems http://www.causal.on.net/ "Active Noise and Vibration Control"
LPKF CAD CAM Systems Inc. http://www.lpkfcadcam.com/ Beaverton, OR. $9990 desktop router-like "system" that produces pc boards.
T-Tech, Inc. http://www.t-tech.com/ desktop router-like "system" that produces pc boards.
B&K Precision http://www.bkprecision.com/ $179 handheld digital-display LCR multimeter
Tierra http://alife.santafe.edu/alife/software/tierra.html artificial life simulator (ALife) http://www.hip.atr.co.jp/~ray/tierra/tierra.html Artifical Life online at the Santa Fe Institute http://alife.santafe.edu/
Subject: Re: Too much computer time From: highflyer Date: 1998/07/01 Newsgroups: rec.aviation.homebuilt striker wrote: > > One thing that will definitely hamper a homebuilt project is sitting > for hours at the computer, instead of working on your project. When > the going gets tough, it's easy to cop out and go upstairs and boot up > and spend hours reading posts, ect. I've been building a Glasair III > for seven years now, and can attribute at least an extra year and a > half of time lost to the computer. Beware. Ted I found a simple solution to that problem. I build in my hangar. I do not have either a computer or a telephone in the hangar. I do have a coffee pot and a fridge, and am getting a microwave. That is an attempt to shorten the "kitchen-project" distance. Building time of a homebuilt aircraft is directly proportional to the "kitchen-project" distance and inversely proportional to the "telephone-computer" distance. This is a scientifically proven fact, with thousands of empirical observations that support the hypothesis with an Rsquared of 0.94
"There really isn't much more to contemporary electronics besides computers and communications." -- Barrie Gilbert , 1998-06-22 DAV: meta-level: electrical engineering is in 2 parts (?): small-signal electrical stuff (electronics), vs. high-power and/or high-current electrical stuff (motor/generators and high-power transmission lines)
Peter H. Anderson (KZ3K), Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering Morgan State University (MD) http://www.phanderson.com/ /* was http://www.access.digex.net/~pha/ */ lots of good info on controlling things ("Embedded Processor Control"), includes "Use of a PC Parallel Printer Port for Control and Data Acquisition", The Parallax "Stamps in Class Program", "Interfacing with 1, 2, 3 and 4 Wire Serial Devices", "68HC11 Assembly Language Programming", "Microchip PIC", 1200 Baud half duplex Infrared communication with a PIC at distances of two meters (38.4 kHz carrier) (much simpler than IrDA or TV remote controls), "C Programming" ( focused on TurboC, although the ftime(), complex and matrix algebra routines look pretty portable ), "Interfacing with Optrex LCD Panels" http://www.phanderson.com/printer/lcd/lcd.html , "Serial "SONAR" Timers for PC and BASIC Stamp", "Engineering Ethics"
Dallas Semiconductor http://www.dalsemi.com/ has lots of interesting chips -- -- $6.70 each (in 1 000s) DS4201 stereo 16-bit audio DAC includes a USB transciever.
Xicor Inc.
http://www.xicor.com/
sells some interesting devices, including the
$2.45 X9410 dual EEPOT: each pot consists of an array of 63 resistors
in series; by sending a serial command, the wiper pin
can be switched to any one of the 64 resistor taps.
Isotek Corporation http://www.isotekcorp.com/ sells precision current-sensing resistors.
Geotest
http://www.geotestinc.com/
claims to sell the world's fastest Digital I/O board:
$?? GT25-DIO
50 MHz, 32 digital I/O pins, 16 Kbit to 1 Mbit memory behind each pin.
(appears to be a 16-bit ISA card)
DGH Corporation http://www.dghcorp.com/ "A computer at every sensor" sells cute little analog-input boxes that mount right on the sensor, that have RS-232 or RS-485 serial communications port digital output "in engineering units". (some versions have analog output or digital I/O).
L. J. Kamm http://www.ljkamm.com/ADNC1 wrote _Designing Cost Efficient Mechanisms_ 1990 "No charge to students; I like to help."
http://www.osa.com.au/~cjh/electronics/ some interesting (unfinished) robotics projects. "64 channel piezo to MIDI board based on the 68HC11 "
Marlin P. Jones & Assoc. Inc.
http://www.mpja.com/
Industrial, Commercial
and Educational Electronics
Lots of nifty surplus (low-cost!) stuff useful for robotics.
PC Gadgets http://www.pcgadgets.com/ (Almonte, Ontario, Canada) "Our number one priority has always been to have fun and we strive to make sure that our customers are as happy with our products as we are developing them. "
Newsgroups: comp.robotics.misc From: uj797 at freenet.Victoria.BC.CA (Arthur T. Murray) Subject: Re: Highschool Robotics Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 16:01:25 GMT On Thu Mar 27 1997, WooNam <novice at idt.net< wrote: > Hi, I'm a Junior at a highschool in New York. We recently > created a new Robotics club and we are trying to figure out > what kind of project we should take on next year. > Any project and competition ideas are welcome. One project that you could work on is to make an intelligent bot: Hearing Vision Concepts Volition Emotion Motor Output /iiiiiii\ /!i!i!i!\ /YYYYYYYYYYYY\ | ||||||| || ||||||| | + | |||||||||||| | | ||||||| || | ___ | | + AI Robot | |||||||||||| | | ||||||| || / \ | + | |S|||||||||| | | ||||||| || <image>-|-->+_ | |H|||||||||| | | ||||||| || \___/ | / \ | |A|||||||||| | | ||||||| || | <idea> __ | |K|||||||||| | | | ||||| || | \__/-------------->/ \ | |E|||R|||||| | | |d<-----||---------|---+ ____ <fear>-|->*|||U|||||| | | ||||o|| || | +------>/ \<---\__/ | |||||N|||P|| | | ||g|||| || | + / de- \---------|----->*|||E|| | | || |||| || | + < ci- > | |||||||||T|| | | ||||||| || | + \ sion /---------|--------->*|| | | ||||||| || | + \____/ | |||||||||||| | Be prepared to spend considerable time on the project -- not only the rest of high school but also undergrad, grad school and life. As Winston Churchill (1874-1965) had only "blood, sweat and tears" to offer his countrymen, so also robotics offers you only chances to indulge what Albert Einstein called "der goettliche Spieltrieb" or "the divine urge to play." For details run a Mentifex search.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.science
From: Arthur T. Murray ba672 at lafn.org
Subject: The Mentifex Manifesto
Organization: The Los Angeles Free-Net
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 13:40:46 GMT
Lines: 33
1. The genie has escaped from the bottle: Web search "Mentifex".
2. Obsessive curiosity races past the crawl of bourgeois science.
3. -B V AI: At worst, wasted bandwidth; at best, the dawn of AI.
4. All nations have a right to share in the AI prosperity engine.
5. All individual profit motives must yield to the public domain.
6. Religions must confront the unconfrontable implications of AI.
7. Your experience of the phenomenon of mentifex is the phenomenon.
8. Each step taken on the path to the future redefines the pathway.
9. The unknowable event approaches: Singularity -- Omega Point.
X. Human politics faces the existential danger of transhuman AI.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
/^^^^^^^^^^^\ The Transhuman Evolution of Mind /^^^^^^^^^^^\
/visual memory\ ________ semantic / auditory \
| /--------|-------\ / syntax \ memory |episodic memory|
| | recog-|nition | \________/<-----------|------------\ |
| ___|___ | | |flush-vector | ______ | |
| /image \ | ___V______V_ word-fetch | / \ | |
| / percept \<--|-->/ library of \--------------|->/ stored \| |
| \ engrams / | \ concepts / for thinking | \ words / |
| \_______/ | \__________/ in language | \______/ |
http://www.newciv.org/Mentifex/ run periodic Mentifex Web search.
http://www.complex.com.pl/~venom/science.html diaspora memetica.
Meme amok: Delete this line. Insert your URL. Propagate virus.
Chris Hillman: Animatronics, Robotics, & SPFX http://members.aol.com/robotweb/ good sense of humor; lots of links to robotwars competitions (radio control and autonomous). /* was http://members.aol.com/C40179/HOME.html */
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) http://www.usfirst.org sponsors robotics competitions
ROBOT Science & Technology Magazine's Online Supplement for Educators, Students, Hobbyists & Enthusiasts http://www.robotmag.com/
Other pages full of cool robot links:
http://www.kristech.com/ appears to have moved to http://www.robotmag.com/ .
Tower Hobbies http://www.towerhobbies.com/ has the lowest price on Electronic Speed Controls (ESC) and R/C servo motors that I've found. (distributor) Has some good information under "R/C Web Directory rcweb".
Hobby Shack, Inc. http://www.hobbyshack.com/ lots of R/C stuff. (distributor)
Is it true that Graymark is now http://www.labvolt.com/ ? What happened to all their cool toy robots ?
http://www.ezio.com/ > Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 09:06:48 -0400 (EDT) > From: Erika Look at www.ezio.com -- the thing is easy to use and you can program it with MAX or Director or directly through the serial port of a Mac or PC.. _____________________________________________________________ Erika Sherman, Manager -- Web Support, UM School of Social Work Budget & Web Director, WCBN 88.3 FM Radio Free Ann Arbor Send unsubscribe requests to: majordomo@excelsior.org Archive located at: http://www.excelsior.org/transhuman_tech_list/
Harris Semiconductor http://www.semi.harris.com/
International Rectifier switching_power.html#irf Lots of components and tips for robust automotive electronics -- -- just the sorts of things I need in a robot. ( 900 V transistors ! wow !)
$?? Si4720CY appears to be a dual high-side nFET with integrated high-side driver ... with the high-side drive signal also outside. Temic Semiconductor
MOSFET transistors ... $0.59 FDR4410 (SuperSOT-8) Rds(on)=13 mOhm; thermal resistance=20 C/W from Fairchild Semiconductor http://www.fairchildsemi.com/offer/dpst/4410 ... http://www.semi.harris.com/ultrafet/
Maxim Integrated Products http://www.maxim-ic.com/ linear and mixed-signal integrated circuits. (Beaverton, Oregon)
http://www.zagi.com/ $ 45.00 + 7.00 Shipping. Zagi-THL Thermal / Handlaunch glider. 48 inch Wing Span, ~ 11 ounces, including receiver and servos.
http://www.robotic.com/ "we sell NO products or services, we only provide robot news :-)"
the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Robotics Special Interest Group (SIG) of Queensland, Australia. http://www-sqi.cit.gu.edu.au/~tracy/acs_sig/
FerretTronics http://www.busprod.com/ferrettronics/ has a "Step by Step Guide for Building a Robot" in excruciating detail. Controlled by a serial port; instructions for connecting the robot's serial port to the serial port on a HP calculator (!), a Mac, or a PC.
Helical Products Company, Inc. http://www.heli-cal.com/ has a clever family of parts, all machined out of a single piece of material (many different metals, Delrin plastic, etc.) (very rugged) (no lubrication necessary), that do the job that would otherwise require several parts, rotating joints, lubrication, etc. Clever implementation of "do more with less". Their web pages also have a really cool "Solved Application Stories" http://www.heli-cal.com/HTML/FlxFacts/flexdirectory.htm .
"It is natural when an application has been solved in the field to go to the original manufacturer to offer our solution, however, they were not interested."
-- http://www.heli-cal.com/HTML/FlxFacts/FFacts44.htm sounds like a a "not invented here" syndrome story worthy of Scott Adams.
Roland PC Tool Box http://www.pctoolbox.com/ "Desktop digitized scanning and modeling". Very close to Don Lancaster's "Santa Claus Box".
Geofox-One, http://www.geofox.com/dnplanet.php a handheld personal digital assistant.
Jensen Tools http://www.jensentools.com/ soldering irons, lots of nifty tools.
http://www.jdr.com/ JDR Microdevices computer peripherals, some simple robot kits, etc.
Craig Maynard http://members.home.net:80/cybug/ includes Dr. Whyrd E. Bitbuckets School of Mad Robot Design. and sells several interesting kits (including the "cybug" solar-powered robot) Tarun Tuli http://cantronics.rzsoft.com/cybug.htm also sells "cybug" kits
"Floppy" the Robot http://www.ohmslaw.com/robot.htm "Build your own Robot for almost Free....." [FIXME:]
The Art of Motion Control http://www.iaxs.net/~bshapiro/ An artist builds a CNC machine, creates art with it.
"the mechanical gal" http://www.engsoc.carleton.ca/~tash/fourth.html
Comp.Robotics http://www.dejanews.com/[ST_chan=cpu]/bg.xp?level=comp.robotics newsgroups
The Center for Automation and Intelligent Systems Research at Case Western Reserve http://dora.eeap.cwru.edu/ (the CAISR lab at CWRU) Bio-Robotics Lab http://biorobots.cwru.edu/ (Biologically Inspired Robotics Laboratory) at Case Western Reserve University
http://telerobotics.jpl.nasa.gov/people/welch/other-robotics.html Link page to lots of other robots
ROBOT WARS http://www.robotwars.com/
Link page to lots of other robots http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Engineering/Mechanical_Engineering/Robotics/
Gabriel and Stephanie Nelson http://biorobots.cwru.edu/personnel/gmn/ studying biologically-inspired robotics. A Christian Linux-user.
Wizard.Org http://www.wizard.org/ purpose: to share information, products, ideas, etc. about Robotics, Machine Intelligence (AI), Electronics and Micro-Controllers to anyone who's interested. Includes "Useful Robot Schematics" !
Matt Arnold http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/2618/ has built some really nice walking robots.
Shadow Robot Group http://www.shadow.org.uk/ ... http://www.shadowrobot.com/ has very human-looking hands, legs, etc.
Electronic and Robotics http://members.aol.com/fuboco
The "Java Ring" http://www.ibutton.com/ (for wearing on your finger) that runs the Java Card 2.0 specification. Very rugged package "You can drop it, step on it, scratch it, or wear it swimming."
Bokam Engineering Inc. http://www.bokam.com/ sells a interesting joystick-like force sensor. "3-axis force measurement"
interesting little "support IC": ZPSD6xx "MCU peripheral chip" 16 MHz, includes CPLD (programmable logic), 128 Kbytes EPROM, 512 bytes SRAM, extra I/O,
Human Powered Vehicles http://www.bayscenes.com/ind/spidra/hpv.html
NJR (lots of surface mount devices) http://www.njr.com/
from _Computer Design_ 1997 Nov p. 104 "To get a free CD-ROM, Selection Guide or AHC Data Book, call us at 1-800-477-8924, ext. 3054, or visit http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/asl/families/ahct.htm "
We Can Put A Man On The Moon, But We Can't Make Killer Robot Police? http://www.theonion.com/onion3204/killerrobotpolice.html
http://www.owirobot.com/ simple, small robot kits.
The Ganssle Group http://www.ganssle.com/ "80% of all embedded products are delivered late; most are horribly ridden with bugs. Why do we tolerate this?" Lots of Articles about Embedded Systems written by Jack Ganssle.
Gilway Technical Lamp http://www.gilway.com/ LEDs, neon lamps, halogen lamp ... IR, visible, UV.
http://www.pdabuzz.com/ PDA/HPC discussion forums
Robots, Robots & more: Jorge Codina http://www.codina.org/robot.htm another monster list of robot links, much like this one.
Motorola DSP University Program http://www.mot.com/SPS/DSP/university_relations/index.html provides discounts and sometimes donations of Motorola DSP56002EVM evaluation boards and other development tools.
comp.sys.m68k Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (1996 ?) http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/motorola/68k-chips-faq/faq.html mentions
Motorola University Support Motorola Semiconductor Products Division
505 Barton Springs Road University Support
Suite 100 Mail Drop 56-106
Austin, Texas 78704 P.O. Box 52073
phone (512) 505-8836 Phoenix, Arizona 85072
fax (512) 505-8883 phone (602) 952-3857
fax (602) 952-3621
Motorola University Support gave David Cary some 68HC11s for free for his student project (). Send them a FAX of your student ID, a brief description of your project, and they might send you chips and data books for free.
Allied Electronics, Inc. http://www.allied.avnet.com/ electronics distributor
Industrial Computer Source http://www.indcompsrc.com/ Industrial Rack Mount Computers Single Board Computers Data Acquisition & Input-Output Cards
Why don't we have classes in "Finding product information" ? All engineers need their own personal catalog file. (Many have 2 copies, one at work and one at home). Then there are the free trade magazines in every industry.
Arrow Electronics Inc. http://www.arrow.com/ claims to be "the world's leading distributor of electronic components and computer products".
B.G. Micro http://www.bgmicro.com/ a mail order electronics company
Circuit Cellar INK (Steve Ciarcia)
Industrial Automation Open Networking Alliance http://www.iaopennetworking.com/ ??? communications standard ???
ZAP Power Systems http://www.zapbikes.com/ electric bicycles and power-assist kits.
http://www.microdisplay.com http://www.microdisplay.com/tech_integrate.html cool !
Socket X http://www.socketx.com/ graphics system standard (???)
http://www.vmlabs.com/f_press.html ???
$? CLC5956 12 bit ADC; 65 MS/s; 60dB SNR at 250 MHz. www.national.com/see/CLC5956 designed to downsample radio signals at IF ... can also convert at baseband.
$? ADC1173 8 bit ADC; 15 MS/s; 3 V; 40 mW; "built for portable imaging and video ... perfect for digital cameras and camcorders" http://www.national.com/see/ADC1173
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 13:57:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Bill Hudson Subject: Robot Links To: d.cary at ieee.org Hi, Just came across your Robotic Links Page, nice job! I will probably spend a few hours checking out the links. I wonder if you might provide a link to my page : http://www.angelfire.com/pa/videoandrobots/index.html I have a large number of surplus CCD video cameras and LCD video displays priced for the homebrew robot builder. I also haev pictures of a hexpod I built. Eventually I will give away plans and source code for this bot, but that will take some time yet. Thanks Bill Hudson irobot98 at yahoo.com
_Scale Models from Soda Cans: Complete Step by Step_ http://www.modelflight.com/can-du.html
Free Flight Web Ring http://www.battlecreek.net/volare/ffring.htm
RC modeling FAQs http://www.hobbyshack.com/faqs.htm
railgun parts high_voltage.html#railgun
What is this ? " FIRST (For In spiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) ... is an annual competition where a high school and an engineering company or division team up to build a remote-controlled robot that competes with other robots on a stage. There are specific cost, weight and size requirements, as well as a tight deadline. The actual game changes each year. ... This culminates in a national competition at Epcot in Orlando, Fla. "
Oregon IEEE Calendar http://www.ee.pdx.edu/~ieee/section-calendar.html [perhaps merge all IEEE info in one place ?]
IEEE
http://www.ieee.org/
http://www.computer.org
(has some standards documents)
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part B Vol.26, No.3, June 1996 Special Issue on Learning Autonomous Robots http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/dorigo/SI/Special_Issue.html
_The Institute_, a newpaper published by IEEE http://www.institute.ieee.org/INST/ti.html
"University Intellectual Property Policy Guidelines" from http://www.ieee.org/usab
IEEE Computer Society (Oregon Chapter) http://rdrop.com/users/ieeecs/
Portland State University Student Chapter of the IEEE http://www.ee.pdx.edu/~ieee/
"University Intellectual Property Policy Guidelines" http://www.ieeeusa.org/usab/COMMITTEES/IPC/
VITA http://www.vita.com/ VITA .... sponsored that Embedded Systems Software Environment initiative (ESSE) ... standardization ... for real-time embedded systems.
Embedded PC design resources http://www.pcengines.com/embres.htm has some links to interface standards
http://www.dejanews.com/bg.xp?level=comp.arch.embedded
http://www.dejanews.com/bg.xp?level=comp.realtime
http://www.wilcoxon.com high temperature (up to 150 'C) accelerometers
Virtual Concrete http://arts.ucsb.edu/concrete/ Once, years ago, David Cary did a little bit of work for Virtual Concrete. It seems to be morphing into http://arts.ucsb.edu/bodiesinc/
ftp://ftp.ee.ualberta.ca/pub/cookbook/telecom/ electronic cookbook archive; includes LCD MODULE TECHNICAL REFERENCE (FAQ) Version 40(text), May 1996 ftp://ftp.ee.ualberta.ca/pub/cookbook/faq/lcd.doc
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) FAQ http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/LINK/F_LCD_menu.html
Electronics Information Homepage http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/1164/ lots of good stuff.
http://www.engineers.com/ Software Libraries
electroBASE http://www.electrobase.com/ "the Most Comprehensive Electronics Sourcing Directory on the Internet"
XPole: An Interactive, Graphical Signal Analysis Filter Design Tool http://cs-tr.cs.berkeley.edu/TR/UCB:ERL-93-70
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/nrd10/software/signal-processing.html ???
BIT: Blank Institute of Technology http://www.drblank.com/ ???
http://www.sigcon.demon.co.uk/SATS/ ???
http://www.IntegralSignal.com ???
Learning and Intelligent Image and Signal Analysis http://ee.tut.fi/~nnf_info/liisa.html
[move some of these signal processing links to machine_vision.html]
http://www.smithsind-sps.com/SiteIndex.htm ???
http://www.eas.asu.edu/~trcsip/research/MathSignalAnalysis/index.html ???
http://www.ced.co.uk/sp2pic1u.htm ???
http://www.prosig.co.uk/optsynchro.html ???
HyperLynx http://www.acdesign.com/hyperlynx.htm "Signal-integrity and EMC analysis software for high speed design"
"A New Approach to Periodicity Detection and Variability Detection in X-ray and Gamma-ray Astronomy" http://cadcwww.dao.nrc.ca/abstracts/gregory.tex.html
Surfing the Wavelets http://www.monash.edu.au/cmcm/wavelet/wavelet.htm
Signal Analysis and Processing http://webbooks.net/books/sigproc.html ???
PortIO Demo [device driver] http://www.rain.org/~pra/ then click "PortIO Demo GUI" button. free download *very* useful to see if the hardware is really working; helps narrow down -- is the problem the hardware or software ?
Internet sites on Electronics and Robotics. http://www.hooked.net/~jfong/related_sites.html
The Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest http://www.trincoll.edu/~robot/
Internet Robotics Sites http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~bruder/ee382/robotics/robotics.html
Sensor Fusion http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~bruder/sensor.html ???
the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) http://www.sae.org/ would know a thing or 2 about ruggedized robotic applications. In particular, they are developing a rugged, simple, low-cost communication protocol (RS485 twisted pair hardware ?), the SAE Truck and Bus Control and Communication Network (J1939) Subcommittee http://www.sae.org/TECHCMTE/j1939.htm ( "The SAE J1939 series will offer a higher performance alternative to SAE J1708, J1587, and J1922."). Also, electromagnetic immunity and transients are important: http://www.sae.org/PRODSERV/terms/GV_VEHEL_S.htm
http://www.eaoswitch.com/ some very heavy-duty vandal-resistant pushbuttons.
Filip Gieszczykiewicz http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/ tons of cool electronic stuff here. Some very simple projects, repair information, interfacing, protocols, etc.
Baumer electric http://www.baumerelectric.com/ Photoelectric sensors, Encoders and rotary sensors, Pressure sensors.
Del-Tron Precision, Inc. http://www.deltron.com/ makes some incredibly small linear bearings. Ball Slide Positioning Stages (some include micrometers).
_Circuits Assembly Online_ magazine http://www.cassembly.com/
http://www.hitechsurplus.com/ Lasers, Optics, motors, motor controllers, hand tools, rotory and linear encoders, and other electronic surplus items.
Motion Planning for Dexterous Robots http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~gini/ ???
Top: Computers: AI: Fuzzy http://directory.mozilla.org/Computers/AI/Fuzzy/
lots of fuzzy logic links http://www.abo.fi/~rfuller/fuzs.html
Fuzzy and Neural Control http://er4www.eng.ohio-state.edu/~ordonezr/fuzzy.html links to "adaptive fuzzy controllers with stability proofs" and "as an example of a pattern recognition application, fuzzy c-means (see James Bezdek's page) has been used in the excellent image manipulation program ImageMagick."
A theorem showing that in some reasonable sense, fuzzxy methods are
indeed the best way of handling numerical data is presented in the
following paper:
Robert N. Lea and Vladik Kreinovich,
``Intelligent Control Makes Sense Even Without Expert Knowledge: an
Explanation'',
{\it Reliable Computing}, 1995, Supplement (Extended Abstracts of
APIC'95: International Workshop on Applications of Interval Computations,
El Paso, TX, Febr. 23--25, 1995),
pp. 140--145.
This paper can be downloaded (in LaTeX or Postscript) from
http://cs.utep.edu/interval-comp/apictoc.html, click on the
corresponding paper.
fuzzyTECH: fuzzy logic design software http://www.fuzzytech.com/
Advanced Configuration & Power Interface (ACPI) http://www.teleport.com/~acpi/ related to OnNow. ???
IEEE Neural Network Council Home Page http://www.ewh.ieee.org/tc/nnc/ the home of IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems.
http://eddie.mit.edu/ftp/pub/home-automation/ "various information on home automation products. Where possible, software source and binaries are provided. If you have information to contribute, or know of another archive with similar information, please send a message to <home-automation at eddie.mit.edu> and we would be very pleased to add this into the archive that all may enjoy. "
The journal Adaptive Behavior http://www.biologie.ens.fr/AnimatLab/www/francais/AB.html "international forum for research on adaptive behavior in animals and autonomous, artificial systems. Offering ethologists, psychologists, computer scientists, and robotic scientists the chance to compare insights, it features mechanisms, organizational principles, and architectures that can be expressed in computational, physical, or mathematical models." "published by MIT Press"
Instrutech Corporation. http://www.instrutech.com/ "Precision Instrumentation for Biological Research". data acquisition hardware (ISA Bus, NuBus and PCI Bus (PowerMac) ); distributor for electrophysiology instruments; video acquisition system "Digital VCR mode: permits streaming uncompressed video data to hard disk at 30 frames per second"
The Amacoil/Uhing Linear Drive System http://www.amacoil.thomasregister.com/olc/amacoil/ is very clever mechanical engineering.
http://www.industry.net/c/mn/03tm2 ???
Universal Instruments Corporation http://www.uic.com/ develops and sells electronic assembly machine systems. lots of information on electronics assembly and the electronics assembly industry
OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC. http://www.omega.com/ "Process Measurement and Control" components. Infrared, Data Acquisition, Pressure.
Concepts of Person, Self, Personal Identity: Bibliography and Texts http://www.canisius.edu/~gallaghr/pi.html points to "Robots and Rights: the Ethical Demands of Artificial Agents" by Matthew Elton http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~phl002/as3.htm
$12 (in 50 000s) ISD33000 family ( Information Storage Devices http://www.isd.com/ )(complete silicon implementations of a conventional magnetic-tape recorder, provide 4K to 8K samples/sec A/D and D/A converter functions, clock oscillators, 1 to 4 minutes of non-volatile flash memory, filters, SPI and Microwire serial interfaces ... require 2.7 to 3.3 V, 25 mA in operating mode ... require no power to retain the stored audio signal ...)
Philips Semiconductors http://www-eu.semiconductors.philips.com/ has lots of interesting devices ... IEEE1394 Bus (FireWire), USB, ... HDTV machine_vision.html#hdtv ... CPLDs http://www.coolpld.com/ $245 XPLA Professional(TM) (Free demo version available for download) for designing CPLDs. Apparently the software, prototype board schematics, and ISP download cable description for programming "all Philips JTAG CPLDs" are also available free for download. These things can run off grapefruit power http://www.coolpld.com/cdrom-offer.html . $7.50 (10 000s) PZ5032-7 (5V Pal, 3V version avail, ... in 44-pin PLCC package; PC/Windows development tool for $95;) (Philips Semiconductor http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/ps/ ) (32 macrocells)(in _EDN_ 1996 Aug. 1)
$17.44 (1000) XRD87L94 (parallel output ADC, serial version avail, 12 bits, 1 MSPS, 3V power supply) ( http://www.exar.com ) (ad in _EDN_ 1996 Aug. 1)
Zetex plc. http://www.zetex.com/ sells H-bridges through Digi-Key http://www.digikey.com/
Scott Edwards Electronics Inc. http://www.seetron.com/ LCD panels, Serial Servo Controllers (SSCs), and lots of other nifty BASIC Stamp related items.
"Dongly Thing: A pox on the panoply of plugs" article by Douglas Adams, _Macworld_ 1996 Sept, p. 286.
He suggests standardising on one type of DC power supply: the 12 V standard automobile voltage.
"Time to declare war ... on little dongly things. ... Most annoyingly, an awful lot of the little dongly things, including the one that arrived this morning, are little dongly things that run on 120 VAC -- American voltage, which means I can't use them here in Foreign ... The little dongly things I am concerned with (by no means the only species of little dongly things with which the microelectronics world is infested) are the external power adapters which laptops and ... external drives and ... telephone answering machines and ... other incredibly necessary gizmos need to step down the main AC supply from either 120 Volts or 240 Volts to 6 volts DC. Or 4.5 volts DC. Or 9 volts DC. or 12 volts DC. At 500 mA. Or 300 mA. Or 1200 mA. They have positive tips and negative sleeves on their plugs, unless they are the type with negative tips and positive sleeves. By the time you multiply all these different variables together, you end up with a fairly major industry ...
Now why is this ? ... one possible theory ... just as Xerox is really in the business of selling toner cartridge, Sony is really in the little dongly power-supply business.
Another possible reason is that it is sheer blinding idiocy. It couldn't possibly be that, could it ? ... It's hard to imagine that some of the mightiest brains on the planet, fuelled by some of the finest pizza that money can buy, haven't at some point thought, "Wouldn't it be easier if we all just standardised on one type of DC power supply ?" Now, I'm not an electrical engineer, so I may be asking for the impossible. ....
In fact, a kind of rough standard already exists. ... Because the dashboard socket originally had a different purpose, it's the wrong size and in the wrong place ... The important thing this piece of serendipitous preadaptation has given us is a possible DC power standard. ... Keep the voltage level, design a new, small plug, and you have a new standard. The immediage advantage .. you would need only one DC power adapter ! ... Well, not exactly one -- you might need a dozen of them, but they would all be exactly the same ! .... doing away with endless confusion and inconvenience ... would encourage ... DC power points in homes and offices and, most important, DC power points in the armrests of airplane seats ... "
-- Douglas Adams, author of the _Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy_ books ... is Chief Fantasist of The Digital Village.
the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) http://www.aaai.org/
Embedded Systems Programming Magazine http://www.embedded.com/conf.html | http://www.embedded.com/
Design/Analysis Consultants, Inc. (DACI) http://www.cyberspy.com/~daci/ | http://www.daci-wca.com/daci_001.htm "Design Analysis Newsletters: A Collection of Technical and Project Management Tips for the Serious (But Not Stuffy) Engineer"
Sunset Laboratory Inc. http://www.rdrop.com/~sunlab/
very cool if you're interested in electronics. http://www.ping.be/~ping0751/
http://www.phoenixcontact.com/ (im Englisch und Deutsch) INTERBUS printed circuit terminal blocks ???
silica aerogels http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/aerogel-insulation.html are a fascinating material.
Apex Microtechnology Corporation. http://www.apexmicrotech.com/see/ed/ sells a family of "Low Cost, Full-Bridge PWM Amplifier". (10 A continuous, 15 A Peak on 80 V supply) (use analog input and internal 100 KHz oscillator ... or digital PWM input) Unfortunately, they do not list prices on their web page.
"WE FIND ODD PARTS!" http://instantweb.com/o/oddparts/
$2.50 (in 1 000 s) AD5320 "World's smallest DACs" (6 pin SOT-23 package)(12 bit 30 MHz serial input)(8 us settling time) (1999-01) Analog Devices http://www.analog.com/
$6.65 (in 1 000 s) AD7472 (12 bit DAC) 1.75 MSamples/s "specified for 2.7 V to 5.25 V operation" (1999-01) Analog Devices http://www.analog.com/
$1.55 (in 1 000 s) AD623 rail-to-rail instrumentation amplifier (single-supply) (1999-01) Analog Devices http://www.analog.com/
Microchip Technology http://microchip.com sells microcontrollers with on-chip regulators. Can run directly off unregulated up to 15 V (e.g., 9 V or 12 V batteries); 8 I/O ports that will accept up to 15V; and drive rail-to-rail up to 15 V. ($1.34 each in 1 000 s for OTP PIC16HV540)(1999-01).
$3.50 (in 10 000 s) CS4294 audio codec (two 16 bit A/D channels, stereo mixing for 3 stereo inputs; mono microphone input and preamp; four 18 bit D/A channels)(1999-01) from Cirrus Logic Inc. http://www.cirrus.com/ /* owns the Crystal Semiconductor subsidiary http://crystal.com/ */ (also sells under the Crystal brand name) "Meets or exceeds Microsoft's(r) PC 98 and PC 99 audio performance requirements" (ADC, DAC, CMOS)
when would I want to use a "Thyristor" ?
http://www.lpkfcadcam.com/ sells the "ProtoMat 91s" a computer-controlled desktop router that accepts circuit-board designs, routes them from copper-clad boards, (and drills the holes ?).
$5.15 (in 10 000 s) ZPSD6xxV "MCU peripheral IC" carries a 2 500 gate CPLD, 128 KBytes of EPROM, 512 Bytes of SRAM, extra I/O, and a programmable interface to most 8 or 16 bit MCUs. 2.7 V, 3 V, and 5 V versions. WSI http://wsipsd.com/
Raychem PolySwitch http://circuitprotection.raychem.com/ | http://raychem.com/go/circuit_protection sells really useful SMT resettable fuse. Bourns http://www.bourns.com/ sells similar devices.
AMD http://www.amd.com/magic/ Am29SL800B 8 Megabit 1.8 Volt-only Flash Memory Single-power-supply operation 1.8 Volt-only for Read, Program and Erase
Microelectronic Modules Corporation http://www.mmccorp.com/ DC-DC converters.
Open Data Acquisition Standard (ODAS) ??? no relation to the Open Door Animal Sanctuary (ODAS) http://www.creatures.com/ODAS.html Open Door Art Studio (ODAS) http://members.xoom.com/DoyleC/odas/
$43.62 (in 100 s) HI5905 (14 bit, 5 MSample/s A/D converter) internal voltage reference 5V TTL/CMOS data output latches $ 300 evaluation board Harris Corp. (1998-05)
$4.20 (in 1 000 s) TLV1572 (10 bit 1.25 MSamples/s serial ADC) from Texas Instruments http://www.ti.com/sc/5057
$20 (in 10 000 s) DSP56362 (100 MIPS DSP) Motorola http://www.dspaudio.motorola.com/ (1998-05)
$1.65 (in 10 000 s) ISD1500 "20 seconds of voice record and playback" "require no battery power to retain recorded messages" Information Storage Devices http://www.isd.com/ (1998-05)
$ 179 handheld LCR Component Tester from B&K Precision http://www.bkprecision.com/
$ 29 handheld multimeters (higher-priced ones have capacitance measuring) Omega Engineering Inc. omega.com
$1595 NI5102 USB-based dual-input 20 MSamples/s digital oscilloscope National Instruments http://www.natinst.com/
$ 19 (in 100 s) DMS-20LCD-1-DCM dc voltmeter digitally monitors any 8 to 40 Vdc power source "self-powered", derived from the source being measured (only 2 connections) large 0.37" LCD display Datel Inc. http://www.datel.com/
Art on the Edge http://www.ylem.org/ylem "the intersection of the Arts & Sciences". Robotic sculpture, "Polarized Kinetic Light Exhibit", "Electrons Tamed for the Arts" (video and computer processing), acoustic ecology, "THE NATURE OF LIGHT: exploring unconventional photographic techniques",
Jeff Sampson http://www.citilink.com/~jsampson/ lots of Graphic LCD Info for lots of different kinds of displays.
ComputerBoards http://www.computerboards.com/ Analog Interface Boards (competition)
Keithley Metrabyte http://www.metrabyte.com/ Analog Interface Boards (competition)
FR4 [printed circuit board material] can withstand temperatures of up to 130 degrees C, but "owing to weakening and discolouration caused by this high temperature, the maximum operating temperature is limited to 105 degrees C." (Lund).
Electronics pages http://www.marketto.demon.co.uk/electronics/index.htm "Lots of pinout details "
see dav_info.html#periodicals for some electronics magazines and catalogs I think are handy.
_Nuts & Volts_ Magazine http://www.nutsvolts.com/ simple, cool projects for electronics beginners. ``... Amateur Robotics, CNC, Microcontrollers, GPS, Amateur Radio, Computer Control, BASIC Stamp, and Data Acquisition ...''
Personal Computing Tools Inc. ??? sells EPROM programmers
_Circuit Cellar INK: The Magazine of Embedded Control Applications_ http://www.circuitcellar.com/ has lots of cool electronics projects, some of them suitable for beginners. Robotics, embedded web devices, digital signal processing, robots with vision, free multitasking executives, ...
The High-Tech Homestead http://www3.sympatico.ca/lsb/ Robotics and Remote Control. Has some nice little schematic diagrams online. Very simple PC serial port interfacing.
http://www.montereytools.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=laurino.html&cart_id=1153659.16891
EDTN: The Electronics Design, Technology & News Network http://www.edtn.com/
The Electronic Pages http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/9504/ Links to companies, homepages of people who are dedicated to electronics and resources to pages with FAQ's, information, ... maintained by Sven Rymenants http://www.club.innet.be/~year0489/ .
EE Compendium is a collection of Electronics Engineering information http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1495/
The Genetic Programming Notebook http://www.geneticprogramming.com/ Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Genetic Algorithms, GP Tutorial
The Genetic Algorithms Archive http://www.aic.nrl.navy.mil/galist/ a repository for information related to research in genetic algorithms.
"Genetic Algorithms" http://xkcd.com/534/ (: ha! :)
[fixme: see "ADC and DAC prices" for a few webs sites of chip manufacturers. ]
smart transducers: IEEE 1451.2
Engineering Information Inc. -- known as Ei http://www.ei.org/ hosts the Engineering Information Village.
$57.20 (in 1 000 s) AD6640 (12 bit, 65 MSamples/s ADC) (300 MHz input bandwidth)(needs single +5V power supply; dissipates 710 mW; digital output stage may be powered by +5 V or +3.3 V) Analog Devices Inc. http://www.analog.com/ (prices from 1998-11 _Electronic Design_)
http://www.micromo.com/nl8_98.pdf
Aremco Products, Inc. http://www.aremco.com/ high temperature ceramic adhesives http://www.aremco.com/p_index.html to 3200 °F. (also has other high-temp materials)
Aries Electronics, Inc. http://www.arieselec.com/
no-moving-parts (NMP) micro-pumps http://lettuce.me.washington.edu/~micropump/public/wam97paper.html
electronics humor http://www.institute.ieee.org/INST/may95/after5.html
Z-World http://www.z-world.com/ "a place for zed heads" Z scale (1:220) model railroading
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/7051/ XS40-010XL FPGA Board by Xess Corp.; 68HC11 and the Digital Lock-in Amplifier ???
John Kennedy http://kahuna.sdsu.edu/~kennedy/ using Field Programmable Gate Arrays for Digital Audio Signal Processing.
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 95 14:43:57 EST From: Bob Ferrara DTN:264-3094 To: cary at agora.rdrop.com Subject: Re: Any PCI-based timer/counter devices? Hi David, Yes, the device we are currently using uses the AMD 9513. The device's model number is DCC5-P made by Industrial Computer Source in San Deigo, CA -Regards, BobF
Surplus Al http://mh105.infi.net/~surplsal/ surplus military equipment
Don Lancaster's Flutterwumper Library http://www.tinaja.com/flut01.html includes lots of robot information. The "Hexapod" section is *not* on robots with 6 feet, but is instead on the "Stewart Platform" idea for machine tools.
Lemo http://www.lemo.ch/ sells heavy-duty fiber optic and electrical connectors.
hardware standards http://www.cmpcmm.com/cc/standards.html
Usenet News Groups about robots
http://www.futurebots.com/ sells a pretty heavy-duty looking 68HC811E2 P-Brain module. (also has a antique computer collection)
http://www.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=bg]/threadmsg_bg.xp?AN=462125206.1 lots of links to hexapod walking robots
Robotics and Mars Exploration Technology http://rmet.jpl.nasa.gov/rmet/index.html
From: Bill sloman
Subject: Re: Need to determine direction of rotation
Date: 10 Sep 1999 00:00:00 GMT
To: Adrian Jansen
Organization: Fac. Natuurwet.
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Adrian Jansen wrote:
>
> The theory looks easy, but contact bounce on the encoders will give you all
> sorts of grief. There was a long discussion about 6 months ago about
> minimising this, and a bit more recently in comp.arch.embedded I think. Do
> a search of deja-news.
Typically one uses optical encoders, which don't bounce. In general, you
get both detectors in a single package, which means that the
manufacturer
of the encoder is responsible for making sure that the two detectors see
signals that are in quadrature.
I've seen a linear encoder where you had to set the detectors yourself,
which wasn't difficult - but turned out to be a disaster in the field
because the clamping arrangements weren't quite good enough.
A cheap solution (that *was* robust) was a moving grid (just a regular
sequence of alternating clear and opaque stripes) interrogated
through a short two short fixed grids on the same piece of glass.
You had to look hard to see the join between the two fixed grids -
a 90 degree phase shift isn't all that obvious. One LED behind
each of the fixed grids, and one photo-diode on the other side
gave a very reliable signal, provide that the stripes in the fixed
grids were parallel to the stripes in the moving grid.
Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
Armed roboguard world's first http://www.bangkokpost.net/170800/170800_News03.html The world's first armed robot security guard that can open fire on intruders while controlled through the Internet was unveiled in Bangkok yesterday.
Locraker
( Combination Lock Cracker )
http://vv.carleton.ca/~neil/robotics/locraker.html
This technically qualifies as a robot ...
a gadget that (by brute force, trying all possible combinations in turn)
finds the combination of a combination lock.
Not really a ``cracking'' tool,
because
``it is only possible to crack locks that aren't attached to something (ie. locks whose combinations have been forgotten).
... it can open a lock in about half an hour.''
The buzzer is totally pointless.
The original idea was that once the Locraker had opened the lock,
the computer would sound the buzzer to attract attention.
If you've ever heard
those solenoids in action, and
the deafening silence which follows,
you'll understand why the buzzer is not required.
He uses QuickBasic !
Ars Robotica: Interview with Neil Fraser http://arsrobotica.com/display.php3?blogid=118 :
...
NF: Personally I'd rather build new stuff than spend my time rebuilding an upgrading old projects that are already functional.
...
AR: What advice do you have for those of use who want to build robots but are on a tight budget?
NF: The magic ingredient in all but one of my robots is Meccano. I've seen robots with amazing software, attached to spectacular electronics, attached to a heap of balsa wood that falls over when you look at it. Get Meccano. There is nothing that beats it when it comes to building an ajustable, reusable framework. Don't buy it new from the store, just keep an eye out for it at garage sales, or place an advertisement in a newspaper or local buy&sell newsgroup.
$1.50 (in 1 000s ?: 2000-12) SST45VF020 : 3 wire SPI interface, 2 Mb (256 KB), 8 pin SOIC package; FLASH http://ssti.com/products/45vfxxx.html
$7.87 (in "volume") IS25M041A 512 KByte Serial Flash Modules (SFMs) use a $6.56 (in "volume") IS25F041A 4 Mbit serial flash TSOP chip. Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. (1999 ?) issiusa.com Extremely tiny.
AT45D081 SPI serial interface 1MByte FLASH memory http://massmind.org/techref/atmel/index.htm
I think this is the same as:
Desktop Rover Micro-Vehicle http://www.plantraco.com/
I spotted this on Piclist:
Radar for $25.00 each and $18.00 in small qty. Siemens offers a 2.4 GHz Doppler radar sensor, with antenna built in. (Part number KMY 24) A complete sensor that will determine distance and direction by monitoring 2 sensor outputs with your A/D microcontroller. Up to 15 feet possible,and very small in size. (1.125"x1.5"x.375" approx.)
I think all these articles mention that exact sensor:
tracking small robots
KMY modules
DAV: I wonder if it would be worth trying to get this to work underwater.
... Evolution Robotics, a Pasadena, Calif.-based company ...
The company is at the Electronics Entertainment Expo this week demonstrating a series of "personal robot systems" that can transform an average laptop PC into an intelligent robot. The basic kit includes a rolling platform to mount the laptop on, a Webcam for capturing visual data and software to run on the laptop.
[FIXME: bignums]NanoMuscle CEO Rod MacGregor ...
NanoMuscles are based on the proposition that a device that's shorter than a matchstick and lighter than a conventional motor can help electronics manufacturers build products that are cheaper, more compact, and have greater power efficiency. ...
MacGregor says that NanoMuscle technology promises to revolutionize the small-motor industry. ... MacGregor notes that at $12 billion, the small-motors market is ten times larger than the CPU market.
... a shape memory alloy (SMA). ...
A NanoMuscle is like an ant--it can move objects up to 100 times its own weight. ...
Because humans had to backpack their equipment across the debris field to tiny openings, smaller robots turned out to be more useful than expected. In some situations a CRASAR team deployed a crawler by swinging it lasso-style on the end of its tether and tossing it across a gap into a hole. They now know that robots must withstand impact with jagged debris in the course of normal use.
... you cannot plan for something you didn't consider or for something you regard as impossible.
The best you can hope for is a predictable failure in the face of the unexpected. What a "fail safe" design should do depends critically on expectations: ... Sometimes the correct plan allows the destruction of the device itself, as codified by Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
...
...
... In fact it has been our observation that with just a very few human-like cues from a humanoid robot. people naturally fall into the pattern of interacting with it as if it were a human. ...
... The main processing system for Cog is a network of Motorola 68332s. These run a multithreaded lisp, L (written by the author), a downwardly compatible subset of Common Lisp. ... All the 68332's communicate with a Macintosh computer which acts as a file server and window manager. ...
[Robert Irie] Irie has built a sound localization system that uses cues very similar to those used by humans (phase difference below 1.5Khz, and time of arrival above that frequency) to determine the direction of sounds. ...
...
...
...
[FIXME: DAV: I don't understand the last sentence of this article.]Still, these interactions are remarkably more advanced than just three years ago. The direction is clear. Robots in research laboratories are becoming more human-like. Barring a complete failure of the mechanistic view of life, these endeavors will eventually lead to robots that we will want to treat as ethically as we treat animals, and ultimately as we treat fellow humans.
...
We believe that topobo can help children understand patterns and processes common to the fields of kinematics, modular robotics, system coordination, emergent dynamics (local vs. global behavior) and locomotion.
The Tig-Bot(TM) measures only 1.9" x 1.9" x 1.6"
Low-Complexity Art (leading to a Complexity-Based Theory of Beauty. ) [computer graphics ... seems to include all of fractal art, plus other kinds of art] Learning Robots. self- improving robotsOptimal Ordered Problem Solver ... OOPS can temporarily rewrite its own search procedure, efficiently searching for faster search methods (metasearching or metalearning ).Financial Forecasting. Metalearning Machines - Learning to Learn - Self-Improvement. Interestingness & Active Exploration.
Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC) is a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products
1/5/03 ~ Nick joins with several members of the SFRSA to form a team with the express intent of building a fully autonomous land vehicle to win the DARPA Grand Challenge, an unmanned race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
Swarm Intelligence http://www.sce.carleton.ca/netmanage/tony/swarm.html
http://www.engr.ucr.edu/faculty/ee/beni.html
seems related to "Self-Organizing Sensor Networks" http://www.eng.auburn.edu/users/lim/sensit.html
The U.S. Army has just awarded a contract to develop a robot with the form factor of a canine that can follow soldiers into battle and carry their equipment. This development, along with a serpentine robot designed to assist with mechanical repairs, a lobster-like robot designed to search for mines, and an insect-like robot designed for remote surveillance, supports the Army's philosophy of developing friendly seeming helper robots that lack the physical attributes necessary to enslave humanity.
Ben Krupp, president of Yobotics, explains:
Yes, we could just develop a robotic soldier instead of an array of simulated animals. But we've gone through the simulations a number of times here and at DARPA, and the end-game scenarios when using fully articulated multipurpose robots are -- well, let's just say that they are not good for humans.
The canine form factor is perfect for us, because as soon as the robot attempts to use a limb to pick up a weapon, it falls over.
The human hand has twenty-four powered movements.
Shadow have implemented every single one, with all the power and range of movement, that the human hand has.
No-one has ever done that before.
Also built a biped prototype: http://www.shadow.org.uk/projects/biped.shtml and other interesting prototypes, most of them using wood for the skeleton structure and pneumatic "muscles". Uses Forth for the "Liberator", Stamp BASIC for the "Zephyrus".
Ball shaped (Spherical) robots http://groups.google.com/group/comp.robotics.misc/browse_thread/thread/31e169b9f4f8aa3f/118414994b81862d#118414994b81862d Ball Shaped Robots: (1) Rotundus http://www.rotundus.se (2) Mobile Ball-Shaped Robot http://www.automation.hut.fi/research/robotics/ball/ballrob.htm (3) Roball http://www.gel.usherbrooke.ca/laborius/projects/Roball/index.html Roball-An Autonomous Toy-Rolling Robot http://www.gel.usherbrooke.ca/laborius/papers/WIRE00.pdf (4) RoboMaid (***) http://robomaid.com/ Tumbleweed: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=486
includes
"UNITX (united networks international transport exchange) is a project that intends to fundamentally change the way our economy works today." http://sites.google.com/site/artmarcovici/unitx
"The Urban Mole Wades Through Sewers to Deliver Packages" http://trendsupdates.com/the-urban-mole-wades-through-sewers-to-deliver-packages/
Started: 1997 Apr 5.
Original Author: David Cary.
Current maintainer: David Cary.
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