Omnimaga
General Discussion => Technology and Development => Other => Topic started by: fb39ca4 on February 20, 2011, 08:47:53 pm
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For a couple of years now, I have had a Lego mindstorms robotics set. However, the infrared transmitter for sending programs to the robot is broken, and I have Not been able to use it until now, when my friend gave me a transmitter he doesn't use anymore. Now that I can use it, could some one suggest to me a challengeing task I could get a robot to do?
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Programming a calculator game.
But seriously I don't have any clue. I unfortunately never had the chance to get a robot-type lego set back then, because my mom didn't want to spend money on batteries and stuff, and I don't know about new sets since I mostly played LEGO's around 1990-99 (Yay for Dark Knights and Blacktrons!)
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You are in luck :) I actually was *introduced* to the whole concept of programming by Lego Mindstorms. Some good exercises when you are starting out is building a little car that moves forwards and then backs up and turns if it runs into something.
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If you want a real challenge. (Depends on how good you are at it.) You could try to make a segway. I've seen it done so I know it's possible.
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A line following segway :P
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Let's see, I'm assuming you are talking about those old RCX ones. Personally, I have the NXT, but I would try and get it to talk to your calc over infrared. Either that, or it's a 2 wire interface, I think (One is probably a safe bet to be ground) in which case, splice one of the cables, and talk to it via the link port. That is assuming the RCX can talk via pull-up resistors, I'm not too sure about that part.
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Make a line-following robot. ;D
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I had a course at school called "LEGO Blocks and Robotics" that used RCX sets. We were in teams of two (I was with my mom, somehow) and we had to make a bipedal walking robot. Of course, at first, the robot kept falling, but at the end it walked a good distance without falling and I had 100%. So, IMHO, that's a good challenge :)
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All I had was this cheap "micro scout" thing, with only an infrared sensor and a single output motor :P So I wasn't able to do much with it...
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I actually have a micro scout too. I wonder if I could use the infrared link and make it a third motor. It would sure be bulky, though.
The Segway seems like a really good idea, except I don't know how I would get the robot to detect how much it is tilted.
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I also have a spybotics (the purple one) but one of the wheel motors retired, so I haven't touched it in years :P
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Please don't even try to suggest something like this to me.
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Didn't they make a lego robot a while back that could make more lego robots?
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I've decided to try making a Segway robot. I've just built the actual robot, but I am waiting for my mom to finish using the computer so I can program it. Once it works, I will get a video up of it running. I may try to get the robot to turn, as well.
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All I have to say is good luck :) A segway might be one of the harder things you could choose to build and program, but I really hope you get it working :)
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Programming it is a challenge. I think i've wrapped my head around pid control loops, but the default bytecode used to program the rcx is too slow (think TI-BASIC slow), so I'm going to have to figure out how to get C working on the brick.
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Good luck fb39ca4!
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For the RCX, you can use NQC, which is a C like language that runs very quickly and has a lot of useful features :)
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I've already tried that. Nqc is just compiled to the same byte code as the Lego software, and as the interpreter on the Default rcx firmware is slow (for what I need) Nqc is also slow. However, I'm running true c code now, with the brickos firmware. It is much faster, like the difference between TI-BASIC and asm.
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It works! :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
It is programmed in c, as the default firmware only allows for interpreted programs, which would mean the robot wouldn't react fast enough. However, there is still more work to be done on this, as the robot can not move around, if I try to poke it, it falls down. I might also add turning later on.
Oh yeah, sorry the video is in portrait, I forgot to turn my itouch sideways when I took the video.
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Can someone help me wrap my head around the I and D parts of PID loops? I haven't taken calculus yet, so I don't know what integrals and derivatives are.
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a derivative is calculating the slope of a function at any point
an integral is calculating the area under a function
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Nice fb39ca4. I think it definitively needs something to hold it so it won't always fall, though. :P
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Nice fb39ca4. I think it definitively needs something to hold it so it won't always fall, though. :P
Well, the whole point of this was to make something that balanced on its own. My robot depends on the light sensor (the blue brick on the front of the robot) for determining how much it is tilted, and when I waved my finger under the sensor, it affected the values, making the calculated angle inaccurate, so it fell.
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Aren't there blocks to detect how much it's tilted?
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There might be, but i have a hunch that they won't be as accurate or as quick to respond as the light sensor. Also, fb39ca4, I am no expert in making the robot move forward, but i think as long as you move them slow enough, if you just run the motors forward in small incremented each loop, you can move forward without a hitch
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Aren't there blocks to detect how much it's tilted?
Lego doesn't make any, but they can be custom built. However, I don't have any, so I'm making do with the light sensor. Someone made a very nice robot that balances in two axes, on a ball, with a gyroscope senso, but I don't have that kind of stuff.
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Nice fb39ca4. I think it definitively needs something to hold it so it won't always fall, though. :P
Well, the whole point of this was to make something that balanced on its own. My robot depends on the light sensor (the blue brick on the front of the robot) for determining how much it is tilted, and when I waved my finger under the sensor, it affected the values, making the calculated angle inaccurate, so it fell.
Oh right I see now, lol. That will make it even better. :D
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You could make an NXT game (might be too advanced).
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You could make an NXT game (might be too advanced).
^^ check out nxtboys game O.O I see a future in NXT games :)
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Haha, thanks. :)