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From: mwd@cray.com (Mark Dalton)
Subject: Re: Basic Robot Desired
Message-ID: <1994Dec30.123746.212@walter.cray.com>
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Date: 30 Dec 94 12:37:46 CST

I tried sending mail to you, but it bounced at both addresses.

> From: jhenders@resumix.portal.com (Jim Henderson)
> 
> 	Can anyone suggest a source for a basic robot, either pre-built or
> in a kit?  I am a computer programmer and want one which I can write
> programs for, but I don't really want to build one (unless it is from a
> truly simple kit).  Specifically, a small robo> t with basic mobility
> (wheels, legs, etc) that has a basic microprocessor (preferably PC-type)
> and disk drive.  
> 	Any ideas?
> 
> Jim Henderson	/* All opinions my own */
> Jhenderson@afit.af.mil
> 

I will write up a list of stuff.  I will start working on my WWW course in
Robotics in January (I need to finish writing my cell Biology course first).
	For the idea of what I want to do for the Robot WWW Course:
		http://lenti.med.umn.edu/~mwd/robot/robot-course.html

Some very Basic and cheap robots are:
	1. A remote control car with a HC11 Board.  I think you can get
		286 and 386 boards real cheap now also.
	   You can compile on a PC then cross compile and download to the
	   HC11 board via RS232 cord.  The C compiler is freely available
	   no the net.  (I have the address somewhere).

	2. An erector, K'nex or lego set with a similar board.
	3. Also in the Electronics Goldmine Catalog there was a robot
	   kit for about $35.00.  (wheeled).
	4. Legged Robots - You can use a shaft with a circle on the end
	   and connect the mid-leg to the circle (on the out side) and
	   have the top of the leg in a slide.  This will cause the
	   leg to move up and back, forward and down.  Very mechanistic
	   action but easy to do.  This I think is from The Robot
	   Builders ???.  A good book for the basics.
	5. Marvin Green has the B-Bot frames, you need to get wheels,
	   motors and CPU.
	6. Dave Hrynkiw has kits for transistor based, solar flagwavers
	   that could be modified to be a legged or wheeled robot.

	Also there is a new style of robotics: Mark Tildens Work, with
all of the walking and reactive skills are transistor controlled, leaving
higher level tasks to the CPU (if you still want one).

Nuts and Volts (magazine) has some good articles by Karl Lunt.
For resources of Magazines/books, suppliers of various components:
	http://www.cs.indiana.edu/robotics/FAQ/table.html

	Sensors may be your main concern of what you want.  This will
partially determine what you want in the robot.

If you are interested in any of these, if you are looking for something
more specific, or if you don't mind piecing these together more, just
e-mail me your interests and I will get you names, address, phone numbers
and prices.

Good luck!

Mark
-- 
Mark Dalton       CH3-S-CH2 H H                    H      O       H
Cray Research,Inc.      |   | |                    |       \      |
Los Alamos,NM 87544     CH2-C-COO    //\ ---C--CH2-C-COO    C-CH2-C-COO
mwd@cray.com                | |     |  ||   ||     |       //     |
                            H NH2    \\/ \ / CH    NH3    O       NH3
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URL = http://lenti.med.umn.edu/~mwd/mwd.html





