Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!nagle
From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: PXL 2000 / Pixelvision Camera
Message-ID: <nagleD3IG2I.9GM@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <D3Hruq.DKs@world.std.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 04:49:30 GMT
Lines: 27

pbrennan@world.std.com (Patrick M Brennan) writes:
>I just read in the newspaper about this failed toy from
>Fisher Price.  It's a video camera for the little tykes
>which records its images on ordinary audio cassette tape.

>Hmmm, I said to myself, that sounds like the sort of 
>bandwidth I could use on a small robot!  Besides, it's a
>toy, right?  How expensive can it be?

     Actually, they're a collectable now.  There's a whole cult
associated with the things, and annual video competitions.

>Does anybody have more solid information on this toy?  How
>expensive is it?  Has anybody attempted to use this thing
>for a similar purpose?  How easy is it to hack the interface?
>Any pointers will be appreciated.

     Full info on the thing has been posted in years past.  It's old
technology, and you probably don't want to do it that way any more.
You can get CCD imager chips and their interface logic reasonably cheaply,
although few people have interfaced these things to computers directly,
something that really needs to be a standard hobbyist component.

     I suspect the Connectix $99 "eyeball" camera is the thing to hack
this year.

					John Nagle
