Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: Building biped robot, need I/O
Message-ID: <nagleD3KA7q.2xq@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <3h3a3u$306@news.ysu.edu>
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 04:38:14 GMT
Lines: 28

aq760@yfn.ysu.edu (Ben Slagle) writes:
>A friend and I are working on a biped robot and we need a schematic for
>a card which plugs into an 8-bit slot and has at least 128 digital inputs
>and 128 digital outputs. This is just an experimental robot, but if we
>ever get it working, we'll need an AI program which is reasonably simple,
>are there any available to run on an XT? it may be used to transport
>electronic components from a storage area to the workbench. Thanks.

     128 input and 128 output lines is a lot of individual lines.
Prairie Digital (608-643-8599) has a 24-line card for $79 each.
Electronic Energy Control (call for info packet, 1-800-842-7714)
has a line of I/O boards that can be expanded up to the size you want.

     Current thinking is to run a bus to where you need the data and use
decoders at each point where you need data, rather than having a big
wiring harness to a single I/O card.  Subscribe to "Circuit Cellar INK"
for a good source of ideas on how to interface stuff.   Try their
BBS at 203-871-1988.

     OK, having answered the specific hardware question you asked,
here's the bad news.  You probably aren't going to find an off-the 
shelf AI program for running a biped mobile robot, running on an XT or 
anything else.  Nobody, in fact, has yet built a biped robot that
is autonomous, self-contained and does anything useful.  Check
out "Robot Evolution" by Rosheim for a survey of most of the interesting
robots ever built.

					John Nagle
