On Thu, 2 Mar 2006 00:25:30 -0500, "Jason Rogers" jacaetevha@gmail.com wrote:
Wow! Do you mind if I submit a link to your site on the LinuxRobot Wiki?
I'm already listed on http://www.linuxrobots.org/wiki/Hobbyists
Do you have a rough estimate of how much this think costs to build?
Well, it didn't cost me very much, but I already had most of the parts, including the rather expensive 3-axis digital compass, and the lathe/milling machine to shape the metal and plastic parts.
Is your software available for download?
No, not at this time. I'm still not sure where I'm going to go with it, so I don't want to release it quite yet.
My goal is to take a working robot into a homeschool classroom (of about 5 or 6 kids, 7 and 8 years of age) and have them "plan the missions" as you say. I would like them to use E-Toys to script the robot's movements.
You could build a much simpler robot than I have - mine is intended more for outside use, and is fairly rugged, and was designed from the outset with a bunch of components I already had. A very simple, somewhat smaller robot would be quite possible, based on one of the cheap robot bases that are available.
Check out http://www.budgetrobotics.com for a few cheap and simple robot bases designed more along the lines of what you're after. Scooterbot looks like a good example of a simple "putter around the floor" robot for educational use.
Use a controller like this: http://www.bdmicro.com/mavric-iib/ to handle the hardware interfacing, add in a gumstix connext with a CF-stix for Wifi access, and you're ready to have some serious fun.
Later, Jon -------------------------------------------------------------- Jon Hylands Jon@huv.com http://www.huv.com/jon
Project: Micro Seeker (Micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) http://www.huv.com