[IAEP] FW: [Butia-list] XO robotics

Sun Sep 30 03:02:49 EDT 2012

2) Some places sold the PIC "burned" with a especial program: the bootloader. That bootloader allows flash the
firmware without the PIC programmer.With a PIC with bootloader, you can use an activity on the XO that makes the update of the firmware!
With this system, only with a XO you control all!
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:29:24 -0500
From: yamaplos at gmail.com
CC: butia-list at fing.edu.uy; IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org; olpc-Sur at lists.laptop.org
Subject: Re: [Butia-list] [IAEP] XO robotics

    WOW! Thank you, Jorge

    1) I looooove the connectors for the USBButiá. 

    8-wire ethernet. Once a standard exists :-), makes compatibility in
    development by the many a viable option, i.e, I or anyone can
    develop a motor or sensor, and it will work with the Butiá. VERY
    powerful! exchangebale parts, the birth of the Industrial Age.
    Exchangeable circuits, possibly a jumping point (salto cualitativo,
    decía un otro Jorge) for mechatronics in education, and then in
    national development!

http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/mediawiki/index.php/Usb4butia

    closeup:
http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/mediawiki/index.php/Archivo:Usb4butia2.jpg

    1.b) I do not like digital servos, adds enormously to the cost IMHO,
    *have* to be purchased, but then, they do  have advantages.
    Askjerry gets feedback from a LED/sensor pair. So far I have only
    used dead reckoning

    2) hmmm.  I guess that Butiá can run either with an Arduino *or*
    with a USBButiá, the latter connected direct to an XO? 

    So the USBButiá has an MCU with some pretty good code! aha, a PIC
    18F4550. I assume that you falsh them... Could you please point us
    to more details? Source code seems to be here,
    I guess I'll have to take a look. How expensive is it to get the
    stuff (PIC programmer)to flash?

    Does Eneka sell ready-made PCBs?  PCB fab is something that the
    folks at Kidbot could help, I will check, some of our people seem to
    have good connections for that sort of stuff (maybe $1.50 for each
    at this complexity, in smallish quantities).

    I must admit this is more advanced than where I am right now in my
    own skills and hacks. 

    I merely can flsh 430s with an XO, and would totally love to be able
    to have real i/o XO<->MCU. Hope we can follow up and I can
    learn. (of course I can flash arduino with a Linux PC, but I feel
    that is cheating - anything that needs more than an XO is, an
    ideology issue for me :-) )

    Jorge, could you point me to suitable resources I could learn from? 
    Thanks!

    Yama

      On 09/27/2012 01:08 PM, Jorge wrote:

    On
      27/09/12 13:35, Yama Ploskonka wrote:> 1) I wouldn't say
      better... rather, complementary, and certainly

      > cheaper. Visiting the Butiá pages, the only picture I see
      showing an MCU

      >
      http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/images/pistaButia.jpg
      is

      > showing an Arduino. Add a motor driver, and we are well above
      $30, plus

      > shipping. The USBButiá board is maybe cheaper IF done in
      quantity by

      > experts (then add labor).

      Besides the microcontroller the USBButiá board provides standard
      connectors for attaching sensors. It allows autodetecting what
      sensor you connected and were (something like the NXT brick, but
      with a wider spectrum of attacheable stuff, more connectors,
      easier to hack, and plug&play).

      We sidestepped the motor driver issue using digital servos.

      > MSP430 + (L293D OR some darlington array) can be "free" if
      you get them

      > as samples from TI, or less than $5 when purchased, /plus
      shipping/, the

      > old bane. the advantage of using a darlington driver is that
      then you

      > may use plain DC motors, which can be free if lucky with old
      electronic

      > parts (beautiful gear system available in old CDROM drives)

      >

      > 2) yop - the XO "drives" the vehicle with the MSP430 option
      also. Now, I

      > put quote marks as I have no idea - yet - on how to send data
      direct

      > realtime from the XO to the robot, bypassing the MCU. What
      seems to be

      > happening is that Butiá depends on sending code/program to
      the Arduino,

      > and the the 'duino does the brains of the robot.

      Nop, the control runs fully on the XO. MCU only interfaces
      sensors&motors and supports the plug&play functionality.
      No user logic runs on the MCU.

      The user programs on the XO access sensors/actuators connected the
      MCU and whatever the XO provides (mic, cam, accelerometer if there
      is one) transparently. The most frequent programming environment
      is TurtleArte (kisds already know it), but there are also Python
      and Lua environments for when the problem or the user outgrows
      Turtle Art.

      In my opinion, what MCU is used is not actually important. What is
      important is the programming environment, how it interfaces with
      whatever your robot offers, and the mechanism you provide for
      adapting your robot for solving different problems.

      Jorge

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