[Robotgroup] [RE] So.. been Robotin' long? :)

[Leslie Filip]

  "The big problem I had to overcome was the powersupply switching  
nose from the computer."

You have to watch out for those power supplies. I, too, have had one  
or two switch their noses with the computer's nose when I wasn't  
paying attention. Sorry, but I couldn't think of any snappy comeback  
using "bridge", which also has to do with power supplies and noses.

Les

On 14 Nov 2006, at 12:55 PM, Mark Hinkle wrote:

>
>    I built my first robot in 1993.
>    I bought a cheap Radio Shack remote control car and and a
>    walkie-talkie. I designed a circuit (wirewrap) that used telephone
>    touchtones for collision avoidance. IR sensors (three in front  
> and one
>    in back) had a range of three feet and operated at a frequency of
>    1kHz. The sixteen combinations meshed well with the 16 available  
> tones
>    for the touchtone encoder. The tones were transmitted via the
>    walkie-talkie to another one at a remote computer (an IBM 8086 PC,
>    which is what we had in the class labs in those days).
>    A decoder translated the tones back into TTL and were placed on a
>    custom ISA card I built (wirewrap). The computer software  
> (written in
>    hand-coded assembly and some C) determined if the car was about to
>    crash and then sent a segnal to a relay card from Metrabyte that  
> was
>    wired to the car's remote control.
>    Thus, I had C.A.R.R., or Computer Assisted Roving Robot.
>    I built it during summer school in a special projects class (I  
> was the
>    only student in it) that was taught by the department head.
>    I passed.
>    The big problem I had to overcome was the powersupply switching  
> nose
>    from the computer. Those things were NOISEY. Wirewrap doesn't lend
>    itself well to noise immunity.
>    I still have CARR... somewhere... in a box... someplace... in  
> multiple
>    boxes, actually.
>    Sorry. No photos.
>    Mark
>    ---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
>    Subject : [Robotgroup] So.. been Robotin' long? :)
>    Date : Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:27:22 -0600
>    From : Vern Graner
>    To : Austin Robotgroup Mailing List
>    Ok, so how long have *you* been involved in robotics? I found this
>    photograph that tells the story for Kym & I:
>    http://www.notepad.org/robo-wedding.jpg
>    Photo was taken at our wedding in April of 1987... Back when I had
>    hair!! :D
>    Bonus points if you can tell me the type of robot pictured there  
> (and
>    yes I still have it!)
>    So any of you have any early photos or stories to share? :)
>    Vern
>    ---------------------------------------------------------
>    My parents just came back from a planet where the
>    dominant lifeform had no bilateral symmetry,
>    and all I got was this stupid F-Shirt.
>    ---------------------------------------------------------
>      _________________________________________________________________
>
>    Lycos Cinema : Catch up with your friends and see free movies  
> online -
>    watch, chat & connect now >> [1]http://cinema.lycos.com
>
> References
>
>    1. http://cinema.lycos.com/?if_Event=mail
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