Resources, Code, etc

[LosT]

A simple thing that may work would be to throw a camera on the bot and use it as a "recon device via internet control" ;) Just turn off the AI for the tcp/ip contest part.

Well, technically all the TCP/IP device would have to do is be able to update it's status, and accept remote user control of some of it's functions to qualify as the current TCP/IP rules stand...(updated rules Neural?)

LosT

[kallahar]

A simple thing that may work would be to throw a camera on the bot and use it as a "recon device via internet control" ;) Just turn off the AI for the tcp/ip contest part.

[LosT]

Oh yeah, the serial->Servo and serial->Motor controllers we used were from pololu.com. If you want to go for full computer control (ie, want to use vision or wireless or do a dual entry for tcp/ip contest) then pololu is an easy way to convert rs232 to motors.

I was thinking about this...a double entry device...but the bot competition is so begging for autonomous control (sans the cat5 connection)-

LosT

[kallahar]

Oh yeah, the serial->Servo and serial->Motor controllers we used were from pololu.com. If you want to go for full computer control (ie, want to use vision or wireless or do a dual entry for tcp/ip contest) then pololu is an easy way to convert rs232 to motors.

[LosT]

For AI bot microcontrollers try:

www.parallax.com

www.al-williams.com

www.basicx.com

For supplies:

www.jameco.com

www.digikey.com

www.lynxmotion.com

That should get people going. Also check out Servo magazine, as well as Nuts and Volts magazine.

Let's get more people entered next year...

If anyone has general questions on design I'd be happy to help.

LosT

[kallahar]

I've posted a lot of the code and design info for last year's IVU bot to:

http://gpsbots.com/projects/2004_defcon/

There are also a bunch of tutorials about basic stuff like "how do I use a serial port in Linux" which pertain to computer controled bots:

http://gpsbots.com/tutorials/

In the interest of helping make the contest more interesting, all of this is provided for everyone to use, if you want to share your designs/code as well then please do :)