Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #04344
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Dennison dennlill@buffnet.net
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 23:17:59 -0400
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Solar Walker
That's a pretty slick design. I don't have much experince with solar Bot's
and the nuances of SE's (They annoy me, primarilly because I don't have
solarcells so I find it pointless for me to work with them) Anyway, I had
been thinking about what someone had mentioned sometime befor, a NV loop
composed entirelly of Solar Engines. After some though, this of course seems
more impracticle than anything. Since a PM1 or slow osc is just fine. A
litle while back I build a Solar Walker (with my only two cells) that used a
slow osc. Works fine, but I sure with it would work faster. But hey, what
can I do. I like your idea, clever.
Dennison
>Hello James,
>
>As a follow up on my earlier comments, here is the LIGHT WALKER 1.0 design
>as shown in the attached schematic. In this design the SE function has been
>put inside the microcore loop. From another perspective this is a pentacore
>design. The 1381 acts like a combination Nu, PNC and SE trigger. Note
that
>the 74HC14 and AC240 are powered up all the time. Normally the 4Nv outputs
>will all be high, the motors will be stopped and no current will flow. The
>solar panel will charge up the main cap and also the memory cap of the
1381.
>The memory cap ensures that the 1381 input voltage will not drop during the
>first process interval when the motor current starts to pull down the main
>capacitor voltage. When the 1381 fires it "injects" a process into the
first
>Nv with a rising edge. This process ripples through the other Nvs and when
>the process reaches the last Nv it resets the memory cap of the 1381. This
>sequence is a 4Nv process cycle which causes the bot to advance by one step
>on each leg. Next the solar panel charges the main capacitor and the 1381
>memory cap back up and when fully charged the 1381 triggers the next
process
>cycle. If there is enough charge on the main cap the SE fires almost
>immediately and the walker continues uninterrupted. This embedded SE design
>can be extended to 6Nv or 8Nv designs as well.
>
>The reverser circuit is quite a nice solution to the problem of early
>reverser time out when the LIGHT WALKER only walks intermittently. To avoid
>this problem, the reverser memory capacitor is discharged in steps, one
>process cycle at time, with about 7 or 8 cycles required to return to
>forward motion regardless of the time between steps. In addition the
>reverser circuit switching is synchronized with the start of each cycle to
>avoid the typical gait recovery time associated with asynchronous reverser
>circuit switching. This synchronous reverser idea can be applied to many
>walker designs and imho is a nice contribution to the state of the art of
>BEAM tech.
>
>The LIGHT WALKER still needs tactile inputs. Perhaps it can be left as an
>exercise for the reader to complete the full LIGHT WALKER design.
>
>enjoy
>
> Wilf Rigter mailto:wilf.rigter@powertech.bc.ca
> tel: (604)590-7493
> fax: (604)590-3411
>
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