Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #05796
To: "'beam@sgiblab.sgi.com'" beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: "Van Zoelen, Bram AA SSI-TSEA-352" Bram.A.A.vanZoelen@is.shell.com
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 10:24:50 +0200
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Edge detectors
> ----------
> From:
> arno.jansen@superconsult.nl[SMTP:arno.jansen@superconsult.nl]
> Reply To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> Sent: Thursday, August 19, 1999 9:10 AM
> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> Subject: RE: Edge detectors
>
> Okay, now the reply Bram gave makes perfectly sense. On the
> discoverychannel
> I saw a 2 second fragment of a walker of M.W.T., quite a bumpy ride. But a
> 12 motor/6 legged walker, (using Basic Stamp ?? or has that nothing to do
> with BEAM anymore?) should be able to determine wether his foot is up or
> down.
>
>
Some will curse you for that, some will adore it. For me, i just build what
i like and i am not pragmatic about including a CPU or not. If Including a
microcontroller reduces the part count, increase operation possibilities and
decreases the change of failure then i use it. Without trying to start yet
another [flame] thread about this subject i think a microcontroller can be
fit in to the BEAM concept/idea. But who am i to say things like that?
> If the bot is somehow able to combine the input it gets from all feet, it
> could detect wether it's moving upward or downward, but then again, where
> are mercury tilt switches for then :-)
>
Maybe to make the bot heavier so it will make a firm contact with the
ground.
But on the serious side of the story. You need two standard mecury switches
to determine if the bot is tilted. The same can be done with one light
selfmade sensor. [A ring acting as one contact and an other contact 'spring'
inside it]
> I got so many ideas after reading the Conrad Catalogue. It has all kinds
> of
> sensors, gas, rain/moist, light, heat, sonar, radar, presure, light, etc.
> Must be a great thing to combine in a bot, but it will probably loose much
> of it's BEAM-appearance I think.
>
Great stuff for reading isn't it :0)
> I was just typing what was thinking, maybe it helps someone ;) who knows.
>
> Best,
> Arno
>
------------
> Bram : One thought on the reply of bruce.
> So, as I understand this, the pressure sensor tells you when the leg is
> touching a surface. You predict when the leg OUGHT to be touching a
> surface (perhaps by timing, or by a leg-position sensor), and if the
> pressure sensors says the leg is NOT touching, you know you're about to
> step in a hole, or off a cliff.
>
Note:
A push-button switch can also be seen as a pressure sensor. The
force of the spring has to be overcome before the switch will make contact.
[snip]
> Regards,
> Bruce
>
>
Bram
http://www.xs4all.nl/~vsim
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