Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #08281
To: "'beam@sgiblab.sgi.com'" beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Wilf Rigter Wilf.Rigter@powertech.bc.ca
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 09:12:27 -0800
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Regarding Solar heads, such as Solarbotics model, and The til
If a herd of photovores are grazing the light pools, each can report =
the
light level (above a minimum threshold) with a chirp or LED flash whose
duration is proportional to the light level. The first to chirp, =
instantly
triggers all others and at the end of each chirp, the individuals =
listens if
a chirp is still present. That way individuals can compare the longest =
chirp
to their own light level to know if the light is significantly brighter =
on
the other side of the hill and home in on photon rich pastures.
wilf
=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Shannon [SMTP:bshannon@tiac.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 4:36 PM
> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> Subject: Re: Regarding Solar heads, such as Solarbotics model, and
> The tildens laws of robotics.
>=20
> What you need to do, is recognise when you are in a 'good enough' =
light
> pool.=20
> If your solar cells are delivering maximum charge current to your
> batteries then=20
> looking for a 'better' location is a waste of energy and time.=20
>=20
> In this condition, you know that the best behavior is to sit still, =
and
> store energy.=20
>=20
> Dennison Bertram wrote:=20
>=20
> =A0=20
>=20
> Here's an Idea. Tilden say's that a robot should constantly
> look for better food. And while this is a good idea, what if it =
already
> happens to be in the brightest light pool? It doesn't make sense to =
leave.
> Sure it's not as interesting, but personally I've been on the side of =
the
> robots staying. Anyway, I used to be interseted in finding a way that =
a
> robot could tell if it was in the best source of light or not. I =
wasn't
> sure how to do this, thinking 'cds cells=A0 by the solarcell, some =
fancy
> circuitry?' well heres a simplified idea. Just use a solar head, that =
uses
> that new fancy stuff, I forget, 139 bridge, poppernets, or something? =
You
> know the one that blinks when it's "locked on". Well, instead of =
routing
> the outputs to one motor, route it to two so it's like a photovore,
> buzzing around looking for the brightest source of light. Then, once =
you
> find this source of light, the robot starts to blink to indiciate =
it's in
> the brightest light pool, and it aint moving. This would have several
> emergent behaviors, one of them would be, if another bot came by, and =
cast
> a shadow then the bot would very quickly move out of the way, =
avoiding the
> shadow. Flight behavior. Stuff like that. Anyway, someone should try =
it. I
> haven't studyed the poppernet (that's what it's called right?) =
circuitry
> for a few months so I'm a little rusty, and unsure about the =
conditions
> for a 'error' bit message on the 139. but it sounds =
feasible.=A0dennison
>=20
8282 Wed, 15 Dec 1999 12:19:04 -0500 [alt-beam] Re: mooo "Richard Caudle" Plus goes to plus and minus goes to minus!
Home