Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #09023
To: mailing list beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Hitch Bencock beh01@uow.edu.au
Date: Tuesday, 11 January 2000 3:05
Subject: Re: New(?) FLED variant
>> > look mom! no photodiodes!
>> > -Sparky
>>
>> Looking at it again...makes me ask, how is it phototropic?
>>
>> steve
>>
>
>Believe it or not, a FLED needs more current when placed in a dark
>environment than in a light one. So the FLED that is on the darker side
>will pull its PNP transistor on sooner than the FLED on the lighter side -
>making the bot 'run away' from the scary dark side.
>
>I think it's a pretty elegant solution - you don't need any extra
>components to give extra functionality! Got to be good, in my book.
>
>I guess the best way to check it out for yourself would be to have a look
>at the pictures on my site, and build one. The components are pretty
>cheap, and the performance isn't that bad. You can filch a solar cell and
>cap and motors from another project temporarily (that's what I did) but
>I'm going to make it a permanent loan now that I see how poor the other
>bot was.
>
>Ben
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