09321 Re: Pertaining to the Hextile things. You should really make them

Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #09321

To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Richard Piotter richfile@rconnect.com
Date: Tuesday, 18 January 2000 1:06
Subject: Re: Pertaining to the Hextile things. You should really make them

>If it's expirimenting we're talking about, then DIP is the BEST
>solution, as it would work on breadboards, and could be placed into
>sockets on PCBs! Building a hextile around it would be the perfect
>solution to both worlds. Both breadboard and PCB expirimenters and
>hextile expirimenters would get what they wanted. All you'd need to do
>to have the DIP version is trim the PCB and solder pins to it! You have
>to admit, it's a reasonable solution!
>
>If your original idea is easy expirimentation, then what is easier, pop
>a few DIPs onto a bread board and plug in the wires, or solder some
>hextiles together? What if you have limited resources and want to, like
>me, expiriment with lots of diferent configurations, or larger
>networks??? Huh??? If we are limited to hextiles, we then must either
>buy new ones constantly, or solder, desolder, resolder, redesolder, etc.
>PCBs can't handle that. Yeah, you can add plugs to them, but what
>happens when you want to branch several neurons??? 2 outputs isn't
>always enough. Point is, for expirimentation, DIPs and breadboards are
>the best solution, for final construction, Hextiles or a PCB backplane
>with power and neural paths, with DIP neurons packed into it are better
>(I'm realy wanting to play with backplanes. Imagine a PCB that shows the
>actual neural pathways on it's surface. That alone would be cool! If you
>want to, you could still use hextiles, since it's essentialy the same
>circuit. The LED Polarity and Neuron polarity and Nu/Nv selection can
>easily be done on the hextile itself by soldering jumpers (or rather,
>solder plugs there adn then it can be reconfigured) between the
>appropriate holes that'd normaly be used for the DIP. You have a fully
>functional hextile. trim the sides off the central square adn solder
>male pins, and you have a DIP!
>
>then you should allow the option. it's nothing more than orienting the
>traces and circuits into a small pattern, include 8 holes for the
>traces, and then lead those to the edges of the hextile, like the design
>I sent in.
>
>David Perry wrote:
>>
>> Your right, but my original intention was something that was easy to
>> experiment with, not to necessarily be used in the robot. I don't really
>> like the DIP idea myself as it is still too much wiring.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dennison Bertram
>> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
>> Date: Tuesday, 18 January 2000 4:22
>> Subject: Pertaining to the Hextile things. You should really make them
>> hextiles and not DIP
>>
>> >
>> >I know what I'm about to say is going to be really unpopular, but I
really
>> >think that the project should stick to Hextiles and not the construction
of
>> >DIP. Why?I'll agree, DIP would make it a little easier to Breadboard
>> >projects. Very true. But what about when you actually build your bot?
DIP
>> >becomes a hassle. The wiring nessesary will become a rat's nest (much
like
>> >current microcores!) and unlike the Hextiles, the DIPS provide no
>> structural
>> >support to speak of. Hextiles aren't just prototype boards, they are
also
>> >structural elements. Their design lends themselves to quick construction
of
>> >Robots, which is what we want. On breadboards, you may just have to
stick
>> >with the inconvinience of doing it the old fashion way. However don't
give
>> >up hope, die-hard-DIPer's. If you've checked the DigiKey catalog
recently
>> >(although I haven't) look up something called SurfBoards. They are these
>> >tiny SIP devices, that plug into breadboards, etc, (look much a like a
>> basic
>> >Stamp) and enable you to solder Surface mount components directly to the
>> >surface of the SIP board, so that you can prototype with them easilly.
This
>> >is exactly what you've been talking about. And they have a nice variaty.
I
>> >don't think however, that hextiles can really be beat. I heard someone
to
>> >refer to it as the "old model" as though it were outdated. I assure you
>> that
>> >even Mark T's earlier hextiles are still far superior to any idea's and
>> >designs's we have floating around here. Mark T has some seriously
>> >highquality work going on with his hextiles, and his designs can't be
beat.
>> >Hextiles are really the best alternative here. They should be cheap, and
>> >basic. While this is a little more of a hassle for some BEAMERS, It's
the
>> >only way to acheive what we are really after. I do admit I like the idea
of
>> >BEAM 'leg-os' but for actually construction purposes, the hextile can't
be
>> >beat!
>> >
>> >my two cents.
>> >
>> >dennison
>> >
>
>--
>
>
>Richard Piotter The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
>richfile@rconnect.com http://richfiles.calc.org
>
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