Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #13729
To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Justin jaf60@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 21:37:08 +1200
Subject: Re: Solarizing
>On another topic. The old D1 would be the perfect circuit for the avoida=
nce=20
>behavior recently discussed on the list. It's mushy start would lend it'=
s=20
>self well to detecting even slight shadows. The charge in a super cap co=
uld=20
>be dumped into the motors and give a good zip of speed away from danger =
very=20
>similar to what Bob Shannon did with Vore-n-more.
I posted a note about a robot I've built that worked along these lines,
but it may have been lost, in any event, I have some more to add so I'll
start by pasting what I wrote here:
---
>As a result, when the Deadly Darkness approached from above, the robot=20
>might zoom straight forward, spin left or right in place until it found =
a=20
> "good" place to run and then scoot or even simply zoom straight backwar=
ds.
I've built a robot with similar functionality, but using two SE's
instead
of logic - a normal inverter-based SE overlayed with a D1. The D1 would
normally not affect the operation, but when it was triggered by a lower
light level, it would run to a lower voltage than the other SE before
switching off again, thus the bot always had a sizeable "panic" reserve
in
its 2.5F cap that was triggered by the approach of the Deadly Darkness.
The problem was that setting the D1 to the sensitivity required to
notice
the shadow (in an otherwise very bright environment) caused serious
charging losses. I might have tweaked or replaced it (I now have a far
more
efficient design, using err.. logic :-), but as one of my earlier bots,
it
also had some mechanical shortfalls so it seemed more exciting to just
start another bot :-)
---
(I should also perhaps state the (probably) obvious - since both SE=92s
just activated the light-seeking robot, it would steer away from
darkness when panicked, not just run blindly.)
>has anyone ever used trimpots for all the resistors????that would make s=
ome=20
>difinatelyy non pretty bots , bt really adjustable
Funny this should crop up in the same thread, because on the bot above I
did just this and it looked great. I had to visit a lot of stores around
the city to get matching miniature pots and other components in the
right values, etc., but the resulting "control panel" was pretty cool
:-)
I intend to do the same with one of my current projects (if I ever get
any spare time=85)
13730 Thu, 20 Apr 2000 06:27:12 -0400 Re: efficient launcher? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com beam@sgiblab.sgi.com I'm new to the group, Howdy Y'all!!
pneumatic is easier than you think, a plastic soda bottle can take a lot
of pressure!
such systems are in use by R/C (radio/control) plane enthusiasts for
landing gear.
Your local hardware store should stock Schrader valves, (like on your
car tires)
mount this in the cap of the bottle and you have a nice little pressure
tank.
on another topic: FF (free flight) enthusiasts, are now using pager
motors and super
caps to power thier ultra-light (indoor only type) aircraft.
these planes are made from thin strips of balsa and covered with mylar,
and until
recently were powered with grapevine type rubber bands.
so flying BEAMs(?) exist, but in another form and group of peeps.
DrMike
8^)
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