Re: Anybody remember Apple-controlled robots?

[tdiaz@coyote.csusm.edu (Tony Diaz)]

Phil Abel (TTSH35A@prodigy.com) wrote:
> I was just reminiscing about some of the pioneer days of the Apple II and 
> remembered this street carnival type thing I was at when just a kid-- 
> couldn't have been more than 8 or 9, which would have put the year at 
> 1982/3. I remember they had this apple set up, running a logo interpreter.
>  When you typed in a command to the turtle, this robot (musta been 3 foot 
> tall) duplicated the movement of the turtle. Can't remember if the thing 
> was radio control or had wires dragging... The robot, of course, was just 


It was called TOPO and hooked to a SSC or Parallel card, I don't recall 
which, and was radio controlled. In my 9th grade math class one of the 
things you could do for extra credit was in a logo program, make the robot
go someplace, cover atleast 9 tiles on the floor (distance) and stop back
in the same place, pointing in the same direction as it was when in started.

This wasn't as easy as doing a square on the floor though.. those of you
who may remember the robot..  When it stopped rotating (it turned in place
like one would during a military march) it would allways turn just a little
more than the 45/90/whatever degrees you wanted it to, wheight of itself
on a title floor made it slide a little... 

I have the book to it around here someplace, I'll see if I can find it.

--
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