Re: Robot based on/Controlled by Apple II

[aiiadict@hotmail.com (Rich J.)]

julian814@hotmail.com (Ralph Glatt) wrote in message news:<ce9c44dd.0201171127.47015ccf@posting.google.com>...
> ronniecorny@yahoo.com (Ronnie Corny) wrote in message news:<a25pcc$9vo$1@coco.singnet.com.sg>...
> > a long time ago, i heard some talk about people who designed and built some 
> > robots that were controlled or based around the Apple II> built one from an Apple //e. Unfortunately, I don't have his url or
> email address!! It was pretty neat, though, because it could talk and
> respond to voice commands.

http://rich12345.tripod.com

doing a complete remake of the arm so it can lift heavier objects
nothing new on the page for quite some time.  check out the
robot videos link from the main page.  polaroid sonar is kool.

very easy to get a robot going with a II.  Get good base, motors,
a power supply (use a 12volt motorcycle or car battery, and get
a DC/DC converter with +12-12+5-5 outputs...If you find any of
these let me know where you get them please).

For about $15 you can get all the transistors you need for making
H bridges to control the motors directions from a parallel printer
card.

Sensors;  a bunch of momentary push button switches work.  Just for
bumbers.  You can read these with a parallel card very easily (no
assembly language involved in anything mentioned so far)

Polaroid sonar:  You can get these for $25 and measure distance with
them.
mount them on an RC car servo (controlled from parallel card), and you
can
spin the servo and take a distance measurement from 0 to 180 degrees. 
Both of these items require assembly language.

InfraRed:  Look aat 6502.org and there is an article on how to connect
some nice sensors to the Apple II.  Doable from parallel card.

Communications with remote computer:  Hack a cordless phone apart and
you can do Zmodem, etc with your robot.

machine vision:photo resistor array : easy to program, small ammount
of data to work with.

GameBoy Camera:requires assembly.  large ammount of data.  Nice
because it will do edge detection inside of the camera!

Mapping software:  Make it either programmable "go forward 4, go right
3, go forward 3, etc.

Or:  program your own software for auto navigation and mapping (I did
it!)
Or:  there are several good books on how to do "intelligent searches"
from within a BASIC program.  See my website.

Speech recognition:  H2000 card, Covox voiice master, my voice
recognition card.  Covox software version 4.0 has good recognition
(comparable to my friend's Imac's recognition precision)

Speech:  echo, etc.

fun, fun, fun

Rich
aiiadict AT hotmail DOT com

Rich