DPRG mailing list archives: [DPRG] Processing unit for mobile robot

Wed Apr 23 09:48:59 CDT 2008

The other problem with most PC boards is the multiple voltages required.
It is not a trivial task to get +12V, +5V, +3.3V, and -5V all on a robot
that is battery powered.

Some of the industrial PC cards use just +5, but they are a lot more
expensive for the same capabilities.

Kip

On Wed, 2008-04-23 at 08:23 -0500, ed at okerson.com wrote:
> > ed at okerson.com said: Sunday, April 20, 2008 9:59 AM
> >> Somewhat dated and no longer in existance, but the DPRG club
> >> robot GARP had a 486 based PC as the only controller.  I
> >> know, because I installed it.  It drove the H-bridges from
> >> pins on the parallel port.  It was running RT-Linux
> >> generating the PWM pulses.
> >
> > Yes, you may have one example from history there, but I admit,
> > Garp must predate my being active in the club by a bit or the
> > RBNO's or such. I never saw it. I know it collected dust, and
> > the tires rotted off (reported on list) and was given away. But
> > tell, me, did it ever operate, and to what extent was it
> > functional? Just what did it actually do which we consider a
> > test of it's robotic-ness?
> >
> > And if you were to do it again today, would you go straight PC,
> > or could you even do that now that the parallel ports and serial
> > ports are no longer included?
> 
> I had GARP to the point of running the motors via PWM from the PC parallel
> port, and that was as far as I got before I moved to California.  To my
> knowledge, no one ever did anything else with it.  It would have been
> possible to add sensors, but after I left there just wasn't enough
> interest or experience with Linux in the club to continue at that time. 
> There were also plenty of nay sayers who were worried about liabilities of
> a robot the size of GARP.
> 
> Today I would probably go with one of the many smaller processors capable
> of running Linux, but it could still be done witn a PC.  My current
> favorite is the AVR32 processor from Atmel.  There are still many PC
> motherboards available with parallel ports on them, and I have several in
> my garage should the spirit ever move me. :)  Real time processing on
> Linux is now easier than ever.
> 
> Ed
> 
> Ed
> 
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-- 
Kipton Moravec KE5NGX
"Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
--Mark Twain