makes robotic competitions useful as
a learning exercise is the breadth of
knowledge required.
This sort of exercise wouldn’t have been
possible a few years ago, simply because it
would have been almost impossible for a
non-programmer to pick up C/C++ or even
Basic in a few minutes, or a non-technical
student to learn how to solder and handle
sensitive components. The ‘plug and play’
nature of the Mindstorms NXT enabled
students without prior experience to build
robust robots in minutes.
The point is that robotics has a place in
education outside of the traditional science
and engineering application. This is in part
because of the novelty of robotics and in
part because even the simplest robots have
multiple systems that can each serve as
teaching points for everything from logic
to physics.
Perhaps you teach a non-technical class
where team-building is essential to success.
If so, consider employing robotics as a
convenient, highly visible focal point. Then
share your experience with our readers. SV
Dear SERVO:
I wanted to let you know I
enjoy Fred Eady’s articles and
code examples. I am in the
process of developing a fairly
complex system to completely
control the navigation and
functionality of a large model
boat (I live on a lake). This
system accepts a predetermined
route consisting of headings and
lat/lon end-of-segment
waypoints entered from a PC,
and controls throttle and rudder,
as well as a bilge pump if
necessary. The main board
directly mates to one of those
surplus 2x16 display boards with
the four buttons and is
PIC18F2525 based, with the
RS-232 dedicated to the initial
course download. It also does
the heavy navigation lifting. A
second board — based on a
16F876A — accepts RS-232 input
from a raw GPS sensor, picks up
the appropriate sentences, and
runs a long term moving average
on actual lat/lon position. It also
maintains rudder position and
produces the PWM for the boat
servos. I'm using SPI between
the two main boards to pass
real-time coordinates and speed
back to the first board, where
the PID determines necessary
course corrections and returns
them via the SPI slave "return."
continued on page 58
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SERVO 05.2009
7