HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: veen2976@mach1.wlu.ca (veenstra christopher)
Subject: Scientific paper survey (Please Read)
Organization: Wilfrid Laurier University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:36:10 GMT

Greetings All,

  I hope you don't mind me doing this but I need some information for a
class next week.  I'm looking for information on people's opinions on the
subject of scientific papers.  If you don't mind, please reply to this post and
answer the questions below.  Also, please indicate if you are interested in
the results that I gather.  If there is enough interest, I'll post the
results, if not, I'll send them directly to anyone who is interested.

  The class that this is for deals with modern physics, nuclear physics,
semiconductor devices, and transistor devices, with emphasis on handing in
papers, rather than lab reports.  Our first assignment is to determine what
people think of the papers that they read/write/referee.

Thanks for your trouble,

Chris Veenstra
veen2976@mach1.wlu.ca
4th year Computing,
Wilfrid Laurier University

================================================================================
                          Scientific Paper Survey

1)  Do you read/write/referee papers?  For each that apply to you, what do
        you look for?

2)  Of the papers that you read or referee, what percent do you feel are
        well-written?

3)  What is your position/company you work for?  (This is so I'll know
        approximately what the technical level of the people replying is.)

================================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: sasrer@unx.sas.com (Rodney Radford)
Subject: Re: PICs
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 05:04:21 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.

bsmall@iat.holonet.net (Brad Smallridge) writes:

>PIC UPDATE 

>First of all, we can forget about the Motorola 68L705. I
>was told that after the current supply of parts is depleted, 
>the 68L705 will no longer be available.  On the other hand, 
>Microchip is strengthening its PIC line

Motorla is dropping several members of the 68705 family, but from what I
remember of the last list, there were still over 20 variations of this part
still in full production (in fact the latest member, the 68705K1 was just
announced last summer).

Yes, the Microchip PIC parts are nice, but they require that you put out
money to buy a programmer from Microchip (or Parallax has one too) for about
$200, or use one of the $1K+ universal programmers. Both are kind of expensive
for the typical electronics experimenter. However, if you are REAL NICE to
Microchip, and get the RIGHT FE on the phone, they MAY give you a copy of
the programming specs - with that it is possible to easily build a IBM/PC
controllable programmer for under $20 (for the 16c5x series).

I understand that the 16c71 programs via a serial interface, and that the
programming specs are in the normal data sheets. If so, great - but I haven't
seen the specs to verify this.

On the other hand, many of the Motorola 68705 family are self programming,
where they just copy their internal EPROM image from another EPROM. So you
just program the master EPROM in your normal programmer, stick it in a very
simple circuit, and it does the rest (and the circuit schematics are available
from Motorola, along with PC boards). Or if you were lucky enough to buy one
of the 68705K1 evaluation kits last summer it only cost $50 for the programmer,
a SLUSH development system (not quite as 'cool' as an ICE system), assembler,
and one of their parts.

And no, I have no ties to Motorola - I just like their 16705 line. Now if they
would just get their act together and get me some 68705K1s I would be happy as
I have been 'in the queue' since last July!!!!

--
---
Rodney Radford          || Computer Graphics/Imaging
sasrer@unx.sas.com      || SAS Institute, Inc.
(919) 677-8000 x7703    || Cary, NC  27513
From: sarkar@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Nilanjan Sarkar)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Help for Technical Report from CMU
Date: 5 Jan 93 16:51:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania

In article <C097xD.9y8.1@cs.cmu.edu> dstewart+@cs.cmu.edu (David B Stewart) writes:
>In article <58199@dime.cs.umass.edu> connolly@rabbit.cs.umass.edu (Christopher Ian Connolly) writes:
>>In article <103479@netnews.upenn.edu> sarkar@tuna.cis.upenn.edu (Nilanjan Sarkar) writes:
>
>Second, it is always possible to obtain a copy of a technical report
               ------
>at no cost, simply by contacting the department and university directly.
>   -------


Just a factual correction: I have talked to the person in charge of
TR in Robotics Institute and she told me that I need to pay $2.00 for
each TR -- maybe that is charged to cover the postage (I am not sure).

Anyway, thanks to everyone who have sent me  relevant information.
While I have no problem in going through a TR and while I do believe
in its effectiveness in quick dissemination of new results, I am not
sure how to know about such work unless pointed out by someone, who
for some reasons, know their existence. Also, a work as old as this
one (that is 1986) should have been published somewhere (I now know it
indeed was) and the reviewer might ask me to refer that one. Maybe,
he/she was not aware of that. I am indeed grateful to him/her for pointing
out this TR since, although that work is not directly related to my
work, omitting their name would not have been fair.  



>~dave
>


--Nilanjan
From: wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM (Rick Wagoner)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Where to get LEGO gears? (LEGO DACTA Number)
Date: 5 Jan 1993 22:10:12 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: georwell.ebay.sun.com

The 800 number direct to Dacta is 800-527-8339.  

Good luck,

Rick

PS  If you call the general LEGO number, they will NOT have
the information you need. Thanks to Fred Martin for pointing
me in the right direction after several false starts!


---
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ Rick Wagoner					+
+ Sun Microsystems Education Dept.		+
+ 408-276-5658					+
+ 						+
+ email Rick.Wagoner@EBay.Sun.COM		+
+ or	rick.wagoner@Ebay 			+
+ or	rwagoner@sun.com			+
+						+
+ or whateverthehell the DNS server mangles my	+
+    address into!				+
+						+
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ Opinions: MINE!	Systems: Theirs!	+
+-----------------------------------------------+
+  Everybody likes to stir the excrement        +
+  but nobody likes to clean the paddle...	+
+-----------------------------------------------+
From: madden@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Brian Madden)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: A gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a pack of wolves...
Keywords: RUR
Date: 8 Jan 93 18:24:26 GMT
Organization: GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania


       a karel of robots?



Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: HEAGYWS@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu ()
Subject: PWM?
Organization: Vanderbilt University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 19:01:52 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

Without getting very deep, could someone expain the theory behind
PWM as it applies to motor control.  I have seen several references
to PWM but have not been able to find any info on it.  What are
the benefits?

Thanks...Win
heagyws@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
=-------------------------------------------=


Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: jb@rti.rti.org
Subject: Re: Cheap color sensor
Keywords: reflective sensors optic
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 08:40:14 GMT

What about a single detector (photocell/solarcell) and different colored LEDs
for illumination of the surface. Ie, what is the reflected brightness under
green/red/yellow/blue/IR light.

Jeff Bartlett
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: wallace@zeus.franklin.edu (Steve Wallace)
Subject: MiniBoard_orders_status
Organization: Franklin University (Columbus, OH)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:29:26 GMT

okay I finally got the order together and sent the supplier the check
friday.He said it should take 2-3 weeks to get the parts as soon as i
recieve the parts I'll work day and night to get them out to everybody

PS. could Sean Patrick send me his I Net address

Steve Wallace
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: schuch@phx.mcd.mot.com (John Schuch)
Subject: A price quote F.Y.I.
Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Tempe, Az.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:07:00 GMT


I got the following quotes for mechanical parts from 4 of the bigger
suppliers. I thought the net might be interested.


                Roller Chain    9 Tooth    20 Tooth     Minimum 
                 0.250 pitch    Sprocket   Sprocket     Order
Company         ( per foot )    ( qty 1 )  ( qty 1 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------

BERG Precision     $4.56         $6.60       $9.45       $25.00
(516) 599-5010

PIC Design         $13.68        $10.23      $14.93      $50.00
(203) 758-8272

Stock Drive Prods  $3.25         $6.31       $8.84       $50.00
(516) 328-3300

McMaster-Carr      $2.31         $5.04       $8.51        NONE !!
(213) 692-5911


Guess where I'll be shopping!

John


-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John R. Schuch  -  Motorola Computer Group  -  Manufacturing Engineering |
| N7XVS - schuch@phx.mcd.mot.com - (602) 438-3008 - CompuServe: 70733.3330 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: strohm@mksol.dseg.ti.com (john r strohm)
Subject: Re: PICs
Organization: Texas Instruments, Inc
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 23:43:09 GMT

In article <C0rHqz.2Jq@iat.holonet.net> bsmall@iat.holonet.net (Brad Smallridge) writes:
>First of all, we can forget about the Motorola 68L705.

I am not familiar with the 68L705.  I am familiar with the 68HC705K1, which
certainly qualifies as a PIC.  Is this the same part?

Second, can you give me a contact address/phone number for Microchip?
I would REALLY like to get some databooks from them.
From: nivek@cs.cmu.edu (Kevin Dowling)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: CMU Tech Report
Date: 4 Jan 93 17:00:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.C0C9wp.CGw.2
Reply-To: nivek@cs.cmu.edu
Organization: Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Nilanjan,

CMU-TR-86-4 is Autonomous Mobile Robots Annual Report 1985 and
is a collection of papers. The paper referred to is
First Results in Robot Road Following by Richard Wallace,
Tony Stentz, Chuck Thorpe, Hans Moravec, Red and Takeo.
The stuff's ancient history! I can send a copy of the Wallace
paper but not the whole thing - Try writing Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon, 5000 Forbes Ave, Pgh PA 15213
or calling (412) 268-3818

The pure pursuit work described in the article was done by Pat Muir
(muir@frc.ri.cmu.edu)

				nivek


---

aka: Kevin Dowling			Carnegie Mellon University
tel: (412) 268-8830			The Robotics Institute
adr: nivek@cmu.edu			Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: jony@microsoft.com (Jonny Yeargers)
Subject: 6.270 boards - any more out there?
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:47:17 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
Distribution: usa

Is anyone considering another production run of these boards
for non-MIT types? Did anyone buy one that they no longer want?
I would love to get further into this project. 

Jonny Yeargers (JonY@microsoft.com)
Another Robotics Neophyte who appreciates the 
Miniboard traffic in this group.
From: paulos@roma.berkeley.edu (Eric Paulos)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: How to Explore Mars
Date: 8 Jan 93 23:08:24 GMT
Reply-To: paulos@roma.berkeley.edu (Eric Paulos)
Organization: Robotics Laboratory UC Berkeley

I believe that many small robots is the only viable method to explore
planets because it allows redundance as a feasible option.  The risks
involved in a single large robot are far to great to take considering
the numerous variables involved in planetary exploration.  As an example
NASA used TWO voyagers and TWO martian landers in the mid-seventies.  Numerous,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Eric Paulos                    Robotics Laboratory
 paulos@robotics.berkeley.edu   University of California, Berkeley
 (510) 642-3248			Berkeley, CA 94720
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: wood@drift.dec.com (John F. Wood)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: A gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a pack of wolves...
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:49:32 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


How about a Robbie (sp?) of Robots?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
John F. Wood                  | EIS Engineering
Digital Equipment Corporation | ARPAnet: wood@drift.enet.dec.com
Digital Drive                 | EASYnet: DRIFT::WOOD
MKO2-1/J12                    | Usenet : ...!decwrl!drift.enet!wood
Merrimack, NH  03054          | AT&T   : (603) 884-4686
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily
            reflect those of my employer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: mwtilden@math.uwaterloo.ca (Mark W. Tilden)
Subject: Re: A gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a pack of wolves...
Keywords: RUR
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 14:34:51 GMT


Seems to me you have to distinguish between fixed base manipulators
which are often found in groups and mobile devices.  The first
could be regarded as a 'Grip of manipulators', and the second 
a 'Stagger of walkers' or a 'Roll of wheelers' based upon the type.

My $0.02.

Is all.


-- 
Mark Tilden: _-_-_-__--__--_      /(glitch!)  M.F.C.F Hardware Design Lab.
-_-___       |              \  /\/            U of Waterloo. Ont. Can, N2L-3G1
     |__-_-_-|               \/               (519)885-1211 ext. 2454 
"MY OPINIONS, YOU HEAR!? MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: cheung@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov (Edward Cheung)
Subject: Looking for users of the PUMA 562 industrial manipulator
Followup-To: EUGENE@C717.GSFC.NASA.GOV
Keywords: PUMA, 562
Organization: none
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 13:16:52 GMT

I am posting this for a colleague of mine who has no Usenet access.

He has borrowed a PUMA 562 with a Val II controller for use in his
lab for the purposes of grinding and polishing lenses, and is looking
for other users.

In particular he would like to know if anyone has interfaced a host
computer such as a MicroVax or IBM compatible to the Val controller.
Please bear in mind that his field of expertise is optics, and is
looking for a solution that requires little or no additional hardware.

If you have some information, please write to him at :
EUGENE@C717.GSFC.NASA.GOV

YOurs, Ed

+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
|          Edward Cheung, Ph.D.         |  The opinions expressed herein    |
|Satellite Servicing Robotics Laboratory|    do not necessarily reflect     |
|    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center   |       those of my employers'      |
|         Code 714.1, Bldg T11B         |                                   |
|          Greenbelt, MD 20771          |                                   |
|   301-286-1269(office) 286-4653(fax)  |  My next book:                    |
| Internet: cheung@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov | Statistics, Demos and Other Lies  |
+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+


Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: rogers@staff.tc.umn.edu ()
Subject: Re: A price quote F.Y.I.
Organization: University of Minnesota
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 02:28:51 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.160700.28746@phx.mcd.mot.com> schuch@phx.mcd.mot.com (John Schuch) writes:
>I got the following quotes for mechanical parts from 4 of the bigger
>suppliers. I thought the net might be interested.


I won't dispute any of your figures, but in the older BERG catalogs they 
listed prices for everything and I picked a component line based on price.
(and everything in the book was strong enough for my needs)

If you dont need the heavy duty stuff, these are the prices I found for
what I wanted in the Min-E-Pitch line. ( cable chain system, chain pitch
is .157" and 7/32 " wide    100LB tensile str.)

Polyurethane cable chains (steel cable molded inside) have the advantage of
never needing messy lubrication

If you use the plastic gears (delryn) these are the prices

>                Roller Chain    9 Tooth    20 Tooth     Minimum 
>                 0.250 pitch    Sprocket   Sprocket     Order
>Company         ( per foot )    ( qty 1 )  ( qty 1 )
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
   Min-E-Pitch stuff   Gears fit on 1/4 inch shafts        

 BERG Precision     $2.8         $2.99 (15 tooth)        
 (516) 599-5010  (Bulk 10 foot length)	     $3.63  (55 tooth)
                  $3.93 12.5 inch continuous chain
                        /* between size sprockets run between these prices  */



>BERG Precision     $4.56         $6.60       $9.45       $25.00
>(516) 599-5010
>
>PIC Design         $13.68        $10.23      $14.93      $50.00
>(203) 758-8272
>
>Stock Drive Prods  $3.25         $6.31       $8.84       $50.00
>(516) 328-3300
>
>McMaster-Carr      $2.31         $5.04       $8.51        NONE !!
>(213) 692-5911


I am getting myself a McMaster-Carr catalog soon to check out their lighter
duty stuff myself!


Brynn Rogers      rogers@staff.tc.umn.edu
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: lalit+@CS.CMU.EDU (Lalitesh Katragadda)
Subject: Re: PWM
Keywords: PWM, DC Motors
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 21:42:17 GMT

PWM or Pulse Width Modulation is a method of controlling DC motor speed.
This is done by switching the motor on for a specified period of time over
a given interval. For example if the motor is switched on for 8 ms out of 
every 10 ms it will run slower than before. The dynamics of the motor prevent
it from stopping and going. Smooth motion can be achieved by experimenting
with period. If digital control is used (say a 68HC11), the period also 
determines the resolution of control. 

Benefits:
          Controlling speed using DC motors and a constant voltage source. 
Rough calculation can be done by the following formula. V = P*Vo/T
V : effective voltage, Vo : Applied voltage, T : time period, P : On period.


Cons:

   Have to be careful about transient spikes in voltage, could restrict it using
zeners.

   Could be ineffecient depending on circuitery in terms of power consumed and
the torque that can be squeezed out of the motor.

cheers,
lalit@ri.cmu.edu


Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: nsharma@sharm.uucp (Nawien Sharma)
Subject: Re: Mini Board traffic
Organization: Sharmtech Systems Inc., Willowdale, Ont., Canada
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 04:24:36 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

davidr@davidr.mentorg.com (David Ransier) writes:
: Enough sitting by quietly! It's time to add my two cents.

And my two should make four !
: 
: I agree whole heartedly with Fred.  I'm very new to robotics.  In fact, I haven't
: really started yet.  I've been technically intertested for many years but felt 
: the experimental kits were either too expensive or too mucha toy.  I'm hoping
: my purchase of the miniboard kit will get me started with a real project.
: 
: I wouldn't know about it at all if it wasn't for the "noise" on the net.
: 
: There seems to be very little real robot-industry info sharing going on 
: here. So it makes good sense to use some of this bandwidth for promoting
: and encouraging the hobby/industry.
: 
I agree with you and Fred. 
What is the harm in us sharing and directing our efforts together ?
The so called "noise" is what I am sure has gathered the attention of
many persons. I for one, am unable to commit any significant capital
investment or time for my interest in robotics. I have sensed a great deal
of excitement in this newsgroup. And rightfully so, robotics is a facinating
field. If we can bear with the occasional posts, and wait this out, I am
sure that when a large contingent has assembled their miniboards we will 
start to see a lot of "ROBOTIC" related topics.

I believe that this "noise" is constructive and is not the same "noise"
that plagues other newsgroups. I hope that others feel the same.
-- 
Nawien Sharma, Sharmtech Systems Inc. ..uunet.ca!snitor!sharm!nsharma
106 Norton Avenue, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada M2N 4A5
(TEL): 416-512-7878 (UUCP): sharm.UUCP
From: cb1p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Chris Beasley)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: How to Explore Mars
Date: 10 Jan 93 14:33:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.cfIA1DS00YUo05pmpn
	<1993Jan8.222437.10042@ils.nwu.edu>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Sponsored account, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Actually, as one of the people who was offered an opportunity to work
on the Erebus project ( I turned it down for personal reasons ) I
think I can offer more insight into the "failure" of the Dante
explorer robot.  

Due to what I see as political and organizational reasons, 
the project was supposed to proceed from start to finish in
one year.  Once the negotiation and contract signing stuff was taken
care of, that time line had been shrunk to just ten months.  Ten
months to take a VERY complex problem through all phases from design
to actual mission operation.  That's a hell of a short time even for
the fine folks at the FRC who are used to difficult deadlines.

One of the simplifing decisions that was made to help meet the
schedule was to exclude any forms of redundancy in the system that
would cope in the event of any single point failures such as the
fiber optic link failure that resulted in the mission being scrubbed.

In retrospect this may have been a "bad" decision but it seems that
without it there would have been no way to complete any portion of
the project in the time allotted.  In a real mission there would
almost certainly be a more generous time/money budget and a
careful evaluation of the possible single point failure modes would
have been made.  Ample redundancy would be designed into all mission
critical systems that would allow operation to continue under a
variety of failure scenarios.  

Overall, I think the Erebus project was a qualified success, in
that it must have been one of the most rapid development 
projects ever to have met with even partial success in 
such a hostile environment. Not just the final mission environment but
the pressured environment under which the development project was
carried out.

Hopefully, they will get another shot at it next "summer" with 
a machine that has had the advantage of an additional
year of unhurried development.  

My hat is off to the Erebus team who came through under intense
pressure ( and temperature 8^) ).
Cb
Newsgroups: comp.robotics