HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gkulosa@world.std.com (Greg A Kulosa)
Subject: Re: Various C compilers for 6270 & Miniboard
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 18:21:17 GMT

wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM (Rick Wagoner) writes:

>After going over the docs for the Mini board and the LEGO 6270
>robot, I noticed that they both refer to C compilers for code development.

>Can the Interactice C compiler, mentioned in the 6270 docs, be used to successfully
>develop code for the Mini board?  Or must we purchase the compiler from Dunfield?

Interactive-C (IC) works by first downloading a 'pseudo-code'
interpreter to the 6.270 board.  I believe that this interpreter
(which is written in 68HC11 assembler) is about 10K.  This is
obviously way too big for the internal memory of the 68HC11 used in
the Miniboard design.  Then, you would also download your code
produced by IC.  Since the Miniboard has no capability to add external
memory, you can't use IC with it.

You can either buy the C cross-compiler from Dunfield Development, or
program the Miniboard in assembler.  Motorola provides free assemblers
for almost all their MCU's on their BBS.

I have also heard tell of a GNU GCC port to the 68HC11, but I haven't
gotten a hold of it.  Has anyone else seen this, or know where to FTP
it?

>Thanks for any assistance,

>Rick

>---
>+-----------------------------------------------+
>+ 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...	+
>+-----------------------------------------------+

-- 
Greg A. Kulosa		|  "If we are to be damned, let's be damned for what
Systems Administrator	|   we really are"    - Jean-Luc Picard
Oberon Software		|___________________________________________________
gkulosa@oberon.com	 One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
From: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Miniboard Spec needed
Date: 15 Dec 92 08:08:07 GMT
Organization: Robotic Midwives, Ltd., Livermore, CA

Please pardon the FAQ, but I need the spec of the Miniboard controller
that was posted about a or so week ago. I've only paid superficial 
attention to the whole Miniboard discussion since I didn't have a
need for it (and am not an electronic hobbiest), but a potential
application just dropped into my lap for which it would be ideal.

If someone could forward me the spec, cost/ordering info, etc., I'd
be most grateful.

TIA,

- Jack

=============================================================================
||Jack Hagerty, Robotic Midwives, Ltd.                 jack@rml.com        ||
||Livermore, CA		           NOTE! New, improved address! ^^^        ||
||(510) 455-1143	            (old ones will still work)             ||
||-------------------------------------------------------------------------||
|| October 31, 1992 - Halloween                                            ||
|| November 1, 1992 - First Xmas Tree lot set up                           ||
||    [This isn't just cynicism, I saw it this morning on my bike ride]    ||
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: jeremiah@cuug.ab.ca (Jerry Jeremiah 290-8941)
Subject: Re: Darren Senn? Where is he?
Organization: Calgary UNIX Users' Group
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 23:51:33 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.145513.5638@microsoft.com> jony@microsoft.com (Jonny Yeargers) writes:
>What has happened to Darren Senn and his 'parts kits'? I have not received
>a reply to any mail to his address. Any news? JonY@microsoft.com

Yeah,  please let me know too.  I sent him a money order but didn't show up on
his last list.  So I thought,  "Perhaps I sent it without my name on it or
maybe the snail-mail guys lost it."  Now I can't get him to tell me whether
it has yet arrived or not.

Thanks in advance.  

>>Jerryn
From: fredm@media.mit.edu (Fred G Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Various C compilers for 6270 & Miniboard
Date: 20 Dec 92 06:36:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Dec20.063611.27522
Distribution: usa
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory

>In article <BzF1nI.z0@world.std.com> gkulosa@world.std.com (Greg A
>Kulosa) writes: 
>>Interactive-C (IC) works by first downloading a 'pseudo-code'
>>interpreter to the 6.270 board.  I believe that this interpreter
>>(which is written in 68HC11 assembler) is about 10K.  This is
>>obviously way too big for the internal memory of the 68HC11 used in
>>the Miniboard design.  Then, you would also download your code
>>produced by IC.  Since the Miniboard has no capability to add external
>>memory, you can't use IC with it.
>
In article <lj4lnkINN2dh@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
cmcmanis@pepper.Eng.Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) asks:

>Ok, would it be possible to load the interpreter into EPROM (the
>miniboard does take a variant with 12K eprom. And then run your
>programs out of the EEPROM ? 

There are a couple reasons why this would be hard.  First is that the
pcode program uses some self-modifying code, which would be
problematic for obvious reasons if running out of any type of ROM.
These sections could be recoded either to not use self-modifying
techniques, or to copy themselves into a known RAM area.  (It would be
nice for this to be done anyway so that IC could be used to develop
real ROM-based applications.)

The second thing is that the 12K EPROM version of the 6811 has only
512 bytes of EEPROM.  This isn't really enough to do much of anything
in terms of being a main code space area.

Perhaps if someone wrote a sub-set of the pcode program, say about
500 to 700 bytes long, and then modified the host side of IC to
compile for this subset, the approach would be workable.  


	- Fred
From: yee@edison.seas.ucla.edu (John Yee)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: looking for locations to buy parts
Date: 10 Dec 92 21:53:17 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: SEASnet, University of California, Los Angeles

Someone nice posted answers to this very question not long ago and
one of the companies he mentioned was:

Sterling Instrument, 
Stock Drive Products
2101 Jericho Turnpike, Box 5416
New Hyde Park, NY 11042-5416
(516) 328-3300
FAX (516) 326-8827

I wrote them and got back 4 catalogs full of small parts like motors,
gears, ball bearings etc.  Their response was pretty fast.

The other addresses are:

Allied Devices
Standard Precision Mechanical Components
2365 Milburn Avenue, P.O. Box 502
Baldwin, New York 11510

PIC Design
P.O. Box 1004
Benson Road
Middlebury, CT 06762-1004

-- 
jy, yee@seas.ucla.edu - "The man with no .sig"
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: fredm@media.mit.edu (Fred G Martin)
Subject: Re: Steve Wallace?
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 06:56:50 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.153734.4052@cuug.ab.ca>, jeremiah@cuug.ab.ca
(Jerry Jeremiah 290-8941) writes: 

> I'm sorry to waste bandwidth, but I am getting a little worried.
> I sent steve a money order for 4 miniboard kits and didn't appear
> on his posted list.  So I mailed him and have not heard back from
> him in about a month.  Does anyone have his address or phone number.
> I really need to get hold of him.

I exchanged e-mail with Steve within the last week.  He was just
returning from a trip I think.

His address is: 1309 Francisco Road, Columbus OH 43220.  A call to
information should yield a phone number.

I hope things work out with these parts orders (both Steve's and
Darren Senn's).  These guys are donating their time to provide the
parts kits on a not-for-profit basis, so it's unfair to get too upset
if things bog down a bit, but on the other hand, they should recognize
the need to keep people informed once they've accepted money.


	- Fred

Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: jeremiah@cuug.ab.ca (Jerry Jeremiah 290-8941)
Subject: Steve Wallace?
Organization: Calgary UNIX Users' Group
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:37:34 GMT

I'm sorry to waste bandwidth, but I am getting a little worried.
I sent steve a money order for 4 miniboard kits and didn't appear
on his posted list.  So I mailed him and have not heard back from
him in about a month.  Does anyone have his address or phone number.
I really need to get hold of him.

>>Jerry
From: boone@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Robotics information guide
Date: 19 Dec 92 20:40:43 GMT
Organization: Northern Arizona University





     Often I see inquiries for lists of manufacturers and suppliers
and FAQ's. The other day while loitering in the robo stacks of our
university library I came across a relatively new (91) robotics
reference book. Its called 'Robotics in Education: an information
guide'. The title is somewhat inappropriate because the book covers
most areas of robotics, not just educational uses. The book is
really a 435 page bibliography . Sections include ......
......Robot manufacturers, aeronautics, agricultural robots,
societies and associations, periodicals and journals,  etc, etc.

     Robotics in Education: an information guide
       by  Veronica Pantelidis
       publisher- The Scarecrow Press

     I was impressed (and I'm not usually impressed by thick books
with no pictures).  ~8-)

                         DAN BOONE
From: cheshire@inqmind.bison.mb.ca (Sundeep Bhuller)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Power Glove
Date: 19 Dec 92 23:00:14 GMT
Organization: The Inquiring Mind BBS  1 204 488-1607


        I am have got the power glove hooked up and working, but I am 
wondering about one thing which is how can I get it to draw things.... I 
have modified the source code a bit so I can move and get the lines.. Umm 
well could somebody upload or post the newest source code for the Power 
Glove please... Or Leave me e-mail.

cheshire@inqmind.bison.mb.ca
The Inquiring Mind BBS, Winnipeg, Manitoba  204 488-1607
From: vellmer@iw.uni-hannover.de (Ulrich Vellmer)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: guide and control system
Date: 15 Dec 92 14:38:14 GMT
Reply-To: vellmer@iw.uni-hannover.de
Organization: Institut fuer Werkstoffkunde, Uni Hannover

Hi,

i'm looking for references about concepts of 'intelligent' guide and control
systems for vehicles (especially autonomous underwater vehicle (auv), remotely
operated vehicle (rov)).

I'd be very thankful.


   Greetings,
             Ulrich



********************vellmer@iw.uni-hannover.de*********************
*                                                                 *
* Ulrich Vellmer                         Tel: INT-49-511-762-3906 *
* Institut fuer Werkstoffkunde           FAX: INT-49-511-762-5245 *
* Universtitaet Hannover                                          *
* Appelstrasse 11 A                                               *
* W 3000 Hannnover 1; Germany                                     *
*******************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.robotics,sci.electronics
From: ibacon@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Ian Bacon)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: FAQ ?
Date: 16 Dec 1992 08:34:53 +0800
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: uniwa.uwa.edu.au
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Where can I find the FAQ for this group ??
From: andrewl@cs.anu.edu.au (Andrew Longhorn (Vac Scholar))
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: high resolution 3D imaging / robotics vision?
Date: 16 Dec 1992 22:24:27 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, ANU, Australia
Distribution: world
Reply-To: andrewl@cs.anu.edu.au
NNTP-Posting-Host: barnard.anu.edu.au


I thought I would ask this, Does anyone know if much progress/work/theorising
has been done on 3D depth mapping?

What I am trying to get a phrase for is some sort of system that you point
at something and it returns a 2d map of z-values corresponding to the distance
from the sensor of the first thing it hits. (sort of like a 2d version of
those fish sensor things they use in fishing), y'know, they point it downwards
beneath the boat and get something like:

.                   x
 .            x    
  .. .                    .
    . ..........  .....  ...... .          <- sea bed
                            .

where: x - is possible fish schools.

Anyway, what I need is some system for determining the distance to objects
within about a 100 degree cone (or sq. base pyramid) eminating from the
sensor location:

                X     <- sensor
               / \
              /   \
             /     \
            /       \     <- sensor range and area
           /  .......  \
          /..        ..\
          ..          ..
            ...........

Hopefully returning a 2d grid with the distance information and some special
number (or really large) for out-of-range values. so if you point
it down at a table with a block on it you may get something like:

 11 10 10 10  9 10 10 10 10 11
 11 10 10 10  9   6 10 10 10 11
 11 10 10   6  5   6   6 10 10 11
 11 10   6   6  5   6   6 10 10 11
 11 10 10   6  5   6   6   6 10 11
 11 10 10   6  5   6   6 10 10 11
 11 10 10 10  5 10 10 10 10 11
 11 10 10 10  9 10 10 10 10 11
 11 10 10 10  9 10 10 10 10 11

  ^                  ^                      ^  -- these would probably be results of the
                                                       point-radiating nature of the sensor - helpful
                                                       for my intended application.

Anyway, you all get what I mean. I'd imagine this sort of thing would be
really helpful in robot/computer vision systems, and other areas.

ANY leads on technology like this, ranging from heresay/legend to prices and
distributors, would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Andrew

andrewl@cs.anu.edu.au
From: sinster@cse.ucsc.edu (Darren Senn)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Miniboard parts kits
Date: 18 Dec 92 21:33:51 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: tioga.ucsc.edu

In article <lj4giiINNsfa@thor.cs.utexas.edu> cpg@cs.utexas.edu (Carlos M. Puchol) writes:
>I remember seeing some messages about some people not having received
>the parts kits from Mr. Darren Senn. I haven't received the kits
>yet and he doesn't answer the mail. Could someone post his (new?) telephone
>for all those  who have not received the kits. I would like to have a chat
>with him.

I've been answering mail and getting kits out.  I know this is going much
longer than it should have, but please bear with me.  My phone number is
down below, in my .signature.
-- 
Darren Senn                                            Phone:    (408) 454-9074
sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us                       Snail:     129 Goss Ave.
Wasurenaide -- doko e itte mo soko ni anata wa iru yo.     Santa Cruz, Ca 95065
From: scvalentine@hou.amoco.com (Steve Valentine)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Various C compilers for 6270 & Miniboard
Date: 17 Dec 1992 22:23:57 GMT
Organization: Amoco
Distribution: world
Reply-To: scvalentine@hou.amoco.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: usasun47.hou.amoco.com

In article 1gqbovINNpqd@male.EBay.Sun.COM, wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM (Rick Wagoner) writes:

>Can the Interactice C compiler, mentioned in the 6270 docs, be used to successfully
>develop code for the Mini board?  Or must we purchase the compiler from Dunfield?

There is a small C cross compiler implementation for the 68HC11 available on
Motorola's BBS. (Also on calvin.stanford.edu) I haven't used it because I don't
have the parts for my miniboard yet. :-(   I plan on porting Fred Martins library
routines to small C as soon as I have working hardware to test with.

Steve
---
| Steve Valentine             | My opinions are my own and not those of my  |
| Amoco Production Co         | employer.                                   |
| 501 Westlake Park Boulevard |                             __o             |
| Houston, TX  77079          |                             \  >            |
| scvalentine@hou.amoco.com   |                          (*)/ (*)           |

Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: gkulosa@world.std.com (Greg A Kulosa)
Subject: Re: Mini/6270 PC boards?
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 16:44:44 GMT

hgg@icf.hrb.com (Herbert G. Greene) writes:

>Is there a source for the printed circuit boards whose layouts are
>shown in the documentation for the miniboard and the 6.270 course?

Here is an excerpt from the file /pub/miniboard/howtoget.kits on 
cher.media.mit.edu:

*** Beginning of file ***

Steve Wallace (wallace@zeus.franklin.edu) is putting together a parts
kit order for the Mini Board.  There is also the possibility of
purchasing assembled boards.

Please contact him for details; do not ask me!  Thanks.

        - Fred Martin
          Wed Oct 21 12:28:28 1992

*** End of file ***

And here is the file /pub/miniboard/howtoget.boards from
cher.media.mit.edu:

*** Beginning of file ***

An individual unaffiliated with MIT has availed himself to job of
coordinating fabrication and distribution of the Mini Board
printed circuit board.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy or copies of the board,
please send e-mail to Gregory Ratcliff at
gratclif@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu.

You can also send him an order directly.  At the time of this writing,
the cost is US$6 per board.  Make checks out to Gregory Ratcliff and
mail them to him at 1763 Hess Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio 43212.

        - Fred Martin
          Tue Oct 20 14:31:58 1992

*** End of file ***


I have just gotten done with a run of 50 6.270 board sets.  I do not
plan on doing any more soon.  However, someone else may decide to
sponsor a run.  Watch comp.robotics for announcements.



>gary greene
>hgg@icf.hrb.com
> 

-- 
Greg A. Kulosa		|  "If we are to be damned, let's be damned for what
Systems Administrator	|   we really are"    - Jean-Luc Picard
Oberon Software		|___________________________________________________
gkulosa@oberon.com	 One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: rlee@bgsu.edu (Bob Lee)
Subject: Robot vision
Organization: Bowling Green State Univ.
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:20:19 GMT

Thanks to all of you with suggestions on robot projects. I think I've got
one nailed down.

The snag I've run into so far is that I need to find a cost-effective way
to give my robot limited vision. I need it to do a 360 degree scan of its
environment, read the sensor at set intervals, send it to and A/D converter,
store the values in a RAM memory, then analyze the values to get a rough
picture of its environment. Basically, the final result needs to be an
array of values that reflect the surrounding area where the value will
give the computer an idea to determine where objects in the room begin and
end. 

This is a crude method and prone to error but I figured the other option
was to do a scan at two different places to get a binocular view. But that
would require a lot of trig functions, not easily implemented in 6802
assembler language.

If anyone has done a similar problem I'd really like to hear about your
results.

-BOB

Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: dabbott@augean.eleceng.adelaide.edu.AU (Derek Abbott)
Subject: Insect Vision
Organization: Electrical and Electronic Eng., University of Adelaide
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 07:28:08 GMT


Can you robotic guys give me some idea of how needed/important
an electronic sensor based on insect vision would be to you.

Any references giving application area examples would be appreciated.

I heard on the radio that the Japanese are big on studying
cockroach vision -- any references on that one?

Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: cs911225@ariel.yorku.ca (KEN E WILLMOTT)
Subject: hc16 info
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 01:14:37 GMT

What is this new beast on the block, the HC16. I did a lot
of development work on the HC11 over the summer, and I'm
interested in a simple description, especially, is it a
16 bit machine, and does it have a bootloader feature?

	-Ken
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 13:33:46 -0500 
From: James Ryan Miller <jmce+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Motorola literature

	Could someone repost the names of the two Motorola literatures that
were given earlier for the 68hc11?  

	Thanks,
		Ryan Miller
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
From: Peter Stuer <peterst@arti.vub.ac.be>
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: programming the MC68HC11
Date: 16 Dec 92 18:06:34 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: V.U.B. AI-Lab
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1

Hello all,

The MC68HC11 is great for controling sensors and motors etc. What I would
like to find out is what tools you are using for programming it. If you
send me
the name of the product and the the company that distributes it, I will
summerize for the group. It would of course be even more interesting if
you
include a short comment on the product itself (how is the documentation,
does 
it produce clean code ...).

Thanks in advance

Peter Stuer
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
peterst@arti.vub.ac.be
From: connolly@rabbit.cs.umass.edu (Christopher Ian Connolly)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Mobile Robots - Planning and Control
Date: 17 Dec 92 23:01:12 GMT
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst

In article <102392@netnews.upenn.edu> sarkar@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Nilanjan Sarkar) writes:
>I am looking for pointers towards merging algorithms of mobile robots.

Your problem seems to involve reactive path planning, so I'll give a
pointer to some of the work going on at this lab:

  Connolly CI, Grupen RA, "Harmonic Control", Proc. 1992 International 
  Symposium on Intelligent Control, August 1992, IEEE

  Connolly CI, "Applications of Harmonic Functions to Robotics",
  Proc. 1992 International Symposium on Intelligent Control,
  August 1992, IEEE

There are others, but these are the best to start with.  In robotics
parlance, it's a "potential field" approach -- but it's based on the
classical potential (Laplace's equation).  The basic idea is an appeal
to incompressible fluid flow -- hence no local minima.  The digital
implementations we use are adequate for real-time planning for a
Denning robot, and for low-resolution control/planning for a P-50 arm.

The method can also be implemented using a resistive network.  This
sort of an implementation can provide reaction to dynamic obstacles on
the order of milliseconds, if not microseconds.  Another convenient
aspect of the approach is that the resulting paths are almost always
smooth.  The two papers above describe how the method can be used with
a dynamic environment map, and they contain other pointers to the
literature.
-- 
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Christopher Ian Connolly			connolly@cs.umass.edu
Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics		wa2ifi
University of Massachusetts at Amherst		Amherst, MA 01003
From: cmcmanis@pepper.Eng.Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Re: Various C compilers for 6270 & Miniboard
Date: 18 Dec 1992 22:55:48 GMT
Organization: Sun
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: pepper

In article <BzF1nI.z0@world.std.com> gkulosa@world.std.com (Greg A Kulosa) writes:
>Interactive-C (IC) works by first downloading a 'pseudo-code'
>interpreter to the 6.270 board.  I believe that this interpreter
>(which is written in 68HC11 assembler) is about 10K.  This is
>obviously way too big for the internal memory of the 68HC11 used in
>the Miniboard design.  Then, you would also download your code
>produced by IC.  Since the Miniboard has no capability to add external
>memory, you can't use IC with it.

Ok, would it be possible to load the interpreter into EPROM (the
miniboard does take a variant with 12K eprom. And then run your
programs out of the EEPROM ? 


--
--Chuck McManis			    Mr. NIS+			    Sunsoft
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: <none>   Internet: cmcmanis@Eng.Sun.COM
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.