A contest was held which had the objective of the robot finding an electrical outlet on the wall in the front of the room as accurately as possible, and with the optional objective of actually plugging in a real plug. There were 4 entrants, however only three ran since Martin accidently smoked his processor just before the contest.  Oh well, these things happen ;-)

by Arthur Ed LeBouthillier

This article appeared in the October 1999 issue of The Robot Builder

Soldering is the use of a low-melting point, conducting alloy in order to create a mechanical and electrical joint. Notice that there are two important connection aspects: mechanical AND electrical; a good solder joint provides both.

by Arthur Ed LeBouthillier

This article appeared in the July 1999 issue of The Robot Builder.

In developing  mobile robots, one is often faced with severe limitations on the options available for power sources. Sure, one can consider internal-combustion engines, steam power, solar power and a host of other options, but each of these has unique
problems that limits their use to particular environments or to particularly large robots.

by Arthur Ed LeBouthillier

This article appeared in the June 1999 issue of The Robot Builder.

by Jim Ubersetzig

This article was published in the April 1999 issue of The Robot Builder.

This is a follow-up to the article "Dual Sensors for a STAMP".

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to add sensors to your robot - but weren't sure how to do it ?

by Arthur Ed LeBouthillier

This article appeared in the May 1999 issue of The Robot Builder.

by Arthur Ed LeBouthillier

This article appeared in the May 1999 issue of "The Robot Builder"

By Art LeBouthillier

This article was published in the March 1999 issue of The Robot Builder.

by Jim Ubersetzig

This article was published in the March 1999 issue of the Robot Builder. 

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to add sensors to your robot - but weren't sure how to do it ? In this two-part article I will show you how to build a pair of inexpensive sensors which share a Basic Stamp 1 computer.

Here is an interesting and informative PIC tutorial provided by Lukas Hoffmann from Emory University, Neuroscience.  He is a member of the Robotics and Automation Society at the University of Pittsburg (http://www.pitt.edu/~sorc/robotics/).

The tutorial gives an introduction to the PIC16F877A microcontroller, how to hook it up and make it work.  There are also example programs you can write to program the 16F877A to do things.