> Comments would be gratefully received

I am in the process of finishing up what might be an EXCELLENT teaching
tool.
(Already in Alpha Testing).  It is basically an arena with up to four
robots.  Each robot
has as its brain a 16C74.  A lot of the peripheral stuff isn't used but ALL
of the instructions
are supported (as well is interrupts, etc.)  The robots have as their
output: Left, right, accelerate, decelerate, fire.
(They handle much like a car.  You have to keep turning left until you are
facing your desired direction.)  They receive as
input their direction, speed, distance to next object (line of sight), next
object detected (another robot or a wall), their damage
and whether or not the cannon is ready to fire.
It is all in software but the program is done in such a way that it COULD
be moved to real robots in an arena.  You can use any tool that
makes .HEX files to program the robots.
This should provide a pretty neat way to teach PIC assembly as well as
elementary robotic techniques.

If you (or anyone else) is interested, please send e-mail to
picbot@innovatus.com.  This will be released as shareware (First public
release will be at the end of this month.).  Part of the shareware
registration fee will give you an entry into a contest to see who can
program the PIC the
best and demolish all of the other robots!!

Best of luck,

Alan G. Smith
+---------------------------------------------------------
| Alan G. Smith
| ags@poboxes.com
| http://www.innovatus.com/ags