LEGOS: We made some nice robotics with legos without any fancy kits. Take a wad of plumbers epoxy putty and glue a motor anywhere on a lego. For more fun, glue a tinkertoy or an erector set part onto a lego for an adapter kit, and use the whole pile of construction toys as interchangeable parts. Me and my daughter made all kinds of little moving things using a motor out of an old cassette player and some glue. Also teaches a little flexibility in thinking and some basic hacking skills! Legos are neat, but teach you inside-the-box thinking- that legos cannot plug into any other system. We hackers all know that ANY system can plug into ANY OTHER system, with a little A-Dapter kit! "Well we tried to put it all together one night, we had two lefts and no rights, I didn't think it all would fit until we used the A-Dapter kit" misquoted from Johnny Cash Psychobilly Cadillac A-Dapter kit should contain: Epoxy putty, duct tape, MIG welder, soldering iron, side grinder, zip screws, hose clamps, bailing wire, PIC programmer, 1 dozen vise grips, and a big box of miscellaneous components. -- Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: Dan Creagan To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Date: Thursday, January 06, 2000 8:33 AM Subject: Re: Robotics for Father/Son Project? [OT] >Eww, Ewww! I wish I had said that! Silly me, I forgot the Mindstorm kit. > >It does have some drawbacks - Legos fall apart when you bump them, the brick >is sealed, not as expandable as a 'from scratch' 'bot, etc. A friend of >mine got a kit for her family to play with ... she ended up making all the >'bots and the sons made weird Lego contraptions. > >I think the Lego setups also have the 'store bought puzzle' look that some >like and some don't like. I feel like I'm REALLY wasting my time when I >start looking for those darn little squares. My 'from scratch' robots look >like they are from scratch, but I have a bit more satisfaction with them. > >Having said all the bad things - I really do think that you get great value >for the money with the Lego setup... everything you need in one box - the >other 'bots are an exercise in scrounging to find all the things you need to >make them work. The Mindstorms kit is definitely a consideration. > >Dan > >> With no experience in electronics, I would suggest the Lego Mindstorm >> Robotics Invention System. >> http://www.rentron.com/Lego_Mindstorms.htm >> >> They include a "controller" brick that is programmable from Windows >software >> that they provide as well as sensors, motors and other miscellaneous parts >> that all can be assembled in the traditional Lego way. Everything you >would >> need to build a simple robot. They are a little expensive (the base kit >is >> ~ $200). You can also buy various themed expansion packs. >> >> I personally have not used it, but everything I've heard about it has been >> very positive. I chose to build from scratch, but I have a 4 year EE >degree >> and a fair amount of practical experience so I wanted a bit more of a >> challenge. I have been seriously considering buying one of these to work >on >> with my kids. >> >> Hope this helps, >> Jonathan >> >> > >> > I have a brother-in-law who has expressed interest in a father-son >> > robotics >> > project for him and his son. (Finally!) They're both pretty smart but >> > have >> > no experience in electronics. His son is 13. I'm debating what to >direct >> > them to. I'm looking at 3 projects: 1) Robert Nansel's breadbot robot >> > series of articles in Nuts & Volts, 2) Myke Predko's IR Tank robot >using >> > Tamiya parts or 3) Parallax's Growbot. For a brain they could use >> > Stamps/clones (BX-24?) or PICs. My strategy would be to provide them a >> > project with software they could build & get up and running and then go >on >> > to learn to modify the software. Stamps may be easier to learn since >they >> > use BASIC but couldn't they also use the PICs with the help of the Easy >> > Pic' >> > n books? Any of these options I think are within their budget. >> > >> > Has anybody been down this path or know what might work best? Any >> > recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks. Dave Scott