Hi Folks,

Ben Wirz and I have recently finished the design for a robot that
McGraw-Hill is going to sell initially through Barnes and Nobles (it will be
called the "TAB Electronics Build Your Own Robot Kit").

I would like to place the schematic/PICmicro MCU code on my web page, but I
have been pondering what is the best way to do it.  I will be putting the
schematics and source code on my site directly but, the design (especially
the code design) is very specific to the functions of the robot AND the
parts that were selected for it.

I could break some small parts out of it (such as the IR proximity detector
functions), but the sum of the parts is less than the final result (ie the
motor PWM loop integrates three other functions, the IR proximity detector,
a proprietary IR remote control receiver and a BS2 synchronous serial
interface).  Each of these functions can be demonstrated very simply...

Along with this, there are a number of parts that I think would be extremely
difficult for people to find.  The top of the list is the hand held remote
control (based on the NEC SC6122) followed by the IR Receivers and IR LEDs
(Watrony parts).

This product is "open source", and in any case the schematics and source
code will be published.  My question is, what is the best way to demonstrate
the functions in a way that people could also build them (and not be
frustrated by their inability to find parts or be unable to split the
functions out of the basic source code)?

myke

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