First robotics is not cheap but it is a great program. I have been working with the WPI / Mass Academy team this year as one of the mentors and they have done a phenomenal job. Take a look at the INS system they built for this years game. During the first 15 seconds of the game the robots are autonomous and this guides the robot to the locations they want. If they get bumped off course or a wheel slips the system compensates. Under driver control they can activate a heading hold function and the robot will maintain the heading the driver wants. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pictures.php?s=&action=single&picid=3901&direction=DESC&sort=date&perrow=4&trows=3&quiet=verbose At 12:17 PM 2/28/03 -0800, you wrote: >Great idea! I was in the robotics club at my high school a couple of >years ago and it was a great experience. If you're in the USA and >you're interested in more than just fooling around with various items >(i.e. a real competition), you might want to look into FIRST robotics. >They'll give you some parts, including motors, a control computer >partially based on the BASIC Stamp, speed controllers, pneumatics, >sensors, and a bunch of other stuff. > >Then, if you and the school can find some sponsors, you can buy the >metal you need and gears and such, and put together a complete robot and >go compete. I don't remember if this was set up by FIRST or not, but we >had two engineers from JPL who helped us with the design, so you get to >learn from the people who are already doing it. Overall, it's a >wonderful thing to do, and definitely a good way to get people more >interested in engineering. > >Daniel Imfeld > > >On Friday, February 28, 2003 1:10 AM, Alex Perez >wrote: > > > I know how you feel. I am a teenager with a love for electronics, > > and trying to get other kids into it just turns them off. They just > > feel that people will labelthem as "nerds" or "geeks" and then ther > > life will be over! The humanity! > > > > I AM thinkingof starting a robotics club in my highschool, and the > > school is pretty big, so we'll see what happens... > > > > > > > Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 13:13:12 +0100 > > > Reply-To: pic microcontroller discussion list > > > > > > From: "Jan-erik Soderholm (QAC)" > > > > > > Subject: Re: [PIC]: Poptronics no more :-( > > > To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > > > > > > Isn't one other explanation also that electronics as > > > a hobby just isn't as large as it might have been ? > > > Now, Playstations, PC-games, MTV and such draws much > > > more interest from the young today. Today we don't > > > *make* things ourself, we buy, buy, buy, consume, > > > consume, consume... > > > > > > Jan-Erik. > > > > > > -- > > > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > > > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > > > > ______________________________________________________ > > Get Paid... With Your Free Email at > > http://www.zwallet.com/index.html?user=coindood > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different >ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. Larry G. Nelson Sr. mailto:L.Nelson@ieee.org http://www.mchipguru.com -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body