Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: photray94 on June 28, 2008, 10:16:23 PM

Title: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: photray94 on June 28, 2008, 10:16:23 PM
I love this site so much!  It's great and has taught me quite a few things.  Now, I'm looking into my first robot project.  All the parts have shipped in for the fifty dollar robot; everything seems a little daunting right now.  I barely know anything about the application of electronics into robots, mechanics, etc.  I figure maybe I should tinker with what I have, instead of try to create a robot!  Sure, I could build the fifty dollar robot, come out with a totally awesome creation that can stay within a window; woohoo, I just tested my soldering skills to the limit and how well I can read directions - alright, maybe I would learn a bit more than that but you get the picture.  If I tinkered with the MCU, and came familiar with programming it to show output on actuators and the lot would that not put me in a better place then building a robot I did not conjure up myself?

Tell me what y'all think,
Ray
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: airman00 on June 28, 2008, 10:32:21 PM
tinkering is the first step but it is also a good idea to follow some sort of outline of a robot that you know works. It would be a better idea to build the 50 dollar robot and then afterwards tinker. Because after building that robot you have some background in robotics and then you can start tinkering easily and then you could reverse engineer code( thats how I learned)
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: photray94 on June 28, 2008, 10:58:31 PM
tinkering is the first step but it is also a good idea to follow some sort of outline of a robot that you know works. It would be a better idea to build the 50 dollar robot and then afterwards tinker. Because after building that robot you have some background in robotics and then you can start tinkering easily and then you could reverse engineer code( thats how I learned)

True, but I'd feel much more comfortable understanding something like the code I'm loading to the MCU on the fifty dollar robot, and right when I load that code be able to immediately modify it.  I think I'll just try some tinkering for now, thanks for your input though!  Do you know of any software I could use to load code via Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3 to the atmega8 MCU? Well, actually I mean the AVR development board or "programmer", which then goes to the MCU.
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: airman00 on June 28, 2008, 11:07:34 PM
sounds like a solid approach

I have Mac and am not able to program the AVR. I didn't really look into it though. My advice is to either find some emulator or just dual boot Windows ( what I do)
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: photray94 on June 28, 2008, 11:18:57 PM
sounds like a solid approach

I have Mac and am not able to program the AVR. I didn't really look into it though. My advice is to either find some emulator or just dual boot Windows ( what I do)

Thank you so much for the quick responses, I really appreciate it.  The parents and I just found our ancient WinXP OS disc and I'm very excited to try Boot Camp!  More developments on progress later.
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: airman00 on June 28, 2008, 11:33:26 PM
if you have yahoo messenger or gmail we could chat quicker  , I arranged sort of a robotics chat group among several members. Would u be interested in joining ( or would neone else here want to)

Make sure u update boot camp before installing!! It should be like version 2.1 . If you dont update before installing XP SP3 wont work!
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: photray94 on June 29, 2008, 01:10:47 AM
if you have yahoo messenger or gmail we could chat quicker  , I arranged sort of a robotics chat group among several members. Would u be interested in joining ( or would neone else here want to)

Make sure u update boot camp before installing!! It should be like version 2.1 . If you dont update before installing XP SP3 wont work!

Well, Boot Camp is up to date, but the Windows XP installation disc including only service pack one, it's possibly two to four years old.  I've been told within a few days - hopefully one - I'll be able to obtain the latest version of XP - Vista isn't for me :).  My yahoo messenger name is "photray94" minus the quotes.  Know that Yahoo isn't my primary website when it comes to chatting or e-mailing, I just have a yahoo account because so many other people do.  My primary e-mail is provided by Mac and I use AIM.  If you'd also like to know my AIM username just ask through a PM, because it's the same as my e-mail address which I prefer to keep confidential  ;).
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: airman00 on June 29, 2008, 07:27:10 AM
as long as the XP disc has a valid serial key then it can be upgraded to SP2 via online update. Do not update to SP3, its not worth it .
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: paulstreats on June 29, 2008, 05:11:23 PM
Quote
Do not update to SP3, its not worth it .

Apparently SP3 is non optional meanin that if you use the update service then it gets downloaded and applied whether you like it or not. Ive held out so far because ive heard of a few problems with it so far...
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: paulstreats on June 29, 2008, 05:13:53 PM
Oh yeah, and i think that your approach to learning is the best way. A lot of people can follow the instructions for the $50 robot but how many understand it. By breaking it up into small pieces and experimenting you can gain a better understanding for yourself. Anybody can follow an instruction manual(supposedly  :))
Title: Re: Tinkering, Not Creating
Post by: airman00 on June 29, 2008, 05:50:59 PM
Quote
Do not update to SP3, its not worth it .

Apparently SP3 is non optional meanin that if you use the update service then it gets downloaded and applied whether you like it or not. Ive held out so far because ive heard of a few problems with it so far...

no its optional

set up windows update to download and install manually. You have a choice whethere or not to upgrade, and I decided to keep SP2.