laptop use for a robotic controller

[Sadao Fujiwara-san]

Hello robotics comunity,

          I have had the idea of making a computer based robotics device but when i went searching around for controllers i found several different products.  then i remembered that i have an old working gateway solo 9500.  i thought wow this would be aw some for a controller.  the only problem is i don't know how i should go about taking this thing apart.   being new to the concept of computer based robotics any tips , pointers or usefull publications ( websites, books) on how to go about this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sadao 

[Steve Joblin]

I've been thinking about the same idea lately.. I've been looking at ITX single board computers for their small form factor.  Here are my ideas...

1.  Create wireless links for the monitor (don't know if this is even possible... I've seen some devices just starting to come into the market, but they are very pricey) and for the keyboard, so that the robot does not need to carry these heavy components.
2.  Use the PC's serial port to communicate with motor controllers/sensors
3.  Use the PC's USB ports to communicate with Phidget devices and other USB devices like a webcam.

If you want to take your Gateway Solo 9500 apart, I would start by downloading the tech manual on how to properly disassemble it.  I don't know how close this manual is to your model, but you can buy the Gateway Solo 1450 Notebook Manual for $9.95 from here... http://computerdoc.homestead.com/GatewayNotebooks.html

[AndrewM]

I would suggest that before you go ripping the laptop apart, you first design your robot around the laptops capabilities.  Much easier to program a laptop and debug any problems while the laptop is whole and fully functioning, as opposed to having to troubleshoot the individual laptop components plus the robot parts.

I know a lot of people have had good success with using some flavor of LINUX or another for computer controller robots.

[JesseWelling]

If you are going to make a robot out of a laptop I'd say just leave it as is and build your platform around it.
The Serial Port Motor Controller and USB Phidgets are probably your best bet to get a timely (and very capable) robot, if you are familiar with programing.

As for what to use on your computer I recommend Linux because it is more performance thrifty than Windows, and has better Real-Time capeabilities. And IIRC, Linux does have native Phidget drivers.

Is this an Inside or outside bot? How heavy is your Laptop? How much money do you have/want to spend on this robot?

I think those are some of the questions you should be asking before you decide to use the laptop....

[Somchaya]

I actually built a robot that ran around with a laptop on top.  But I haven't created a webpage on that yet..

Anyway, here are a few thoughts to consider:

• Weight - a laptop is pretty heavy. I had to get extra-strong servos in order to control the robot effectively
• Computation - a laptop can probably do a lot more computation over a microcontroller
• Interfaces - having USB on the laptop allows you to connect to some devices which may be difficult otherwise, eg webcams, speakers, monitors, keyboards, USB gamepads
• Interfaces (cont'd) - it's difficult to interface with sensors and motors on a laptop, so you'd probably want a microcontroller of some sort (or a servo controller) to do this for you, and you can communicate with it via USB or serial

I wouldn't suggest taking the laptop apart either. Its main strengths lie in the fact that everything is packaged nicely. If you want to have individual components, I'd recommend getting a mini-ITX and building a PC up, or getting something like a gumstix.