I wanna share something

[m4nti]

Sup guys,

So, couple weeks ago I was surfing the internet for some robot resources as it has been a long-kept dream of mine to build a robot and stumbled on this website. It has been very very helpful - especially the forum.

Anyway while I wait for some parts to arrive from Hong Kong me and my cousin (an electronics guy - I'm a programmer myself) decided to grab his intel 8051 chipset (an outright beast of a chipset may I add) and play around with some LEDs so I can get the hang of C for microcontrollers and it was friggin AWESOME!

The greatest part though was more on a philosophical base than anything else. See, when you're programming software or websites what you're doing will always remain virtual. As real as it may look, there's always a barrier - the screen - which will remain between you and what you're creating. But when I did those loops to light up the LEDs in sequence... MAN was the feeling great. You're seeing tangible evidence of what you're coding. You can see it, you can touch it. It's right there, happening before you!

I just can't wait for my parts to arrive and to start building my first robot. Even if I fail, I won't give up, because I'm sure that the feeling of seeing something work in front of my very eyes, something I built, will be worth it.

[m4nti]

Here's a video of what we did Micro Controller LED Test

[arixrobotics]

Hahah good job m4nti 

I guess that same feeling is what drives me too. I'm more of a software guy instead of hardware, but I dont enjoy programming computer programs as much as programming microcontrollers. Its a whole different feeling.


PS: Currently trying to program a "Hello World" onto an LCD. Somehow what looks like Japanese characters came out!

[galannthegreat]

Very nice! I wish I was more into programming myself... but that's soon to change. But I know what the feeling is when I get an LED to light or something like that. LOL. But the same feeling can be brought up especially when the hardware you work on works the way you intended it.

By the way, what kind of project are you going to do with the 8051? It sounds like you have something really cool planned.

[m4nti]

LOL I know it's not something "cool" to play around with LEDs but the feeling is great.

Well, what we're doing won't be using the 8051... we just wanted to try out C on it just to see if we're capable of building something. We'll probably just start out with an IR sensor to possibly keep our robot away from walls lol.

After we're done with that we'll see

[galannthegreat]

Cool! Keep us posted!

P.S. Are you going to be using an AVR in your project? If you are the support community here for them I really helpful.

[Razor Concepts]

How did you go about figuring what to do? Like, where did you learn to write the correct stuff in notepad, where did you learn what is used to program that 8051? Thanks!

[m4nti]

How did you go about figuring what to do? Like, where did you learn to write the correct stuff in notepad, where did you learn what is used to program that 8051? Thanks!

I'm a C# guy myself. I've been working with it for a couple of years now. The transition was pretty smooth. Other than that, well, the internet I must say. In my line of work it's almost impossible to remember EVERYTHING and we kinda develop a nack for "searching" for exactly the info we need.

Apart from that, I've got an ATmega8 coming my way, and AVR Studio does seem to have a LOT of options for AVR controllers so it shouldn't be too hard.

[izaktj]

I just can't wait for my parts to arrive and to start building my first robot. Even if I fail, I won't give up, because I'm sure that the feeling of seeing something work in front of my very eyes, something I built, will be worth it.

There is no such thing as failure, it's called learning. You actually succeed at learning what to do right next time.

[Admin]

See, when you're programming software or websites what you're doing will always remain virtual. As real as it may look, there's always a barrier - the screen - which will remain between you and what you're creating. But when I did those loops to light up the LEDs in sequence... MAN was the feeling great. You're seeing tangible evidence of what you're coding. You can see it, you can touch it. It's right there, happening before you!

I couldn't agree more

I followed my first robot around with a camera like an obsessive father filming his firstborn

decided to grab his intel 8051 chipset (an outright beast of a chipset may I add)

The 8051 is entirely obsolete - wait until you try the latest chips! Actually, the ATmega8 is bordering obsoleteness, too.