Thread: Self-Made Robot Controller?
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Unread 13-08-2006, 17:21
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Matt Krass Matt Krass is offline
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FRC #0263 (Sachem Aftershock)
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Re: Self-Made Robot Controller?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnC
I've been looking since the end of the 2006 season for information on how to build and program my own robot controller. It seems that every website that tries to do this ignores the beginner and speaks to like-minded college students. All I know right now is how to plug in and put my image on the IFI-black-box-enclosed pic.

Does anyone know where to get good information on programming a pic18f8722 OUTSIDE of the official FRC Robot Controller? Maybe the 68HC11 even? I'm not afraid of buying parts, other chips, making my own circuit boards, etc.

Thanks.
I recommend 8-bit controllers like Atmel AVRs, check out the STK500 starter kits, they come with everything you need to program the chip. Also look in to avr-gcc and WinAVR, it's a free compiler suite for the AVRs based on GNU GCC compiler. And avrdude is good software for flashing the chip, if you don't have a serial port I can report high success with a Keyspan USA-19HS USB<->Serial adapter.
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Matt Krass
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I'm a FIRST relic of sorts, I remember when we used PBASIC and we got CH Flightsticks in the KoP. In my day we didn't have motorized carts, we pushed our robots uphill, both ways! (Houston 2003!)