Posted by Rick Berube.
Engineer on team #121, Rhode Warriors, from Middletown H.S..
Posted on 2/1/2000 11:32 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: dashboard data stream posted by Nate Smith on 1/31/2000 3:57 PM MST:
: I don't know for sure, but since the direct sensor outputs are not output by the control program, I'm assuming that the analog inputs on the robot are sent directly to the OI without going through the user program. So, in order to do this, you'd have to figure out a way to wire one of the PWM outputs to one of the analog inputs on the RC. It does not appear to be able to be done through the control program.
: Nate
While I agree with Nate that it would be difficult to use the digital inputs for this purpose, perhaps there is a better way to control up to 9 bits which get transmitted back to the OI. All of these bits are also available at the Dashboard port.
The Innovation First Dashboard Spec. calls out a BASIC byte (byte 20 in the stream). It appears as though this byte (which controls the feed back LEDs on the OI panel) is completely under the control of your PBasic program. Stamp pins 7-15 I believe are collected by the Master CPU on the RC and forwarded onto the OI. The ninth bit, Bit6 of AUX_byte (Basic Run), is available in byte 26 of the stream. I haven't tried this myself yet, as I am only now realizing this. But if I'm correct, you have 9 bits at you program's disposal to use anyway you like (provided you don't mind the strobe effect of teh LEDs on your OI panel).
Yet another option might be to use the Debug statement and another pair of RF modems (using a different frequency from Innovation FIRST equipment of course). Attaching to the PC/Programming interface of the RC you might be able to do this. Just keep in mind that even if this works, it is an expensive solution (time wise at least), as it defaults to 9600 baud. You'll also want to isolate all the RC's ignals with the exception Tx and Gnd signals to ensure your modem handshake signals don't accidently reset the StampIIsx or possibly echo them back (the StampII uses a parasitic transistor arrangement, and we don't know what's under the RC's hood). Of course you'll need a PC program and RF modem on the other end to read the data from the serial port and display/save it to disk.
Nate, do you know of anyone with such a program available?
Regards,
Rick