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can macs run bots?
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Moderator  Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: We come from the land of the ice and snow...
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Hey:
My fiance is into Battlebots, so I got him a robot kit for christmas. (www.robotstore.com). Some of the robot kits said they could be connected to PC's to run BASIC commands. I of course assumed they didn't mean Macs. (grr.)
So I'm curious.
Anyone ever program a robot/mechanoid with a Mac? which program? How did you learn? what website? recommendations?
He's a schoolteacher with a Mac lab, I think it would be cool if he could teach his students how to do this... 
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Tampa, Florida
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I know you can program Lego Mindstorms robots with a Mac.
www.enteract.com/~dbaum
You will need a USB-serial adapter and learn a new programming language. But it is very easy.
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a sharp old jewel
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I don't know much about it, but I have seen plenty of mac robotic links before:
http://www.FerretTronics.com/ - make controllers, and thus software to control said controllers
This is all I can find at the moment, but it is interesting.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Somewhere
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Macs can run bots, it is just the question of how. It all depends on the type of interface you are using. You say that the kit can accept BASIC commands, I assume it has some kind of serial interface. You need to connect this serial interface to the mac somehow (this is really easiest if the mac has serial ports so you dont have to mess with adapters.) Once you have it connected you need to figure out the type of microcontroller that's in the bot. Most likely it is some form of BASIC stamp. You must find out what serial commands it uses and then you can go into a terminal program and type in those commands to run it. HyperCard also can send serial commands, which is good for building interfaces for a controller.
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Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: We come from the land of the ice and snow...
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thanks guys. We'll see how he likes his present--then we can hook it up to my mac!
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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Something that's always fun are those LEGO Mindstorms. A company called Dacta made a Macintosh port of the software. I've been doing it all since before it was even part of LEGO. It was an anual MIT contest building robots outta legos and programming them in C.
Of course, now it's a lot easier with a point-and-click interface and no C whatsoever.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status:
Offline
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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salty
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I have just completed a 3 year degree course in Interactive Art. Some people on my course were using Director and an interface called the "basic stamp" to control all manner of electronic goodies. For further info try getting into contact with them at http://iarts.newport.ac.uk
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