My son decided he wanted to build a robot ...

[Void Main]

... and said he needed a microcontroller. I told him no problem, find one that where the development can be done under Linux and I'll get it for you. He told me he already had that covered and pointed me to this:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc ... cts_id=666



It's a nice open source board:
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Howto

I got the GCC AVR cross-compiler built and installed the Java development environment. Now we just have to wait on the board to get here and we'll be a programmin'.

Java environment:



Should be fun!

[Calum]

based on an orginal...

it never ceases to amaze me how badly programmers spell things in comments! seriously, i see it all the time, how on earth are they able to make their code workable when none of them can apparently spell?

by the way, sounds like fun indeed!

[Void Main]

Well the board came in today. It's really easy to program and a load of fun. Now we just have to think of some cool things to do with it. :)

[JoeDude]

Dude!!!! Build a robot Warz robot, then run it down the street, killing all the nieghborhood cats!

[Void Main]

I wish. So far I figured out how to flash some LEDs and I also took a couple of servos from my RC planes and was able to control them with a potentiometer. I could just as well program the board to automate the movement of the servos. I could also hook up some other sort of input other than a potentiometer like a light sensor, switches, etc. I could also hook up electric motors etc. i just have to come up with some ideas. The cat killer sounds cool but I think I should start out with something a little easier. :) Hmmmm.....

[Calum]

a slug killer? could be easier...

[JoeDude]

Just a few ideas for Cat Killing bots! Some of thier web pages even have instructions!

[Void Main]

It does look like those should be able to kill a cat. :) It does give me some more ideas. I also do have one of the most expensive pieces needed, a very good radio. I have a JR 10 channel PCM touch screen radio from my airplane flying:

http://www.jrradios.com/Products/Defaul ... 1646%2A%2A



I also have several other much cheaper radios in case we have something so complex it would require several people to control. :)

[Calum]

one of those pictures is just a picture of a woman's breasts!

not that i'm complaining...

[worker201]

She's leaning over something that might be a cat-catcher...

Actually, considering who posted it, I'm surprised there aren't more gratutious-breasts-posing-with-robots pictures.

[JoeDude]

I don't know who the breasts over the bot are, but the bot is Phrizbee. When it's running, the outside case spins around and has little metal blads welded to it's sides. The other picture of it only had her standing over it, so I had to choose. And, with this pic, there was much more detail available...errr...on the bot that is...

[Calum]

the best part of that picture is the expression on that kid's face... priceless.

[JoeDude]

It is a really short skirt she's wearing...so I imagine the pic you see isn't the treat...