Conference hydra::amiga_v1

An outfit called Edmund Scientific (which has advertised in the back of pubs like
"Pupular Science" since I was a wee lad) has several robot kits, along with tons
of other education-oriented scientific gear and toys.

If you can't find their address, let me know and I'll dig up a catalog and reply
with it.

Bob

     Thanks Bob,
    Do you think you could pull out that dusty catalogue, I`d be most
    grateful!
    
     -Max-
    
    

    P.S.
     Would any of them be supplied without the electronics, beacause I`d
     like to build this myself and interface it to my A500.
    Thanks.
    
     -Max-
    

    see the ELECTRO_HOBBY notes file on CS0A1::ELECTRO_HOBBY

Slightly off beam but here goes.

An astronimer friend briefly showed me a book he has from the library on 
building a computer drive for a telescope.

(I will try to find isbn)

Now with the following...

distant suns
REXX
Telescope
drive
frame-grabber
monitor
ccd camera 

One could make up a very interesting system driven from the ami.

Firstly you would not lose any important glands observing cause the telescope
would be outside, and you would be inside!

A small amount of programming would give you the ability to perform sky watching
for changes (comets, nova etc).

anyway just a thought - when I get some more cash .....

Stan.

    
    RE: .5
    
    I just got Distant Suns and would be interested in getting the name
    and author of the book you mentioned.  
    
    Thanks,
    ~Ray
    

As per request, the contact info for Edmund Scientific is:

Edmund Scientific Company
101 East Gloucester Pike
Barrington, NJ 08007-1380 USA
phone (609)547-8880
fax   (609)573-6295

I did a quick scan of their robotics stuff, and all I saw was "buggy-type,"
self-contained units- nothing smacking of computer-interfaced gear.

I recall seeing a perennially-appearing ad in AmigaWorld for a serial-interface
robotic arm- can't recall the vendor, though. For some reason, I think it
*might* be AMAS, but that's really a WAG.

Good luck-
	Bob

    I ordered a power supply for my 500 from a company called Unicorn
    Electronics.  In the Catalog they advertise a few Robots.  Three
    walking type and an arm.  The Arm has what looks like a three switch
    control panel.  You should be able to drive it off of the parallel
    port.
    
    The part number is YO1 Robotic Arm $49.95
    
    Unicorn electronics
    1010 Canoga Avenue Unit B-8
    Chatsworth, Ca. 91311
    Order 1-800-824-3432
    Information (818)341-8833
    FAx (818)998-7975
    
    Its also listed at $43.99 on page 645 of the January 1992 issue of
    Computer shopper.  They shipped postage free when I prepaid via Credit
    Card.
    
    Alan
    
    P.S.  The 65 Watt supply make a great $19.95 Amiga 500 power supply.
    
    

    I'm fairly certain that you can still purchase the Heath Hero II.  I
    think that you have to contact their educational division, but the kit
    is available.  It will interface to your machine via several devices,
    including a remote (RF I think), a serial port, a floppy drive, etc.
    
    Heath used to be in Benton Harbor, MI., I don't know if that is still
    the address.
    
    Clark

The australian mob that produces the rejuvinator board also produces a 'thing'
that plugs into the parralel port.

This gives you 8 bi-directional switches and I thing a couple of a/d controls

I will see what I can find.

Its about $au50.00 I think

Stan.

A company named DATEL used to advertise in Amiga World. They sold a robot
arm specifically for Amiga...

john

    A pointer to DATEL .....
    
   702-454-7700  RIO/Datel  3430 E. Tropicana Ave., Unit #65,
                            Las Vegas, NV 89821
    

    If you really want to do it yourself, there's the Armatron (also
    available from RadioShack, dunno what they call it), which is
    a gear driven arm which uses one motor and a set of gears that are
    controlled by an ingenious set of levers.  It excited enough 
    people when it showed up that there are a number of articles in
    old mags (Byte, etc.) about how to replace the mechanical 
    controls with electronic ones.
    
    I've got an arm and the articles and the motors but never got around
    to building it (too many projects queued up!).  Someday.
    
    If you want details (like which publication and issue), lemme know.
    
    Yrs
    Erg

There is also Robotix, or Robotics, by Mattel. I think it is still being
made. This is a set of plastic pieces which assemble into all sorts of
mechanical arms, pincers, and wheeled vehicles. It's not very sturdy, but
once you had a satisfactory design, you could probably epoxy it together
and make a pretty solid device.

The actuators are little 6V DC motors that have large step-down gear trains
in little compact units. The rotation speed is something like 2 RPM, or less.
A friend of mine was concocting a simple position-sensor for the actuators,
essentially a transparent wheel with opaque marks which would pass between
a LED and an optical sensor.

The prices for kits were/are $30 to $50 or so.

Re .5 & .6

Microcomputer control of telescopes

Mark Trueblood
Russell Genet

ISBN 0-943396-05-0

Publishers: Willmann-Bell
	    Richmond
	    Virginia.
	    (804) 320-7016

Regards

Stan.

P.S Happy new year everyone.
P.P.S Beginners disk almost finished - Just doing documentation on disk now!

    
    
    
    I was in berlin at new year.
    
    In one of the toy shops there they had Robot arm kits.
    Make by Phillips.
    They looked impressive.
    They came with software for the Ami the ST or the Arc.
    
    Price was about $150
    
    
    Ian T.