Building a self-contained maze micro mouse.

[Coldwilson]

Hi guys,

 

I've built a micro mouse unit based on your modules and a couple of stepper motors and I am very pleased with how easy you've made that for me.  I just need to learn Python now so I can make it do stuff 

 

In the short term I can keep it tethered to a long usb cable but will be very keen to get the wifi module you're working on. Any idea on dates for that yet?

 

My goal is to eventually enter something into a maze solving competition so I need the micro mouse to be self contained rather than rely on the wifi tether as that's against the rules of course.  I've seen you respond here that people could link to the likes of Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi controller boards. 

 

What i'd like to know is this:

 

1. I'm guessing that none of your modules have a suitable processor or memory to replicate the functions of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi?

 

2. If that's correct are there plans to do something hardware based to make this possible?  Timescales?

 

3. If I am wrong in question 1 then could low level programming of your modules in the remove the need for the likes of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi controller and is there adequate memory and processor speed to do this?

 

4. If the only realistic option is only the likes of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi then I am currently at a loss on how to link them together.  Would the simplest thing be to link the usb lead from these boards to the controller brick and treat it like a pc controlling the board?  Are there other ways that would operate better?

 

I'm sure this will be an area that is a strong contender for your modules so your insight into this would probably help many people.

 

Thanks

[borg]

1. I'm guessing that none of your modules have a suitable processor or memory to replicate the functions of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi?

 

2. If that's correct are there plans to do something hardware based to make this possible?  Timescales?

That is right. I wouldn't preclude that we ever make a "Linux Brick", but that won't happen any time soon.

 

3. If I am wrong in question 1 then could low level programming of your modules in the remove the need for the likes of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi controller and is there adequate memory and processor speed to do this?

All Bricks have a processor speed of 64Mhz and the master has 256kb flash, that is definitely enough to program a robot. However, there is currently no documentation from us to do this. You will need to read the datasheets of the ICs we use etc. If you never did embedded C programming, this might be quite a challange (but its fun! If you want to learn embedded stuff, do it).

 

4. If the only realistic option is only the likes of a Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi then I am currently at a loss on how to link them together.  Would the simplest thing be to link the usb lead from these boards to the controller brick and treat it like a pc controlling the board?  Are there other ways that would operate better?

A Beagleboard or Raspberry Pi on your robot that has Bricks/Bricklets connected over USB seems to be the easiest solution currently. Of course that will also give you lots of processing power.

 

An adapter between an embedded Linux board and Bricks, that allows to directly control Bricks/Bricklets without USB is planned, but the software effort necessary to implement this is not trivial. The complete stack communication of the Master Brick needs to be implemented in the Linux kernel for this.

 

[Coldwilson]

Thanks for the clarification - that's useful to know.