Parallax brought examples of books and kits based on the BASIC Stamp.
The 'Toddler bipedal walking robot' kit.
The 'Toddler,' a walking robot that uses the BASIC Stamp, in the metal!
The 'Boe-Bot' robot kit.
Various Boe-Bots, ready to run!
Parallax also brought some thick catalogs, CDROMs with documentation and
software, and some embedded systems magazines as freebies!
A radio controller airplane with a BASIC Stamp system mounted on it.
A BASIC Stamp on a plane can be used to record data from a GPS or even to
control the plane itself!
Four BASIC Stamp 2 Starter Kits, worth over $600 total, which we gave away
at this meeting! (Thanks, Parallax!!!)
A whole line-up of BASIC Stamp-based robots!
The Toddler got to stretch its legs and go for a walk before the meeting.
This Boe-Bot has a clamp, which it uses to pick up and carry around the
sad-faced ping-pong ball.
The Boe-Bots got loose before the meeting! :^)
The crowd draws...
Including all of the late arrivals, and folks who dropped in and out while
doing other library business, we had nearly 40 people show up.
Andy Lindsey, of Parallax, starts out discussing what a microcontroller is.
Ken Gracey and Andy Lindsey, of Parallax, Inc.
Ken Gracey holds up one of the BASIC Stamp Start Kits that are to be given
away later in the meeting.
Let the slides begin!
The BASIC Stamp. 16 I/O pins, 5 V regulator that accepts input voltage from
5-15 VDC, 2 Kbyte EEPROM for program storage (and data storage, when the
26 bytes of RAM isn't enough!), and a built-in interpreter that understands
tokenized PBASIC!
Parallax's 'Carrier Board' for the BASIC Stamp, called
"The Board of Education."
And here it is in real life, being passed around the crowd.
A quick 6-line program shows how to flash an LED!
Schematics showing a blinking LED, a push-button, and a piezo buzzer
all connected to the breadboard on the Board of Eductation.
Learning to use the pushbutton.
Controversial, but the BASIC Stamp has even been connected to rats' brains!
A Boe-Bot on the loose. This one is radio-controlled (using a car alarm
remote!)
Video of Ken Gracy from Parallax preparing to fly a radio-controlled plane
with a BASIC Stamp mounted on it.
The BASIC Stamp system is connected to a Garmin GPS.
Lift off!
After the flight, charts of altitude, speed and, shown here, position, can
be created by downloading the data from the BASIC Stamp EEPROM.
Toddler gets to walk around more. (It eventually trips on a power cord and
jostles its battery loose!)
This Boe-Bot is a 'Shadow Bot.' Infra-Red (IR) LEDs and detectors are used
like radar or sonar. The bot will get close to you, but stay a few inches
away. Move towards it, and it backs up. Move away, and it chases you!
Autonomous 'Shadow' Boe-Bot versus human-controlled RF Boe-Bot!
Shadow Bot says "You cannot escape!"
Boe-Bot with the gripper chases its ball.
Eventually, almost all of the bots were wandering around the floor again.
Shadow bot wins against radio-controlled bot when the remote control's
batteries run out.