use-revolution Digest, Vol 5, Issue 123

[Thomas McGrath III]

Xa,

The MacBrick is a cross platform piece of hardware (like the RCX that 
comes with Lego's Mindstorm). It is an I/O board. But the guy who is 
building them has taken an early retirement and there is no one to pick 
up the business.

He may still have a few left. I have been trying to figure a way to buy 
the business from him, but so far no luck/money on my side.
It uses serial commands.
The site is under a little construction but here it is.
http://www.macbrick.com/
http://www.macbrick.com/projects.html

Another idea I had was to take a part the radio controller for a car or 
helicopter and control the switches from my Computer via REV. Then I 
can record movements and replay them to the controller automatically. 
Imagine (very dangerous) having a helicopter take off, go up 75 feet, 
turn to the right for 20 seconds, turn left for 10, turn left for 10, 
turn left for 10, turn right for 10 and land in the same spot (or near 
it due to wind etc.)
Then attach my camera to the bottom/front of the helicopter and set it 
all up to a motion detector. This way when someone walks by it, it then 
takes off and the camera is set to the VCR for auto recording(very 
doable). This would be a 'floating' anti theft device that will record 
pictures from above.

Weird-Ideas-R-Us



Tom


On Feb 13, 2004, at 9:32 AM, xbury.cs at clearstream.com wrote:

> Tom,
>
> that's totally cool... I had a Fisher Technik that did the same kind of
> stuff
> when I was a kid... No brick, or tv control then... But I had it 
> hooked up
> to
> my scalextrix (a track car racing thing) to raise bridges, count laps, 
> and
> do the photo-finish (via light control - no photo)...
>
> The macBrick is mac only?
>
> http://www.fischertechnik.de seem to still kick ass... I'll have some
> reading to do ;)
>
> Xa
>
> On 13/02/2004 03:11:49 PM use-revolution-bounces wrote:
>> X,
>>
>> Actually you can. I have been playing with environmental controls via
>> X10 and MacBrick and Rev.
>>
>> The MacBrick can monitor the environment via light, touch, 
>> temperature,
>> sound, pressure, movement etc. and feed that to Rev, then Rev can
>> control an X10 device like a light switch (on the other side of the
>> house) or a camera or a servo motor ie. to start a watering system for
>> the plants.
>> Also, X10 by it self has a few limited environment devices that can be
>> triggered via movement, light etc. to then control itself.
>>
>> The addition of lego mindstorm would make building little gadgets
>> easier and more fun.
>>
>> X, you being into racing should like this:
>> Last year I mounted a wireless X10 camera to a remote controlled 
>> truck.
>> Then from the comfort of my room watching the road in front of the
>> truck through the TV I can race the truck around the yard from a first
>> person view. With out even having a line of sight on the truck.
>>
>> Of course, people ask me why I do this and the only response I have is
>> "Because it can be done and isn't it cool !!!!"
>>
>> :-)
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>> On Feb 13, 2004, at 1:38 AM, MisterX wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Can you teach it to water plants? ;)
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com
>>>> [mailto:use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com]On Behalf Of Thomas
>>>> McGrath III
>>>> Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 05:31
>>>> To: How to use Revolution
>>>> Subject: Re: use-revolution Digest, Vol 5, Issue 123
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> What I want to know is Lego Mindstorms controllable via
>>>> Revolution?????????
>>>> I think it is in the serial realm.......
>>>>
>>>> I know there is a Mac version out there last time I searched. I 
>>>> think
>>>> it was an educational version.
>>>>
>>>> I would love to play with Legos from my computer and Rev and X10.
>>>> Then I could have Rev react to environmental conditions and then
>>>> control my little bots to do cool stuff......
>>>>
>>>> Tom
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you never have done so, play with some Lego Mindstorms. You'll
>>>>>> probably get some ideas.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There is a Lego robotics lab at the new Explora in Albuquerque, 
>>>>>> NM.
>>>>>> My
>>>>>> 4 year old son learned to program a bot in < 45 minutes! It's all
>>>>>> procedural, iconic and point-n-click!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thomas J. McGrath III
>>>> SCS
>>>> 1000 Killarney Dr.
>>>> Pittsburgh, PA 15234
>>>> 412-885-8541
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> use-revolution mailing list
>>>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
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>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>> Thomas J. McGrath III
>> SCS
>> 1000 Killarney Dr.
>> Pittsburgh, PA 15234
>> 412-885-8541
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> use-revolution mailing list
>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
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Thomas J. McGrath III
SCS
1000 Killarney Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
412-885-8541