🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <MAX.92Jul27135405@Kolmogorov.gac.edu> Max Hailperin <max@nic.gac.edu> writes:
>   ....  Also, the Lego-Logo people publish
>   plans for a build-it-yourself turtle out of Lego. 
>
>As a warning, the Lego turtle is a bit disapointing once you've gotten
>used to screen turtles or higher-tech robot turtles.  I've been using
>it (not with Logo, with Scheme, but that is irrelevant) and it is
>frustrating trying to calibrate how many seconds of turning for angles
>of various measures, or even getting the forward/backward motion
>reliable.  The design is completely open-loop -- there is no
>"odometry" to measure how far the wheels actually turn, so you just
>have to go by the times.  Closed curves rarely close, etc.  Another
>limitation is that there is no pen up/down effector, so the pen is
>always down (or always up -- you choose).

I used a lego robot on a BBC using BBC Logo in 1988.  The robot featured
shaft-encdoding as it's odometry, and quite a nice set of LOGO primitives.

It was quite accurate (especially if you ramped the speed up and down so
it didn't slip) and came with a beautiful breakout box with which you
could view all the inputs, outputs, etc, and a big red master switch for
disconnecting output.  A good habit to get into.

Now maybe there's more than one Lego robot, but the one I got to use was
a real pleasure, and has provided lasting memories.

Mitch.