Review by Mark AlbertsI was pleasant surprised by this product. I call it product because it is not a KIT or a book, but a complete product. All documentation is in German.
I know the author of the product so i had high hopes. And i can already say, i was not disappointed.
The product is from FRANZIS but the material is written by Ulli Sommer.
Ulli is well known for his book 'Roboter Selbst Bauen'. This is a great book for the technical electronics hobbyists/professional.
It describes a number of self built robots but also a number of related projects.
This book is included for free on the CD-ROM that comes with the Robot.(in PDF format)
Experimentierhandbuch RoboterThis new product is not only a book but the Robot is included !
This makes it ideal for beginners and young children to learn the basics of Robotics.
A printed 192 page book is included. On the CD-ROM you will find all the samples, Ulli's previous book, data sheets, some used software tools, and of course a DEMO version of bascom.
The DEMO is suitable for the projects.
The robot itself has a small breadboard, an ISP programmer interface, an USB serial port and is battery operated. The batteries (4 x AAA) were not included).
The robot uses the ATMEGA88 and is using the MCS Bootloader. This means that you can simply upload your code via the USB interface.
Since all material is provided and the learning curve is low i decided to do the playing/learning together with my 12 year old daughter. She like's lego, meccano, and building things but she does not have knowledge about programming or electronics.
The first chapters are an overview, details about the product and describe various robots.
In chapter 4 there is a short explanation about a microprocessor.
Chapter 5-9 gives information about programming and the user M88(p)
Chapter 10-12 describes the robot in good detail.
Chapter 13 installs the virtual com port driver and bascom.
Chapter 14 gives info about the IDE
And in chapter 15 we are ready to go!
Here we use the serial port and we test the movements of the robot.
Chapter 16-17 gives a good explanation about bascom related commands
In chapter 18 we are ready for driving the robot.
With the use of convenient sub routines we can let the robot drive figures in chapter 19.
In chapter 21 the robot follows the light with 2 LDR's.
Then RC5 is used to make the robot remote controlled.(the parts are included but you need a RC5 remote control). You can use any universal remote control.
In chapter 25 an anti collision system is described. And chapter 26 extends this with a range measuring.
For chapter 27 you need black tape or a good black marker.
Draw a circle and the robot will never leave the circle. This looks like black magic.
The last chapters describes other robot related statements and possibilities.
When you are finished, you have a good idea what is possible, and how a number of toys work.
By copying combining and modifying the examples you can make your own robot code.
Because subroutines are used, this is very simple. The limitation is your imagination.
The product comes with all parts used for the projects.With the breadboard you could make many projects.
In fact you could do all EDB examples (EDB can be downloaded from MCS web).
By plugging in a sensor like temperature, or humidity, or pressure, and by using I2C one could extend the project very simple.
This product is excellent for learning the basics and for days/evenings of fun.
Without prior programming knowledge, my daughter was able to do all experiments.
I only had to translate the German texts and gave little help. While she does not understand the technical details, she does understand the possibilities and the modules.
She is able to adjust the simpler samples.
When you have experience with programming, it will be easy to extend the samples.
This product is not intended to be a toy or for young children, but with your help, it can be used for that.
Explore the world of robots alone or together with you kid for more fun.
I like the fact that the robot is ready to go and has excellent documentation.
And it can be used for most bascom samples since these use the M88 too.
So it is easy to recommend this !