Scratch

Subh wrote:

sparks wrote:

Subh wrote:

An AI that leans is a much better AI than that does not.

[off topic], subh, since the wiki moved to the scratch site, I can't log into it to change the Panther page (which claims it's still due to be released) ... do I have to make a new account?

Inorder to Log in to the wiki, you need to Request for an account in the Scratch Wiki thread (Announcements) They will give you an ID soon and only then you can Log in.

If you want to get anything added, just contact one of us and tell us what you want to add.(Comment on any of my project/gallery). Telling us is a lot easier as you will have to wait quite long to get an account

I've changed it. It now says "It has been released in April 2010"

Thanks for updating that 

Let's get back on topic people.

bump

I might!

I'm taking Electronics again next year. This year I built a hexapod robot (6 legged) which was a lot of fun, but next year I'm working on swarm robotics! it's a very interesting field and lets you study artificial behaviours and desiscion making 

I plan to build a small swarm that collects "Food" and takes it back to feed the nest (collective intelliegence as seen in many insects such as ants and bees) but I was wondering if any of you guys have any interesting suggestions for what my swarm should do? It would need to be a task that requires cooperation between swarm members and possibly mimic something that happens in real life as that gives it higher ecological validity 

markyparky56 wrote:

You sound like you have an awesome school!
Suggestion: Be able to react, and if needed, defend them selves from harm, either by a larger object, e.g. humans or by other groups of swarm like something your class mates made.

The school is pretty good, but I'm the only one actually doing robotics, the others are doing other things like dataloggers, light displays, small water features and such.

I like that idea, perhapse two swarms in the same area competing for resources?

One of the things about swarm robots is that you aim to make them individually cheap so that you can make a lot of them (something I'm all to happy to try). My hexapod cost over £200 and I don't want to spend that kind of money again. I have to balance price with a want for as many swarm robots as possible. I'm hoping to get each one designed and made for £5-£10 but that's pretty wishful thinking 

because acutually carrying "Food" to the nest means extra programming, I plan to have little LED's representing the food, attracting the swarm bots, then rather than carrying it to the nest, the robot returns as if it had the food with it, then update a global variable that lets all the swarm members know their food count has gone up by X.

Last edited by sparks (2010-06-30 12:10:01)

johnnydean1 wrote:

How about basing it on a lego WeDo or a diffrent kit...

Lego WeDo's are actually not that cheap, building them myself will be cheaper and get me extra marks. I'm using a microchip called "Picaxe" and they cost about £2 each and are reprogrammable. I used them for the hexapod so I know my way around quite well.

Subh wrote:

You can use proggraming like The deteriobot (ILLUSIONIST_EXTRA) did for collecting the food. Maybe the bee goes in front of a light detector and flashes once (showing food taken)That might update the global variable.
How old are you?

I was going to have small, cheap Infra red broadcasting turrets on each swarm robot, but I am looking at other ways for all robots to keep track of numbers. (sound would be another one)

I'm 17

johnnydean1 wrote:

How about BlueTooth?

hm... again, one bluetooth transmitter per swarm bot is going to be costly. Picaxe does not support bluetooth either, I would probably have to use Ardino which is a more expensive chip.

That's true. I had a dream I found a load of bluetooth units in a draw    sadly I can't use them cos they are made of nothing but dreams.

that is a problem, IR is line-of-sight. ideally I would find very cheap ways of transmitting radio wave signals between them. I'm thinking that different notes or morse code beeps would be a nice way. A bit cheaper. It also mimics natural communication through speech.

Maybe That Would ....(i'm Not Too Well Informed Abt These Things As I'm Only 15)

markyparky56 wrote:

sparks wrote:

That's true. I had a dream I found a load of bluetooth units in a draw    sadly I can't use them cos they are made of nothing but dreams.

that is a problem, IR is line-of-sight. ideally I would find very cheap ways of transmitting radio wave signals between them. I'm thinking that different notes or morse code beeps would be a nice way. A bit cheaper. It also mimics natural communication through speech.

That would be a good idea, and making something beep is a lot easier than saing something, such as the one in your computer which beeps at you if you press to many keys at once.

indeed. It won't be line-of-sight either. Either morse code style beeps or different notes could be used to share info. (background noise might be a problem then though)

a good solution to the background problem, but more expensive. I don't think there's a perfect solution, but only the least not-good one 

markyparky56 wrote:

sparks wrote:

a good solution to the background problem, but more expensive. I don't think there's a perfect solution, but only the least not-good one 

Ever considered making the circut boards your self? Sometimes that can be cheaper if you buy the materials and make them, my dads making micropone and headphone amplifiers at the moment.

yup. We have board making facilities at school, and I have to make EVERYTHING except components myself. I'm acually making the circuit board to be the actual body. saves weight and material.