Re: [IAEP] python versions

[Tony Anderson]

 there is one)
transparently. The most frequent programming environment is TurtleArte
(kisds already know it), but there are also Python and Lua environments
for when the problem or the user outgrows Turtle Art.

In my opinion, what MCU is used is not actually important. What is
important is the programming environment, how it interfaces with
whatever your robot offers, and the mechanism you provide for adapting
your robot for solving different problems.

Jorge
.





--

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:08:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kevin Mark
To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to \"help AT
laptop.org\"",   IAEP SugarLabs
,   OLPC SoCal
Subject: Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine?
Message-ID:
<1348790917.51108.yahoomail...@web84503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The version of python on the Mac, Fedora, XO, etc. while they might not be the 
same, should be similar enough that all people learning the language should 
find 99% of their program code function the same. There is that 1%, but my 
estimation is that you would have to use more advanced or esoteric functions to 
find a difference. There is the transition to Python 3 but I'm not up on that 
difference. So.. dont worry about any issues until there are issues and then 
just ask someone with more python skill to explain.
-Kev



  From: Janissa Balcomb
To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t; IAEP 
SugarLabs; OLPC SoCal
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine?


Network Email
hi caryl&  other python students,
?
caryl - you put a burner under my butt with this email. i had gotten the
class email, but it had no links, so i didn?t even think to find the materials
or download python yet. when you say you downloaded the textbook, were you
referring to the lecture notes, or is there an actual textbook?
?
i plan to use my windows laptop running python, not the xo laptop, but i
thought maybe if we have an xo laptop team, we could discuss how to use what
we?re learning in this course for practical use with the xo?s.? i seem to
remember reading somewhere that they were talking about small teams of up to 10.
?
do you know how to find out what version of python the xo?s run?
?
janissa
?

  ?
From: Caryl Bigenho
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 9:20 AM
To: Community Support Volunteers -- who
help respond t ; IAEP SugarLabs ; OLPC SoCal
Subject: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The
Machine?
? Hi Janissa and others,
?
If you are signed up for the M-MOOC Python class, read on If you aren't
signed up but think you might want to be, see the "P.S." below.
?
I am signed up and I know several others from the so-cal and iaep lists are
as well. I don't know how large the teams are supposed to be. If you looked at
the resource from "The Machine" yesterday, it appears they had teams of 2
for the original MIT class. Maybe this will be different. We shall see.

They also used a specific version of Python,
2.6.x. The version on the XO may be different. I would rather do mine on my Mac,
but we can probably work on a team anyway.

I have downloaded the textbook and Python
2.6.6 and have bookmarked the two MIT OCW classes described in yesterday's
message from The Machine.

Caryl

P.S. You can probably still sign up. The
class starts October 15, but there is some prep work and orientation going on
already. If you want to be a part of this experiment, here is the link: 
http://info.p2pu.org/2012/08/21/its-alive-the-mechanical-mooc-offers-gentle-intro-to-python/
?


  From: jani...@silverstar.com
To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org
Date: Wed,
26 Sep 2012 23:42:46 -0600
Subject: Re: [support-gang] FW: Tonight - A True
History of the MOOC


I signed up for the Python class.? They mentioned that people can work
in small teams.? Is there anyone taking the class who?d like to form an XO
laptop team?? Janissa
?



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Re: [IAEP] [Butia-list] XO robotics

[Caryl Bigenho]

> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:24:56 -0400
> From: tony_ander...@usa.net
> To: xxo...@gmail.com
> CC: butia-l...@fing.edu.uy; yamap...@gmail.com; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; 
> christoph.derndor...@gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Butia-list]  XO robotics
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I would love to see you at the SF meeting to explain Butia to that audience.
+1 Caryl
> 
> It was my understanding in Montevideo, that the robot is controlled 
> directly from Turtle Art. For me, the really great thing you have done 
> is to strap the laptop on the robot platform. This is not for cute 
> pictures, it is really exciting for the student to see the robot obeying 
> his or her instructions (right or wrong). The fact that the laptop is 
> riding on the robot vehicle means that its movement is not limited by an 
> umbilical cord.
> 
> As Yama states, we really need (for me, in English) a parts list and set 
> of instructions for building the robot so that it can be done by any 
> deployment. I had hoped that such a session would be conducted in SF as 
> I would dearly love to be able to set up a robot at the Saint Jacob 
> school in Kigali in December. Naturally, we will also need some lesson 
> plans for use of the robot to further the mandated curriculum in Science 
> (and mathematics).
> 
> My example would be to have the student program the robot to approach a 
> wall as closely as possible without touching it. This would involve some 
> understanding of the ratio of the wheel diameter to its circumference, 
> the number of degrees the wheel advances for each forward step, and 
> whole lot of other interesting concepts. For example, such a contest 
> could lead to the issue of feedback; how to use a sensor so the robot 
> knows when it is close. Should this be visual (camera) or acoustic or 
> the bending of a wire or 
> 
> Tony
> 
> On 09/27/2012 02:08 PM, Jorge wrote:
> > On 27/09/12 13:35, Yama Ploskonka wrote:> 1) I wouldn't say better...
> > rather, complementary, and certainly
> >  > cheaper. Visiting the Butiá pages, the only picture I see showing an MCU
> >  > http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/images/pistaButia.jpg is
> >  > showing an Arduino. Add a motor driver, and we are well above $30, plus
> >  > shipping. The USBButiá board is maybe cheaper IF done in quantity by
> >  > experts (then add labor).
> >
> > Besides the microcontroller the USBButiá board provides standard
> > connectors for attaching sensors. It allows autodetecting what sensor
> > you connected and were (something like the NXT brick, but with a wider
> > spectrum of attacheable stuff, more connectors, easier to hack, and
> > plug&play).
> >
> > We sidestepped the motor driver issue using digital servos.
> >
> >  > MSP430 + (L293D OR some darlington array) can be "free" if you get them
> >  > as samples from TI, or less than $5 when purchased, /plus shipping/, the
> >  > old bane. the advantage of using a darlington driver is that then you
> >  > may use plain DC motors, which can be free if lucky with old electronic
> >  > parts (beautiful gear system available in old CDROM drives)
> >  >
> >  > 2) yop - the XO "drives" the vehicle with the MSP430 option also. Now, I
> >  > put quote marks as I have no idea - yet - on how to send data direct
> >  > realtime from the XO to the robot, bypassing the MCU. What seems to be
> >  > happening is that Butiá depends on sending code/program to the Arduino,
> >  > and the the 'duino does the brains of the robot.
> >
> > Nop, the control runs fully on the XO. MCU only interfaces
> > sensors&motors and supports the plug&play functionality. No user logic
> > runs on the MCU.
> > The user programs on the XO access sensors/actuators connected the MCU
> > and whatever the XO provides (mic, cam, accelerometer if there is one)
> > transparently. The most frequent programming environment is TurtleArte
> > (kisds already know it), but there are also Python and Lua environments
> > for when the problem or the user outgrows Turtle Art.
> >
> > In my opinion, what MCU is used is not actually important. What is
> > important is the programming environment, how it interfaces with
> > whatever your robot offers, and the mechanism you provide for adapting
> > your robot for solving different problems.
> >
> > Jorge
> > .
> >
> 
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
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Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine?

[Kevin Mark]

The version of python on the Mac, Fedora, XO, etc. while they might not be the 
same, should be similar enough that all people learning the language should 
find 99% of their program code function the same. There is that 1%, but my 
estimation is that you would have to use more advanced or esoteric functions to 
find a difference. There is the transition to Python 3 but I'm not up on that 
difference. So.. dont worry about any issues until there are issues and then 
just ask someone with more python skill to explain.
-Kev



 From: Janissa Balcomb 
To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t 
; IAEP SugarLabs ; 
OLPC SoCal  
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine?
 

Network Email  
hi caryl & other python students, 
 
caryl - you put a burner under my butt with this email. i had gotten the 
class email, but it had no links, so i didn’t even think to find the materials 
or download python yet. when you say you downloaded the textbook, were you 
referring to the lecture notes, or is there an actual textbook? 
 
i plan to use my windows laptop running python, not the xo laptop, but i 
thought maybe if we have an xo laptop team, we could discuss how to use what 
we’re learning in this course for practical use with the xo’s.  i seem to 
remember reading somewhere that they were talking about small teams of up to 
10. 
 
do you know how to find out what version of python the xo’s run?
 
janissa
 

  
From: Caryl Bigenho 
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 9:20 AM
To: Community Support Volunteers -- who 
help respond t ; IAEP SugarLabs ; OLPC SoCal 
Subject: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The 
Machine?
  Hi Janissa and others, 
 
If you are signed up for the M-MOOC Python class, read on If you aren't 
signed up but think you might want to be, see the "P.S." below.
 
I am signed up and I know several others from the so-cal and iaep lists are 
as well. I don't know how large the teams are supposed to be. If you looked at 
the resource from "The Machine" yesterday, it appears they had teams of 2 
for the original MIT class. Maybe this will be different. We shall see. 

They also used a specific version of Python, 
2.6.x. The version on the XO may be different. I would rather do mine on my 
Mac, 
but we can probably work on a team anyway.

I have downloaded the textbook and Python 
2.6.6 and have bookmarked the two MIT OCW classes described in yesterday's 
message from The Machine.

Caryl

P.S. You can probably still sign up. The 
class starts October 15, but there is some prep work and orientation going on 
already. If you want to be a part of this experiment, here is the link: 
http://info.p2pu.org/2012/08/21/its-alive-the-mechanical-mooc-offers-gentle-intro-to-python/
 


 From: jani...@silverstar.com
To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org
Date: Wed, 
26 Sep 2012 23:42:46 -0600
Subject: Re: [support-gang] FW: Tonight - A True 
History of the MOOC

 
I signed up for the Python class.  They mentioned that people can work 
in small teams.  Is there anyone taking the class who’d like to form an XO 
laptop team?  Janissa
 

  

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Re: [IAEP] [Butia-list] XO robotics

[Tony Anderson]

Hi,

I would love to see you at the SF meeting to explain Butia to that audience.

It was my understanding in Montevideo, that the robot is controlled 
directly from Turtle Art. For me, the really great thing you have done 
is to strap the laptop on the robot platform. This is not for cute 
pictures, it is really exciting for the student to see the robot obeying 
his or her instructions (right or wrong). The fact that the laptop is 
riding on the robot vehicle means that its movement is not limited by an 
umbilical cord.


As Yama states, we really need (for me, in English) a parts list and set 
of instructions for building the robot so that it can be done by any 
deployment. I had hoped that such a session would be conducted in SF as 
I would dearly love to be able to set up a robot at the Saint Jacob 
school in Kigali in December. Naturally, we will also need some lesson 
plans for use of the robot to further the mandated curriculum in Science 
(and mathematics).


My example would be to have the student program the robot to approach a 
wall as closely as possible without touching it. This would involve some 
understanding of the ratio of the wheel diameter to its circumference, 
the number of degrees the wheel advances for each forward step, and 
whole lot of other interesting concepts. For example, such a contest 
could lead to the issue of feedback; how to use a sensor so the robot 
knows when it is close. Should this be visual (camera) or acoustic or 
the bending of a wire or 


Tony

On 09/27/2012 02:08 PM, Jorge wrote:

On 27/09/12 13:35, Yama Ploskonka wrote:> 1) I wouldn't say better...
rather, complementary, and certainly
 > cheaper. Visiting the Butiá pages, the only picture I see showing an MCU
 > http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/images/pistaButia.jpg is
 > showing an Arduino. Add a motor driver, and we are well above $30, plus
 > shipping. The USBButiá board is maybe cheaper IF done in quantity by
 > experts (then add labor).

Besides the microcontroller the USBButiá board provides standard
connectors for attaching sensors. It allows autodetecting what sensor
you connected and were (something like the NXT brick, but with a wider
spectrum of attacheable stuff, more connectors, easier to hack, and
plug&play).

We sidestepped the motor driver issue using digital servos.

 > MSP430 + (L293D OR some darlington array) can be "free" if you get them
 > as samples from TI, or less than $5 when purchased, /plus shipping/, the
 > old bane. the advantage of using a darlington driver is that then you
 > may use plain DC motors, which can be free if lucky with old electronic
 > parts (beautiful gear system available in old CDROM drives)
 >
 > 2) yop - the XO "drives" the vehicle with the MSP430 option also. Now, I
 > put quote marks as I have no idea - yet - on how to send data direct
 > realtime from the XO to the robot, bypassing the MCU. What seems to be
 > happening is that Butiá depends on sending code/program to the Arduino,
 > and the the 'duino does the brains of the robot.

Nop, the control runs fully on the XO. MCU only interfaces
sensors&motors and supports the plug&play functionality. No user logic
runs on the MCU.
The user programs on the XO access sensors/actuators connected the MCU
and whatever the XO provides (mic, cam, accelerometer if there is one)
transparently. The most frequent programming environment is TurtleArte
(kisds already know it), but there are also Python and Lua environments
for when the problem or the user outgrows Turtle Art.

In my opinion, what MCU is used is not actually important. What is
important is the programming environment, how it interfaces with
whatever your robot offers, and the mechanism you provide for adapting
your robot for solving different problems.

Jorge
.



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Re: [IAEP] [Butia-list] XO robotics

[Yama Ploskonka]

WOW! Thank you, Jorge

1) I love the connectors for the USBButiá.
8-wire ethernet. Once a standard exists :-), makes compatibility in 
development by the many a viable option, i.e, I or anyone can develop a 
motor or sensor, and it will work with the Butiá. VERY powerful! 
exchangebale parts, the birth of the Industrial Age. Exchangeable 
circuits, possibly a jumping point (salto cualitativo, decía un otro 
Jorge) for mechatronics in education, and then in national development!


http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/mediawiki/index.php/Usb4butia
closeup: 
http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/mediawiki/index.php/Archivo:Usb4butia2.jpg
1.b) I do not like digital servos, adds enormously to the cost IMHO, 
*have* to be purchased, but then, they /do /have advantages. Askjerry 
gets feedback from a LED/sensor pair. So far I have only used dead reckoning


2) hmmm.  I guess that Butiá can run either with an Arduino *or* with a 
USBButiá, the latter connected direct to an XO?
So the USBButiá has an MCU with some pretty good code! aha, a PIC 
18F4550. I assume that you falsh them... Could you please point us to 
more details? Source code seems to be here 
, 
I guess I'll have to take a look. How expensive is it to get the stuff 
(PIC programmer)to flash?
Does Eneka sell ready-made PCBs?  PCB fab is something that the folks at 
Kidbot could help, I will check, some of our people seem to have good 
connections for that sort of stuff (maybe $1.50 for each at this 
complexity, in smallish quantities).


I must admit this is more advanced than where I am right now in my own 
skills and hacks.
I merely can flsh 430s with an XO, and would totally love to be able to 
have real i/o XO<->MCU. Hope we can follow up and I can learn. (of 
course I can flash arduino with a Linux PC, but I feel that is cheating 
- anything that needs more than an XO is, an ideology issue for me :-) )

Jorge, could you point me to suitable resources I could learn from? Thanks!

Yama


On 09/27/2012 01:08 PM, Jorge wrote:
On 27/09/12 13:35, Yama Ploskonka wrote:> 1) I wouldn't say better... 
rather, complementary, and certainly
> cheaper. Visiting the Butiá pages, the only picture I see showing an 
MCU

> http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/images/pistaButia.jpg is
> showing an Arduino. Add a motor driver, and we are well above $30, plus
> shipping. The USBButiá board is maybe cheaper IF done in quantity by
> experts (then add labor).

Besides the microcontroller the USBButiá board provides standard 
connectors for attaching sensors. It allows autodetecting what sensor 
you connected and were (something like the NXT brick, but with a wider 
spectrum of attacheable stuff, more connectors, easier to hack, and 
plug&play).


We sidestepped the motor driver issue using digital servos.

> MSP430 + (L293D OR some darlington array) can be "free" if you get them
> as samples from TI, or less than $5 when purchased, /plus shipping/, 
the

> old bane. the advantage of using a darlington driver is that then you
> may use plain DC motors, which can be free if lucky with old electronic
> parts (beautiful gear system available in old CDROM drives)
>
> 2) yop - the XO "drives" the vehicle with the MSP430 option also. 
Now, I

> put quote marks as I have no idea - yet - on how to send data direct
> realtime from the XO to the robot, bypassing the MCU. What seems to be
> happening is that Butiá depends on sending code/program to the Arduino,
> and the the 'duino does the brains of the robot.

Nop, the control runs fully on the XO. MCU only interfaces 
sensors&motors and supports the plug&play functionality. No user logic 
runs on the MCU.
The user programs on the XO access sensors/actuators connected the MCU 
and whatever the XO provides (mic, cam, accelerometer if there is one) 
transparently. The most frequent programming environment is TurtleArte 
(kisds already know it), but there are also Python and Lua 
environments for when the problem or the user outgrows Turtle Art.


In my opinion, what MCU is used is not actually important. What is 
important is the programming environment, how it interfaces with 
whatever your robot offers, and the mechanism you provide for adapting 
your robot for solving different problems.


Jorge


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Re: [IAEP] XO robotics

[Yama Ploskonka]

I'd add a reflection:

think on your market.

Even underperforming economies have access to gobs of money to be able 
to pay for anything, they really do not care much about costs, and they 
seem to care even less about performance.


What I am focusing on is Yama Ploskonka at 11 years old, a 
maker-in-the-bud (scratch your own itch, they say). I was blessed with 
hard-working parents that would make the extra effort to get Yama to be 
able to move forward (I recall a major family meeting at about that age 
where I was asked what did I need for my Lab), but some colleagues at 
The Robot Group were not.


So price/cost , access is paramount in my designs.

Kids should be able to get the whatever it is on their own steam, and 
grow from that.

Expecting someone else will pay is probably not going to work too well

Geeks are exceptions in society, and as outliers are often not allowed 
to use the expensive stuff that the school has (remember the recent 
testimonials from Uruguayan kids) - people who *do things* put the 
expensive stuff at risk, which is probably true. Since mistakes are not 
allowed, taking risks must be stopped.


I want to open opportunities for

the few, the geek, the kidbots
(a paraphrase on an ad you may be familiar with)

Now, in the USA, nobody will take your educational product seriously if 
it is priced at less than $100 ;-)




I've not given up on "quality education for all", but maybe it's too big 
a goal, so I am focusing on helping these few, who have the greatest 
need, being despised by the one-size-fits-all school, and, if 
*en-abled*, can make the greatest difference as they grow up.


Bang for the buck, as it were: so far, 2 M XOs, say half a billion USD 
in expense, has produced something like 5 programmers, maybe a dozen 
bloggers.

Ahem.
Solutions made for "all", as Sugar was at least intended to be, will 
never work as well as things that take into account that it is 
self-evident that every man is created different.




On 09/27/2012 10:40 AM, Dr. Gerald Ardito wrote:

Tony,

I have seen pictures of the Butia with the XO driving the vehicle. I
am having trouble with the Spanish.
I have been playing with the TI Launchpad as a potential robot
"brain." Walter had offered making some plugins for Turtle Art for
this potentially.
I am also wanting to play with the XO and Arduino as well.
I will share any progress.

Gerald

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 9:17 AM, Tony Anderson  wrote:

Hi,

I am wondering how this TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics! relates to the
Butia project in Uruguay. Is this a better solution?

What appeals to me the most about Butia is that it enable the child to its
own XO driving the vehicle. Can this be done with the MSP430?

In Uruguay there was a demonstration of the Lego robot - pathetic! It was
tied to an umbilical cord. It was pre-built so the children had no idea of
how it worked or what was going on inside. And, of course, it is frightfully
expensive.

The Butia project has developed a control board which is designed to be
reproduced by any one. I am hoping that someone in SF will undertake to
build the Butia kit. Could the MSP430 provide a cheaper and easier to build
control board for Butia?

Yours,

Tony
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Re: [IAEP] XO robotics

[Yama Ploskonka]

1) I wouldn't say better... rather, complementary, and certainly 
cheaper. Visiting the Butiá pages, the only picture I see showing an MCU 
http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/images/pistaButia.jpg is 
showing an Arduino. Add a motor driver, and we are well above $30, plus 
shipping. The USBButiá board is maybe cheaper IF done in quantity by 
experts (then add labor).
MSP430 + (L293D OR some darlington array) can be "free" if you get them 
as samples from TI, or less than $5 when purchased, /plus shipping/, the 
old bane. the advantage of using a darlington driver is that then you 
may use plain DC motors, which can be free if lucky with old electronic 
parts (beautiful gear system available in old CDROM drives)


2) yop - the XO "drives" the vehicle with the MSP430 option also. Now, I 
put quote marks as I have no idea - yet - on how to send data direct 
realtime from the XO to the robot, bypassing the MCU. What seems to be 
happening is that Butiá depends on sending code/program to the Arduino, 
and the the 'duino does the brains of the robot. (¿Butiás, me corrigen, 
por favor?). So yes, you may send code to the 430, and then same.
Putting the XO on top of the robot appears to me as a cute photo op 
thing, not a necessity. It would be amazingly cool if the XO camera 
would capture images that real time were processed by the XO, or man a 
sonar sensor, or something. So far I don't think this is happening, and 
the XO on the platform feels like a /pour la gallerie/ innocent gimmick.
Bottom line: control, it's a software issue. I am coding something that 
will allow LOGO-like instructions to be the input, instead of complex-er 
C, but not there yet


3) Oh! but LEGO has a good marketing budget, and I may be mistaken, have 
already been purchased by the brilliant UY education administrators for 
every single middle/high school.
Children have no ideas what is going on anywhere, so I do not worry 
about that (A LEGO driver brick is as much magical and as an MCU).
I do worry about the cost: A LEGO is assured to be carefully kept under 
lock and key, and only safe students and teachers allowed to touch it, 
you can buy a couple hundred MCUs for the cost of a single LEGO brain. A 
430-based solution, and even an Arduino, might have a chance to be lent 
to a kid. A base kit, 430, or ATtiny, say $10 USD including two motors 
and sensors and PCB, could even be purchased by kids or their parents or 
the result of a bake sale. At http://kidbot.org we are working on 
putting such together.
BTW, the Universidad Pontificia of Lima, Perú, and the Universidad 
Católica of Bolivia, I would say the MITs of those respective countries, 
have started degree programs in Mechatronics a couple years ago. Both 
have only ONE semester of actual hands-on robotying, both are Lego only. 
Those professors are so highly trained and respected and bright that 
they must know what they are doing, which means the rest of us must be 
wrong to think other options :-)


4) The choices made by Butiá make sense in some context (UdelaR fing), 
and I genuinely praise and respect their effort, but IMHO are so far 
VERY hard to emulate independently.

IF
1) the PCB were available
2) all parts were locally available, even better as kits, reducing 
shipping/customs issues

I might agree on the "designed to be reproduced by any one".
(their page says they are available locally, but give no details)

What @ http://kidbot.org we are trying to put together is precisely a 
set of materials, parts and such that, more than anything, ARE *easy to 
find parts*. Right now we are VERY busy with the solar vehicle for 
Saturday's race, so this is on hold. On that one: the only part we paid 
for is the solar cells - everything else was scrounged from electronic 
cadavers. Of course we have the benefit that in the USA you can get dead 
printers by simple trashcan-diving, while under certain ideologies you 
have to buy everything. Even then, I ideologically favor plain DC motors 
over complex feedback ones.


I am 100% convinced that the MSP430 could, potentially, provide a 
cheaper, easier to *make* robotics platform, eventually. However, I 
would want to see that as a collaboration with Butiá rather than an 
"instead". I have not contacted them yet on this, as mentioned above I 
have bee busy with the other project (actually mostly with my patent. 
BTW, as of yesterday, I am "patent pending", yeeeha!).


Yama


On 09/27/2012 08:17 AM, Tony Anderson wrote:

Hi,

I am wondering how this TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics! relates 
to the Butia project in Uruguay. Is this a better solution?


What appeals to me the most about Butia is that it enable the child to 
its own XO driving the vehicle. Can this be done with the MSP430?


In Uruguay there was a demonstration of the Lego robot - pathetic! It 
was tied to an umbilical cord. It was pre-built so the children had no 
idea of how it worked or what was going on inside. And, of course, it 
is frightfully expe

Re: [IAEP] XO robotics

[Dr. Gerald Ardito]

Tony,

I have seen pictures of the Butia with the XO driving the vehicle. I
am having trouble with the Spanish.
I have been playing with the TI Launchpad as a potential robot
"brain." Walter had offered making some plugins for Turtle Art for
this potentially.
I am also wanting to play with the XO and Arduino as well.
I will share any progress.

Gerald

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 9:17 AM, Tony Anderson  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am wondering how this TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics! relates to the
> Butia project in Uruguay. Is this a better solution?
>
> What appeals to me the most about Butia is that it enable the child to its
> own XO driving the vehicle. Can this be done with the MSP430?
>
> In Uruguay there was a demonstration of the Lego robot - pathetic! It was
> tied to an umbilical cord. It was pre-built so the children had no idea of
> how it worked or what was going on inside. And, of course, it is frightfully
> expensive.
>
> The Butia project has developed a control board which is designed to be
> reproduced by any one. I am hoping that someone in SF will undertake to
> build the Butia kit. Could the MSP430 provide a cheaper and easier to build
> control board for Butia?
>
> Yours,
>
> Tony
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[IAEP] Have You Heard From The Machine?

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Janissa and others,
If you are signed up for the M-MOOC Python class, read on If you aren't 
signed up but think you might want to be, see the "P.S." below.
I am signed up and I know several others from the so-cal and iaep lists are as 
well. I don't know how large the teams are supposed to be. If you looked at the 
resource from "The Machine" yesterday, it appears they had teams of 2 for the 
original MIT class. Maybe this will be different. We shall see. 
They also used a specific version of Python, 2.6.x. The version on the XO may 
be different. I would rather do mine on my Mac, but we can probably work on a 
team anyway.
I have downloaded the textbook and Python 2.6.6 and have bookmarked the two MIT 
OCW classes described in yesterday's message from The Machine.
Caryl
P.S. You can probably still sign up. The class starts October 15, but there is 
some prep work and orientation going on already. If you want to be a part of 
this experiment, here is the link: 
http://info.p2pu.org/2012/08/21/its-alive-the-mechanical-mooc-offers-gentle-intro-to-python/
From: jani...@silverstar.com
To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 23:42:46 -0600
Subject: Re: [support-gang] FW: Tonight - A True History of the MOOC

Network Email





I signed up for the Python class.  They mentioned that people can work 
in small teams.  Is there anyone taking the class who’d like to form an XO 
laptop team?  Janissa
 







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Re: [IAEP] XO robotics

[Tony Anderson]

Hi,

I am wondering how this TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics! relates to 
the Butia project in Uruguay. Is this a better solution?


What appeals to me the most about Butia is that it enable the child to 
its own XO driving the vehicle. Can this be done with the MSP430?


In Uruguay there was a demonstration of the Lego robot - pathetic! It 
was tied to an umbilical cord. It was pre-built so the children had no 
idea of how it worked or what was going on inside. And, of course, it is 
frightfully expensive.


The Butia project has developed a control board which is designed to be 
reproduced by any one. I am hoping that someone in SF will undertake to 
build the Butia kit. Could the MSP430 provide a cheaper and easier to 
build control board for Butia?


Yours,

Tony
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Re: [IAEP] Learnable Programming

[Walter Bender]

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 6:24 AM, Bert Freudenberg  wrote:
> Great new essay by Bret Victor on "Designing a programming system for 
> understanding programs":
>
> http://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/

+1

>
> - Bert -
>
>
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-- 
Walter Bender
Sugar Labs
http://www.sugarlabs.org
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[IAEP] Learnable Programming

[Bert Freudenberg]

Great new essay by Bret Victor on "Designing a programming system for 
understanding programs":

http://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/

- Bert -


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Re: [IAEP] [Sur] TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics!

[forster]

> You can have arduino IDE too with a "yum install arduino" I believe.
> 
> Peter

Yes, it worked for me
http://tonyforster.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/arduino-and-xo-laptop.html
Tony
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Re: [IAEP] [Sur] TI MSP430 running on XO 1 - Robotics!

[Peter Robinson]

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 5:32 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito
 wrote:
> Peter,
>
> That part worked perfectly!

Cool! BTW is that on a XO 1.75?

> I have just been used to the Arduino IDE, and so need to make a mental
> change. And, more importantly, get more experience with the TI
> Launchpad.

You can have arduino IDE too with a "yum install arduino" I believe.

Peter

> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Peter Robinson  wrote:
>> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 5:01 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito
>>  wrote:
>>> Yama and Walter,
>>> Thanks.
>>> I was not as clear as I wanted to be. Arduino (or Energia, an
>>> alternative) would be fine. I was speaking about using mspdebug, which
>>> is purely command line based.
>>
>> mspdebug is packaged in Fedora so it should be as simple as "yum
>> install mspdebug" on an XO
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Walter Bender  
>>> wrote:
 On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Dr. Gerald Ardito
  wrote:
> I have finally got to work on this.
> Are there any GUI tools for the programming, or does it all have to be
> via command line?

 If you figure out some useful command lines, we could probably make a
 TA plugin. (I've not got my hands of the device yet.)

 -walter

>
> Thanks.
> Gerald
>
> On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 7:50 AM, Luis Galindo  wrote:
>> I just bought the TI MSP430 to test it with the Xo 1.0.
>>
>> Thank you Yama :-)
>>
>> Luis
>>
>> El 10 de febrero de 2012 11:06, Peter Robinson 
>> escribió:
>>>
>>> 2012/2/10 Yamaplos . :
>>> > The TI MSP430 chips are a very attractive alternative to add robotic
>>> > options for XO / Sugar users. "Microcontrolers" are the brain behind
>>> > many engineering hobby and educational pursuits, but many alternatives
>>> > are expensive or very hard to run in the XO.
>>> >
>>> > The TI Launchpad board, with a G2553 microcontroler and an extra G2452
>>> > in the box, is available from Texas Instruments for $4.30 USD,
>>> > including shipping anywhere in the world (yes, hard to believe).
>>> >
>>> > http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_%28MSP-EXP430G2%29
>>> >
>>> > Here are the instructions for running the Launchpad with the G2452.
>>> > Maybe if the next iteratiuon of Sugar uses Fedora 15 we will be able
>>> > to use the G2553 as well.
>>> >
>>> > http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/OLPC_XO-1
>>>
>>> The next release will be based on F-17 but both those packages are
>>> listed. You might want to use one of the test releases based on F-17
>>> that I've released (new one coming soon) to make sure it all works OK
>>> and feedback any issues to ensure we get them fixed for the final
>>> release.
>>>
>>> Peter
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>>
>>
>>
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