Comments on: The Robot Games Are Coming

By: Jack Sandgathe

Jack Sandgathe — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:20:04 +0000

At 79, I may be your oldest newbie! I live in Trinity Lodge and would like to get into robotics. I have some background in machining, electronics, hobbies of various types. I would like to talk to someone, person to person. My phone (cell) is 403-934-0813. Please call, Jack

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:15:15 +0000

In my experience I’ve found that the only thing holding me back from going back to PIC microcontrollers is the price of the programming software needed. I started out programming PICs (PIC16F877 & PIC16F84) in tech school but the years after school were lean with having to pay off debts so I naturally moved over to cheaper Atmel development. I went from programming in ‘BASIC’ on the ATMEGA32 from wrighthobbies.net, then to ‘C’ on the AVRbutterfly (ATMEGA169) from smileymicros.com, and now very recently to ‘WIRING’ on the FreeDuino (ATMEGA328) from solarbotics which, as Brutus alluded to, is largely supported and very popular (The Arduino Revolution as I like to call it) and has free programming software. My opinion is the same as Brutus’. At the moment I prefer ATMEL uC’s but more specifically the Ardunio kits because they are very affordable way to get into microcontroller development and are widely supported.

By: climber

climber — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:52:00 +0000

I started with the PIC but switched to the AVR after learning how easy it was to make it go. It’s a nearly perfect fit with the way I like to develop software and the implementation of gcc to support it is most excellent. I have the xmegas in the cross hairs and I’ve gotten every tool except one upgraded to support them. Once gcc catches up then I am off to the races.

By: Robot Games

Robot Games — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:16:18 +0000

Robot games totally rock, I’m suprised this wonderful inovative genre is back, thumbs up guys!

By: skater_j10

skater_j10 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:50:23 +0000

I’ll be bringing some robots built out of recycled materials and electronics

As for microcontroller [uC] preference, I think I prefer ATMEL micros, solely based on compiler software costs. It’s funny that I learned on Motorola and Microchip uC’s but ended up moving over to Atmel chips due to the low cost of the software.

I went from the 68HC11, PIC16F877, & PIC16F84 at tech school to the ATMEGA32 when I purchased the Devboard-M32 from Wrighthobbies. I programmed with a ‘BASIC’ compiler on the M32 which cost $85 at the time as compared to ‘PICBASIC PRO’ which was around $300.

From there I moved over to the ATMEGA169 AVRbutterfly kit from Smileymicros and began to program in ‘C’ because the compiler was free!

Now I very recently have moved over to ‘WIRING’ (also a free compiler) and the ever popular world of Arduino’s to see what everyone is raving so I purchased a FreeDuino from Solarbotics. I also wanted to gain some experience with an Arduino so that when I try to help people who are trying to join the Ardunio Revolution, I’ll know what I’m talking about.

I think I’m with Brutus, I favour Atmels.

By: Skater_j10

Skater_j10 — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:21:24 +0000

By: Brutus

Brutus — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:58:06 +0000

From a hardware design aspect, I really do enjoy the PIC lineup. It has been fairly complex in the past to get up and running with them, however.

I’ve noticed recently bootloader advances have brought PICs to the same level as Atmel, but I think for a hobbyist, specifically talking about Arduino, there are far too many shields and accessories and help forums to ignore as a starting point.

Every month there are new Offerings, and the software is under constant development as they listen to the community and adapt.

Both are great options however! Although I do favor Atmels, I really enjoy working in the PIC relm as well.