“Jonathan Pennington works with Legos. Specifically, he works
with Lego Mindstorms, the robotics invention system. Pennington
uses Lego robots and robots built with Handyboard kits to teach
geological science to 8th grade kids — in a program he calls
Science Programs and Robotics for Kids (SPARK). The program has
been good, but Pennington wants more power for his robots, more
flexibility for the kids. He wants to program his robots in Python.
He can’t do it with Mindstorms. A small Hitachi microprocessor with
only 32k of memory controls Lego Mindstorms. That’s a processor so
small, even the bugs are hunchbacked. It’s too small for Pippy, the
version of Python recently ported to the PalmOS. Even if Pippy fit
a device that small, it wouldn’t be the power bot Pennington
imagines. What does Pennington want instead? He wants a PC running
real time Linux. He wants Linux robots you can program with
Python.”
“That isn’t too far fetched. He knows the controller he wants to
use, a PC/104. PC/104 is a relatively new IEEE standard for
creating embedded personal computers. They measure about 3.5″ x
3.8”. They’re new, they’re hot, and, unfortunately, they’re still a
bit pricey (about $250-$300). Undaunted, Pennington thinks that
prices will soon come down. Available at a good price and
accompanied by a simple Python interface, Pennington believes these
Linux-powered robots with a Python interface will be an easy sell
for educational purposes. He calls the project the EGg0 Educational
Robotics System, and it is one of 100 finalists in the Embedded
Linux Journal’s “Hack Linux for Fun and Prizes” contest. It is one
of a dozen or so Linux robot proposals.”
“A recent discussion of robots, Python, and education on the
Python Edu-sig mailing list made me curious about other Python
robot projects. Lee Smithson created a Python tool called PyLnp. It
allows you to communicate with your Mindstorms robot through your
computer’s infrared port. There’s a catch: your Mindstorms robot
has to be running the free alternative operating system LegOS and
your IR equipped computer has to be running Linux. LegOS is a nice
advancement over Lego’s OS. With LegOS, you can program your
robot in C or C++. If you have a little skill in C, you can write
procedures, store them in the Mindstorms controller, then invoke
them remotely from your computer using PyLnp. To pull this off you
have to know some C, but it sounds like loads of fun.“