Is there a way to program a robot with python (ex, an electric motor, control it's speed, etc)

[Wesley Brooks]

For a robotics project I would highly recommend the use of Phidgets,
they can supply sensors and interface kits with APIs. Not sure if
Python is fully supported yet but there certinally seems to be a
considerable effort ongoing creating an API for python. I've only used
them to date for servo control and accelorometer sencor data
collection through c++ / wxWidgets.

http://www.phidgets.com/

They offer direct motor controllers but I'll be looking to control a
7.2V motor with a 100A draw, so I'll be using the servo controller to
drive a standard Radio Control Car motor controller.

Cheers,

Wes.

On 09/07/07, Gabriel Genellina <gagsl-py2 at yahoo.com.ar> wrote:
> En Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:06:48 -0300, <socialanxiety at gmail.com> escribió:
>
> > in this project, we need something that would basically function as a
> > blender. we know we'll need to buy a motor that spins, but what we're
> > having trouble with is figuring out how to program it. we want to be
> > able to control the speed of the motor. how would we accomplish this?
>
> This is mostly an electronics question. How much power? For small power
> and fine control I'd look for "stepwise motor" on any robotics book; for a
> high power "blender" I think you don't care so much about fine control. In
> any case, it's the available motor which dictates how you can control it.
>
> > i'm new to all of this, so i'm having a hard time wrapping my mind
> > around how it'd be possible to program one of those things :\
> >
> > ex: what if i want the motor to turn for 10 seconds. stop for 5. then
> > turn the other direction.
>
> You may write the GUI using python, and the high level controlling API
> too. But you may need to use a PIC or some kind of controller, listening
> for commands from the PC and acting over the motor accordingly.
>
> Picasso: a Python-controlled robot for doing paintings
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsbKq5Kysj0
>
> --
> Gabriel Genellina
>
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>