In an effort ot have us become more familiar with hardware, Professor Maeda has given his UROP students an aopportunity to explore BASIC stamps. These are microcontrollers which are easily programmed using a form of the BASIC language. They are about the size of postage stamps.


Among the things built so far are a device where the light gets brighter depending on how close something is.

It uses a sonar senor to detect the distance to the nearest object.

Here's a movie showing it in action.

 

 

 

 


A more involved project involved two BASIC stamps and two LCDs. The stamps were set up with a serial connection over a wire.

One stamp, Mr. Rogers, would wait for information from the the other, Mr. Bracket. When he recieved information from Mr. Bracket, Mr. Rogers would print that information on his LCD. Whenever he finished with a line, he'd send Mr. Bracket a signal telling him he was ready for another.

And, of course, another movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Next in the BASIC stamp revolution...
serial connection with the computer and using servos.