china is a great place food so cheap like a big mac $.25 to $.50 and coffee $.10 BUT PLANE FARE $1000 and about 18 hours (going to hate that) ,wont have much if any to see sites

LASER is best way to go,after code is done and final testing ,next it designing a real good laser design and receiver,and 2 ways to get 360 deg,one of the main item dont like camera designs

One idea is using omnicone type of mirror ,or a spinning mirror,spinning design is like the NEATO LIDAR OMNICONE is like the roomba

there is a 3rd buts its very hard using design that a hard drive has,receiver coil and transmitting coil

might look into it,360 deg is so very important in a robot design you want to know first who in back of it or sides and front,plus if the robot is facing the wrong way how does it know where the charger is,camera cant tell ,unless there is a 360 deg design using a omnicone type of mirror

easy to try the idea after you have a camera on turn the robot around and see if he can find home base

ON that laser detector circuit by david cook is not bad ,i always at his site to use or design a better design he uses photocell ,they are not that great,what you need is a PHOTODIODE set at the wave length of the laser ,like use in neato LIDAR and so many other circuit.one main reason is other light hits it,

with a tuned PHOTODIDE set for only a laser not other light will effect it,plus wont be to add to add it to analog or digital inputs ANALOG is great for measuring distance ON DIGITAL IS for tracking servo's

Can use both on the same design

Will try to explain it easy,ok on analog that easy connect circuit to analog input and use math to calculate distance like in the IR SENSORS DJ sells and then from the analog output connect to a comparator with a threshold voltage and has a digital output ,kinda like the dave cook circuit you have a link too

I KNOW this TECH stuff is hard for most,i guesss a circuit might might help,but with me i try to explain how it works,

I CAN take any circuit and explain it how it works

RGORDON you said you ordered parts from rentron,what IR detectors did you get,only because you dont want the same frequency as the IR sensor DJ SELLS and we use in our robots and i guess you using them too,or first it will get false reading (ping) and second the transmoiteer will set IR SENSOR off (echo)

THEY sell a few types (frequency) of both detectors and transmitters that why i had to get the right ones for my IR DESIGN to control ROBOSAPIEN models ,plus soon TV and A/V EQUIPMENT soon as my design is done sending one to DJ

Please feel free to call me Rex..

Have not ordered the parts from Rentron yet...will do so soon. Thanks for the tip. The IR decoder and encoder are 40Khz. Don't know yet about the ones on the EZ Robot Store yet...

Yes, I understand a lot of what you say about electronics...been working with electronics for 40 years. I am use to building circuits with TTL and CMOS chips. I like building digital circuits. Analog circuits are what give me fits.

REX yes digital are so very easy to work with ,only have a H OR L and once you know the truth table it easy,i think i have almost any digital chip made ,from gates to digital multiplexers from work and best part work said i can have them when i leave,they may think i am comming back

my work is a freelance job ,meen i design circuits at home,plus i may get to keep my $1200 digital meter 8 1/2 digits ,COOL HUH

IT ANALOG is very hard ,too many out there of different types,plus filters and how to use op amp and comparator,once someone gets me started talking about circuits it hard to stop,my best part i can do is analyze a circuit plus electronic photographic memory (make a great spy huh )

Back to IR decoder the frequency ,i look at the data sheet and doesnt say anything there is a osc in the ir sensor circuit but no value

SO all you can do is try,i have another test ,since you going to get a 40 khz ir detector pair

TAKE a IR SENSOR and shine a remote on it,press any button and see if the ouput changes

IR TV remote is 40 khz ,so it it changes select a different IR ,LIKE 39 khz or 38 khz never tried a 455khz I should of bought it from rentron

i guess i can very easy do the test,just so busy only have little more then a week to finish the pololu circuit

I SAID once you get me started on talking about electronic designs it will take many pages

@rex, I'd say a new project showcase would be the best way to go if you have it all planned out. All I was trying to avoid is new ideas not being mentioned in this one.

@Rich Well done on listing all the suggestions to date I am sure more will follow To take the research to the next stage may I suggest to all that we actually do some tests on different systems As I already have pololu kit I am prepared to investigate and see how well it can be integrated If any other members are in a similar position maybe we can work together on this idea ,only . Then we can report back on our findings. The same may be possible with some of the other suggestions