We are currently (and urgently) working on a new edition of our Mars mission
project (
http://www.convict.lu/Jeunes/Mars/breaking_news.htm). The idea is to
start from our former RCX experiences and add some new features this time. We
are designing the rover in traditional stud-technology with the RCX.
(Why not NXT? Our issues are: if ever we have to hack a control-brick, better do
it with an RCX; we haven't the time for long-time tests, so we need to rely on
our previous experiences).
The rover has already been designed as a kind of Rocker-bogie suspension. I'll
soon post some pictures to our web-site.
The ultimative challenge seems to be the fully autonomous robot that also
recharges its batteries with solar panels. I'm not sure this can be done with
the LEGO solar panels. My questions now turn around the circuitry that is
necessary to use the panels to charge 6 NiMH batteries. Probably we'd need a
pump circuit with a coil and a pulse control. Has anyone got more reliable data
about the solar panels? What about the gold capacitor? Has anyone an idea how to
design such a circuitry? is this a realistic challenge? How far can the RCX
power consumption be reduced?...
Are there interested people to help me design this?
-Claude
