...I'm sorry to admit this, but I know nothing of hardware and robots and how to work with them. I'm an amazing programmer, but in the field of robotics, I'm...blind. 
I decided to fix this issue...I went out and bought an old robot from 1985. Made by Nintendo; R.O.B.
After breaking it open and looking around, I have a general understanding of it. Not a great understanding, just a general one.
Then I noticed that, on the internet, there were two mods of the R.O.B. that allowed it to be controlled by a computer; In one case, a linux box, and in another case, a really old IBM computer called the XT.
I then decided that I wanted to pull something similar off with Windows XP. The programming? Not an issue. The modding? Heh...
First, take a look at the two mods, as it'll give you a fair idea of how this robot runs.
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
In both cases, they remove the CPU that's in the R.O.B. I can see where this is and I can use a soldering iron well enough to remove it.
The question I'm having is with these 3 H-Bridge Drivers (labeled as IR2C25 on the chip). It's simple enough to solder some wires onto these, but...then what? In the XT computer mod, they only call the connector they use as a "Ribbon Cable" of some sort. In the Linux mod, they use a serial port, but I don't have a fair understanding of serial ports. Basically, what I'm asking is, what signal do I need to send through these wires to make this R.O.B. move? How do these H-Bridge Drivers work EXACTLY? I have a vague understanding of them, but not good enough.
Finally, you may not be able to answer this, considering this is more unique to the R.O.B. only, but I could not find on these mods where I need to solder in a wire to control the LED on R.O.B.'s head. In the XT mod, the guy actually reconnects the LED somewhere else, but in the Linux mod, it seems apparent that it can be controlled somewhere on one of these H-Bridge Drivers, which doesn't make sense to me since that is a chip that is used to control a motor, but...who knows. I sure don't.
Thanks for your time.
I decided to fix this issue...I went out and bought an old robot from 1985. Made by Nintendo; R.O.B.
After breaking it open and looking around, I have a general understanding of it. Not a great understanding, just a general one.
Then I noticed that, on the internet, there were two mods of the R.O.B. that allowed it to be controlled by a computer; In one case, a linux box, and in another case, a really old IBM computer called the XT.
I then decided that I wanted to pull something similar off with Windows XP. The programming? Not an issue. The modding? Heh...
First, take a look at the two mods, as it'll give you a fair idea of how this robot runs.
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
In both cases, they remove the CPU that's in the R.O.B. I can see where this is and I can use a soldering iron well enough to remove it.
The question I'm having is with these 3 H-Bridge Drivers (labeled as IR2C25 on the chip). It's simple enough to solder some wires onto these, but...then what? In the XT computer mod, they only call the connector they use as a "Ribbon Cable" of some sort. In the Linux mod, they use a serial port, but I don't have a fair understanding of serial ports. Basically, what I'm asking is, what signal do I need to send through these wires to make this R.O.B. move? How do these H-Bridge Drivers work EXACTLY? I have a vague understanding of them, but not good enough.
Finally, you may not be able to answer this, considering this is more unique to the R.O.B. only, but I could not find on these mods where I need to solder in a wire to control the LED on R.O.B.'s head. In the XT mod, the guy actually reconnects the LED somewhere else, but in the Linux mod, it seems apparent that it can be controlled somewhere on one of these H-Bridge Drivers, which doesn't make sense to me since that is a chip that is used to control a motor, but...who knows.
I sure don't.Thanks for your time.
