pan & tilt with basic stamp

[Othello]

I am looking for help with a pan and tilt mechanism using any of the basic stamps and their BS0710 dual stepper motor controller.
I have all the parts already but find that it is a steep learning curve for me, I have done only a little programming of the basic stamps before.

The goal is to have a automatic pan and tilt mechanism which moves to any point (limited to a quarter hemisphere) and after a certain time moves on to a new coordinate.
This program of 'visiting points' would go on indefinetly and automatically. But it should be easy to change the routine to other points and different pauses, since this information will be subject to change in the future.

So there are two parts to this problem, one is to write the program which makes the steppers behave and allow for easy data entry using, lets say, polar coordinates.
The second part is to then enter the desired polar coordinates and the pauses, which is probably trivial compared to the first problem of making the steppers to behave.

Does anyone here have experience with this family of mc?

Uwe

 

[blueroomelectronics]

You're going to try to squeeze trig functions out of a BASIC Stamp? I can't remember does it have floating point?

 

[Othello]

Well, that's a good question.
I wouldn't know how to do this but since I do not need great resolution, one or two degrees would probably do it, I could also imagine using a look-up table for the various positions.
But this is exactly where I would need the help, to decide on the proper approach and hardware before we even start programming.

Uwe

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I would suggest you try looking on the Parallax website, although the STAMP is old, expensive, and very limited, there's a HUGE amount of software out there for it.

 

[Brian218]

Here is Parallax's home page:
https://www.parallax.com/

As Nigel indicated, the Basic Stamps are a bit expensive, but there is a huge amount of software, example code and documentation (mostly free to download). It's also very user friendly. Almost all of the books that Parallax sells are also available as free PDF downloads from their web site. If you spend some time searching their web-site, you should be able to find what you need. Their forum is also very active, and customer service is very good.

If you find the stamp's price too high, but like the ease of programming, you might consider Parallax's SX :mu:controller. The SX version of basic is very similar to the Stamp version of basic, and is available as a FREE download. The download is free, but you will need to buy one of the SX programmers. The individual chip is $2.79 (USD) or you can purchase their SX protoboard for $9.95. The protoboards have all the required components already installed, including the SX chip, and is ready for programming out of the box, except for the added components you'll add to your circuit.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

If BASIC is your thing Swordfish BASIC is quite nice. Supports floating point too.

 

[Hero999]

I don't know much about programming PICs but I've done some software before and slow functions can be speeded up using look up tables.