+Vorticon Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 My latest project to be demo'ed on Saturday at the Chicago Faire Details here: http://atariage.com/forums/blog/659/entry-13327-slot-car-computer-control-with-a-ti-994a-computer/ 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Absolutely fantastic! I was an avid slot car enthusiast back in the day. 32nd and 24th scale cars. I may have to try and build one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Great idea yes, loved that too. They were called "Carrera Bahn" and "Stabo-Car" over here. I had both systems. (of course) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 This is the first blog to have made it into my favorites list. Awesome concept and solution there Walid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Ok, I've found my track. Here local on CL. The guy only wants $275.00. HO scale unfortunately but 4 lanes. Wouldn't this be sweet. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 i loved these things when I was a kid! My parents bought both my brother and I a track so we could put them together and make it bigger. Hours upon hours of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jedimatt42 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Oh, dude, that demo was so cool. I have been window shopping for slot cars, but haven't been able to pull the trigger this idea makes it even harder to resist. Super cool! -M@ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+acadiel Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 This was just frigging awesome. Very unique use of the cassette port with SBO/SBZ instructions! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I had great difficulty keeping my son away from that setup during the other demonstrations. It is a definite kid magnet. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 I had great difficulty keeping my son away from that setup during the other demonstrations. It is a definite kid magnet. . . Let's see if I can come up with another kid friendly demo next year 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Let's see if I can come up with another kid friendly demo next year I doubt you'll have any problems coming up with ideas! One idea, that would be fun for kids & adults alike is a weather station. One sensor pair, like you used in the track could be used in an anemometer. The software would simply count the pulses to determine wind speed. With a few more sensors, a crude wind direction device could be made as well. Digital inputs can only get one so far, but with an analog input, resistance levels in a thermistor could be translated into a true temperature readout. I'm sure a guy like you using the cassette, RS-232 & PIO ports can do something amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 I doubt you'll have any problems coming up with ideas! One idea, that would be fun for kids & adults alike is a weather station. One sensor pair, like you used in the track could be used in an anemometer. The software would simply count the pulses to determine wind speed. With a few more sensors, a crude wind direction device could be made as well. Digital inputs can only get one so far, but with an analog input, resistance levels in a thermistor could be translated into a true temperature readout. I'm sure a guy like you using the cassette, RS-232 & PIO ports can do something amazing. Great idea, but it would require running cables from the TI to the outside for testing, something that would be cumbersome at best. Now there are wireless solutions possible worth looking into at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 ... the outside for testing, something that would be cumbersome at best. Okay... do you think you could get the TI to control an electric motor? Sensors could be placed on a set of blinds in the window.... BLINDS - OPEN / HALF WAY / CLOSED LIGHTS - ON / OFF ... the TI could make it look like you are home when you're not. For people without RTC's in their TI's, Tursi has a totally awesome clock routine that keeps good time that could be integrated into something like this that ANYONE could use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 I thought there was an X10 package made for the TI, wasn't there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Actually I would like to have the TI control my Heathkit Hero Jr robot wirelessly. It would make for a great demo for both young and old My mental gears are turning... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I thought there was an X10 package made for the TI, wasn't there? Unfortunately I was unable to get it to work with the Firecracker module, but Tursi has some great assembly code that works with Extended BASIC and a clock routine integrated with it as well. I imagine that and some tweaking, possibilities could still manifest... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I made a slot car racing control once, but used a Mitsubishi Melsec PLC together with a Beijer's MAC 90 HMI. This was a demo used at an "Open house" event at the company where I worked at that time. One car controlled by the PLC, the other manually. You could compete with the computer controlled car. The use of a PLC was simply because we did use such things in that company, but it would have worked just as well with a TI 99/4A, if that had been the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 I made a slot car racing control once, but used a Mitsubishi Melsec PLC together with a Beijer's MAC 90 HMI. This was a demo used at an "Open house" event at the company where I worked at that time. One car controlled by the PLC, the other manually. You could compete with the computer controlled car. The use of a PLC was simply because we did use such things in that company, but it would have worked just as well with a TI 99/4A, if that had been the point. Cool! How did you handle speed control and car location on the track? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Speed control by a couple of resistors and relays. The relays shorted the resistors as needed. This assembly was plugged in just like the ordinary speed control handle, so no modification to the race track itself necessary. Car location read out by a photo cell in a "building" along the track. When a computer controlled car passed a photo cell, a timed sequence was started, with different speeds during different times. Then the car passed a new photo cell, which triggered the next table of speeds/times. There are som images here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 Interesting set up. How would you avoid the photocell from detecting the player car as well? I can see the TI substituting the PLC quite easily here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) The computer controlled car has a piece of self-adhesive reflective tape on it. If you look at the photos, you'll see a few black blocks in some places. They prevent the photocell from looking across the track and thus seeing cars on a track further away. Of course you could use a 99/4A instead. The purpose of my setup was to show what you could do with an industrial controller paired with a standard slot car race track set. I worked for an R&D departement, and displaying what you really do there isn't feasible in most cases. So we decided to show something people could relate to, kids could play with and in a way that we didn't have to label "Don't try this at home", but rather encourage to do try yourself, if you are interested. We had three pairs of cars. Vistor who wanted to compete got a reasonably easy car to drive, and competed against the computer's "standard" car. Those I noticed knew slot car racing got the computer's "advanced" opponent. Finally, those who thought the computer's car was lame, were matched with the "impossible". That one I had tuned to such an extent that it took a few manually run laps for it to get the correct temperature. Only then did the programmed control for it work properly... Edited October 20, 2016 by apersson850 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 Ah ok I see it. Brilliant solution that avoids modifying the track itself. It must have taken quite a bit of time to tune. I know I did. And I did also notice that performance improved if the car was run for several laps prior to "warm up". Fun project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) The tuning is table based. There's a different set of tables for each car. Each table then starts when the selected car passes a photo cell. Then it keeps pairs of power levels and time until you hit the next photo cell, which triggers a new table. Just enter a power value low enough to make the car run through the whole track without derailing. Then estimate an optimized level for the beginning of a segment, estimate the time it will last and enter that. Already after doing that, you have a good enough control to favorably compete with most people. Then you can fine tune with more segments with different power levels, if desired. I did that mostly with the more advanced cars. The good thing with this is that when the table times out, you always end with a power level that's low enough to run all around the track. Thus if the car derails, the table will have timed out before you have time to put it back on track. As you can run anywhere with this low level, it doesn't matter where the car is put back on the track. As soon as it hits the first photo cell, it will run from there anyway. As I used a few resistors in combination to run the car, it's like having different gears. There were six combinations, with 1 representing no power feed, 2-4 various resistors connected and 5 full power. 0 disconnected power and instead connected another resistor in parallel with the track, thus providing dynamic braking. The manual handle could do the same thing. Level 3 allowed the cars to go around the whole track without any regulation. I've attached a PDF we handed out at the event. Hope you enjoy the Swedish language challenge. Bilbana.pdf Edited October 20, 2016 by apersson850 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 My "gears" were all in software just by varying the frequency of power application to the track. The advantage of your setup is that the cars probably would run much more smoothly. I also did not have a default safe speed so when the car went off the track, it would continue with the speed set by the last sector it was in, which was problematic at times. I could have implemented a timer as you did between sectors and defaulted to a safe speed when it timed out, but did not think of it. Really well done! I have been mulling with the idea of placing a 3D accelerometer and a wireless module in the car (will require a larger scale like HO) which will transmit to the TI the lateral forces on the car, and it would be a relatively simple matter to adjust the speed on the fly to keep the forces within safe parameters. That way there would be no need at all for photocells and would work on any track. So many ideas, so little time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apersson850 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 It wouldn't work. When the accelerometer senses sideways acceleration too high, it's too late to do anything about it. The car's inertia will keep the speed above the acceptable level for too long. If you apply dynamic braking in any magnitude that's likely to make a difference in that case, then you'll lose tire grip. Thanks for the compliment. I'm an automation/advanced motion engineer by trade, so I'm quite used to developing stuff like this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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