There's recently been a series of questions about using Windows XP Embedded for a robot chassis on the Seattle Robotics Society's mailing list that I've answered on my blog.

I also found some excellent work on calling into the Evolution ER1 Robot Control Module directly without having to go through the ER1's API. This is very exciting to me because I had some serious reliability and performance problems with the ER1 API that I can now studiously avoid. It turns out that the ER1 Robot Controller Module is actually a Pilot Motion Processor from Performance Motion Devices plus additional supporting hardware. In reviewing the Pilot's SDK, this is a very nice piece of hardware including A/D ports and Digital IO ports and a well documented RS-232 protocol that can run over a very high speed RS-232 interface (say, USB connected like the ER1 provides).

I've added a few more blog entries on my robot, including a description of the Acroname Brainstem, Windows XP Embeddded, and a few pictures of a new multi-tier chassis I've been hacking on for the past few weeks.

- jcb

I've added some details on the IO Bus that I'm using for Cylon. I'm combining a 26 conductor ribbon cable with a custom PCB I had made at PCBExpress to allow me to carry 12 signal pairs plus Gnd/+5V between my various chassis levels. For details, see this entry on my blog.

- jcb

I've started work on a new base for Cylon, one that will allow me to move from an inside drivetrain (repurposing ER1 parts) to an outside drivetrain (based on my Tamiya TXT-1 monster truck chassis). I've posted details here.

I've posted some screen shots of the applications I use to monitor telemetry and create GPS waypoint paths for my robot.