>>>>> On Tue, 13 Jun 2000 08:03:27 -1000, Ben Lilley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> First, I plan to contribute a 'Robotics' module. The module is
> designed to interface with a popular serial servo controller board
> manufactured by NetMedia Inc, allowing control of up to 8 servos for use in
> robotics. I have written this module because the only existing software for
> use in robotics is written in Visual Basic. I also plan to add support in
> the module for other similar serial servo controllers used in the robotics
> field. My second module is 'Joystick'. This module will have two flavors.
> The first interfaces with game controllers through low-level windows API
> calls, allowing for Perl to determine number of devices, how many axis, how
> many buttons, etc. and also can report joystick and button status. The
> second flavor will be for Unix/Linux, allowing the same functionallity with
> direct access to the joystick's port.
> module list format:
> Name DSLI Description Info
> ------------- ---- -------------------------------------------- -----
> Robotics adpO Interfaces with servos used in hobby robotics
> Joystick adpO Allows input from game controllers
> Public Discussion:
> As for the robotics module, I have only discussed this with my peers at
> Hawaii Pacific University and University of Hawaii. The engineering
> students and computer programming students here, as well as other robotics
> fans, are very interested in the module. After scouring the internet I
> have found software only in the form of Visual Basic, and very little C and
> Assembly, and none in my favorite language, Perl. Given the magnitude of
> engineering and copmuter science students that complete projects in
> robotics, as well as the number of hobby robotics fans out there, I feel it
> would be a welcome module at CPAN.
> Moving on to Joystick - I have not engaged in active discussion with
> anyone about it. However, after searching all the Perl newsgroups myself
> for information on reading game controllers in Perl, I did find about 20-25
> requests from people asking for information on how they can get input from
> game controllers. That is a pretty good indication that such a module
> would be useful - and besides that, most computer languages these days
> offer some function or interface to the game ports. (If you hadn't already
> figured it out, my specific purpose was to enable control of my robotics
> from a joystick, instead of the keyboard.)
> I have also searched the [EMAIL PROTECTED] archive and did not find any
> emails referencing the above topics.
> Please let me know what you think about the namespace ... I think Joystick
> is pretty straight-forward, but I think Robotics could have a few other
> options - like Servo, Servocontrol, Serialservo, etc..
I wouldn't object either namespace, I'm just trying to come up with
alternatives that might fall into place.
An alternative for Joystick could be Device::Joystick. An alternative
for Robotics is more difficult to find, but from your description
above one might get the impression, it is device oriented as well, so
maybe one could argue it should be named Device::Netmedia::Something
or Netmedia::Something. After all, we must expect lots of robotics
tools and if perl is playing a role in that marketplace, we should
avoid to use the Robotics namespace for a single manufacturer's
boards.
Just my 2 paragraphs;)
--
andreas
