What would YOU do with a Beasty?
Tell us and you could WIN this exciting robotics interface
THIS month's competition is based around Commotion's Beasty,
the interface that makes robotics a real possibility for the computer
hobbyist.
Beasty allows you to control up to four servos from your BBC
Micro, without the need for complicated programming.
Servos are the precision electric motors that give "muscle"
to your micro, enabling you to translate your ideas into physical
movement.
By combining Beasty with children's construction kits, BBC Micro
users have managed to create a variety of robots and computer
controlled mechanical devices, one of which you can see in the
photo. There's even a computer-controlled cat door based on the
Beasty!
All you have to do for this month's competition is to describe
how you would use a Beasty. Not more than 500 words, please, but
you can send a couple of diagrams if you wish.
The most original and practical idea will be the winner - the
prize, of course, being the Beasty together with a pair of servos.
Send your entry, together with the coupon below, to reach us
no later than February 29.
Speech synthesiser contest winners
WINNERS of the November speech synthesiser contest were J.C.
Copley of Farnborough, John Todman of Welwyn Garden City and Richard
Trout of Oldham. We've not room to give all the listings so
we've tossed some coins and decided to list Mr Copley's demonstration
of recursion. Its excellent graphics more than make the point.
10 MODE1
20 PROCinit
30 PROCpic(0,0,l)
40 END
50 DEF PROCpic(X%,Y%,S)
60 IF S<0.005 THEN ENDPROC
70 T=TIME:REPEAT:UNTIL TIME>T+100
80 VDU 29,X%;Y%;
90 FOR I%=lTON:PROCsp(I%,S):NEXT I%
100 X%=X%+U(21)*S:Y%=Y%+V(21)*S
110 PROCpic(X%,Y%,S*RATIO):ENDPROC
120 DEF PROCip(I%,S)
130 GCOL 0,C(I%):DRAW U(I%)*S,V(I%)*
140 ENDPROC
150 DEF PROCinit
160 N=25:DIM C(N),U(N),V(N)
170 FORI=lTON:READC(I),U(I),V(I):NEX TI
180 RATIO=(U(22)-U(21))/1280:ENDPROC
190 DATA 0,50,100,1,120,420,1,190,10 0,1,120,420,1,120,600,1,80,700,1,160,7
00,l,120,600,l,120,580,l,50,350,l,120, 580,l,210,550,l,300,600,0,1040,100,2,l
007,200
200 DATA 0,767,920,2,750,970,2,733,9 20,0,493,200,2,460,100,0,300,200,3,120
0,200,3,1200,920,3,300,920,3,300,200
