LegoLogo and the
Color QuickCam
Merging Technologies
by Orlando Mihich
In one corner of our Lab sits the only surviving Apple IIgs from
an era of Apple IIe and Apple IIgs. They have almost all been
replaced by twenty-three new Macs. Students love their Macs; I
have even witnessed embracing acts, and hand clapping. These Macs
are definitely “their machines!”
Still, there are some of us, the previous generation, who love
those old machines. We spent hundred of hours with them, created
so much work, and our diskettes are still here, and working. Only
six years ago the first Apple IIgs came into our lab, but one has
the feeling that many, many more years went by.
Thanks to a LegoTclogo Interface box attached to it, our Apple
IIgs is still very active. Each year new students coming into the
lab are attracted to the Apple IIgs and get involved in building
some device with the numerous Lego blocks tucked away in a large
box. Years ago, we use to store neatly every Lego piece in the
appropriate tray, but in time we lost that good habit and today at
least three Lego sets are all in a big box. Still, students always
seem to find all the pieces they need.
Last year, Patrick and Sam worked all year on and off in
assembling this great little “roamer” which was going
around the floor with flashing lights, piercing sounds, and
hiccups that got the attention of every student in school. They
were very proud of their creation; they show it to various
visitors and parents.
This year, I purchased a Color QuickCam, and, of course, every
student got his/her three megabytes of fun. I started to use the
QuickCam with my six grade classes and every student was reciting
some lines under a floodlight and in front of the eye of the Color
QuickCam. The sixth grader are coming in all shapes and heights,
so there was this student tilting the Quickcam up and down for the
whole period trying to catch the student being taped, digitized.
Here, Patrick and Sam, now in eighth grade, came up with this
great, brilliant idea. Why not mount the QuickCam eye-ball on
their roamer? It had survived the summer in a closet and was about
to be forgotten. They set immediately to work and in two days came
up with a working model of a movable Color QuickCam controlled via
the Apple IIgs. The device can move in any direction but most
important, it can lower and lift the eye of the Color QuickCam,
searching for the student in front of the camera. Now, the whole
taping process became very simple; and, needless to say it looks
very “digital-studio.” A student at the Apple IIgs
controls the Color QuickCam and searches for the student sitting
in front of the camera looking at the Macintosh screen. When on
target, another student at the Mac clicks on ”record”
button and records the student reciting his/her lines. Students
include their recorded QuickTime movie(s) in a ClarisWorks
document.
Yesterday, I asked my two young engineers to write what they did
and to explain their procedures. Patrick showed up this morning at
7:30 to check all the procedures and during lunch, with Sam, wrote
the text below. As I was reading I was more and more impressed.
First, I didn’t know they could write with such
professionalism, and second... could I have written something like
this when I was thirteen? I know the answer is no.
Welcome to Lego Logo!
By: Patrick Mahaney and Sam Lazarus
LegoLogo is a Logo based program that is adapted to operate
motors, lights, and touch-light sensors. The motors are hooked to
a Lego creation and the creation can be made to move through hours
of programming. We have utilized this program and our boundless
Lego resources to create this vehicle. The top of the vehicle has
a harness that is built to hold the Conectix
Color
Quick Cam©. The harness is
on top of a bulky frame with two wheels, two motors, and several
lights. It is controlled by keyboard movements on our favorite
computer, the Apple IIGS. We have
programmed the chassis and harness to control the movements of the
Quick Cam so that it is possible to film in almost 360°, in
all directions. The only drawback is the bundle of wires. They
limit the movement of the vehicle so that it has a very small
amount of ground that it is able to cover.
<<This procedure tells the car to go
forward for a fixed amount of time>>
To tfd :time
talkto [a b]
seteven
onfor :time
end
<<This procedure tells the car to go
backward for a fixed amount of time>>
To tbk :time talkto [a b]
setodd
onfor :time
end
<<This procedure tells the car to turn
right for a fixed amount of time>>
To trt :time
talkto “a
setodd
talkto “b
seteven
talkto [a b]
onfor :time
end
<<This procedure tells the car to turn
left for a fixed amount of time>>
To tlt :time
talkto “a
seteven
talkto ‘b
setodd
talkto [a b]
onfor :time
end
<<Drive is the procedure that you use
to move the car. Redchar “key tells the
computer to use the keyboard to control whatever procedure you
want it to.>>
To drive
talkto “a
setpower 7
talkto “b
setpower 7
name readchar “key
if :key = “8 [tfd 5]
if :key = “6 [trt 3]
if :key = “4 [tlt 3]
if :key = “2 [tbk 5]
if :key = “7 [tfd 5 tlt 5]
if :key = “9 [tfd 5 trt 5]
if :key = “1 [tbk 5 trt 5]
if :key = “3 [tbk 5 tlt 5]
if :key = “+ [talkto “c setpower 4 on]
if :key = “- [talkto “c setpower 4 off]
if :key = “* [talkto “c rd]
if :key = “x [stopall]
if :key = “= [tfd 50]
if :key = “/ [tbk 50]
drive
end