The Propeller 1 (in a Propeller FLiP Multicore Microcontroller format) is coupled with a Cortex processor, which Matteo described as a processor pairing of the “spinal column and cerebellum to the brain.” The Cortex provides the camera interface and high-level decisions and the Propeller 1 generates the pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals for lights and motors in response to joystick control, motor control signals for tail movement, and aggregates data from two sonars, an accelerometer, and temperature sensors. In the event the tether is cut the robot can surface under control of the FLiP module.
Shown below is the power conditioning for batteries, tether and motors with the FLiP module in the spinal column.
Matteo follows Parallax closely and was enthused by the recent release of the solo.parallax.com BlocklyProp system. He would like to use BlocklyProp for some of his projects but needed the local source code storage feature (which wasn’t readily available in our cloud version blockly.parallax.com) for source code protection. The web site for Matteo’s company is Robots Everywhere and the robotic fish producer is Aquaai.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
