Re: NXT Newbie "Is it possible" question

In lugnet.robotics.nxt, Brian Davis wrote:
> In lugnet.robotics.nxt, Chris Eyerly wrote:
>
>> I am hoping to build a race timer mechanism using my NXT and
>> 4 touch sensors.
>
> I'm not sure how much time you have, or what resources... but you might be able
> to do this with a single set. If you put an arm on each motor, such that "track
> A" would hit a peg and turn the motor clockwise, but "Track B" would hit a peg
> on the other end of the arm, turning that motor counterclockwise. By "watching"
> the motor encoders, you could determine when each peg is hit (or at the very
> least, which was hit first). With three motors, you could in principle run six
> tracks (not that you need to).
>
> Freeing up the sensor ports allows you to actually have a "start timer" as well:
> shine a laser across the track so that the movement of any car will break the
> light beam, and then reflect that laser off a small mirror to shine in a light
> sensor at the finish line. When that beam is broken, the NXT "starts the clock".
> Note that the cable length is a real problem here (which is why having such a
> "wireless" method, a laser shining the length of the track) is handy.
>
> OK, yeah, probably much more than you needed... but I got curious :).

Thanks Brian, I am hoping to play with all of the ideas, and really appreciate
the response.  Robotics, programming, and the NXT are all quite new for me, but
I already having fun trying out the solutions provided, and learning the G
progamming style.

thanks!

Chris Eyerly