Unfortunately the port limitations of ME Baseboard having only 8 ports plus 2 motor ports make it difficult to make a robot with a large number of sensors AND/OR motors.
A variety of Multiplexors would allow us to use one of the ports on the ME Baseboard and connect to multiple sensors of the same OR different types.
- Touch sensor multiplexor
- Ultra-Sonic multiplexor
- Temperature sensor Multiplexor
- Various sensors Multiplexor
- Motor Multiplexor.
In relation to the sensors, it should also allow you to either program logic at the board level OR as can be done now at the programming level. Logical operators would then allow you to use AND, OR, NOT etc logic to determine whether a particular event has been detected by a robot.
For example: A RoboCup Maze robot needs to determine if a heat source is present on any of the walls that may be around it. See RCJI Rescue Maze rules http://rcj.robocup.org/rescue.html
Yes the robot could move into the space and spin around using only ONE sensor, however, it is more efficient, as there are time restrictions, for the robot to have detectors on all sides. Now the robots Algorithm is set to look for a TRUE event to happen on any of the sensors using and OR logical function.
Touch sensors could be used to perform similar tasks.
What if I want a Meccanun wheeled robot to also have a robotic arm etc. Presently I can only fit 4 motors we might need 6 or more.