Does anyone remember the 'electronic mouse' circa 1978?

[Al (astral highway)]

This was the first 'thing' that I built that had both mechanical and electronic engineering challenges for me as a teenager.

I was thinking about it the other day. It could have been in Practical Electronics.

At the time, a mouse was a mouse. This one was designed to move around a room autonomously.

It had a couple of little DC motors and whiskers made of wire, which were linked to microswitches.

It moved towards the light in a way that was controlled by a light dependent resistor. You set it off and after a while it would collide with an object. This would reverse the direction of current in one of the motors, and it would turn around.

Although I could make this up now, I would love to be reminded of the actual build. I can't remember what active components it had.

It took me ages for the mechanicals and I was delighted with the results.

It basically went on a random walk around the room, far ahead of the Roomba generation!

Anyone else remember this? I'd love to hear if you do.

At the time I didn't have any money (I was at school) and I either went to WH Smith's and read Practical Electronics (I think) in there, or waited until the weekend and read it in the reference library. This was one of the few magazines I actually bought!

Some teachers saw it and were impressed. After that, one of them asked me to build a remote shutter release so he could take photographs from a kite... that's another story.

Mods, just realised more people might appreciate this if the title is changed to 'Electronic Mouse, 1978?' Anyone else remember this?' Or similar. Thank you

[G6Tanuki]

I don't recall that specifically, but I do remember something similar that was sold by the likes of Maplin in the late-70s: a sort-of hockey-puck thing containing 2 motors, two phototransistors, a nasty plastic lens, a light-source and some comparators.

it would 'follow' a white line chalked on the ground: there were several pots used to 'tweak' it, and a bit of 'random' logic based around a 555 and two CMOS monostables with different durations that stopped it spinning-round-on-its-axis if it lost the white-line and helped it navigate in a way that made it likely the line would be found again.


See also 'Turtle' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_graphics

[TonyDuell]

I am pretty sure I remember something like that. Also similar articles in Elektor. Everyday Electronics had 'White Line Follower' project (a couple of LDRs and a light source controlling a pair of DC motors). And the robot dog in 'Practcal Robot Circuits' from Philips which was valved...

There was also the HEbot in Hobby Electronics which uses priority encoders and analogue multiplexers to select which of a number of sensors to use to control the motors.

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

.. And the robot dog in 'Practcal Robot Circuits' from Philips which was valved...

That must have been some beast! Did you build it?

More of the mouse circuit is coming back to me, but I'd love to find the actual control circuit. And the pre-digital cover design... Some of them are a work of art. Anyway, back on topic...

Anyone else remember it or built it?

[trsomian]

Am I sad, or what; I still have one of the line following robots upstairs!

[SiriusHardware]

I made one of the analogue ones at one point - my mother was initially quite impressed with it an occasionally I would send it off and it would come back with a Blue Riband biscuit or something balanced on top of it, but eventually she got fed up with lines of white electrician's tape running all over the place.

Any changes of line direction had to be as gentle as possible - too sharp and it would head off at a tangent and go THUD into the wall.

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Folks, if you go back to the 60's there was a book in the Philips Tech Lib series on "Robots". I think this had details of a variety of sensor systems and concluded with a desihn for a robot dog, using an array of D series valves

Ed

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by Ed_Dinning

Hi Folks, if you go back to the 60's there was a book in the Philips Tech Lib series on "Robots". I think this had details of a variety of sensor systems and concluded with a desihn for a robot dog,

That's worth looking up, Ed! Incredible for the 60's! Thanks!

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Al, I'll see if I can find my copy and post the full title and author. They do appear on ebay occasionally, but at a high price. I believe it even gave the construction details for the dog.

A similar book from the same series on "Radio Control" had details of a model warship that could launch a small plane and fire torpedos I think it had at least 8 channels.

Ed

[Cobaltblue]

Originally Posted by astral highway

This was the first 'thing' that I built that had both mechanical and electronic engineering challenges for me as a teenager.


At the time, a mouse was a mouse. This one was designed to move around a room autonomously.

It had a couple of little DC motors and whiskers made of wire, which were linked to microswitches.

The one that springs to my mind was a thing called XEE but that was much earlier 1971

https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Pra...cs-1971-06.pdf

I was only taking WW by 1978

Cheers

Mike T

[Boulevardier]

The pioneer in this field was probably William Grey-Walter with his "tortoises" in the 1940s. He certainly gave me my first introduction to such robots, and is celebrated by many as the "father of cybernetics".

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2008/212017945378.html

Mike

[Restoration73]

There has been a mouse (i.e. white line follower) interschool competition for some years, and kits of parts are available from a few suppliers;

https://ukmars.org/

[TonyDuell]

Originally Posted by Ed_Dinning

Hi Folks, if you go back to the 60's there was a book in the Philips Tech Lib series on "Robots". I think this had details of a variety of sensor systems and concluded with a desihn for a robot dog, using an array of D series valves

Ed

That's the 'Practical Robot Circuits' book I mentioned. It's on my bookshelf, as is the one on radio control.

-tony

[n_r_muir]

Hi, There was a Neurophysiologist by the name of W. Grey Walter, who in the late 1940's/ 1950's was probably one of the first people to build and publish articles on these simple autonomous "Animals" which he called "Tortoises". For such simple devices they seemed to show some interesting "Behaviour" . Apparently one of them fitted with a flashing light was seen to be do be doing something that looked rather like it was "admiring" itself and doing pirouettes in front of a mirror. Ross

[Al (astral highway)]

The XEE build looks much more subtle than the one I followed. It was enough of a challenge for me at age 15.

It embodied some elements of the muscle control board, I believe. A few transistors were involved , but no IC’s.

[Red to black]

Hi Al,
I can recall the "mouse" but the design was in a secondary school reference library book dated around the late 60's if my memory serves, although I cannot recall the name now 40 years later, rather than a magazine, although it may well have also been published in a magazine either prior or subsequently, I don't know.
Anyway as far as I recall the design I saw used two ORP12 photoresistors or similar located in the mouse's ears, and as you say the whiskers triggered the "backout" option via switches, the design I also recall also used Germanium driver transistors for the motors.
There have been many variations of this theme over the years, of course updated and varying in complexity keeping pace with whatever technology was available at the time.

[Terry_VK5TM]

The only thing I have been able to find for Practical Electronics is EMMA - Electronic Mime Mobile Animal from April 1969 and nothing for all of the 70's.

Looks like it used some Meccano bits but the electronics is as you describe.

It was the constructional article from the Bionics series of articles that started in 1968.

Mag available here https://worldradiohistory.com/Practical_Electronics.htm

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

The mouse/turtle was called 'XEE' I well remember trying to make it when I was still at school. But my knowledge of IC's and electronics in general was sadly lacking and it never worked.
A chap I worked with used to assist Dr Walter in his experiments and often spoke about his autonomous turtles.

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by Red to black

Anyway as far as I recall the design I saw used two ORP12 photoresistors or similar located in the mouse's ears, and as you say the whiskers triggered the "backout" option via switches, the design I also recall also used Germanium driver transistors for the motors.

That's the one! Yes, it definitely used photoresistors in the ears and also germanium driver transistors!

This one that you've identified was a lot simpler than some of those being spotted on this thread with logic on board.

I definitely saw it when in around '77-78 or so; as you say it may have been reprinted or something.

It's great to find out more about it all these years later!

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by Malcolm G6ANZ

The mouse/turtle was called 'XEE' I well remember trying to make it when I was still at school. But my knowledge of IC's and electronics in general was sadly lacking and it never worked.

Hi Malcolm! Hmm, it looks as if XEE was the gold standard for a mouse and the one I made was the one now ID'd by Red-to-Black in post #16. That one was a lot simpler - electro-mechanical with a bit of finesse provided by the transistors controlling the motors.

I can't remember the first IC I used but I believe it was the one with nearly a complete AM radio on board, same era. The logic in XEE and the general complexity of that circuit would have been beyond my mechanical and electronic construction abilities at the time.