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Parallax Growbot (Stamp II Kit)

The brains behind the Growbot - Basic STAMP II The Growbot is Parallax's other principle robotics kit (along with the BOE-Bot. The difference between the two is that the BOE-Bot uses a bread-board, allowing the user to re-wire the BOE-Bot as they feel fit. The Growbot is slightly more limited in that it comes with a printed circuit board which must have components soldered on. This is not to say the the Growbot is not expandable (thus the name...) - Parallax's AppMods are designed to work nicely with the Growbot by utilizing the connectors on the body.

Assembly

The Growbot was relatively simple to assemble once the soldering technique is perfected! Below is a collection of pictures taken during assembly:

There were times when the manual quite confused me with the diagrams since they didn't relate immediately to the instructions. Also the picture on the front cover showed an out-dated version of the robot that uses different components and circuit board layout. Picky? Yes, but I often build things visually so it was something I picked up on.

The manual was informative, since it built up the Growbot's circuitry bit-by-bit. As you built different areas on the board (the bumper, photoresistors, motors etc.) the manual would show an electric schematic of the circuit you'd created. This was a welcome addition, since it helped me gain an understanding of what the robot was doing.

I found the construction of the robot a little shoddy. My version of the robot has no real chassis: the motors and battery packs are either stuck on or velcroed onto the circuit board! This makes the robot a little shaky, and very hard to line up the wheels perfectly. I also found the robot to be particulary heavy on batteries - 4 AAs and one 9V battery seems overkill. Parallax claims the 4AAs power the motors, and the 9V everything else, but the BOE-Bot manages without the 9V. The construction also required that servo modification stuff I dislike doing, but I'm used to it by now!

After completing construction, my robot looked like this (back, top and bottom perspectives):

It does have to be said that as of March 2001, Parallax has added a new chassis to the Growbot making it as sturdy as the Boe-bot, which I would have greatly welcomed. The shot of the robot at the top of the page is the new version.

Operation

Operation is actually better than the BOE-Bot because the Growbot is fitted with a switch that allows you to turn the robot off, download a program and run a program. The robot hooks up to your computer using the serial port, programs are downloaded very quickly using the provided Stamp software.

The Stamp software is excellent for programming for the Growbot. The best part of the software is the extensive debugging utilities it provides. Let us face it, debugging robots can be a real task, but the Stamp software makes it a breeze.

So, what exactly can the Growbot do? Well, it has photoresistors, LEDs, a bumper, a speaker and two motors. What can you think of to do with those components? If you can think of it, chances are you can implement it. The Growbot does have limited additional space on the PCB (printed circuit board) to allow user additions, but the main "advantage" is the AppMod capability the Growbot has. The Growbot is very expandable with AppMods, but they come at additional cost. You can buy AppMod kits for around $89, a prototype board for $19 and a breadboard for $24. I would definitely recommend buying the Growbot with a breadboard AppMod.

Conclusion

If you have to decide between the BOE-Bot and Growbot, buy the BOE-Bot. While the Growbot is great, I feel it doesn't have the same capabilities and expandability that the BOE-Bot does. Sure the BOE-Bot won't handle AppMods as well, but it does allow a huge degree of experimentation through the built-in breadboard.

If you enjoy a little more of a constructive challenge (read: like soldering) then you might want to try the Growbot, and just spend that extra more for a breadboard.

Cover 8.0

Price: $199

Liked: Fun to use, AppMods make it expandable, educational.

Disliked: Heavy on batteries, no chassis (before March 2001), no more expandable than the BOE-Bot.

Website: http:///www.parallaxinc.com/

Submitted: 06/03/2001

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