Each entry in this index gives a short description of an article's content, and the month and year of publication. You need to supply the issue date whenever you order back issues from Nuts & Volts.
I often mention previous articles whendescribing some of my projects. The following index lists major items of interest in previous columns. October 1992 First column; philosophy; sources for parts and tools; introduction to 8051 MCU; Suncoast Technologies 8051 single-board computer; introduction to BAS051 8051 BASIC compiler. November 1992 Adding A/D and RAM to the 8051 single-board computer; A/D connector wiring; two-channel DC motor driver; +5 VDC power supply using 7805 regulator; selecting motors for a line- following robot. December 1992 Tooter, an 8051-based line-following robot; frame construction; wheel selection; controlling electrical noise from motors; change to motor controller board; building the sensor pod; light shielding. January 1993 An 8051-based Robo-Pet; bumper switches; pulse-width modulation. February 1993 Starting an 8051-based Sumo robot; rules; designing a belt drive system; ideas for a frame; problems burning an EPROM for the 8051 board; Robix Robotics Construction Set. March 1993 More Sumo robot; starting the base; 567 used as IR object detector. April 1993 More Sumo robot; LED dropping resistors; mounting the drive wheels; front casters; review of 1992 All-Japan Sumo Tournament. May 1993 Windup of Sumo series; Radio Shack IR detector module; 567 tone decoder; 556 tone generator; LM317 voltage regulator. June 1993 Review of "Mobile Robots" book; parts list for basic 68hc11 robot computer; introduction to 68hc11 MCU; source for PCBUG11 manual. July 1993 Schematic for basic 68hc11 robot computer; pinout of 68hc11 PLCC socket; schematic for RS-232 converter; modifying hobby R/C servo motors; using PCBUG11. August 1993 Huey, a 68hc11-based Robo- Pet; frame construction; mounting hobby R/C motors; mounting R/C control horns on the wheels; using the Radio Shack IR detector module; sources for the software. September 1993 Review of the CGN 1001 68hc11 MCU module; the Rapid Deployment Maze (RDM); construction of switch boxes; building the power unit; RDM rules; making a 68hc11-based RDM robot; building the ping-pong ball grabber; sources for the software. October 1993 Muscle wires; report on Robothon Northwest; description of several robots at the contest; subsumption architecture. November 1993 Review of the CGN 1101 68hc11 MCU module; using a 68hc11 MCU in expanded mode; the 68hc11 reset problem; introduction to Forth. December 1993 Introduction to tiny4th; tokenizing compilers; using tiny4th; renewable alkaline batteries; sidebar on lithium batteries. January 1994 Using IR LEDs; the IR Robo-Tool; review of Marvin Green's BOTBoard. February 1994 Controlling small DC gearhead motors; the TSC4427 MOSFET H- bridge IC; BOTBoard mods; first look at the Pacific Science Center robot project. March 1994 1994 MIT Lego Robot Design contest (6.270). April 1994 Detailed look at all facets of the Pacific Science Center robots. May 1994 Gel-cell batteries; a simple gel-cell charger; getting more voltage from a Radio Shack supply; playing with the Hallmark talking cards; using SMD LEDs for show-bots. June 1994 Discussion of the 68hc11 SPI subsystem; using the 74hc595 IC with the SPI; connecting a liquid-crystal display (LCD) to the SPI; version 2.1 of tiny4th; mods to Pacific Science Center circuits from April 1994 column. July 1994 Expanding your 68hc11 system; designing chip-select and write- enable circuits; adding an 82c55 I/O chip; making static RAM non-volatile; turning on the external busses from PCBUG11; the Philips DS-750 design kit. August 1994 Review of Network Cybernetics AI CD-ROM; review of Step Motor Design Handbook, by Leenhouts; tiny4th and the SCI. September 1994 4th GEAR, the SRS' robot campout; designing elements of a large robot motor base; Panasonic's Sunceram II solar cells; Marvin Green's small robot kit; the ant as robot; building a large robot base. October 1994 More details on Max, the large robot; adding a second platform to Max; PWM in assembly language and tiny4th; a review of TopDraw, a Windows- based drawing package. November 1994 Decoding the pulse train of a surplus TV remote control; the B- BOT robot frame kit; foam tape; the Mobile Robots Rug Warrior kit. December 1994 Timeline's surplus 9600- baud spread-spectrum RF modem; putting a modem into two different chassis; adding an RS-232 level shifter; adding a wall- wart power supply; determining antenna length. January 1995 Adding a third platform to Max; adding a miniature video camera; modifying the Gemini Rabbit video system; using the Maxim MAX642 switching power supply IC; getting sample parts and free journals. February 1995 CBE-1, an older robot; building Dancer, a new wire-frame robot; line-following pitfalls; the Leatherman's Super-Tool. March 1995 Simple vision systems; building a 3-element robot eye; cheap development systems, based on the Practical Peripherals external modems; hacking the 8051 PP external modem. April 1995 More hacking on the 8051 PP external modem; driving 74hc595 serial latches from an 8051; building an IR serial link. May 1995 Review of Sensors for Mobile Robots by H.R. Everett; an introduction to 68hc11 SBasic. June 1995 More on my SBasic compiler; a sample SBasic program; FREEWARE on the Web; using the Mosaic Web browser; hacking the 68302 PP external modem; review of Stanley and Krantz' 68000 Assembly Language book. July 1995 More hacking on the 68302 PP external modem; making the 68302 modem board battery-powered and robot-ready; the Tangoes brain-teaser. August 1995 More hacking on the 68302 PP external modem; surplus in San Diego; a visit to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI); deep-water submersible robots; review of Star Trek Creator by David Alexander. September 1995 Building the Junk Box Switcher (JBS) power supply; testing the JBS; 5th GEAR; Meccano construction set; the Robotics Practitioner magazine. October 1995 Building Artist, a drawing robot; a typical SRS meeting; Robo-thon '95, a club competition; SBasic code for Artist. November 1995 Mounting wheels onto an R/C servo; eight IR beacons on a single board; fast-turn PCBs from Alberta Printed Circuits; robots Down Under; what language? December 1995 Back Yard Research Drone (BYRD); simple relay-based motor control circuit. January 1996 BYRD's leash; 811bug monitor for downloading S19 files; BYRD's code in SBasic. February 1996 Marvin Green's BOTBoard- 2; adding more memory to the BB2; e9bug monitor for downloading S19 files; Tamiya motors and gearing systems; Mondo-tronics' catalog. March 1996 Encoders for hobby R/C servo motors; SBasic code to use servo motors; other approaches to adding encoders to servos. April 1996 Full design of a road-rally style line maze; basic rules of Time- Speed-Distance road rallies; design of TSD rally for robots. May 1996 BOTBios, the ultimate PC robot tool; running PC .com files on a V25 robot board; the design of Bill Bailey's BOTBios; my ROMMAKER program. June 1996 Line-following sensor board; why SBasic is free; Dan Mauch's simple wheel adapter; National Semiconductor's AirShare RF modem; getting started with SBasic and PCBUG11. July 1996 My latest stepper motor robot; basics of stepper motor electronics; Bill Bailey's L297/L298 chopper driver; stepper software in SBasic. August 1996 Hacking the Ready-Set-Go toy truck; replacing the on-board MCU with a BOTBoard; full map of the RSG control signals; software for reading the keypad and controlling the motors. September 1996 Three guys take on the 68hc12; Motorola introduces a 68hc11 upgrade; Kevin Ross' background debug mode (BDM) interface; Marvin Green's 68hc12 PCB; building our first 68hc12 board; getting my port of Motorola's as12 assembler. October 1996 The SRS kicks robo-butt at the AAAI 1995 tourney; the Newton Research Labs' color vision system; Bill Bailey's M1 stepper 'bot; all the details of the event. November 1996 Building a dead- reckoning robot; National Semiconductor's LM2595 switcher board (FREE!); problems with running steppers; ramping steppers to solve resonance problems; contest variations. December 1996 Hercules, a palm-sized robot; tricks to keep your robot small; another look at the 4427 H-bridge; a high-powered, 24-line SPI output port; MIT's Cyborg project; the WinSystems tiny 386SX board. January 1997 Building the marble maze- runner; a two-servo joint for tilting the maze; a sample maze layout; a surplus handheld serial terminal; the maze software in SBasic. February 1997 World Micro-Robot Soccer Championship; team from SRS kicks more robo-butt; details on the winning design; the Cognachrome vision system. March 1997 Checking out the 68hc12b32; details of the new MCU; a free assembler for the 68hc12; SBasic for the 68hc12; PWM on the 68hc12. April 1997 Getting started in robotics; using the Internet; design of a small 'bot; modifying the S148 hobby servo. May 1997 Getting started, part 2; the electronics; using pcbug11; an intro to SBasic; loading your code into a 68hc11; some sample programs. June 1997 The art of designing software; writing robot code in SBasic; how the 68hc11 runs your code; a look at interrupts; a book recommendation; an SBasic quiz. July 1997 The extremes of hobby robotics; the Photopopper; building a solar robot; the 1996 Robot Wars; gutting cassette drives for parts. August 1997 The Mars Sojourner; a Mars-exploring contest; Tackle-bot; roboscrn, a PC robot-control program.