How to handle many I/O events - like a pinball machine?
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Posted by on December 26, 2006, 2:42 pm
Please log in for more thread options How does a pinball machine handle the gazillion sensors and lights and coils and stuff? I'm an electronic newbie who's interested in robotics and electronics now. I have a comp. sci. education (years ago) so programming challenges are OK but the electronics is slow going. I like to study some machine until I learn something. CNC router = learning motor control for example. I've always wanted to build a pinball machine from scratch. No, not nearly as complicated as, say, Funhouse but thought it would be an interesting challenge where I could deal with much electronic theory - it'll take years of course. One of the things that is immediately apparent to me is the slew of lights, swtiches, sensors, scoring targets, and solenoids that must be addressed by the microprocessor(s). How is this handled? I doubt the microcontroller has 150 discreet I/O lines with 150 relays, MOSFETS, transistors, switches, whatever - but does it? Or is there some sort of matrix or something where the CPU can switch them all with few I/O lines. Asked another way, how can a BASIC stamp (or whatever) with, say, eight I/O lines independently control 100 different lights? Or read 100 different switch events? Surely there is some clever way? Can you point me in the right direction? | |||||||||||||
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Posted by James Beck on December 26, 2006, 3:01 pm
Please log in for more thread options steadisteve@aol.com says... Switch Matrix Lamp Matrix Basically all the switches are read in 8 bit lumps and the lamps are strobed the same way, just at higher current levels. The coils are driven using latches that are set and reset to turn the drivers on and off. Jim | |||||||||||||
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Posted by on December 26, 2006, 3:22 pm
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steadisteve@aol.com wrote: > How does a pinball machine handle the gazillion sensors and lights and
> coils and stuff? > > I'm an electronic newbie who's interested in robotics and electronics > now. I have a comp. sci. education (years ago) so programming > challenges are OK but the electronics is slow going. I like to study > some machine until I learn something. CNC router = learning motor > control for example. Most of it is simple, since pinball machines are the perfecr machines for what computers are worst at, audio-visual random events, Most of the io you'tre talking about is pretty simple in theory, but a little difficult to build right. You use multiple delay lines between the various lights and bells. That gives the machine a simulated depth percetion that really isn't there. So it's really in principle the same problem as programming a pinball game to play over the net. >
> I've always wanted to build a pinball machine from scratch. No, not > nearly as complicated as, say, Funhouse but thought it would be an > interesting challenge where I could deal with much electronic theory - > it'll take years of course. One of the things that is immediately > apparent to me is the slew of lights, swtiches, sensors, scoring > targets, and solenoids that must be addressed by the microprocessor(s). > How is this handled? I doubt the microcontroller has 150 discreet > I/O lines with 150 relays, MOSFETS, transistors, switches, whatever - > but does it? Or is there some sort of matrix or something where the > CPU can switch them all with few I/O lines. > > Asked another way, how can a BASIC stamp (or whatever) with, say, eight > I/O lines independently control 100 different lights? Or read 100 > different switch events? Surely there is some clever way? Can you > point me in the right direction? | |||||||||||||
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Posted by jasen on December 26, 2006, 11:59 pm
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> How does a pinball machine handle the gazillion sensors and lights and
> coils and stuff? the old ones used hard-wired logic. > I've always wanted to build a pinball machine from scratch. No, not
> nearly as complicated as, say, Funhouse but thought it would be an > interesting challenge where I could deal with much electronic theory - > it'll take years of course. One of the things that is immediately > apparent to me is the slew of lights, swtiches, sensors, scoring > targets, and solenoids that must be addressed by the microprocessor(s). since the ball can only be in one place at a time: some sort of matrix would work for many of the sensors. I think many of the bumpers operate autonomously too, if ther ball hits one it hits back. and signals to the scoring processor. > Asked another way, how can a BASIC stamp (or whatever) with, say, eight
> I/O lines independently control 100 different lights? Or read 100 > different switch events? Surely there is some clever way? Can you > point me in the right direction? use a matrix. -- Bye. Jasen | |||||||||||||
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Posted by Bob Masta on December 27, 2006, 10:06 am
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On 26 Dec 2006 11:42:27 -0800, steadisteve@aol.com wrote: >How does a pinball machine handle the gazillion sensors and lights and
>coils and stuff? > >I'm an electronic newbie who's interested in robotics and electronics >now. I have a comp. sci. education (years ago) so programming >challenges are OK but the electronics is slow going. I like to study >some machine until I learn something. CNC router = learning motor >control for example. > >I've always wanted to build a pinball machine from scratch. No, not >nearly as complicated as, say, Funhouse but thought it would be an >interesting challenge where I could deal with much electronic theory - >it'll take years of course. One of the things that is immediately >apparent to me is the slew of lights, swtiches, sensors, scoring >targets, and solenoids that must be addressed by the microprocessor(s). > How is this handled? I doubt the microcontroller has 150 discreet >I/O lines with 150 relays, MOSFETS, transistors, switches, whatever - >but does it? Or is there some sort of matrix or something where the >CPU can switch them all with few I/O lines. > >Asked another way, how can a BASIC stamp (or whatever) with, say, eight >I/O lines independently control 100 different lights? Or read 100 >different switch events? Surely there is some clever way? Can you >point me in the right direction? One easy way to add more I/O lines is via multiplexing. You can do this with two ports, one to select the target (or source) and the other to read or send the data. For example, if the "selector" output uses only 4 active bits, it can output one of 16 values, which go to a 1-16-line multiplexer chip to enable only 1 of 16 octal latches. Then the data (8 bits) is written to the other (output) port, and it goes only to the selected latch. So this way you can control 16 * 8 output lines. And of course, since the control output actually has 256 states you could ultimately control 256 * 8 lines. Inputs work in a similar manner. Best regards, Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis www.daqarta.com Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator | |||||||||||||
> coils and stuff?
>
> I'm an electronic newbie who's interested in robotics and electronics
> now. I have a comp. sci. education (years ago) so programming
> challenges are OK but the electronics is slow going. I like to study
> some machine until I learn something. CNC router = learning motor
> control for example.
>
> I've always wanted to build a pinball machine from scratch. No, not
> nearly as complicated as, say, Funhouse but thought it would be an
> interesting challenge where I could deal with much electronic theory -
> it'll take years of course. One of the things that is immediately
> apparent to me is the slew of lights, swtiches, sensors, scoring
> targets, and solenoids that must be addressed by the microprocessor(s).
> How is this handled? I doubt the microcontroller has 150 discreet
> I/O lines with 150 relays, MOSFETS, transistors, switches, whatever -
> but does it? Or is there some sort of matrix or something where the
> CPU can switch them all with few I/O lines.
>
> Asked another way, how can a BASIC stamp (or whatever) with, say, eight
> I/O lines independently control 100 different lights? Or read 100
> different switch events? Surely there is some clever way? Can you
> point me in the right direction?
>
>