Boe-Bot vs MarkIII vs Trekker

Mullin wrote: : I want to buy either one! Any comments?

: Trekker :

A neat design with infinite expansion modules. None of the others can expand mechanically as easily as this one can. It is pretty capable with an OOPic R controller, or put your own on. It is the most expensive one though, by a little bit.

** Do this one if you are worthless mechanically and are a newcomer to embedded programming. The OOPic is easy to use and has a good users group, but the compiler is not as polished as the Stamps (BoEbot).

: MarkIII :

This is the coolest kit I've seen. It represents (in my mind) a masterful design in minimization. A lot of boards will fit on it if you don't want the bootloader PIC version (which is pretty nice) and there is plenty of space to add stuff to it. Best of all, it's inexpensive.

** If you are familiar with programming and a reasonable hand with mechanical stuff, this is your best bet. You'll be happy for a long while.

: Boe-Bot :

No one can beat Parallax Stamps for documentation and bullet proof compilers, no one. But the Stamp is a bit long in the tooth IMO and is slower than the processors favored on the other two robots.

** If you are a total beginner with electronics and programming, this is the kit for you. The manual will hold your hand through quite a bit of stuff and when you get bored with the Stamp, you can put your own controller on the chassis, which is a very good chassis.

IMO of course. DLC

Of the three I like the Mark III best. It's the best buy, although, I like the look of the trekker. You might take a look at the ARES board from Kronos Robotics.

I have the MARK III board which I modified with a 40 pin DIOS chip, a superior chip to the pic16F877 chips on the MARK III board.

chris > Mull> : I want to buy either one! Any comments?