I wonder what the demographics of hobbiest robotics looks like today in regard to the choice of computer and software in the robots that people are using. I have absolutely no idea how many people have robots that use pic processors, or basic stamps, or pda, or game devices, or pc, or some combination etc.
Is there any source of an estimate of how many robots of these different types exist out there? Perhaps some vendors or club members have some estimates or numbers.
The catagories could of course be broken down in many different ways. I wonder what the numbers might be for catagies like these:
___ rtosbot pc rtos based ___ pcbot pc custom code based ___ dosbot pc dos based ___ Linbot pc Linux based ___ Winbot pc Windows based (or pda w/ WinCE) ___ FPGAbot fpga or programmable logic based ___ ucontroller assembly based ___ ucontroller BASIC in ROM based ___ ucontroller OO Basic in ROM based ___ ucontroller programmed in C or C++ ___ ucontroller JAVA in ROM based ___ ucontroller Forth in ROM based ___ mechanical logic based ___ other
People occasionally argue about which they personally prefer to buy/build/program but that doesn't tell me how large each of the above type of hobbiest robot groups might be. The numbers have to be very small compared to the number of those devices being used for things other than robots but I have no idea how many roboticists are working with each of these different types of hobby robots. (Let's say that the ones I listed as ROM based don't have to have that language in the ROM of the microcontroller, just the language used for the robot programming.)
I am not asking which you prefer or why, there are other threads for that. I just wondered if anyone has any idea how the demographics of hobbiest robotics breaks down in regard to the type of computer used in hobby robots. Maybe people who sell kits, write magazine articles, or belong to active clubs have some idea how these things break down.
Best Wishes