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Best Way To Put a Monitor On a Robot?

Posted by timothy on from the window-to-the-soul dept.

I'm part of my schools IGVC team, and we're upgrading our bot's computer to an onboard mini-itx. Most of the access to the box is gonna be through ssh, but I want a terminal I can just mount on the bot for convenience. Bidding on a psOne LCD already, but what are some good options if that doesn't pan out? I want to keep it as cheap as possible and small (in the 5-7 inch range). I haven't found any good guides to modding a digital photo frame or portable DVD player, but I'm probably just not looking in the right places.

12 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Duct tape.

    1. Re:Easy answer by Kneo24 · · Score: 2, Funny

      And if that fails... more duct tape! Always worked for me.

  2. First Thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember to disconnect the laser before it gets hit by lightning and wanders off by itself.

  3. Why not... by orb_fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why not use something from these people?

  4. Here is how you do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've done similar work before for mounting monitors on ships. Get some thin aluminum bars, and then bend and braze them so that they form an end to a cage with the monitor screen unobstructed (bend four bars along their long axis and then cut and braze them together so that the monitor fits into the cage end). Depending on how you mount it, you may want to add other bars. You will probably also want to put impact padding inside the cage-end and strap-down cables or some other capture method to prevent the monitor from falling out backwards. If you know what you are doing, it will take you half an hour and it will be steady as a rock.

  5. Small VGA LCDs by Change · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are a number of 7" VGA LCD displays with touchscreens in use in the car computer hobbyist community. The low-end ones are around USD $250-$300.
    http://store.mp3car.com/category_s/27.htm
    http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/lcd_displays
    http://digitalww.com/store/products.asp?cat=8

    Take a look around there and I'm sure you'll find something that will work quite well.

    1. Re:Small VGA LCDs by Speare · · Score: 2, Insightful

      At that price, you can get a whole old Nokia 770 Internet Tablet that still runs well, at 800x480. Seeing as how nicely python runs on it (though a bit slow on ARM) and many other standard Linux tools too, it could be the whole brains of the beast.

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  6. For terminal use, I'd recommend monochrome by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe a 4x20 or a small graphic display with 8 bit interface. A lot easier to program (minimal graphics driver needed) and a whole heck of a lot cheaper than a color panel.

    I had good luck at www.crystalfontz.com, but Digikey and Mouser have stuff as well.

    We have used the TFT panels here at work, and they require a lot to get them up and running. Even if your mini-itx has a built in panel controller, the graphics driver is a not inconsiderable programming job (unless you are fortunate enough to have one included with your OS). You might well decide that the time spent trying to get a graphics display working would be better spent on bot functionality.

  7. Have you looked into the carputer/car-pc scene? by krnpimpsta · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey, I'm into the car-PC scene (where we replace our stock radio's with computers & touchscreens, in order to have all the features of the best touch-screen navigation/head units, in addition to things such as internet (wifi/edge/etc), engine management, etc..) [/carputer plug]

    We frequently use LCD's in the 6-8" size, but they're usually touch-screen and that may be overkill for your application. If it's not, though, a good bang-for-the-buck 7" touchscreen is the Lilliput 7" touchscreen - ~$250. If you want something a little better, try the Xenarc 7" - ~$350 (I personally use the Xenarc 7" 700TSV and have tested the Lilliput 7".. I have only great things to say about Xenarcs)

    The touchscreens connect to your computer via USB and the video source can be either VGA or a single RCA coaxial.
    If you're on a budget, my best advice would be to search for a cheap Lilliput non-touchscreen in the size you want. A quick google search came up with this 7" Lilliput for $120

    If you want touchscreens, a good place to start is www.mp3car.com. Non-touchscreens are less popular in the carputing world, so you will probably have better luck with google for those.

    --

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  8. Bigger question here. by purpleque · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The bigger question here is:

    What is the best kind of monitor to get and where is the best place to get it from.

  9. What worked for me by cybergremlin · · Score: 4, Informative

    What I used on the robot for my EE senior project was a serial LCD from seetron.com

    It took the serial port data form a 16bit microcontroller and displayed it on screen. We used it mostly for text feedback but also used the low end graphics to display a graph of what our analog sensors saw in real time.

    Probably low end for what you want but still a good option for embedded hardware hackers out there, as they could run it off of a pic or Basic Stamp. Will except TTL or RS232 voltage levels.

  10. Why not a laptop? by pclminion · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why not ditch the Mini-ITX and use a laptop instead? This is the brain, as well as being a full-fledged console with flip-up display and full integrated keyboard.