C# Robotics / Hardware

I'm aware of Phidgets, however, I'm looking for some other 开发者_运维问答types of hardware that can be interfaced with C#.

Anyone got some good ones?

Check out the Netduino. It is based on the Arduino but is programmed with the .Net Micro Framework

Take a look at my "World's Smartest House Project" http://blog.abodit.com/category/home-automation/smartest-house/ as featured on .NET Rocks #518.

It's written in C# and interfaces to X10, thermostats, alarm panels, a multi-zone audio switcher, a projector, Denon amplifiers, driveway sensors, strain gauges, and much more ...

A Caddx alarm panel is about the cheapest sensor input device you can connect to a PC - one serial port gets you 100+ inputs both wireless and wired.

Actually Lego Mindstorms kits are cheap and have a lot of different libraries to code in. Microsoft Robotics for example. More info can be pulled from this article. My experience with Lego Mindstorms was before the NXT versions and using C however it was a great and challenging time. I may even look into grabbing a kit now that this popped up..

Advantech has a nice set of USB IO boxes that can be interfaced with anything hardware. They have a nice native .net framework with examples in C#.

The one I'm using is to control a robotic workcell I'm developing: http://www.advantech.com/products/USB-4751/mod_1-2MLJNA.aspx

If you're specifically looking for hardware, two suggestions I've like to add are Parallax and the ROB Series. Not only can you buy whole robots you can assemble yourself (and let's face it, that's fun too!), but also bits and pieces such as microcontrollers, sensors and accessories, which you can use for your own custom-made projects.

While you will have to roll your coding sleeves before you get to actually command these bots, it's a fun process. I suggest you look into Microsoft's RDS and their DSS and CCR forums to help you get started.