Microtron knows which direction it is turning because of a potentiometer that reports the current position of the turning wheel back to the central processor. The original potentiometer that was installed in 1981 had apparently disintegrated at some point while the robot was in storage.
As one of the steps needed to get Microtron working again, I replaced the pot’ and pressure-mounted dowel today.
Pictured above on the right is what is left of the old potentiometer, and on the left is the new replacement pot’ and dowel.
Directionless —^
Installed!
"How to build a computer-controlled robot" (amazon)
1977 Interface Age Article (pdf)
ZagrosRobotics
.nu