Page 32 - Amphibionics : Build Your Own Biologically Inspired Robot

Amphibionics 01 3/24/03 8:01 AM Page 11
Chapter 1 / Tools, Test Equipment, and Materials
If you are really serious about electronics, then an oscilloscope,
like the one pictured in Figure 1.15, is a great investment. This is
the Tektronix TDS 210 dual channel, digital real-time oscilloscope,
with a 60-MHz bandwidth. The TDS 210 on my bench also has the
RS-232, GPIB, and centronics port module added, so that a hard
copy of waveforms can be output. The great advantage to using an
oscilloscope is the ability to visualize what is happening with a
circuit. The new digital oscilloscopes also automatically calculate
the frequency, period, mean, peak to peak, and true RMS of a
waveform. You will probably need to use a regulated direct current
(DC) power supply and a function generator quite often as well.

None of the equipment shown in Figure 1.15 is required when
building the robots in this book, but it will make your life as an

FIGURE 1.15
Oscilloscope, regulated
DC power supply, and
function generator.

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