Page 16 - PDA Robotics Using Your Personal Digital Assistant to Control Your Robot

PDA 00 5/28/03 8:19 AM Page xv

Introduction

The NASA Mars Sojourner rover inspired this project
(http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/index1.html). I followed the mission
with great enthusiasm and witnessed a giant leap in robotics that day
it began roaming the Martian terrain and sending images back to earth.
Though I was in awe when the Viking missions of the 1970’s were in
progress, we didn’t see that near real-time interaction with the craft
(http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html). The twin rovers
scheduled to launch May/July 2003 and land on the surface January
2004 will be something to follow (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/)! PDA
Robot is a scaled down version of Sojourner that has a similar frame-
work, components, and functionality at a much lower cost!

The personal digital assistant is the main control unit of the robot, com-
municating with the craft’s body via a beam of infrared light and to
other machines on the wireless network. The PDA itself becomes a data
transponder. It (the PDA) is insulated and protected from the robotic
interface. It is said to be optically isolated, communicating on ripples
of light. Because of this design, no connectors are required and the soft-
ware provided will work with any Windows or PalmOS driven hand-
held PDA. I see a day when all components of a system are connec-
tionless with harmonically synchronized transistors.
I will go into the theory behind the operation of each component as
well as the practical hands-on information and processes needed to

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