Page 26 - PDA Robotics Using Your Personal Digital Assistant to Control Your Robot

PDA 01 5/30/03 9:09 AM Page 3
Chapter 1 / Anatomy of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
Most PDAs have a small keyboard that the PDA clips onto, and an
electronically sensitive pad on which handwriting can be received.
Typical uses include schedule and address book storage and retrieval
and note-entering. However, many applications have been written for
PDAs. Increasingly, PDAs are combined with telephones, paging sys-
tems, and wireless networks.
Some PDAs offer a variation of the Microsoft Windows operating sys-
tem called Windows CE (Pocket PC), which offers the familiar “MS
Windows” look and feel. Other products, such as the palm devices,
have their own operating system called Palm OS.

• Windows CE: Windows CE is a Microsoft operating system for
handhelds, TV set-top boxes, upcoming home appliances, even
game consoles (the new Sega Dreamcast is WinCE compatible).
Pocket PCs use Windows CE. Windows CE uses the familiar
Windows task bar, scroll bar, and drop-down menus. Unlike
Palm devices, WinCE products usually have a color screen.

• Palm OS: The Palm operating system runs the Palm series of
organizers, the IBM Wordpad series, the new Visor products, and
Sony Clie. Palm OS is known for its speedy navigation when
compared with Pocket PCs.
• Pocket PC: Pocket PCs are a direct competitor to Palm handhelds.
They use the Windows CE operating system and have color
screens, among other standard features.
Most PDAs are able to communicate directly with each other through
the use of an infrared (IR) port. This makes sharing information effort-
less. By simply lining up IR ports, people can “beam” information
back and forth. Documents can be “beamed” directly to a printer or
information exchanged bi-directionally to an IR transponder connect-
ed to a network.

Many university campuses, such as the University of California at
Berkeley, are IR enabled. Students can get class schedules and notes,
receive and transmit assignments, and even have the bus schedule
beamed directly to them from IR transponders placed around the
campus.
The PDA Robot featured in this book will use the IR port on the PDA
to communicate with its body. This protects the PDA from any dam-

3