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Bots / The Ultimate Palm Robot/ Mukhar & Johnson / 222880-6 / Chapter 9

250 The Ultimate Palm Robot

As with the output ports, you will connect the anode (the longer lead) of the
LED to the digital signal line of the digital port. This is the pin farthest from
the edge of the board. The cathode will be connected to the GND pin, the pin
closest to the edge of the board.
YoucanthensettheporttohighandlighttheLEDwiththeseTEAcommands:

aDig_Config(0, ADIG_OUTPUT)
aDig_Write(0, 1)

Where to Go From Here

As far as this chapter goes, we’ve barely touched the surface of what you can
do with your Palm robot. The number of devices you can attach to the robot is
limited only by your imagination.
We’ve looked at input devices that are analogous to the sense of sight. But
we humans have at least four other senses. Sensors that detect the presence of
particular molecules in the air are out of our reach, but sensors that mimic
touch or sound could easily be added to the robot. But don’t let all this stop
you. Just because humans are limited to five senses doesn’t mean your robot is
limited to those same five senses.

We’ve also spent some time investigating how to add other output devices to
the robot. Our little PPRK is limited in what it can do—it’s not going to pilot a
Mars rocket or control the power grid of New England. On the other hand, it
makes a great platform for investigating simple control and output applications.
You can modify and program your robot to do many other things as well.

As far as the Palm robot, our journey is nearly at an end. We’ve spent a lot of
time looking at how to build, program, and extend the robot. But we’re more
than robot fans (that is, enthusiasts—not rotating blades that provide cooling
air), we’re also Palm enthusiasts. Working endlessly day and night on just the
PPRK is not our only idea of fun. Palm OS devices can do more than control
your PPRK, and in the next chapter, we’ll take a quick look at some of the other
robotics applications that you can use your Palm to accomplish.

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Monday, May 12, 2003 4:33:46 PM