Subject:
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Re: about robots and handy board
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.handyboard
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Date:
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Wed, 12 Apr 2000 06:00:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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1202 times
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Francis,
Thanks for the info! I'm not an expert, but doesn't PIC
stand for "Peripheral Interface Controller"? Well, I guess
it's all just semantics, they both could be correct...
Just wondering,
John Wynne
In lugnet.robotics.handyboard, FThompson9@aol.com writes:
> Dear Francois A du Toit:
> PIC stands for Programmable Integrated Circuit. Generally it is what we
> call a microcontroller. You write a program in Assembler, burn that program
> into the PICs EPROM or EEPROM. Then when you put the PIC in its circuit, it
> runs the program. Most of the pins on the PIC are inputs or outputs. (Which
> they are, is determined by the program you write, and can be changed mid
> program.) The pins which are not I/O are power, ground, reset, and two pins
> for the crystal oscillator circuit. To a small extent a chip with power
> applied and a crystal attached is like a Handy Board. Both expect the
> external world to supply electrical input, and both using a program apply an
> electrical output to the world in response to the input signals. There I
> would say the similarity stops. The could be thought of as a
> Microcontroller, but in the Handy board, it is really being used as a
> microprocessor. The program that you write for the Handy board is stored on
> a memory chip outside the 6811. The signals from the 6811 are conditioned on
> the Handy board to be more useful to simple robots. With a PIC the program
> is burned into ROM and will not go away until it is physically erased with UV
> light or special voltages. The Handy board will loose the program when power
> is removed (it's not as easy as it sounds), or when you tell the Handy board
> to forget (unload) the program.
> The primary advantage to the Handy board is that it is easy to use. You
> write the programs in C in an interactive environment directly connected to
> the Handy board itself. Finding program errors is easy. For small robots
> nearly no electrical conditioning of the signal is required.
> The primary advantage to the PIC is that it is cheap. You would use a
> PIC processor if you plan to make a dozen or more identical robots. Signal
> conditioning is almost certainly required. Finding program errors is
> anywhere from nontrivial to very difficult.
> When I was in St. Louis, I build a line following robot based on stepper
> motors (to demonstrate stepper control to the club [MARS]) and a PIC
> microcontroller. It took me more than two months to build, program, and fix.
> It finally did make it all the way around a simple line course, but at a
> very slow speed. Rick Moll snapped together a line follower over a weekend
> using the Handy board and modified servo motors. It followed the line quite
> well at a speed that put my stepper motors to shame.
> If you are trying to learn about robots, get the Handy board!
>
> You can learn everything you need to know about PICs (except what is
> available in Senix parts) at their web page.
>
> http://www.microchip.com/
>
> For more info. on the Handy board try:
>
> http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/handy-board/index.html
>
> Hope this helps,
> Pherd
> Currently Pensacola, FL
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: about robots and handy board
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| Dear Francois A du Toit: PIC stands for Programmable Integrated Circuit. Generally it is what we call a microcontroller. You write a program in Assembler, burn that program into the PICs EPROM or EEPROM. Then when you put the PIC in its circuit, it (...) (25 years ago, 12-Apr-00, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)
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