Introduction
Introduction
8
The AmigoBot drive and sensor systems are powered and processed from a single
controller, driven by a high-performance, I/O-rich 20-MHz Hitachi H8 microprocessor. The
resident operating system (AmigOS) has 16K RAM and 64K FLASH on-chip memory, with
an additional 1M external FLASH.
Your AmigoBot also has a variety of I/O ports for native systems as well as expansion
control and power, including three RS232-compatible serial ports, an 8-bit I/O bus with
four chip-select, three address, and read/write lines; six digital-timer I/O ports, four A/D
ports; a PWM line, and a variety of 12 and 5VDC power sources.
The system also includes an integrated audio system with speaker and amplifier capable
of 9KHz playback of up to 255 (1.7 minutes) pre-recorded sound clips, such as music,
voices, and special effects. Alternative sound sets and a downloading tool come with
the robot.
Available integrated accessories include Amigo
WIREFREE
, a 900MHz radio modem pair for
wireless control by an offboard client computer and Amigo
SURVEILLANCE
, a color camera
with 2.4GHz A/V radio for live audio/video surveillance applications.
Software and Modes of Operation
The AmigoBot microcontroller comes loaded with AmigOS, operating system software
that manage all the low-level systems and electronics of the mobile robot. AmigOS is
stored in FLASH ROM, as are the robot’s systems sounds and operating parameters, all
thereby non-volatile, but updateable with special systems-software tools.
AmigOS comes with self-contained programs which operate the robot autonomously
without need for other computers or intelligent devices. These Self-Test programs
exercise the onboard drives and sensors and have the robot autonomously wander
about on its own, navigating around obstacles while performing a simple routine of
motions and sounds. (See Chapter 4,
Self Tests
.) Future versions of AmigOS may also let
you program your own standalone routines for autonomous performance by AmigoBot.
But we don't recommend that you start learning H8 programming just yet. Rather,
AmigoBot prefers to operate by a higher intelligence: smart client applications running
on an connected computer whose power and speed is needed to perform complex
BOTTOM
