Re: TI-85 CBL Protocol for Robotics???

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Re: TI-85 CBL Protocol for Robotics???

Have you browsed over to www.ticalc.org?  I believe there is a link to
somebody who used the 85 to control a light show.  Maybe you could get
some help there.

Todd

Terry King wrote:
>
> Is anyone using programmable calculators like the TI-85
> to control small robots?  These calculators have a
> protocol that talks to the Texas Instruments
> "Calculator Based Laboratory" which is a separate
> microcomputer-based unit that supports various
> analog sensors, a sonar ranger, and two TTL level
> ports of 4 bits each.
>
> My stepson, who has built a decent tethered robot, asked
> "could I put my TI-85 on top of a small mobile robot
> and program it to control the robot??"  Hmmm, I said...
>
> The TI-85 costs about $99, and has 32K of RAM in addition
> to the Calculator stuff in ROM.  It's protocol to the
> "CBL" is pretty well known, and consists of sending
> named variables, or lists of variables, or I believe
> variable tables, back and forth to the CBL thingie.
>
> I am getting more proficient with programming PIC micros
> and I'm thinking that it would be cool if:
>
> - We designed a small mobile platform with 3 or 4 model
>   servos for drive motors and arm/forklift controls.
>
> - We designed a PIC based interface board that handled the
>   TI-85 protocol and ran the Pulse-Width signals to the
>   servos. TI-85 variables for motor speed, and servo position.
>
> - We designed various other sensors that interfaced thru
>   the PIC and showed up as TI-85 variables.
>
> - We wrote TI-85 calculator programs that controlled the
>   robot and did stuff like collision avoidance, mapping etc.,
>   or maybe interpreted LOGO commands.
>
> The TI-85 has a Z-80 processor (I was surprised, too!) running at
> 6 Mhz, AND the ability to load and run Z-80 Assembler programs!
> AND it has a nice keyboard AND a big LCD display.  This starts
> to look better than a lot of breadboard boards, even the cool
> SimmStick stuff, money VS function. And it has Floating Point and
> Transcendental functions.
>
> SOO... Anybody else have this fantasy yet?? Anyone working on it??
> Anyone have it all working???(Then I will simmer down and do something
> else!)..
>
> Comments and Ideas and GotChas would be appreciated.  I would like
> to keep this mainly on COMP.ROBOTICS.MISC I guess, if youse guys
> from bit.listserv.ti-calc etc. Could drop in over there...
>
> Regards,
>
> Terry King
> ..In The Woods in Vermont
> tking@together.net

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