What is Pioneer?
MODES OF OPERATION
You may operate your Pioneer 2 and 3 robots in one of five modes:
Server
Joydrive
Self-test
Maintenance
Standalone
Server Mode
The Pioneer H8S microcontroller comes with fully programmable 128K FLASH and 32K dynamic RAM included in its Hitachi 18 MHz H8S/2357 microprocessor. An additional 512K of dynamic RAM or FLASH-ROM is available as optional equipment. But we don't recommend that you start learning H8S programming. Rather, the robot comes to you installed with the latest AROS robotics server software.
In conjunction with client software, such as ARIA or Saphira, running on an onboard or other user-supplied computer, AROS lets you take advantage of modern client-server and robot-control technologies to perform advanced robot tasks.
Most users run their ActivMedia robot in server mode, because it gives them quick, easy access to its robotics functionality while working with high-level software on a familiar host computer.
Maintenance and Standalone Modes
For experiments in microcontroller-level operation of your robot’s functions, you may reprogram the onboard FLASH for direct and standalone operation of your ActivMedia robot. We supply the means to download, but not the microcontroller's programming software, for you to work in standalone mode.
The utilities we provide for you to reprogram the H8S-based controller's FLASH also may be used to update and upgrade your robot’s AROS. In a special Maintenance Mode, you also adjust your robot’s operating parameters that AROS uses as default values on startup or reset. See Chapter 7, Updating & Reconfiguring AROS, for much more detail.
We typically provide the maintenance utilities and AROS upgrades free for download from our website, so be sure to sign up for the pioneer-usersemail newslist. That's where we notify our customers of the upgrades, as well as where we provide access to ActivMedia robot users worldwide.
Joydrive and Self Test Modes
Finally, we provide onboard software and controller hardware that lets you drive the robot from a tethered joystick when not otherwise connected with a controlling client. And we provide some self-test programs that exercise your robot’s hardware and software. We examine these modes in some detail in Chapter 5, Joydrive and Self-Tests.