Pioneer 2 / PeopleBot manual Serial

ActivMedia Robotics

The MOTORS button and its associated green LED are under software control. Normally, your ActivMedia robot's motors are disabled when not connected with a client, such as Navigator or Saphira. When first connected with a client,9 the motors remain disabled (LED flashes) until you press and release the MOTORS button. Pressing and releasing the white MOTORS button then enables/disables the motors as long as the robot remains connected with a client.10 The green LED should light continuously when the motors are enabled and blink ON and OFF when disengaged.

When not connected with a client, pressing and releasing the MOTORS button puts your robot into joystick-drive mode. A subsequent press and release of the MOTORS button puts the robot into Self-Test Mode that exercises the robot's drive, controller, and I/O systems. See Chapter 5, Joydrive and Self-Test Modes, for details.

Press and hold the MOTORS button in combination with the RESET button to put the microcontroller into a special system-download mode for reprogramming the onboard FLASH ROM. See Pioneer 2 Operating System and Updating & Reconfiguring P2OS, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.

SERIAL

Your ActivMedia robot's microcontroller has two serial ports and three connectors. One connector, labeled SERIAL, is a standard 9-pin D-SUB receptacle located on the Console and is for direct RS232-compatible serial data communication between the microcontroller and a client computer. This “Host” serial port shares its three-line transmit, receive, and ground connections with one of the two serial connectors that is inside the robot. See Appendix A for pinouts and cabling connections.

Amber LEDs on each side of the Host serial port light during data-exchange activity transmitted from or received by the microcontroller.

Remove any tether or laptop connection from the Console SERIAL port

when using the optional radio modems.

RADIO

The RADIO slide switch on your robot’s Console controls power to the optional radio modem or Ethernet radio. It does not affect the SERIAL port functions directly, but you must switch the radio modem’s power OFF if you use the Console SERIAL port to connect a piggyback laptop or another external computer to the robot.

The radio modem gets power as well as signals through the internal, shared Host serial port and can interfere with Console SERIAL communications. In some cases, you may have to physically remove the radio serial connection from the microcontroller to eliminate that interference.

FLASH

A slide switch labeled FLASH is recessed into the Console. It write-protects the FLASH ROM-stored P2OS software and your robot's operating parameters (see Updating and Reconfiguring P2OS, Chapter 7). When switched forward, FLASH is enabled for writing. ActivMedia’s P2OS maintenance utilities warn you if FLASH is disabled.

9See the Quick Start chapter for client connection details.

10A P2OS command also lets you toggle the motors under client control.

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