Puck and I have added a few features to Rover:

• SMODE Switch – The Rabbit processors have four bootstrap modes.  Usually, when you connect a programming cable, the SMODE pins are pulled high and the Rabbit wants to communicate with its development environment.  Resetting the Rabbit with the cable off causes the Rabbit to start executing its program.  In the case of the RCM5600W, there is a manual jumper that needs to be removed when you want the Rabbit to boot into its Run mode.  The jumper needs to be inserted when you want to program it.  In our case, we got tired of inserting and removing that jumper so I installed a toggle switch on the back of Rover and wire-wrapped the connections to the jumper posts.

• Power Switch – We added a switch so we can connect and disconnect the battery.  We still need to work with the screw terminals to switch between an external pow er supply and the battery.  Eventually, I hope to insert some kind of connector.

The latest software now supports the SRF05 Ultra-Sonic Ranger.  This will be used to tell Rover some information about his surroundings – at least what is in front of him.  The software enables the SRF05 to continuously inform Rover of the distance to the nearest object within the beam pattern.  As we said in an earlier post, we will be mounting the SRF05 on a mast that turns ±90° so we can also look side-to-side.  We did some initial testing this morning and, so far, it is looking pretty good.

Here is a picture of the unit just sitting on my bench connected to an RCM4100 and prototype board.  The same code works in both the Rabbit 4000 and Rabbit 5000 processors.

And here is a movie of Puck and me testing the unit showing the SRF05 Trigger pulse and Echo pulse.