Re: how can I get "manual" input into my RCX?

Darin Johnson wrote:
> You don't even need a rotation sensor.  You could turn a dial, and for
> each position a touch sensor is pushed.

That's a clever idea.  For those who don't want to build such a
device, you can get away with even less: two buttons (i.e., two touch
sensors).

You can model the interface after the cascading menus that many
electronic devices have.  Basically, one button is a "next" button
that is used to cycle through a list of choices.  The second buttom
is an "enter" button to select a choice.  Use cascading menus to
manage complexity.  For example, at the first level, use "next"
to cycle through the available motors, and select one with "enter".
Then cycle through the available motor settings (say, forward,
reverse, off) and select one with "enter".  Most such menu systems
typically have an exit/back to previous level entry as well.  Many
people go through their cell phone menus hardly ever using more than
two buttons (though most provide four directional keys for simpler
navigation).

This is basically just a fancy serial interface for humans, rather
than a parallel one involving many more controls.  As a result, it
sacrifices time required to input a command for number of controls
(bits of input).

Interestingly, this is exactly the way you cycle through programs
and select one for running on the RCX itself ;-).

It probably goes without saying that you'd need reasonable feedback
to the user for this to be manageable, although simply changing
the numbers on the RCX's LCD should be enough (digits before
the : might be motor number, digits after : represent direction/
command, etc).  Of course, you'd need that kind of feedback to use a
dial too.  If you're willing to use brickOS, you don't even need to use
sensors for this, since you can directly control the LCD and also read
from the existing control buttons.  The dial idea is still pretty
interesting, though!  Basically, it is a rotary attachment to the
"next" button so you can press it many times in succession quickly.

                                -- Steve

--
Stephen Edwards            604 McBryde Hall          Dept. of Computer Science
e-mail      : edwards@xxxxxxxxx           U.S. mail: Virginia Tech (VPI&SU)
office phone: (540)-231-5723                         Blacksburg, VA  24061
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