KEYBOARD Input

HEDGE

Is it possible to make the BS2 perform a certain action when a keyboard button is pressed?· I want to control several servos with different keyboard letters.

Steph Lindsay

Hi Hedge,

1. Do you mean to:
   Attach a keyboard directly to your BASIC Stamp, or
2. Use the keyboard on your PC while the BASIC Stamp is connected to the PC via a serial or USB port?

If you mean #2, you can do this easily via the Debug Terminal's Transmit Windowpane, using the DEBUGIN command.·

-Stephanie

Mike Green

What do you mean by "keyboard"? If you mean the PC's keyboard, then you can use DEBUGIN to receive a character from the debug window of the Stamp Editor (or other similar terminal emulator). Read the chapter on the DEBUGIN statement in the Stamp Basic Manual. You can compare the received character to whatever you want using some IF statements or a SELECT statement and perform whatever action you choose.

If you mean a separate keyboard attached to the Stamp, you can do this too. You can buy a PS/2 keyboard adapter that attaches to a Stamp via a serial connection. You'd use a SERIN statement to receive the typed character.

There are articles in the Nuts and Volts Columns series on attaching a keypad to a Stamp and scanning the keys.

Steph Lindsay

Just FYI, there is an activity in "Robotics with the Boe-Bot" with Continuous Rotation Servo control examples using DEBUGIN.· It's in Chapter 3, page 111.· You can dowload the book free from the Boe-Bot Robot Kit page.

Also, in "What's a Microcontroller?" there is an activity using DEBUGIN with a Standard Servo, chapter 4, activity 2, on page 119.· You can download it·free·from the BASIC Stamp Activity Kit page.

-Stephanie Lindsay

Editor, Parallax Inc.

HEDGE

Thank You all for your input.· I am using the keyboard already connected to the PC to get the job done.· I will look into all of your suggestions and see what happens.· Im sure that they will work so thanks once again.· God Bless.

MJMUCA

I know I wasn't apart of this form, but you guys helped a lot. My engineering teacher was no help at all and said to just google any questions we had and that brought me here. I never would have figured out the debug terminal if it weren't for you two giving the advise to look for the DEBUGIN section for the instruction manual.

trooks

There you go. Be it hardware or software that stymies you, the first thing to do is RTM. Parallax is outstanding in the amount and quality of manuals they provide.

MJMUCA

If you're wondering, this is what my code looks like.


'Program: Keyboard Control
'{$STAMP BS2}
'{$PBASIC 2.5}

X VAR Byte 'Declare variable
Do until (X = "q" or X = "Q") 'Open Loop
DEBUGIN X 'Accept an input keystroke
Debug X 'Show it back to the user
If X = "w" or X = "W" then
Gosub Forward
ElseIf X = "s" or X = "S" then
Gosub Backwards
ElseIf X = "a" or X = "A" then
Gosub Left
ElseIf X = "d" or X = "D" then
Gosub Right
ElseIf X = "h" or X = "H" then
Gosub Honk
EndIf 'Closes the conditional
Loop 'Close the loop
END 'End the program

Forward:
pulsout 12, 650 'right wheel forward
pulsout 13, 850 'left wheel forward
return 'Back to program

Backwards:
pulsout 12, 850 'right wheel backwards
pulsout 13, 650 'left wheel backwards
return 'Back to program

Left:
pulsout 12, 650 'right wheel forward
pulsout 13, 650 'left wheel backwards
return 'Back to program

Right:
pulsout 12, 850 'right wheel backwards
pulsout 13, 850 'left wheel forwards
return 'Back to program

Honk:
Freqout 4, 500, 2000 'honks for half of a second with a high pitch frequency
return