PDA for VEX™ Robotics Kits

1. the programming kit or equivalent to enable communications between the devices
2. the Palm® accessory travel kit hotsync cable (Wierd Stuff has them cheap)
3. a Null Modem to interface the programming kit to the hotsync cable
4. an interpreter that can read the serial interface and enact commands on the controller
5. the Palm OS Development Suite (PODS) installed on your PC. Palm requires you to register as a developer in order to get the download. It's free and they don't spam you so go ahead and do that. Their installation instructions were pretty good in general.
6. the pilot-xfer program (optional)
7. a program on the handheld to control the controller via the serial interface
8. a controller program to incorporate into the handheld control program

Getting PODS can be a little tricky. Goto https://www.developerpavilion.com/palmos/page.asp?page_id=175 to register. Once registered you should end up at https://www.developerpavilion.com/palmos/page.asp?page_id=152 (if not then go there manually.) Click on "Palm OS Developer Tools". On the resulting page you'll want to download the .exe version of PODS and install it.

Download the Controller Interpreter to your PC and then to your VEX controller.

Download The Project to your PC and then launch PODS and use the Eclipse project import utility to make your VexDist project. Follow the instructions in the README to incorporate your robot's program into your copy of VexDist. Compile the program and sync it to your handheld.

There is a new version of The Project. The download and setup instructions are the same. I haven't done any testing of upgrading from the old version to this one, please keep backups of any work you've done. This new version adds only one function called WaitB() that allows your robot to be waiting a certain period of time while simultaneously testing a list bumpers for input. This is handy because it's otherwise difficult to accomplish the same effect using the existing primitives.

If you have any problems with this new version, please email webmaster at hobbyvex dot org.

Here is info about using WaitB:


If a bumper gets bumped, WaitB returns immediately. Otherwise, the full wait period will be consumed. WaitB does not attempt to communicate how much wait time was consumed or how much is left. Each bumper in the list is tested sequentially and testing loops back to the beginning as often as necessary to satisfy the wait time.

unsigned char WaitB(long unsigned int lWait, unsigned char *bumpers)


where bumpers is a null terminated array of bumper port numbers
and the return value is a zero or a bumper port number.
if any bumper from the bumpers list transitioned to zero during the wait period, then that bumper's port number is returned.
otherwise, zero is returned.

A null pointer is a valid value for bumpers. In fact, the Wait function is now implemented as WaitB(lWait, NULL);

Connect the programming kit to the controller, the null modem to the programming kit, the hotsync cable to the null modem, and the handheld to the hotsync cable. This enables communications between the devices (usually :-)

If you need a robot design that incorporates a PDA, check out the PDABot on the Robots page.

Turn on the controller and the handheld. Run the vexdist program on the handheld. Select your own program from within vexdist. Tap on the "Run" button and watch your robot do tricks!