Serial Killer User's Guide

Contents: This page is designed to help new folks use Serial Killer, a one-of-a-kind (I mean that) robot in residence at Sudikoff.

First, you need to acquire my software kit. You can click here to download a Stuffit archive of the kit. The software is a modification of that included with the original Rug Warrior kit. Thus, you might consider going back to the original sources to find out more about what the robot can do. However, this kit should be enough to get you started. Modifications include:

Next, you need to install the kit on a Mac, and fire it up. Follow these steps to set up the robot:

  1. Get four 6V batteries. Keith Kotay can show you where batteries are kept, how they're charged, and which chargers and batteries to use. Be careful with the chargers -- some are 6 volt, others 12, and they look alike.
  2. Turn off both the Motor Power Switch and the Logic Power Switch. Off is toward the perimeter of the robot. Consult the photo below.
  3. Install the batteries in the robot. Make sure you get polarities correct, and that you wire the wheel power pair correctly. The photo shows correct wiring.
  4. Put the CPU Mode switch in RAM-only mode (middle).
  5. Connect the serial cable (looks like a phone cord) to the robot, and the other end into the modular-to-DB25 converter. The converter connects to a DB25-to-Mac Din 8 cable, which plugs into the modem port of the Mac you're going to use.
  6. Turn on the Logic Power switch (on is toward the center of the robot).
  7. Put the CPU Mode switch into download mode (toward the center of the robot). The LCD should come on, with a row of black squares.
  8. Start "IC init board modem" on the Mac.
  9. Press the reset button on the robot, then press enter on the Mac to start the download.
  10. When the download is complete, the program says to press "reset." It lies. Instead, slide the CPU Mode switch to run mode, and then press reset. The LCD should display a banner indicating that IC is running. Quit the downloader program on the mac.
Click for image.

Useful power modes of the hardware:
  1. Motor power off, logic power off: The robot is sound asleep, as if the batteries were disconnected. This is just more convenient that plugging and unplugging the battery connectors when you go away for multiple hours.
  2. Motor power off, logic power on, CPU mode 'RAM': Only the RAM chip is drawing power. The motor batteries are disconnected, but the logic battery will drain very slowly. Useful if you're going away for a short break, but don't want to reinitialize the robot when you get back.
  3. Motor power off, logic power on, CPU mode run: All of the logic (including I/O, and the sonar ranging boards) is powered. This is useful for testing programs where the robot need not move.
  4. Motor power on, logic power on, CPU mode run: The robot is ready to roll, and the stepper motor is working (for aiming the turret).
  5. Motor power on, logic power on, CPU mode run, stepper battery disconnected: The stepper motor draws a fair amount of current when it is on, rapidly depleting its battery. If you're not using the turret, you might as well avoid draining one battery.
Using Interactive C. Start "IC modem" on the Mac. It will synchronize with the interpretter ("OS") running on the robot, and then complain about not being able to find a file. That's okay. Type "4+4;"; you should get the appropriate reply. The computation was performed on the robot.

Some notes on IC:

About Serial Killer's library, sk.lis: The file interface.c contains some useful, high-level functions with which you can manipulate the robot: The other files have lots of other useful functions in them. Most are in support of the above high-level operations, but in order to get better control of the robot, you may wish to study the lower level functions. Of particular interest: About the hardware: Please be careful with it. It's one of a kind, so replacing parts involves lots of fabrication. Here are some tips to reduce damage risk: Miscellany. You can find Jon's pages about Serial Killer here. It hasn't been updated in ages (most of it predates the competition), but maybe you're curious.