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ors can be thought of as interacting with external events (in other words, the outside world). The sensor measures some attribute of the world. The term transducer is often used interchangeably with sensor. A transducer is the mechanism, or element, of the sensor that transforms the energy associated with what is being measured into another form of energy. A sensor receives energy and transmits a signal to a display or puter. Sensors use transducers to change the input signal (sound, light, pressure, temperature, etc.) into an analog or digital form capable of being used by a robot. Microcontroller systemsMicrocontrollers (MCUs) are intelligent electronic devices used inside robots. They deliver functions similar to those performed by a microprocessor (central processing unit, or CPU) inside a personal puter. MCUs are slower and can address less memory than CPUs, but are designed for realworld control problems. One of the major differences between CPUs and MCUs is the number of external ponents needed to operate them. MCUs can often run with zero external parts, and typically need only an external crystal or oscillator. Utilities and toolsROBOOP (A robotics object oriented package in C++): This package is an objectoriented toolbox in C++ for robotics simulation. Technical references and downloads are provided in the Resources. CORBA: A realtime munications and object request broker software package for embedding distributed software agents. Each independent piece of software registers itself and its capabilities to the ORB, by means of an IDL (Interface Definition Language). Visit their Web site (see Resources) for technical information, downloads, and documentation for CORBA. TANGO/TACO: This software might be useful for controlling a robotics system with multiple devices and tools. TANGO is an object oriented control system based on CORBA. Device servers can be written in C++ or Java. TACO is object oriented because it treats all (physical and logical) control points in a control system as objects in a distributed environment. All actions are implemented in classes. New classes can be constructed out of existing classes in a hierarchical manner, thereby ensuring a high level of software reuse. Classes can be written in C++, in C (using a methodology called Objects in C), in Python or in LabView (using the G programming language). ControllersTask Control Architecture: The Task Control Architecture (TCA) simplifies building tasklevel control systems for mobile robots. Tasklevel refers to the integration and coordination of perception, planning, and real time control to achieve a g