Let your mobile robot listen to the landscape with this experimental system

So it came to pass that Max Maxfield of "Bebop to the Boolean Boogie" fame, and coordinator of our Online site, emailed Editor Mike suggesting that it was time to publish a PIC controlled Ultrasonic Radar scanning module for use with mobile robots. “John?”, says Mike. “Yes, why not?”, responds the author, intrigued by the scandalous fun that designing one might provide!

Well, the author had already done one many moons ago (maybe 170) for EPE’s one-time sister mag PE. That circuit had been designed around numerous logic chips, a d.c. motor, and an interface to an early PC via its main bus network, using QBasic as the principle control software for the screen display. It was very effective for its time. But things have moved on, and there are now better ways of doing them ...