Chapter 2

1. Name three types of robot sensors.

   A sensor is anything that conveys data from the outside world to the robot. Sensors mentioned in the text include the following:

   • Sonar sensors
   • Cameras
   • Microphone
   • Buttons
   • Analog-to-digital voltage sensors
   • Temperature via thermistors
2. What does the acronym PWM stand for?

   PWM stands for pulse width modulation, a type of digital-to-analog control scheme where pulses are sent out that get longer based on the amount of control desired. In other words, the pulse duty cycle (amount of time on/off) gets converted into a voltage to drive a motor. This is commonly used to control DC motors.

3. What is analog-to-digital conversion? What goes in and what comes out?

   As the name says, analog-to-digital (A2D) conversion takes in an analog value, typically a voltage, and converts it into a digital value or number that the digital part of the computer can understand. A typical application is measuring battery voltage to determine the state of charge.

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