BigTrak

BIG TRAK / bigtrak was the programmable electric vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979. Computer programming (often simply programming) is the craft of implementing one or more interrelated abstract algorithms using a particular programming language to produce a concrete computer program. ... Formally, a computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players may interact with in order to achieve a goal (or set of goals). ... The Milton Bradley Company was an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1860. ...

It was a six-wheeled tank with a blue 'photon' beam and a keypad on top. The toy could remember up to 16 commands which it then executed in sequence (such as "go forward 5 lengths", "pause", "turn 30 degrees right", "fire phaser" and so on. There was a "repeat" instruction allowing simple loops, but the language was not Turing complete. A driving wheel on a steam locomotive. ... A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually symbolized °, is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1／360 of a full rotation. ... In computer science control flow (or alternatively, flow of control) refers to the order in which the individual statements or instructions of an imperative program are performed or executed. ... In computability theory a programming language or any other logical system is called Turing-complete if it has a computational power equivalent to a universal Turing machine. ...

There is now a small but dedicated Internet community who have reverse engineered the Bigtrak and the Texas Instruments TMS1000 microcontroller inside it (see external links). A virtual community is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet. ... Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc. ... Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), better known in the electronics industry (and popularly) as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, USA, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology. ... A microcontroller (or MCU) is a computer-on-a-chip used to control electronic devices. ...

The US and GB/European versions were noticibly different. The US version was moulded in gray plastic and labelled BIG TRAK whereas the GB version was white and labelled bigtrak with a different keypad.

Bigtrak also included an optional trailer accessory. Once hooked to Bigtrak, this trailer could be programmed to dump its payload.

In the Soviet Union, a clone was made under Elektronika IM-11 Lunokhod designation. Elektronika was the brand name used for many different electronic products such as calculators, electornic watches, portable games and radios. ... Lunokhod (Russian for Moon walker) 1 and 2 were a pair of unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union. ...

Programmable Keypad

All programming to BigTrak was done through the keypad shown here. There were no LED displays or ways to display program instructions, beyond actually running the program, which was done by Pressing "GO". Other function keys included:

• Forward/Backward: Move forward and backward
• Left/Right: Turn the specified number of degrees in that direction
• HOLD: Pause for a number of seconds (GB version; P: Pause)
• FIRE: Fire the LED "laser" (GB; Photon Symbol)
• CLR: Clear the program (GB; CM: Clear Memory)
• CLS: Clear Last Step (GB; CE; Clear last step)
• RPT: Repeate a number of steps (primitive loop) (GB; x2: Repeat key)
• TEST: Run short test program
• CK: Check last instruction (GB; Tick symbol)
• Out: Dump optional trailer accessory
• In: Reserved for future expansion (GB; missing. Disabled on most if not all BigTraks)

External links

• the BIG TRAK Home Page
• inside the Big Trak
• Original instruction manual (PDF)
• Transport instruction manual (PDF)
• Photos on Flickr