page_title: Big Trak
section_title: Programmable keypad
hierarchical_section_title: Big Trak / Programmable keypad
caption_attribution_description: I am the author of this picture, I took it of my bigtrak (popular toy from the 1980's) keypad. I release all rights to this picture and release it into the public domain.
context_page_description: BIG TRAK / bigtrak is a programmable electric vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979, resembling a futuristic Sci-Fi tank / utility vehicle, possibly for use on the Moon or a Planetoid style environment. The original Big Trak was a six-wheeled tank with a front-mounted blue "photon beam" headlamp, and a keypad on top. The toy could remember up to 16 commands, which it then executed in sequence. There also was an optional cargo trailer accessory, with the U.K. version being white to match its colour scheme; once hooked to the Bigtrak, this trailer could be programmed to dump its payload.
  In 2010, BIG TRAK was relaunched in the form of a slightly modified replica, produced under licence by Zeon Ltd. There is also a small dedicated Internet community who have reverse engineered the BIG TRAK and the Texas Instruments TMS1000 microcontroller inside it.
context_section_description: There were no LED displays or ways to display program instructions, beyond actually running the program, which was done by pressing "GO". Each command inputted will be added next to the previous command inputted, allowing the operator to build a list of commands up to 16 commands.
  All programming to BigTrak was done through the keypad shown here:
  Forward/Backwards: Move forward or backwards in units of body length
  Left/Right: Turn left or right in units of roughly 1/60th of a full rotation
  HOLD: Pause in 1/10 of second time units (U.K. version; P: Pause)
  FIRE: Fire the light bulb "laser" (U.K.; Photon Symbol)
  CLR: Clear the program (U.K.; CM: Clear Memory)
  CLS: Clear Last Step (U.K.; CE: Clear Entry)
  RPT: Repeat a number of steps (primitive loop) (U.K.; x2: Repeat key)
  TEST: Run short test program
  CK: Check last instruction (U.K.; Tick symbol)
  Out: Dump optional trailer accessory
  In: Reserved for future expansion (U.K.; missing. Disabled or not implemented on most if not all BigTraks)
caption: BigTrak Keypad (U.S.)
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