The robot currently requires two external devices: a USB I/O board and a PS/2 ball mouse. The thinking for the PS/2 mouse was to minimize development effort and use the PS2 port and hardware for support. This worked greatly, but now that the PS/2 ball mouse has, more or less, gone the way of the dodo bird, what do you do?

Enter the Arduino. My next robot project is to implement the encoder system using an Arduino. With the Arduino, I should also implement the motor output system. When all is said and done, it should be possible to replace both the K8055 and the PS/2 mouse with an Arduino UNO.

We'll see.