Abstract: A method and apparatus for causing a computer to drive one or more external devices is provided. A computer executes instructions which cause the computer to display an experiment design region and a set of icons. A user copies the icons into the experiment design region to specify the various phases of an experiment. By setting controls in windows associated with the icons, a user specifies how the general stages of an experiment will be performed. Specifically, a user operates controls associated with the icons in the experiment design region to specify which devices will be used in the experiment, how data generated during the experiment will be stored, how different sets of data are related, calculations to be performed on the data, and the format of reports generated based on the data gathered during the experiment. The user specifies the operations to be performed by constructing an icon sequence in a scheduler window.

Abstract: A target shooting apparatus utilizes a plurality of light beam emitting guns or rifles to shoot at a plurality of targets, the individual light beam guns being identified by frequency encoding the light beam emitted by each rifle. The first rifle to "hit" a target deactivates the target and is credited with a score. Light and sound effects are generated when a target is "hit" to simulate reality. The number of rifles and targets is limited only by the physical size of the apparatus that would be practical to accommodate the players.