| 48 | | |
| 49 | | |
| 50 | | |
| 51 | | |
| 52 | | |
| 53 | | |
| | 48 | * Launch browser and go to the [!http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/webturtle/ the robot turtle simulator] |
| | 49 | * Open the [http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/webturtle/commands/ list of commands] you can use to control the turtle in a separate tab or window |
| | 50 | * Click the "Start a new drawing" link |
| | 51 | * In the box on the right, enter a set of instructions for the turtle robot; you can see [http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/webturtle/examples/ examples here] |
| | 52 | * Click the Draw It button to see the results |
| | 53 | * Experiment, look at and try examples |
| 56 | | It's important to note that this is WAY simpler than programming a real-world robot. The turtle is an ideal robot operating in an ideal world. It has no obstacles to avoid, it doesn't need to find a target (it has no eyes!), the terrain is perfect as is its traction, etc. With a real robot, even simple things like moving forward in a straight line are actually pretty complex: the motors that power each wheel will vary slightly in speed and strength so applying the same power to each motor will not result in them turning the robot wheels the same amount so the robot will turn unintentionally. Even worse, the robot wheels won't have equal traction with the ground (especially if the robot has no mechanical suspension)...often one wheel on a 4 wheel robot will have little or no traction at all! The terrain the robot is traversing may have obstacles, bumps, ramps, etc. So even the act of driving forward in a straight line is actually fairly challenging. In order to allow simple operations like driving forward in a straight line, Control Systems students must make use of sensors to continuously monitor the robot's environment (e.g. a compass to determine orientation, a gyroscope to determine when the robot is turning, sensors to determine how fast each wheel is turning, etc.). The students write software to monitor these sensors and continuously adjust power to each motor to achieve the desired results. |
| | 56 | It's important to note that this is WAY simpler than programming a real-world robot. The turtle is an ideal robot operating in an ideal world. It has no obstacles to avoid, it doesn't need to find a target (it has no eyes!), the terrain is perfect as is its traction, etc. With a real robot, even simple things like moving forward in a straight line are actually pretty complex: the motors that power each wheel will vary slightly in speed and strength so applying the same power to each motor will not result in them turning the robot wheels the same amount so the robot will turn unintentionally. Even worse, the robot wheels won't have equal traction with the ground (especially if the robot has no mechanical suspension)...often one wheel on a 4 wheel robot will have little or no traction at all! The terrain the robot is traversing may have obstacles, bumps, ramps, etc. So even the act of driving forward in a straight line is actually fairly challenging. In order to allow simple operations like driving forward in a straight line, Control Systems students must make use of sensors to continuously monitor the robot's environment (e.g. a compass to determine orientation, a gyroscope to determine when the robot is turning, sensors to determine how fast each wheel is turning, etc.). The students write software to monitor these sensors and continuously adjust power to each motor to achieve the desired results. |
