Twin Tweaks ...
something even more entertaining
about waving your hand in front of
the camera and seeing part of
yourself become a piece of that
mysterious low resolution world.
The Follow option is much like
the Look command, but instead of
languidly observing its surroundings,
the POB robot will follow moving
objects. The prowling style of the
robot often seems to be cautious,
slow, and a bit choppy, but in well lit
rooms it becomes a bit more fluid. It
is truly amazing how the POB bot can
so quickly exude that sense of mysterious machine intelligence, even before
its true talents can be uncovered.
The last option is entitled “Your
Test,” and it is a very useful and easily
accessible troubleshooting program
that also doubles as an easy way to
test any mechanical additions to the
bot without having to go through all
the programming rigmarole. Once this
option is selected, the screen will show
six plus and minus signs and two
minimalist representations of the
motors for the drive train. Pressing
the plus and minus signs will order the
elected motor to move forward or
backwards, with the motion lasting
for as long as you have the button
pressed. The first three sets of buttons
are already dedicated to the existing
mechanisms on the bot — the pan
and tilt of the camera and the
opening and closing of the beetle-like
mandibles. The three other sets of
buttons correspond to the open PWM
ports on the main board of the robot,
which are perfect for expanding the
mechanical functionality of the bot.
We happened to have some extra
Futaba servos lying around, which
were even of the same brand and
model as the servos already on the
robot. After simply connecting the
PWM cables, the extra servos respond
with just the touch of a button.
Many kits present themselves
as an effective way to do rapid
prototyping, but very often the speed
of your prototyping is limited by the
swiftness of your programming.
Depending on the hospitality of the
interface or the experience of the
programmer, this can be a discouraging step. With the test feature on the
POB robot, you can truly get some
instant vindication for simple design
ideas, and we think this feature will
just encourage more creativity.
Ultimate RISBEE
The POB robot came with a
POB RISBEE.
software CD, and in it is so much
more than the average quirky GUI or
C programmer. (It comes with both,
actually.) As we alluded to earlier, the
POB robot is a multilingual creation.
The software CD comes with a variety
of programming interfaces, and
everything is also available on the
website. Lots of cool stuff that will
allow users to program their robots in
C, Java, or Basic, or even to program
their bots using Linux or a Mac
operating system are available, as
well. All of the compilers and any
other software needed to write
download programs using any of
these languages is all online, and
generous documentation is sure to
answer any questions one might have,
whether you’re a novice just starting
to get your feet wet or an expert
becoming oriented to a new system.
Lots of robot kits have ample
documentation and sample programs
that seek to shepherd newbies
through the ins and outs of C
programming and even Basic, but to
someone whose fanciest computer
trick is a firm command of Microsoft
Word even simple sample programs
can be daunting, and disembodied
commands can seem like gibberish.
Many robot kits aimed specifically at
beginners — particularly the younger
crowd of budding roboticists — try to
demystify the challenge of programming by providing graphical, object
oriented programming interfaces.
Classic examples include the older,
pre-LabView LEGO Mindstorms
programming and Easy-C for the
Vex Robotics design system. POB
Technology has come up with its own
entry into the pantheon of introductory programming interfaces, and it goes
by the endearing name of RISBEE.
RISBEE stands for Robotics
Initiation Software for Budding
Engineers and for Education, and
the animated building blocks
(reminiscent of early LEGO
Mindstorms programming) certainly
look capable of enticing and
educating novice roboticists. The
RISBEE interface presents the user
with a grid on which to construct
programs, with the different available
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