ROBOTC.net Blog  

We will be hosting our final April Robot Virtual Worlds Google hangout tonight at 6pm EST! We will be discussing the competition environments in RVW. This will be your last chance to enter the ROBOTC annual license drawing and get your 15% off discount code for Robot Virtual Worlds! Join us at http://www.robotc.net/hangouts

If you missed any of that past hangouts, check them out here …

Week 1 – What is RVW?

This past weekend, VEX Robotics announced their 2013 – 2014 challenge, VEX Toss Up at their World Championship. It was an exciting event that our team was happy to be a part of. We’re also very happy to make our brand-new VEX Toss Up Robot Virtual World available to download.

This years competition field features a higher level of interactivity and simulation than ever before. Several new robots designed specifically for Toss Up have been added to the line-up, and are fully programmable through ROBOTC.

New Robots
Check out Ballerbot pulling itself up on the hanging bar and capping one of the goals with a big ball:

Intakebot can hold two of the smaller buckyballs at a time. It’s retractable arm make it great for scoring the buckyballs or pushing any of the game obects into a scoring area on the floor:

User Interface
The new and improved user interface allows you to switch between the robots, game modes, starting points, and tells you where the growing list of motors and sensors are connected:

Controlling the Robots
Sample code for programming the robots to move autonomously or via a USB Remote control is installed with the virtual world. You will find it by going to File > Open Sample Program > VEX Toss Up.

Don’t have a USB Remote Control? No Problem! We’ve also added keyboard control for the robots in the “ROBOT SKILLS” game mode! Ballerbot and Intakebot are pretty different, but they use the same set of keys for control:

• W key: Robot moves forward
• A key: Robot turns left
• S key: Robot moves in reverse
• D key: Robot turns right
• { and } keys: Actuator 1 movement
• < and > keys: Actuator 2 movement
• ; and ‘ keys: Actuator 3 movement
• + and - keys: Actuator 4 movement

Support
We want to make sure that you’re well supported as you use the new game. Great resources can always be found at RobotVirtualWorlds.com and there’s an active community ready to answer your questions at the ROBOTC.net forums. We’ve also produced a video that will help get VEX teams started, and help them think of ways they can program their real robots:

Future Enhancements!
We’re extremely excited about this release, but we’re not done yet. Check out some of the enhancements that are on their way!

Summer of Learning Competition on CS2N
We are hosting two competitions with VEX Toss Up: one during the summer, and one during the 2013-3014 school year. Use the special CS2N mode to launch a 2-minute, autonomous-only version of the challenge. You will be able to submit your high score to a leaderboard on CS2N. Winners will be awarded prizes like robot kits, software, or even college scholarships. Full details can be found on CS2N.

Multi-player!
The VEX Toss Up RVW will be our first world to support multiple players. You will be able to connect with up to 3 additional players from anywhere in the world to play head-to-head matches. We will be releasing beta versions this summer, with a finalized version set for September 1st, 2013.

Additional Robots
Ballerbot and Intakebot are incredible robots, but we want to make sure that there’s lots of variety for for the multi-player matches. We will be adding additional robot models, each with their own characteristics this summer.

The VEX Toss Up game cane be downloaded from CS2N.org (sign-in required) or RobotVirtualWorlds.com.

We had so much fun at the 2013 VEX World Championships last week! We saw some great matches, met tons of fantastic people, and got a chance to share some big news with everyone throughout the week.  We will be posting more detailed information on our news next week, so keep an eye out for that. Thank you to every one who stopped by to say hi and congrats to EVERY team. You all did an amazing job. Also thank you to VEX Robotics and the REC Foundation for inviting us to be a part of such an awesome event. We look forward to next year!

Check out our short recap video:

And if you haven’t had a chance, head on over to our Facebook page to check out our photo album – VEX Worlds 2013.
 
 
 

Check out the live broadcast of the National Mexico VEX Tournament going on now! All of the teams are using ROBOTC. The broadcast is brought to you by Reeduca, a company dedicated to implementing new technology and robotics education in Mexico.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Back in April, we did an unboxing for the VEX Cortex Speaker which we blogged about, here.

Since then we have had many requests for an updated guide on how to play custom audio files through the Cortex Speakers. Today, the wait is finally over. We have updated our wiki pages to include an in-depth guide on how to convert a sound file into a Cortex-usable format using the open source program, Audacity [link].

Once the file is formatted and downloaded to the Cortex properly, the ‘PlaySoundFile(“filename.wav”)’ command is used to access the audio file and play it through the speaker port (example shown below).

task main()
{

//Play a Sound File (need to use the File Management to Upload First)
PlaySoundFile("1.wav");
wait1Msec(1000);

}

If you are interested in the Cortex Speaker and what can be played through it, check out the VEX forum post about playing Nyan Cat through the VEX Cortex speaker. As an added holiday bonus, how about the 12 Days of Christmas?

We are continually updating and improving all of our support material; if there is anything you think would make ROBOTC more accessible, don’t hesitate to comment below!

The ROBOTC Development team is proud to announce thatROBOTC 3.5 for the LEGO Mindstorms, VEX Cortex and PIC, Arduino, and Robot Virtual World platforms will be available on September 7^th, 2012. The new ROBOTC 3.5 update will be free-of-charge for ALL existing ROBOTC 3.0 license holders. Download a Beta version (3.45) today to get a sneak peak at all of the new features and enhancements available in ROBOTC 3.5!

ROBOTC 3.5 has a number of new features and enhancements:

• Full ANSI-C support to support pointers, recursion, and stacks with an updated compiler and updated robot firmware.
• New and Updated Debugger Windows:
  • “Local Variables” to monitor variables in the current task or function.
    (Note: Local variables are only available when your program is suspended)
  • “Global Variables” to monitor variables available to your entire program.
  • “Call Stacks” to monitor function calls in the currently selected task.
• Updated Documentation and Wiki (www.robotc.net/wiki) – Still in progress!
• Support for Standard C commands – sprintf(), sscanf(), support for character arrays, unsigned variables, etc.
• Support for the Arduino family of controllers (Uno, Mega, Mega 2560) with future support and expanded functionality for the Arduino Leonardo and Due controllers.
• Updated Robot Virtual Worlds support to include additional sensors and motors.
• Improved Robot Virtual Worlds performance to simulate more realistic physics and robot behaviors.
• Support for the new MATRIX building system with the NXT.
• Many general enhancements and bug fixes – more in-depth change log to come with the ROBOTC 3.5 official release.

Please remember that the Beta available today should not be installed across entire school sites–this is a beta version, so install at your own risk!

You can participate in the ROBOTC 3.45 Beta version by downloading a copy here. Please note that the Beta version will uninstall your existing version of ROBOTC; the Beta will use your existing licensing so there is no need to ‘Deactivate’ before installing. If you have any issues/questions with the ROBOTC Beta, please e-mail betasupport [at] robotc [dot] net for assistance and to alert us of any issues to be fixed between now and release day.

The Robot Virtual World team is proud to announce their initial release of the VEX Sack Attack virtual environment! This years competition field features a higher level of interactivity and simulation than ever before. Several new robots (with expanded motors and sensors) designed specifically for Sack Attack have been added to the line-up, and are fully programmable through ROBOTC.

Note that the new features in the virtual world also require that you have the latest Beta version of ROBOTC installed, which is available here.

Here’s a video of the Sack Attack virtual world in action:

New Robots
Check out Scooperbot scoring Sacks and Bonus Sacks in the Trough and High Goal:

And Plowbot pushing Sack and Bonus Sacks into the Floor Goals:

User Interface
The new and improved user interface allows you to switch between the robots, and tells you where the growing list of motors and sensors are connected:

Controlling the Robots
Sample code for programming the robots to move autonomously or via a Logitech USB Remote control can be downloaded here: Sack_Attack_Sample_Code.

Don’t have a Logitech USB Remote Control? No Problem! We’ve also added keyboard control for the robots when a ROBOTC program isn’t running! The controls are as follows:

• “W” key: Robot moves forward
• “A” key: Robot turns left
• “S” key: Robot moves in reverse
• “D” key: Robot turns right
• “{” key: Scooper motor up
• “}” key: Scooper motor down
• “<” key: Arm motor up
• “>” key: Arm Motor down

Future Enhancements!
We’re extremely excited about this release, but we’re not done yet. Check out some of the enhancements that are on their way!

More robots! Clawbot:

Holobot with claw:

Improved Sack physics, and Robot-to-Sack Interaction:

The VEX Sack Attack virtual world can be downloaded here, or under the Available Level Packs section of the RVW Download Page.

Important! The new features in the virtual world also require that you have the latest version of Beta version of ROBOTC installed, available here. Don’t have ROBOTC for Robot Virtual Worlds? It comes with a free 60-day trial, so download it today. Need help getting it set up? Check out the setup videos, here.

John and Karthik at VEX Robotics have put together a fantastic set of videos for teams competing in the VEX Sack Attack Robotics Competition.

The 9-video series breaks down the rules for the competition, and shows how referees will interpret the different scenarios that may occur. It’s definitely a worthwhile watch for any teams competing this year (or anyone who wants to see John hug this years game object).

You can watch the full video series here, or on their YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEC832168771665F2

There have been reports of the VEX Cortex locking up when using the new Integrated Motor Encoders. The root cause appears to be an unhandled exception that is generated when the I2C communication link between the Cortex and encoders is compromised. To prevent the Cortex from locking up, we’ve put together a new ROBOTC Firmware file that handles the exception. The differences between this new firmware and the version included in ROBOTC 3.08 only apply to the new Integrated Motor Encoders, so users who aren’t taking advantage of them should continue using the firmware included in ROBOTC 3.08. VEX Robotics Competition teams that are using the encoders are encouraged to load the new firmware, and to take extra steps (zip ties, ect) securing the 4-pin I2C wires, to help prevent them from coming loose in the first place.

The new ROBOTC firmware, “VEX_Cortex_0912A” can be downloaded here. Once the file is downloaded, you will need to extract the .hex file from it.

To transfer the firmware to your Cortex:

1. Open ROBOTC
2. Go to Window > Menu Level > Expert
3. Make sure the Cortex is connected to the PC over USB or VEXnet
4. Go to Robot > Download Firmware > ROBOTC Firmware > Choose File…
5. When the File Selection window appears, navigate to the “VEX_Cortex_0912A.hex” file you extracted and select it
6. A Download Progress window will appear in ROBOTC and begin the download
7. When the Download Progress window closes, the Firmware download is complete

More information on the problem can be found in this post on the VEX Forums.

Thanks to everyone for submitting your testing results, and for your patience as we work out the issues. A special thanks goes out to VEX Forum user, jpearman.

VEX Robotics has released the following information on their website:

The VEX Robotics technical support team has identified an issue that some competition teams are experiencing in which the Cortex Microcontroller is unable to resume VEXnet link after a Microcontroller reset.

To help eliminate this issue at the VEX Robotics World Championship we are releasing a special version of the VEX Firmware, specifically for World Championship teams (3.21_Worlds). This firmware version modifies the Cortex re-initialization to help the VEXnet link reconnect in the event of a reset (i.e. caused by VEXnet Key “jostling”, power interruption, battery brownout, or static).

We know that competition teams dislike updating firmware so close to an event, so we are publishing this update in the hopes that teams will have a chance to test it “at home” before coming to VEX Worlds. If you’re comfortable with the new version, we strongly urge you to use it at the World Championship to help prevent potential problems related to a Cortex reset.

This firmware only updates a “back end” relinking protocol and it does not affect anything related to robot performance — you don’t need to tweak your autonomous mode, or anything like that.

Visit the VEX Forum thread on this firmware release for more discussions and to post any questions or concerns.

Download the 3.21_Worlds Firmware Update.