ROBOTC.net Blog  

Hi all,

We’ve just released ROBOTC 3.05. Head on over to the download pages to download the latest version!

Change log:

NXT:

1. Allow “File Management” window to play multiple sound files and not just a single file.
2. Fix bug in implementation of NXT intrinsic function “I2CGetSensorInfo”.
3. Holding down gray EXIT button on NXT will now eventually power off the NXT.
4. Re-enable support for “sendMessage” on NXT.
5. Updated FTC Joystick Driver to include diagnostics and added a critical section around the “no joystick data” fields to prevent false starts.
6. “DrawEllipse” was broken for emulator. ‘short’ variable was overflowing; ‘long’ was needed.
7. Constant for total number of motors for Tetrix was incorrect (too small). Result is some user defined names for 12V Tetrix motors were not being defined. Applies when Tetrix motor controller was configured on sensor port S3 or S4. Now Fixed.
8. Included range checking on game controller joystciks to fit in one byte. Few users reported errors about seeing 2-byte joystick values.

VEX:

1. New Automatic Firmware Updater for VEX Cortex – Choose one menu option and ROBOTC takes care of the rest (putting into bootload/downloading both master and ROBOTC firmware)
2. Updated installer to automatically install the VEX Cortex drivers and Prolific USB-to-Serial Drivers upon install.
3. Updates to the RVW Natural Language files to include remote control and microcontroller button commands.
4. New standard model files for PLTW Testbeds
5. By default “Com Port lists” will not include all serial ports. They will only the ports that match the current platform/use selection. A registry preference (“Advanced Environment” tab) can be used to restore to the current (3.04 release) of including all ports.
6. Updated Error Messages for Firmware/Program downloads.
7. New Sample Programs for 4-motor joystick control.
8. Added new variable “bStopTasksBetweenModes” to allow VEX users to disable the allTasksStop function from running between autonomous and teleop modes

General/Other:

1. Compiler was not generating error when “typedef” variable was used in an expression. Fixed.
2. ADD “__NAME__” to preprocessor predefined variables.
3. Fix code generation bug for “const string” array variables. Compiler would incorrectly use empty string instead of reference to array variable in constant pool.
4. Rightmost character of block of italic formatted source file had “slant” clipped by the background of the next block of text. Fixed.
5. Expand opcodes for “shift left/right” to support ‘long’ variable as shift size amount.
6. Fix definition of “degreesToRadians” intrinsic. It was not working when the parameter was a numeric constant.

Hi all,

We’ve just released ROBOTC 3.04. Head on over to the download pages to download the latest version!

Change log:

1. Fixed silent updater bug
2. Modified sensor scale and full count settings for gyros for VEX PIC.
3. Eliminated deprecated warning for “#pragma platform”. Remove warning on “#pragma competition”
4. dited BuiltInVariables.txt to include Battery & Power Control category, including 3 new entries for VEX battery level.
5. Added intrinsic to ROBOTCIntrinsics to return BackupBatterLevel value.
6. Corrected BuiltInVariables.txt to prevent displayLCDPos from appearing in “Undefined Entries”
7. Updated BuiltInVariables.txt to reflect additions to VEX Display commands
8. Modified RobotCIntrinsics.c setLCDPos command to “setLCDPosition”
9. Merge fixes from 32Bit branch for >160 subroutines.
10. Rebuild VEX firmware files because they were out of date.
11. Change text for button on VEX remote screen from “Enter” to “Center”.
12. Support on Prolific cables for workaround to protocol errors for IFI defined special Cortex messages. Previously was only implemented on integrated USB-to-Serial.
13. Correct incorrect code generation for a parameter “call by reference” variable which is itself a “call by reference” variable.
14. Add new intrinsics for VEX LCD to specify line and char position of the “Put”. Add alias “setLCDPos” for “displayLCDPos”
15. Bump version to 9.04 / 3.04. Rebuild firmware.
16. Eliminate NXT EXE encrypted file headers. It causes a bug with >160 subroutines on NXT. Need to rebuild NXT firmware to support this change.
17. When return statement from a “non void” function is unreachable because function contains an infinite loop compiler used to generate an error message that “No return statement from non-void function”. Now it generates a warning that an infinite loop prevents return.
18. Timer values on VEX (and NXT) were incorrectly truncated to 16-bits instead of preserving the 32-bit value.
19. Incorrect code generation for assignments when the expression is a compound expression and it uses an intrinsic function that refers to the ‘l-value” of the assignment.
20. Fixed Licensing System but when deactivating any product but ROBOTC for Mindstorms and it was the only product in the list.
21. Hid two options in the “NXT Brick” menu to prevent crashing when in RVW mode
22. Fixed an issue where the “Toggle Comment” button may crash ROBOTC when used near the beginning and end of a file.
23. Fixed an issue where the “View” menu on the NXT was displaying incorrect data with the NXT Encoders.
24. You can now drag/drop files to the ROBOTC application and also associate .c and .h files with ROBOTC.

Hi all,

We’ve just released ROBOTC 3.03. Head on over to the download pages to download the latest version!

3.02 to 3.03 Change log:

• Fixed issue with nMotorEncoderTarget when issuing a positive target with a negative speed.
• Removed windows that would cause Virtual Worlds to crash when opening.
• Fixed problem with large files not compiling to robot controllers. The Maximum size of user program was incorrectly given as 16K. Changed to 128K. Also added error messages to prevent “silent” failure.
• Fixed “File – Print Preview” and “Print” commands to properly print source code.
• ROBOTC will no longer crash if Fantom is not available.
• Fixed issue with ROBOTC Auto-Updater. ROBOTC will now properly notify you when a new version is available.
• No longer validate perpetual license and check for updates on every startup. This is now a periodic check.
• Corrected a bug with an incorrect cast that was causing crash in compiler code optimization.
• Fixed issue with VEX remote screen display where buttons were not emulating the correct value when pressed.

We’ve just released ROBOTC for Mindstorms 2.26 BETA. Download it now!

This version fixes a few issues we’ve found and applies to both the NXT and TETRIX/FTC platforms. If you are using this version for FTC, please install this version.

Changelog:

1. Added Xander’s driver library (version 1.6)
2. Fixed ROBOTC behavior not to automatically disabled TETRIX motors in a low-voltage situation.
3. Fixed incorrect “SizeOf” function.
4. Disabled Bluetooth Debugging information in the “Debug Stream” Window.
5. Fixed issue with “Registering” when doing a manual activation with ROBOTC.

The Robotics Academy is happy to announce the release of ROBOTC for Cortex 2.25.

We’ve made lots of changes in ROBOTC from 2.20 to 2.25. We’re continuing to improve ROBOTC with the Cortex system. This new version is fully compatible with the VEX Cortex and the VEX PIC systems, along with the VEXnet upgrade system for the VEX PIC.

Click here to download the latest version

Firmware Downloader Built-In: Firmware Download for ROBOTC Firmware, Cortex Master Firmware and VEXnet Joystick Firmware built into ROBOTC now!

Download Method Chooser: Easier to choose how you want to download your program. Always defaults to VEXnet and USB, but you can manually choose to disable VEXnet and download over USB only.

Quick Preferences: This allows you to set key preferences with only the click of a button. Make ROBOTC work the way you want it to!

Other New Features and Bug Fixes:

1. Build is able to program both PIC and Cortex platforms successfully.
2. “Auto save” before compile was broken.
3. “Previous Platform Type” was not being correctly saved into Windows Registry.
4. Add code to handle “Device Removal” and “Device Acquire” without long hangs of application.
5. Added a flag to Preferences -> Internal” to indicate whether firmware downloading should be read verified.
6. Fix “Priority” column in “Task Status” debugger pane. It was not properly displaying.
7. Move “Debug Stream” from Super-User to “Expert” menu.
8. Add a 250 millisecond delay after telling Cortex to enter download mode before attempting the autobaud sequence.
9. VEX Cortex Integrated Master Firmware Loader inside of ROBOTC.
10. Add support for run-time strings in the VEX LCD display routines.
11. Fix conlict between Digital pin 4 and 10. They both share the same external interrupt index and it was possible to hang the Cortex. Fix makes both pins work correctly — previously pin 10 was not working — for external interrupts. But the hardware prevents supporting sensors that require external interrupts on both pins at once.

The ROBOTC dev team has worked hard to push this new release out. If you didn’t see in the title, this release supports the Color Sensor!

Click here to go to the download page, Under the BETA releases

See below for the list of changes…

Changelog:

• Version 2.16.1 Bug Fixes:
  • Invalid switch case statement was preventing NXT from downloading – Fixed.
  • Breakpoint from v810 firmware removed, firmware up-issued to v811.
  • Typo in preferences fixed.
  • Deactivate License feature re-enabled.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Preserve platform type when registry information is deleted.
  • Improve code allocation of temporary variables.
  • Add “unsigned” qualifier to eliminate compiler warning.
  • Add “default” clause to switch statement.
  • “sgn” opcode for ‘float’ parameter was incorrectly checking the ‘short’ result to see if it was a ‘float’ NAN (Not A Number). This check should only be performed when the function return is a float variable. This issue has been fixed
  • Generate error message if “motor and sensors setup” pragma declaration not found as first lines of program. Some users had these statements elsewhere and problems were occuring.
  • Status tool bar now displays the “port number” or “NXT name” of connected robot. Previously the field was “===========”
  • Vertical scroll was not being hidden when screen was expanded large enough to fit complete file. This problem has been fixed.
• Enhancements:
  • Added support for LEGO Color Sensor and LEGO I2C Temperature Sensor.

Hi again,

ROBOTC for Cortex BETA 2.16 has just been uploaded to the servers. Click here to download it!

Here are the changes:

• Trial extended to 9/31/2010 – Yay!
• More accurate feedback from the Accelerometer in the game controller
• Fixes an issue where ROBOTC was overloading the 2-wire H-Bridge motor ports when switching the from forward to reverse directions.
• Various bug fixes

Hope you enjoy it!

By the way, Cortex hardware is now available for Pre-Order at the Robomatter Robotics Education store.
Be the first to get it!

New Cortex Hardware available for pre-order

Exciting news everyone!

ROBOTC for Cortex 2.15 BETA is now available for your downloading pleasure. This version will allow you to be able to program the brand new Cortex microcontroller by IFI – Yes, the same makers of the original VEX platform.

Download it here – Download page for ROBOTC for Cortex BETA

NOTE:

This will overwrite your ROBOTC for IFI installation on your computer. This will only happen with the BETA builds and will not happen with the official release.

VEX Cortex Microcontroller

The Cortex Platform offers a ton of upgrades from the original platform. Here are a few points just to name a few:

• 9 TIMES faster than the original VEX
• 35 times more memory (RAM)
• More Digital and Analog ports

Hi all,

Just letting you know that the Network Driver files have been updated for all platforms (NXT & VEX). This is  for those of you who are in charge of installing ROBOTC onto workstations that run from a centralized network location.

For single user license users who run from their personal laptops/computers, this doesn’t apply to you so don’t worry about downloading them. In fact, I’d advise you not to!

Thanks to all for continuing to support us