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Thank you to everyone who downloaded the new RVW Level Builder and provided feedback! We’ve released version 2.01 of the software, which addresses the issues some of you were seeing. It can be downloaded here, under Available Level Packs.

If you haven’t tried out the Level Builder, you definitely should. It allows you to create your own challenges to solve and share with others. (More detail can be found here, in the original blog post) The latest version even includes the Model Importer, which allows you to use your own 3D objects that were created in Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks:

Here are the major fixes in this release:

• Fixed some large models getting distorted on import
• Auto-generated collider can now be edited
• Added error reporting readout to Model Importer to improve debugging
• Fixed crash conditions when model library is empty
• Removed scale reference from generated model thumbnails
• STL importer better handles small differences in ASCII STL file formats

Thanks again to everyone who provided feedback!

- Jesse Flot

More great news for Robot Virtual World users! Operation Reset version 1.5.2 is available and includes some fixes and great new features. The most notable of the new features is what we’re calling the Measurement Toolkit.

Research conducted with the Robot Virtual Worlds (RVW) has shown that it is actually a more efficient tool for teaching how to program than real robots. RVW allows you to learn how to program with motors and sensors, but without the wasted time of charging batteries, resetting the robot, repairing damaged parts, and so on. That said, one limitation of the Virtual Worlds has been that you couldn’t just place a tape measure and protractor in the world like you could with a real robot… until now. The Measurement Toolkit takes all of the guess-and-checking out of using the Virtual Worlds, and more importantly, allows them to be used as extremely valuable tools for teaching and reinforcing crucial math concepts like proportionality.

The Measurement Toolkit consists of 3 new buttons, placed along the right side of the Operation Reset interface:

• SHOW  The SHOW button turns the Measurement Toolkit on or off. When turned on, it will display the distance and angle to “key objects” in range of the robot. For Operation Reset, this means objects like the Charge Cubes (see below), Fuel Barrels and Crystals. Turning the Measurement Toolkit on also creates a line coming out of the robot that shows its heading (the red line below), and enables you to ADD your own “key point markers” in the world.

• ADD The ADD button lets you to place your own “key point markers” (see below) in the world, allowing you to find key distances and angles for your robot to traverse. Once the Measurement Toolkit is turned on, you must also click the ADD button to enable it. Once you do, simply click on the spot in the world where you would like a marker to be created and one will appear, along with the distance and angle from the robot (see below). Up to three sequential markers can be created by clicking on multiple spots in the world, allowing you to do some intelligent path planning. When your robot drives into one of the key point markers it is removed, and the next key point updates to show it’s distance and angle directly from the robot. If you’re unhappy with any of the points that you create, you can right-click with your mouse, and the last point you created will be removed.
  
• CLEAR The CLEAR button removes all of the markers that you’ve created in the world. It is only enabled if you have created your own key point markers.

The Measurement Toolkit will change how you use Robot Virtual Worlds and enable new possibilities whether you’re using them in the classroom, for fun at home, or to help prepare for a robotics competition. We’ve already included it in Palm Island: Luau Edition, and will be updating our existing worlds to include it. We’re also producing some video materials that show step-by-step how to use the new functionality, so be on the lookout for those in the coming weeks.

The latest version of Operation Reset can be downloaded from RobotVirtualWorlds.com or CS2N.org.

As always, we appreciate any feedback you have about the Robot Virtual Worlds, Operation Reset, and the Measurement Toolkit. Please share it on our Facebook page, here on the blog, or the ROBOTC.net forums.

- Jesse Flot

To be more precise, this new Luau Edition of Palm Island is really a “reintroduction”. Our first version of Palm Island was released in the summer of 2011.  Since that time, we’ve learned quite a bit and developed a lot of great features, so we decided to put together this major upgrade to the world.

Whether you’ve used the original version of Palm Island or this version is your first, you will appreciate just how beautiful and vibrant this world is. Take a look at this comparison picture between the two versions (more pictures below):

Of course, the changes are much more than skin deep. Players are immersed in a world where they are programmers-in-training under Commander Roxie Rivet-minder. In addition to programming their robots to traverse the boardwalk path as part of the typical training regiment, they will have to prepare for a Luau Commander Rivet-minder is throwing by setting Lobster Traps, collecting Coconut Clusters, and placing Trash Bins. Just look at some of these shots from the world:

As players make progress, they’ll earn badges in the game, which can also be tied to a CS2N.org (Computer Science Student Network) account (click here to create your free account).

There’s a ton of new features and functionality included in Palm Island: Luau Edition, too many to give justice to in one short blog post, so we’ll be highlighting different features in the coming days and weeks. A quick snapshot of some of these new features includes:

• A completely refreshed world with new art and immersion elements
• New side missions, a keyboard control area, and a line tracking element
• An in-game map and interface that updates as the player makes progress in the world
• A new Tutorial system that allows content to differ whether you’re using Virtual Worlds for Mindstorms or Virtual Worlds for VEX Cortex
• Two highly detailed, printable maps of the island, and a new issue of Robotics Today Magazine
• Measurement tools that allow you to quickly view the distance and angles your robot needs to move
• A new main menu to log in, quickly get to content, switch between robots, and enable/disable features in the world

Of course, the best thing that you can do is download and install Palm Island: Luau Edition from the RVW Level Packs page. Like all of our Virtual Worlds, Palm Island is completely free if you have a Robot Virtual Worlds license, and if you don’t have one you can try it for free. We would love to hear your thoughts about Palm Island! Please share them on our Facebook page, here on the blog, or the ROBOTC.net forums.

- Jesse Flot

Screen capture of a ROBOTC program being edited in Sublime Text Editor

ROBOTC community member Mike McFarlane has recently released a plugin for the popular Sublime Text Editor. This new plugin will allow users to edit .c files on both Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms, which can then be opened and compiled in ROBOTC (the Sublime Editor will not be able to compile the code to a robot, unfortunately).

Quote from Mike (full post on the ROBOTC forum):
“I’ve written a plugin for the elegant and productive Sublime Text editor that will allow you to create and edit RobotC code on Mac, Linux and Windows. It’s got autocomplete on the full set of RobotC functions and variables, search via functional and platform category, tabbing between a functions values, syntax aware colouring and code snippets. Only v0-2 right now, but it works…It’s not possible to compile or debug outside the RobotC IDE, but I’ve got some ideas on ways to get the files quickly in and out the IDE.”

For more information on the new plugin, check out Mike’s blog post. If you are comfortable with the Sublime Text Editor and wish to download the plugin directly, you can do so from this site.

Any features you’d like to see added in the future?

The ROBOTC team is happy to announce the ROBOTC 3.59.0 BETA release. We’ve made a number of enhancements and repaired a number of user issues. Some of the major updates are:

• Added support for proxy server when activating ROBOTC.
• Add watchdog timer support to VEX Cortex to alleviate processor crashes that can occur with static.
• Fixed a bug in the NXT color sensor that now allows you to read individual RGB values.
• Updated with the latest version of the 3^rd party sensor drivers for NXT. (Thanks Xander!)

See below for the more detailed changelog. You can download ROBOTC 3.59.0 here!

Remember, we could not do this without your support and feedback. We hope you’ll continue to share your comments with us, either in the forums or on our Facebook or Twitter page.

3.54 to 3.59 BETA Changelog

VEX:

• Add watchdog timer support to VEX Cortex. This will allow the VEX Cortex User Processor to “restart” automatically once the processor crashes/is halted. Useful for any potential static issue that may cause the User Processor to “crash”.
• Change watchdog implementation from “windowed” watchdog to standard watchdog (no window, reset any time). Increase watchdog timeout to 0.75 seconds.
• In Debugger Motors display the last motor was not always properly updated. Fixed.
• Enable emulator for VEX PIC. Fix subsequent bug with “Motors” debugger display for VEX PIC locking up IDE when emulator is enabled; this bug should be limited to VEX PIC Emulator only.
• VEX PIC downloading was failing when master firmware was out of date. Getting stuck in a repetitive loop that wasn’t exiting. Fixed.
• VEX PIC was not executing user programs. Bug was that “start of flash file system VTOC” needed to be aligned on 4-byte boundary. Previous change had added a 1-byte field to the header preamble and there was not a corresponding 3-byte file added for VEX PIC. ARM platforms worked OK. This may also have broken Arduino (i.e. any 8-bit) platform).
• Added a Conditional Compile flag for tUARTs to avoid confusion between uartOne and UART1
• There are two separate flags for “allow any serial port for communications” — one for VEX Cortex and one for all other platforms. This was not obvious. Preferences “Environment” tab was only updating flag for non-Cortex; this has been changed to update the appropriate flag based on platform setting. The VEX Cortex flag can also be updated in the “VEX Cortex” tab.
• User configurable UART setup was screwed up for the platforms whose “uart 0″ is fixed as non-configurable and usable only for system communications port to PC — i.e. VEX Cortex, VEX PIC. The ROBOTC IDE was storing the data in the persistent data table (at start of flash file system) offset by one entry. I.E. data for “uart 1″ on VEX Cortex was stored in “uart 2″, etc.

LEGO:

• NXT color sensor read RGB individual values broken with pointer implementation. Change “getMemoryParmXXX” function calls to “getCommonParamaterValueXXX” function calls. Check rest of firmware for same mistake.
• New feature for 3^rd Party Sensor Driver Suite to set the two digital I/O lines on NXT sensors. Added two new sensor types (sensorCustom, sensorCustom9V) for this along with two new property intrinsic variables to set I/O line direction and values; these intrinsic variables are bit masks (2-bits) for the two lines.
• “setPixel” intrinsic (and corresponding “clearPixel” and “invertPixel”) take “unsigned” parameters. But implementation was using “signed” parameters and not properly range checking if parameters were negative. If negative, then should do nothing. Instead they were incorrectly wring to invalid buffer address which eventually caused a firmware crash.

Arduino:

• Fix issue for “Motors” tab for Arduino in “Motors and Sensors Setup” property sheet. Was incorrectly trying to setup “encoder information for motor”, but Arduino platform does not “associate encoder sensor with motor” — which is currently only a feature for VEX Cortex.

General:

• Added Support for Proxy Server when activating ROBOTC – Users can set Proxy preferences under “Detailed Preferences – General – Environment”.
• Incorrect generation of compiler error message when double pointer (i.e. “**”) is used.
• “Print” a range of pages was not working when the starting page was not ’1′. Fixed.
• Remove incorrect error message from error “Assignment between two different pointer types” when one side of ‘=’ is a ‘void *’.
• Compiler was incorrectly generating error message for “Expected a pointer expression in a pointer expression with ‘++’ or ‘-+’ operand. Compiler was incorrectly checking to verify the right operand was an integer value.
• Compiler was incorrectly generating error message for “Invalid pointer expression” in a pointer expression with ‘+’ or ‘-’ operand. One operand of the expression must be a pointer and the other operand must be an integer (without implied conversion of a pointer to an integer). Compiler was incorrectly checking for the integer — the expression incorrectly had a “!” in it!
• Change code generation of ‘var arg’ for pointers to be consistent with standard C — i.e. the value of the pointer is placed in the argument. This may result in an additional instruction generated when argument is a ‘string’; previously RobotC got too cute trying to save this extra instruction which only worked for “%s” format codes but was broken for “%d” on a pointer.
• In ‘sprintf” implementation for “%s” and “%p” format codes– change from  “get Address of parameter” to”get value of parameter” to match corresponding change in compiler code. Also minor cleanup of “%s” and “%p” format codes.
• Assignment expressions of “<char * variable> = <char constant> were generating compiler error because the “<char constant>” was evaluated as a “string” type. Added code in “get expression type” to check for this and not generate error as the compiler auto converts “string” to “char *” during code generation.
• Fixes an issue with the Live Start Page and “check for updates” that may have caused crashes.
• Improved validation of pointer expressions. Fix bug in calculating expression type of pointer expressions like “<ptr sub-expression> + <numeric constant>”; the result was (always?) incorrectly set as “long *”? Also added check that “=” of pointer is from a pointer of the same type – otherwise generate error message.
• Fixed consistency in implementation of “random” intrinsic property.
• Eliminate compiler error message in constant expression evaluation of sub-expressions using “*” operator. If either of the two operands is ‘zero’ then result is zero regardless of whether the other operand is a compile time constant.
• Do not generate additional errors — “too many parameters” specified — when procedure is “compiler generated undefined symbol”.
• When switch between “real robots” and “emulator”, the function that calculates “size of RAM pointer variable” was not being called. It adjusts between 2-byte (VEX PIC, Arduino) and 4-byte (Emulator, VEX Cortex, NXT) pointer sizes. No issue with VEX Cortex and NXT as they only use 4-byte pointers. But a problem with VEX PIC and Arduino where real robots use 2-byte RAM pointers! Added the appropriate call to function setup.
• Small code optimization for “postfix –”/postfix ++” operators to avoid temporary. In some cases they can be simplified to prefix operands.
• Incorrect initialization of static variables in “inner scope” for local procedure. They were initialized every time inner scope block was accessed rather than once on program startup.
• Debugger Panes for “Locals” and “Globals” (especially Globals) was not properly handling updates to ‘long’ and ‘float’ variables. Globals was completely broke — only lower two bytes of 4-byte variables was being updated which broke ‘long’ and ‘float’ variables. In both, ‘char’ variables were updating a short value — i.e. overwriting following characters.
• Fix problem with incorrect user code using a “short” variable and “sprintf” format code of “%f”. This can crash ROBOTC VM firmware if the short variable is not aligned on a 32-bit boundary.
• Add additional entries for StringFind for Character Constants and added test program.
• Redefine datalog opcodes and intrinsics. Legacy datalog incompatible with 3.5x VM operands which split memory variables and intrinsic properties into separate items.
• Firmware for all platforms now call “datalogHandlerInit()”. Conditional compile will define as NULL macro if a platform does not support Datalog. Datalog support is now conditionally compiled via “bHasDatalog” define rather than hard-coded as NXT only.
• Fix incorrect compiler type checking error when string constant is assigned to a char pointer.
• Fix bug in check for “is this a preprocessor string comparison expression”.
• Eliminate preprocessor string comparisons in Natural Language and replace with “defined(_Target_XXX_) where “_Target_XXX_” are three new system defined preprocessor variables — “_target_Robot_”, “_Target_Emulator_” and “Target_VirtWorld_”. Sample programs modified appropriately. Legacy user programs using legacy definitions will still work but will generate a compiler warning about non-standard extension.
• Add registry flag to enable compiler extension to allow preprocessor expressions support for string comparisons. Generate compiler error message if encountered without the flag being set.
• “cast” code generation fix. Previously when cast changed sign of result the ‘cast’ was applied before expression was converted to ‘int’ size used during a calculation. So casting a “ubyte” to “int” incorrectly converted it to a “signed char”. What should happen is “ubyte” expression gets evaluated into an “int” as part of expression evaluation (all expressions are evaluated at ‘int’ (or higher) level in “C”) and then the cast to “int” has no additional effect.
• Function to extract numeric “COMxxx”. Expanded syntax to support successful parsing of “(COM99)” previously would not accept extraneous characters.
• Add improved Dialog for selecting Communications Port. It uses a list box to display information about the port. Add check box to select any communications port.
• Compiler crash when parsing invalid syntax of ‘?’ expression. Compiler was not handling the case when “NULL” pointer returned from parsing sub-expression. The “NULL” was incorrect.

The RVW team is excited to announce our latest update to the RVW Level Builder, which allows you to create, share, and solve your own virtual challenges! Download it here! This update includes a long list of new features and improvements, and you’ll discover the biggest change when you select the new IMPORT button in Build mode:

Pressing the IMPORT button will launch the RVW Model Importer. Until now, your challenges have been limited to the objects that we’ve prepackaged with the Level Builder. With the Model Importer, you can import any object that you’ve created in SolidWorks or Autodesk Inventor (saved as .STL files) and use them in your virtual challenges. Check out this video for a quick overview:

The Model Importer is an extremely powerful and versatile tool. Once you import your object, you can customize its level of detail, color, scale, mass, and many other properties that affect how it will behave in the 3D Virtual world.

Once you’ve imported an object and set its properties, you can use it in your virtual challenges, just like any of the included objects.

To support you as work with the Level Builder and Model Importer, we’ve created a series of 6 short tutorial videos that teach you everything that you need to know:

Don’t have Inventor or SolidWorks installed on your computer? An educational license of Autodesk Inventor is available for free to students and teachers and Solidworks offers a 60-day free trial for educators. If you’d like to try out the Model Importer right away, here is a .ZIP file you can download that contains a few models you can use: Sample Model Importer Files.

Other changes to the RVW Level Builder include:

• The new default directory for your levels is in your Documents folder, making it easier to share your files
• New robot models with improved graphics, physics, and performance
• The ability to view your levels in 3D in Build mode (right-click your mouse and drag to activate)
• Lots of small fixes and performance improvements

As always, we would love to hear your feedback! Share it on our Facebook page, here on the blog, or the ROBOTC.net forums.

Written by Ryan Cahoon and Jesse Flot

Looking for an awesome opportunity to test your ROBOTC skills this spring? Our friends at Parallax have the solution: the 2013 National microMedic Contest. The microMedic contest challenges participants to create cool, open-source medical devices powered by microprocessors and sensors. To motivate inventors to think outside-of-the-box, the microMedic challenge is giving away 100 free contest kits on a first-come, first-served basis and is also offering prizes to the winners of the contest (over $25,000 rewarded across 25 total winners). There are no restrictions on hardware or programming languages, so this is the perfect opportunity to hone your ROBOTC expertise with the VEX, LEGO, or Arduino platforms. For more information, please see the contest’s article on CS2N or the contest homepage on Parallax’s website.

“The U.S. Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center, and Parallax Inc are offering over $25,000 in prizes to inspire the next generation of medical innovation. The 2013 National microMedic contest is an opportunity to show the country what citizens can do with new technology – encouraging technical innovation with significant use of microcontrollers and sensors in the medical industry. This contest is perfect practical application for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) students around the nation.

The 2013 National microMedic Contest will create significant interest around new open-source medical applications. TATRC’s Dr. Brett Talbot, Medical Simulation Portfolio Manager, says about the contest “we’re looking for microcontroller-based projects for the health and medical simulation community that combine the latest use of sensors, 3D printing, CNC and science disciplines. This is a call to action for inventive people to put our skills to use for the benefit of Army personnel and civilians.”

Inventors and students are encouraged to participate by creating medical applications and products for possible use in the healthcare industry, medical simulation training, and the battlefield. STEM teachers are encouraged to get their classes involved. Over 100 free contest kits valued at over $40,000 will be given away on a first come first serve basis to qualified applicants. Use your favorite microcontroller or apply to receive a free kit that includes either the Parallax multi-core Propeller chip or a shield for use with the Arduino microcontroller. The kit also contains various sensors, LED displays, infrared emitters, a blood pressure cuff, heart rate monitor and many other components to spark your imagination. Use of the official contest kit is not required to win.

To help get competitors started Parallax Inc. is hosting resources such as mini tutorials with code examples for sensors, lists of application ideas and an online discussion forum specific to the microMedic National contest where contestants can ask questions and collaborate. Applicants have until July 31st, 2013 to submit their microMedic entries. Over $25,000 in prizes will be awarded to 17 educational winners and 8 winners from the public category. The award ceremony will be held in September 2013 at the TATRC Innovation Lab in Fort Detrick, MD. For more information on the 2013 microMedic Contest visit Parallax’s website.”

The Robot Virtual World team is thrilled to announce their latest level pack:  Robots to the Rescue – Operation Reset.

Robots to the Rescue – Operation Reset is the third version of our virtual world set in a crystal mining colony on Planet H99. An intergalactic storm has knocked out all of the systems in the colony, and it’s up to you to program the colony’s robots to restore power to Communication Towers, collect the Unobtanium energy crystals, and refuel the rocket. In game testing, some of the things middle and high school kids said were “It’s fun!”, “It’s like a video game!”, “I like that I get to see my code work immediately.”, and “I like the story behind the missions.”.

Operation Reset represents several months of hard work on new features and huge improvements to the Robot Virtual World technology. Here’s sneak peak of some of them:

Updated robot models with attachments:
Programmers will enjoy more interactivity with the world than ever before. Our Mammalbot (right) and Buggybot (left) robots are both included, and each have a Gripper and Vacuum attachment for delivering fuel barrels and collecting Unobtanium fuel crystals.

In-Game Tutorials:
When starting the first set of missions, players are presented with slideshow-style tutorials that explain the mission ahead and direct them to sample ROBOTC code they can use. All of the missions are designed to be solvable using either Standard ROBOTC or the Natural Language, so new and experienced programmers alike will enjoy solving the them.

Multiple Starting Points and Remote Control Zones
As players recharge the Communication Towers in the colony, they will unlock additional Mission Insertion points in the world. These insertion points allow the programmer to have consistent starting points as they write code to solve missions. Also, when a Communication Tower is recharged, direct robot control (using keyboard keys) in the nearby zone is unlocked, allowing you to remotely control the robot’s movements. Insertion points and remote control zones are displayed using the in-game Dashboard, which updates to reflect player progress.

Advanced User Interface
The brand new user interface conveys tons of information while taking up a minimal amount of screen space. As players complete missions, the “bubbles” corresponding to Communication Towers, Unobtanium Crystals and Fuel Barrels will be colored in. You can also switch between the Vacuum and Gripper attachments on the robot, change starting locations, and view recent in-game messages.

New Interactive Game Elements
As the robot travels through the mining colony, it will interact with new Bi-Directional Boost Pads (top) and Robot Lifts (bottom). Both elements will re-situate the robot in the world, providing consistency each time you run your code.

CS2N Achievements
When the robot completes missions or interacts with different in-game elements, the programmer will be rewarded with achievements. Users can create a Local account or use their CS2N account to track their progress and view their achievements. If you don’t already have a CS2N account, you create one for free, here: https://www.cs2n.org/signup

Gameplay Media and Support Material at RobotVirtualWorlds.com
We really want to make sure you know all of the support material that has been created to go along with Operation Reset. We’ve generated Getting Started Guides, Lesson Plans, and Programming Rubrics that will help you use the Robot Virtual World software in the classroom. The full set of materials can be found at http://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/ under Getting Started. Check out the site to find Gameplay videos, Mission Overview videos, World Maps, and more!

To download the Operation Reset virtual world, visit https://www.cs2n.org/activities/robot-virtual-worlds/operation-reset (log in with your CS2N account to view the download link) or http://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/. We value your feedback! Post any thoughts or ideas you have about Operation Reset at the ROBOTC.net forums.

Using Operation Reset requires a ROBOTC 3.x license. If you’re still using ROBOTC 2.x, check out our special promotional pricing available through the end of the year.

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 Robot Virtual World team has a fresh round of updates available for you. We’ve listened to your feedback and have made some changes to our Curriculum Companion, Sack Attack, and Ring It Up virtual worlds. Read on for more details!

What’s new in the Curriculum Companion 2.2.4:

• Adjusted the NXT – Obstacle Course table to more closely meet the level specifications
• Adjusted the VEX – Robo Slalom 2 table to give more room between the lines and obstacles
• Adjusted the Camera 2 View of the VEX – Minefield Retrieval Challenge

What’s new in VEX Sack Attack 1.5.1:

• Resolved a bug where motor values were being overwritten

What’s new in Ring It Up 1.5.1:

• Resolved a bug where motor values were being overwritten
• Adjusted robot models to drive straighter
• Adjusted sensor and encoder behavior
• Improved the gripper-ring interaction behavior

Thanks again for the feedback, and keep it coming. You can post it to the Robot Virtual Worlds section of the ROBOTC Forums.