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We ran into Paul Utley from Pitsco at the 2013 FIRST Championship who designed a model of the Curiosity Rover with TETRIX parts, NXT brick, and programmed in ROBOTC! We were lucky enough to get a short interview with him about it. Check it out here …
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

While scouring Vimeo a couple weeks ago, I came across a “Vimeo Staff Pick” time-lapse video featuring beautiful landscapes, lakes, mountains, and skies called “Hdr Skies.” When looking in the description for more details, I noticed that ROBOTC was listed! I sent the creator, Tanguy Louvigny, an email to learn more about his process with ROBOTC and time-lapse photography. He was nice enough to answer some questions for us …

- When did you start using ROBOTC?

I started using ROBOTC some 3 years ago, when I started my TETRIX based time-lapse rig project.

- What made you decide to program your time lapse rig with ROBOTC?

Version 2 of my rig used three motors to move the camera on three different axis, and was thus more complex to program. That’s when I decided I needed something more convenient and powerful to be able to control the TETRIX encoders and synchronize the motors with the camera shots. ROBOTC was the solution to my problems and worked like a charm.

- What did you use to build your rig?

My goal with this project was to construct a motorized base for my camera to add movement in my time lapse clips. The first, one axis version of the rig simply used a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 kit to support the camera. For version 2, I needed more robust parts and powerful motors to be abled to sustain the weight of new and bigger cameras, so I went for a TETRIX kit that I would couple with the MINDSTORMS brick to control the motors.

- How long was this video in production?

The ”Hdr skies” video was a compilation of one year of time lapse shots. Since then, as I shoot more, I try to achieve a new video every six months or so.

- How has your experience been with ROBOTC?

I had a great time programming with it, I already knew a bit of C, so I found it very easy and natural to use, in fact so simple I was rapidly able to code all my ideas with ease!

- Do you have any other projects coming up that you are using ROBOTC with?

My next project is a new TETRIX based five axis rig using a motorized jib. I’ll use ROBOTC to control the motors and build a new MINDSTORMS interface to program the moves. I’m also exploring new possibilities to use ROBOTC to fire the camera directly, thus simplifying the robot/camera synchronizing part.

Tanguy also mentioned that all his time lapse videos are made with the rig.

Thank you so much Tanguy for sharing your awesome project! Do you have a cool projects that you created using ROBOTC? If so, let us know! We’d love to feature it here.

When it comes to setting up any new robot, the age-old saying ‘knowledge is power’ tends to ring particularly true. This is why one can find a variety of beginner guides already available, such as the Video Curriculum Trainer and the ‘Getting Started with NXT and TETRIX’ ROBOTC wiki guide. There’s no such thing as too much knowledge, though, and the more tools a roboticist has at their fingertips the higher their chance for success.

Because of this, we are pleasantly surprised by the depth of content covered by Avi, aka TheProgreammerDude’s YouTube tutorial video. Avi is a member of FTC team 5773. Not only is his tutorial straight from the screen of an FTC team programmer, it focuses on ROBOTC programming concepts specifically for the FTC competition (such as using competition templates and setting up a TETRIX robot using the Motors and Sensors Setup window).

If you’re looking add this video set to your ROBOTC toolkit, be sure to check out the first video in his series.

Here’s a video of a TETRIX robot running through a small farm. The robot uses its sensors to make sure that it’s running along the lines correctly.

This was submitted by T.N.T. of our forums. Thanks T.N.T.!

YouTube Direct Link