Setup: Hardware Requirements and Configuration

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To have communication between the different hardware platforms, each system requires a common piece of hardware. For our research, we have been using the Xbee Radio's by Digi International to send messages between the various hardware platforms. Below is the minimum hardware and software required to use the Multi-Robot lessons found in this Wiki.

Each Robot must have a XBee radio receiver/transmitter. The XBee radio is the common hardware that allows the robots to send messages across the network. The Xbee radio is "platform agnostic" meaning that two NXT systems can communicate together, or an NXT and a VEX may communicate. The Xbee radios communicate using messages of characters. In ROBOTC, our messages will be strings, which are a series of letters, numbers, or symbols combined together in a "string" of data. In C-Programming environments, strings are defined with a set of quotes

Example of Strings:

  • “Hello”
  • “I moved 10.3cm”
  • "Forward3000"


Contents

Requirements

Software

Common Hardware

NXT

VEX/Arduino

Configuring The Xbee Radio

Connecting the NXTBee

For the NXT:

The Dexter Industries NXTBee Board

Line up pins on the radio

Connect the radio to the board

The radio and board connected

Put two LEGO axle pins through the holes

Both pins attached

Attach the pins with LEGO bushings

Now attach the assembly to the NXT

Connect a wire to the NXTBee Board

Connect the other end to Port 4 of the NXT

The Xbee must me wired to Port 4

Attachment complete

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