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In lugnet.robotics.rcx.robolab, Don Stauffer wrote:
> -----Snip-------
> > After dozens of hours of experimentation, it is my conclusion that
> > event-driven programming in Robolab is unreliable. Eventually, the
> > RCX stops responding to events. This does not always happen at the
> > same point in a given program, nor is it predictably always associated
> > with particular program constructs.
> >
> > Having not attempted event-driven programming of the RCX in another
> > environment, I have not determined whether the fault is with Robolab
> > itself, with the firmware, or with the RCX. I suspect a flaw in
> > Robolab.
> >
> > Has anyone succeeded in using events in Robolab?
I use Robolab to teach middle schoolers about building and programming Lego
robots. I like Robolab because the kids pick up on the icons very quickly and
get a handle the basics of programming within a few class sessions. BUT I do
not venture very far into Robolab’s programming nuances because, good as they
appear, many of them do not work reliably, do not work logically, or do not seem
work at all! And since there is no documentation for ‘advanced Robolab’ (I do
not count the pathetic examples in the “Help” sections” as documentation!) there
is no way to understand why instructions do or do not happen as expected. If
Windows had as little documentation written about it as Robolab, would we not
still be in a DOS based world?
I applaud Don Stauffer who took the time to test his conclusion that Robolab
“Events” do not work very well and I admire him for admitting that he had a lot
of trouble programming with Events. This tells me, that I won’t bother with
Event programming in Robolab - I won’t have to feel guilty about it either. I
suspect there are a number of other aspects of Robolab that ‘almost work-but
don’t’ and no one can tell the reasons why or what to do about them.
Let me say that the answer is not Claude Baumann. He is obviously a gifted and
brilliant teacher but many of the programs on his website are so complex they
are almost beyond comprehension. Furthermore he has infused Labview structures
to accomplish goals that apparently cannot be solved using plain old Robolab.
My point is simply that I can’t use his work - though I admire it - to help me
understand why some aspect of Robolab doesn’t work as it says it should. It is
as if you had to write some machine code in order to create a new paragraph with
your word processor. All you really want to know is how the enter/return key
functions!
Though we get program ‘upgrades’ from Tufts University, I see no corresponding
documentation about new features beyond the simplest code-examples by way of
explanations. Yet, Robolab is sold to teachers as part of the Lego Dacta
classroom line and it is also widely used in the FLL contests as well.
Therefore you would think that a computer language designed for young students
would have more documentation than three slim “getting started” books which are
heavy on illustration and light on instruction. Apparently it is enough for a
major engineering school to develop the program, provide a few minor examples,
and let the users figure it out on their own.
Dr. Wang’s first four chapters on using Robolab (aimed at engineering students)
and Carnegie-Mellon’s CD-Rom for elementary teachers of robotics are a good
start in the right direction but they are not going to solve problems like
understanding how to get ‘Events’ to work correctly. What we need is a ‘text’
devoted to Robolab with all its ins and outs, what works, what doesn’t and why,
backed up with dozens of hints, snippets, and practical examples for all of the
constructs that compose this program. Better (and easier) than a text would be
a website devoted to all things ‘Robolab’ - sort of like what now exists for
some of the other software programs that drive our RCXs.
No, I’m not volunteering to put up a website like this. I’m not a programmer - I’m an end user. But I sure would like to see one up there. I’d pepper it with questions and contribute ‘successes’ at my level - which is to say, one step above a novice and looking to grow my skill level.
I count about a dozen Lugnet folks who aren’t afraid to be associated with Robolab and who seem to be pretty serious about it. I know that one of those folks was thinking along these lines a while back and perhaps would like to take the lead. But it will take more than one person to help get such a venture going and keep it going. It doesn’t have to be fancy - I think people, - especially teachers like me who are struggling with it- would just like a place to see some code that works and to understand why some other code does not work! Now and then someone writes into Lugnet about a specific Robolab problem. If it gets answered, the answer goes into the archive - uncategorized and hard for others to locate. A website would solve that issue and perhaps bring along some newbies interested in learning Robolab as well.
For starters, all we need to do is share our knowledge, pool it together, and
publish it on the web. That means users ‘publish’ the code that they can’t get
to work so all can see it. Maybe a solution is found, maybe not. But everyone
shares the knowledge.
Would that be so hard?
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Events in Robolab
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| M. Lichtenberg has just said what I have been looking for. I got the RIS or my 3 middle school boys last summer, I found it could be a great tool to cultivate the robotics knowledge among the middle schoolers or even elementary school children; (...) (21 years ago, 31-Dec-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.robolab)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Events in Robolab
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| Thanks for the response. I've been to that web site before and looked through it for event-driven programming. There is very little event-driven programming there, and what there is doesn't use events very extensively or in a very complex way. (...) (21 years ago, 28-Dec-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.robolab)
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