Subject:
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Bot-Kit for MindStorms and CyberMaster
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:41:58 GMT
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Viewed:
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2193 times
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Folks,
I have just released a beta version of Bot-Kit, which is an interface
between the MindStorms (and CyberMaster) programmable brick and the
Smalltalk programming language. This allows you to use a real
object-oriented language to drive your robot creations instead of the rather
simplistic one that comes in the LEGO box.
So what does Bot-Kit give you? There are "objects" that represent the
following:
RCX - The MindStorms RCX brick
CyberMasterC2 - The CyberMaster RCX brick
RCXSensor - Motors
RCXMotor - Sensors
RCXTask - Program tasks
RCXSubroutine - Program subroutines
Bot - Robots
ISpirit - The SPIRIT control that talks to the RCX
Bot-Kit allows you to create robot programs in two modes. The first is
"immediate" mode where the PC directly controls the RCX. This allows you to
do interactive testing of your robot. It can also be useful when you want to
write very complex programs that could never fit inside the RCX memory (how
about a cockroach simulation driven by a neural net?). The disadvantage of
immediate mode is that your robot must always remain in contact with the
communications tower. Since MindStorms uses an IR link this can sometimes be
a problem. This is where "retained" mode comes in. Using this mode your
program can be downloaded to the brick to run locally (in the manner of the
standard software).
Bot-Kit is free and works with a version of Smalltalk called Dolphin which
is available over the web for $29.95. Don't worry if you don't yet know the
Smalltalk language since I have written the Bot-kit documentation so that it
assumes you are probably a complete beginner. There is also a beginner's
tutorial available for the Smalltalk language itself on the Dolphin website.
Currently, this is a beta release of Bot-Kit. The documentation is
incomplete but the basic software is up and running. Check out the link
below and let me know what you think.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~objarts/Bower/Bot-Kit/Bot-KitTitle.htm
Best regards
Andy Bower
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