1. Programming Robots using Java
Linglestown Middle School
Penn State Harrisburg
Spring 2010
Jane S. Kochanov

2. http://marsrovers. jpl. nasa. gov/mission/spacecraft_surface_rover

3. Roomba Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum
Roomba 4100 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum - Red.
Dirt detection and infra-red cliff sensors.
Auto adjusts to any floor surface
2-hour continuous cleaning
Virtual wall for confining to designated area
Rechargeable APS battery, 7-hour charger
Measures 13 by 4 inches

4. Virtual Guard Dog
It sports a digital camera, infrared sensors and videophone capability so absent homeowners can be notified of intruders.
280,000 yen ($2,600) contraption by Japanese robot maker Tmsuk Co. Ltd. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.

5. Hospital Courier TUG 50 pounds Ferries linens, X-rays, drugs, food
Made by Pittsburgh-based Aethon
Uses wireless radios to call elevators or open automatic doors

6. ASIMO Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility
Humanoid Robot built by Honda
Introduced in November 2000
ASIMO video

7. LEGO Mindstorms Robot Robot Kit includes:
RCX (Robotics Command Explorer)
2 Motors
2 touch sensors
1 light sensor
USB infrared transmitter tower
A “gazillion” lego parts to build a robot

8. LEGO Mindstorms Robot RCX runs on 6 AA batteries
When batteries are low, battery icon with an “X” across it will appear in the display
3 gray ports labeled 1, 2, 3
Sensor ports
3 black ports labeled A, B, C
Motor ports

9. LEGO Mindstorms Robot 4 buttons On-Off
Run to execute and stop a loaded program
Prgm to scroll through the loaded programs
May load up to 5 programs at one time
View allows you to view information on a sensor or motor

10. LEGO Mindstorms Robot Display Window
A little person standing or running
Indicates that a program is loaded or running respectively
To the right of the little person, a number indicating which of 5 programs will be active when the Run program is pressed
To the left of the little person, the Software Watch
Shows program being downloaded. It counts units of 100 bytes, so a 3 Kb program counts up to ~ 30
Shows the voltage level of the battery

11. LEGO Java Operating System
Provides a Java package to control the RCX: josx.platform.rcx.*
Provides Java classes for working with the RCX features:
Motors
Sensors
Display
Sound
Buttons
IR tower

12. LEGO Java Operating System
TextLCD class:
Uses the display to show text messages. This class uses a great deal of memory. The letters are approximations since the display was originally intended for numbers.
print (“text”) - prints the text on the LCD. Only the first five letters are displayed.

13. LEGO Java Operating System
Motor class:
Used to control the RCX output ports which control the motors. The class contains 3 static Motor instances, A, B, and C, which correspond to the 3 output ports.
setPower(int) - sets the current power level of the motor from 0 to 7.
backward( ) - moves the motor backwards.
forward( ) - moves the motor forwards.
stop( ) - stops the motor.
reverseDirection( ) - no matter which way the motor is turning, it makes it turn the other way.

14. LEGO Java Operating System
Sound class:
The robot is able to play sounds for different tasks you might want to program
playTone(int Frequency, int Duration) - - plays a tone in the range Hz given by Frequency. The tone is played for Duration: to play 1 second, use It is truncated at 256, meaning that 2.56 seconds is the maximum duration possible.

15. LEGO Java Operating System
systemSound(true/false, int Code ) – plays one of the predefined tones.
Code
Sound
Short beep 1
Double beep 2
Descending arpeggio 3
Ascending arpeggio 4
Long low beep; error sound 5
Quick ascending arpeggio

16. LEGO Java Operating System
Button class:
Encapsules 3 RCX buttons View, Prgm, Run. You may call a static instance of each button using VIEW, PRGM, and RUN.
waitForPressAndRelease( ) throws InterrupedException - wait until the button is released

17. Let’s Try Create a simple program together that:
Displays a word to the LCD
Start one motor
Start the other motor
Play a descending arpeggio before the motors start
Run until the RUN button is pressed