Introduction

=Introduction= <-- Prev - Contents - Next -->

Welcome to the NRS Curriculum! This course will take you through several projects using the NDeRC Robotics System (NRS). In these projects, you will learn about various engineering principles and skills, including programming, design, basic circuitry, wireless communication, geometry, and artificial intelligence (and more!).

We will be using several technologies to accomplish all of this. First and foremost, our robots will be built upon the [|Vex Robotics System]- and educational robotics package that allows you to build robotic vehicles. The Vex kits also includes a programmable //microprocessor// - essentially a miniature computer - which allows us to write new programs to control the behavior of the robot.

We will be extending the Vex robotics kits by adding wireless communication to our robots. We accomplish this by connecting a Bluetooth modem to our robot. You'll learn about Bluetooth later, but for now, know that it allows the robot to communicate with other Bluetooth-enabled devices wirelessly.

The NRS also uses a nearby PC, //the server//, for control of the robot. In our projects, the server will be doing most of the thinking for the robot. It will send commands to the robot using Bluetooth, telling it to execute commands such as "turn on motor #1" or "check bump sensor #1". Most PC's are not Bluetooth-enabled by default (though many newer laptops are), so we will be using a USB Bluetooth modem to give the computer the ability to communicate using Bluetooth.

The final hardware component in the NRS is a [|Nintendo Wiimote]. As you probably already know, the Wiimote is normally used as a video game controller on the Nintendo Wii. In addition to having buttons like most controllers, the Wiimote has a couple of new features as well. For starters, the Wiimote has //accelerometers//, which allow the controller to tell if it is tilted (and in which directions). Also the Wiimote has Bluetooth as well, which means it can communicate with our server, just like the robot. In this case, however, rather than receiving commands from the server like the robot will, the Wiimote will //send// information //to// the server, informing it of the state of it's buttons, accelerometers, etc. Finally, the Wiimote has a camera in it specifically designed to track infrared light, which we will talk about and use in the second project.

So, to summarize:
 * The robot, made from a Vex kit, receives commands from the server and reports the state of its sensors back to the server using Bluetooth. The NRS provides a program (which you will download onto the robot) that will handle all of this.
 * The Wiimote sends information to the server using built-in Bluetooth.
 * The server, which is a normal desktop PC running software that you will be writing, receives input from the Wiimote via Bluetooth. It also receives information from the robot about it's sensors. It uses all of this information to determine what the robot should do next, and then sends these commands back to the robot.

Below is a diagram illustrating the setup of the NRS.

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