i have an integrated project to build a robot and direct its path via C language
im reallly out of this field ! can u just tell me with an idea of basic functioning ! i know this is a c# forun ! but ill be glad if you can heelp !
harshi414 0 Newbie Poster
tinstaafl 1,176 Posting Maven
I think a lot will depend on the interface to the robot, and how that interface connects to you computer.
ddanbe 2,724 Professional Procrastinator Featured Poster
I infer you are using some sort of microcontroller to drive the robot. Sugest to refer to the specific documentation for the microcontroller brand you are using.
Ketsuekiame 860 Master Poster Featured Poster
As the others have stated, you will need to understand the microcontroller code that operates your robot. There will be specific commands you can use that will make it perform functions. I suggest you talk to your lecturer about this if you're way too out of your depth.
harshi414 0 Newbie Poster
i dont know anyhting about microcontrollers ! i want you to please help me in getting me something to the edge to make this robot ! i have seen many robots in many languageds but never in C !! can i seek any help !
Ancient Dragon 5,243 Achieved Level 70 Team Colleague Featured Poster
archis 0 Unverified User
To start with please answer this one question: (And understand that there is no such thing as a robot in C or C# or assembly etc.!)
1) What robot hardware is available to you? (Only motors controlled directly by your PC/Laptop, A micro-crontroller controlling the motors etc. based on commands received on Serial Port from the PC etc.)
Adak 419 Nearly a Posting Virtuoso
Your robot will have to have a micro controller, if it is to be controlled by electronics. Since you "don't know about micro controllers", you will have to learn how to program them, because the controller (as the name implies) controls the robot, at a very low level.
We can't teach you, since it's not C - it's hardware, plus a hardware interface to allow the robot to send and receive messages.
I recommend you Google "robots forums", and find a forum that specializes in robotics. Robots are different, depending on their hardware and controllers.
How you program the robot depends on the controller, and the maker of the robot will include instructions on how to do that, for that particular make and model of robot. Some can use C as a user language, others use a variety of different langauges for the user to program their robot. They're not all the same in the choice of languages the user can work with. The last one I worked with had only languages of a special version of BASIC, or Pascal - no C.
Good luck!
ddanbe commented: Good answer! +14
harshi414 0 Newbie Poster
i Will buy a microcontroller that is prefered by youn as it will suerly have a microcontroller but i dont know which one to use ! will be connecting it with the pc with the USB or a serial post which will again depend on the microcontroller used witht a couple of motors !
ddanbe 2,724 Professional Procrastinator Featured Poster
You will find plenty of stuff by googling "Programming microcontrollers in C"
Adak 419 Nearly a Posting Virtuoso
Whatever you buy, buy something that you will want to use for a long time - robot type projects are not real cheap, and you will want to use it to DO stuff, not just be programmed one time, and sit in a box in the closet.
Look at what you want the robot to do - even if it's to teach you how to program a robot - and get the kit for the robot that best matches your wants and needs. Consider all the aspects of the kit before you get it - every robot I've seen has been designed to be good at some things, but terrible at doing other things. That's not a bad thing, but it means you need to do your research before you buy anything.
Did you register at a robot forum, yet?
harshi414 commented: thanx ! yes i have registered in a few froums but nothing useful ! +0
IIM 163 Master Poster
Your robot will have to have a micro controller
It is not mandatory to have microcontroller.It all depends on the exact requirement of robot.You can simply make a robot with only few hardware requirements and connect it to system by using parallel port as once i have tried when i was in school.
Required Hardware can be:-
- motor to drive robot locomotion.
- l293D chip to control power to motors.
- breadboard or PCB.
take a look at http://www.machinegrid.com/2008/12/parallel-port-tutorial-part-1/,http://hardhack.org.au/lpt_robot.
But be careful before trying this.Check voltage using multimeter before making final connection.
Microcontroller will be required if you don't want to use computer/laptop to interact with your robot and everything will be processed by the code flashed in chip.
harshi414 0 Newbie Poster
@IIM you are my man ! thanx that waas all what i was wondering to know !! adding on i wanna know that can a serial port direct 2 motors according to requirment
IIM 163 Master Poster
i am not sure about serial port.You have to check the voltage and current on serial port and then check that according to your requirement like how many data line you want.i have not worked on serial port so not sure about it.
Ancient Dragon 5,243 Achieved Level 70 Team Colleague Featured Poster
You normally can not use the same serial port to communicate with multiple devices, each motor would have to be on a different serial port. If each motor is only going to use a couple pins from the serial cabel then you could put a splitter in line to redirect the signals to both motors, but that might be an unusual situation. Your program could have a separate thread for each serial port.
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