June 27, 2003
ER1 Software
I thought I would just explain a little bit about the ER1 software so every one can get an idea on how a program is created and the options an ER1 owner has.
The most basic concepts of the ER1 are "Behaviors", "If" conditions and "Then" conditions. A Behavior is made up of an "If" condition and a "Then" condition. Behaviors can run sequencially or in a sort of parrellel fassion. Behaviors can not execute at the same time (as far as I can tell) but any Behavior can terminate an existing Behavior if it is a higher priority. You can have 288 behaviors in a given program. You can extend beyond this 288 limit by setting up an "If" condition to load a new set of behaviors. So there really is no limit to the size of the program you can have.
The following "If" conditions can be tested on a given Behavior:
- Sight
- Sound
- Message Received
- Time
- At a Specific Time
- Interavals
- Sequence
- Run After a Specific Behavior
- IR Sensor
- IR Sensor 1
- IR Sensor 2
- IR Sensor 3
- Gripper
- Object entered Gripper
- Gripper Button Pressed
The following "Then" conditions can be executed when the "If" condition is met:
- Move
- Drive toward color
- Color
- Stop once the color takes up a specified percentage of the screen
- Drive toward object
- Object from the Library
- Stop once a specified distance to the object is reached
- Rotate toward color
- Rotate toward object
- Distance
- The distance to travel
- The Direction
- Angel
- The Degrees
- The Direction
- Relative position
- Play Sound
- Sound File
- Phrase to Speak
- Message Send
- Run Program
- Record
- Take a Photo
- Shoot Video
- Email Result
- Gripper
Multiple "If" and "Then" conditions can be selected for a given Behavior. Multiple "If" conditions can have an "And" or "Or" operand. The above conditions are very extensive and will meet most programming needs. There are some additional "Behavior Settings" that compliment the conditions. Primarily you can fine tune some of the "If" sensor thresholds to ensure the "If" condition detects a sensor reading accuratly.
The ER1 can also be commanded remotely. A wireless connection is needed for this to work. There are two options to remote control: Command Line API or use the ER1 Control Center software. If you use the Control Center software you can also get a video feed from the robot's camera.
Posted by Mike Linnen at June 27, 2003 09:31 PM
