As I promissed before (https://inspiratron.org/lego-mindstorms-nxt-2-0-first-contact/), I tryed to build robot vehicle and program it using Microsoft robotics, instead of Development Kit that comes with the box. Development kit that comes with Lego mindstorms NXT 2.0 is some simplified version of LabView. I must admit that I never worked with LabView, so I don’t know much about original version, but this version that comes with box works sequentially. That means that robot will walk how much you say, then it will stop, check sensor, continue walking, as on video from previous post. What I wanted to do is to create robot that will move flawlessly, that will check sensors while it is moving. So I tryed Microsoft robotics.
Microsoft robotics – first touch
So I downloaded and installed Microsoft robotics development kit and started to play with it. There are several components, but what was most interesting for my robot programming was Visual programming language. It is quite simple and has built in support for Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0.
So here is my small program for the robot:
What it does? It checks sensor if distance is less then 30 cm. If it is true, starts both motors (vehicles). If it is false, it starts just one motor. Microsoft robotics pushes program to robot via bluetooth, which was quite conviniet, because I did not have to go catching robot in my room, and attaching it to cable each time I want something to change. It also starts some service (I still don’t really know what for) on my PC. Bad side of MS Robotics is that program was not saved on my robot, so I could not start it, without turning PC, and MS Visual Programming Language and pressing play. I did not investigate much about how to store it to robot, this was just first touchs and first impression. I hope it can be stored to robot and run from it.
Here is video, how my Lego Mindstorms walks around my room:
