Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 4Use Active TCL and LOGO to Paint
There is a super clever guy that posted some awesome stuff on the create forums. The forums are a great resource, especially if you don't really know what you're doing.
His documentation is available here:
http://createforums.irobot.com/irobotcreate/board/message?board.id=Create_projects&thread.id=13
He used TCL to set up the robot to run using LOGO commands. You'll need to go to the post and follow his directions for downloading and installing Active TCL, then downloading his program. I didn't feel right posting his code here (for obvious reasons), but it is available at the forum post included above.
Once you get it all installed and downloaded you're ready to start using your new iTurtle Create (which is a bad LOGO pun). It's an extremely simple interface where you literally tell it (in millimeters and angle degrees) what to do, connect the serial cable, and do it. This will work much better if you have a laptop, as the serial cable isn't that long and it will have to be connected while it's working. The robot is (apparently) able to carry around 30 pounds, so if you did something to accomodate it I could imagine you could set your laptop right on it and let it go. You can spend hours and hours plotting out paintings, somewhat etch-a-sketch style with this system, and other than installing programs you don't need much computer knowledge at all.
Special Note: Pull the Command Module off your robot if you try this. It seems to interfere somehow, and this probably won't work if you have it attached (even if it's turned off.)
It's a good idea to set up your painting and either run it without any paint or with a marker before committing to it with paint (at least at first). This is especially useful for choosing your starting point as that will dictate where the imagery appears on the paper.
It is important to note that this method seems to disable all of the safety sensors on the robot, so if you set it to go forward 50,000 instead of 500 it will really do that, and you'll be chasing it down to stop it. If it's using real paint you'll have a lot of cleanup to do after you catch it.
This method is really effective for creating and rapidly changing what you want to paint, and is much more efficient than writing programs and installing them on the Command Module. The biggest downside is the serial cable.
His documentation is available here:
http://createforums.irobot.com/irobotcreate/board/message?board.id=Create_projects&thread.id=13
He used TCL to set up the robot to run using LOGO commands. You'll need to go to the post and follow his directions for downloading and installing Active TCL, then downloading his program. I didn't feel right posting his code here (for obvious reasons), but it is available at the forum post included above.
Once you get it all installed and downloaded you're ready to start using your new iTurtle Create (which is a bad LOGO pun). It's an extremely simple interface where you literally tell it (in millimeters and angle degrees) what to do, connect the serial cable, and do it. This will work much better if you have a laptop, as the serial cable isn't that long and it will have to be connected while it's working. The robot is (apparently) able to carry around 30 pounds, so if you did something to accomodate it I could imagine you could set your laptop right on it and let it go. You can spend hours and hours plotting out paintings, somewhat etch-a-sketch style with this system, and other than installing programs you don't need much computer knowledge at all.
Special Note: Pull the Command Module off your robot if you try this. It seems to interfere somehow, and this probably won't work if you have it attached (even if it's turned off.)
It's a good idea to set up your painting and either run it without any paint or with a marker before committing to it with paint (at least at first). This is especially useful for choosing your starting point as that will dictate where the imagery appears on the paper.
It is important to note that this method seems to disable all of the safety sensors on the robot, so if you set it to go forward 50,000 instead of 500 it will really do that, and you'll be chasing it down to stop it. If it's using real paint you'll have a lot of cleanup to do after you catch it.
This method is really effective for creating and rapidly changing what you want to paint, and is much more efficient than writing programs and installing them on the Command Module. The biggest downside is the serial cable.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
