Visual Basic Control Software

Currently the seek light behavior is running. The circular pie diagram indicates the strongest light source is to the left. The lit bulb in the upper left corner indicates this sensor has encountered an obstacle. The countdown indicates how much longer the robot will be backing up.

Overview

The software allows several levels of control. The controller box can be tested by manually sending each of the commands it recognizes. The robot can be given direct movement commands (with the arrow buttons). Higher level behavors are also implemented. The bump and turn behavior has the robot move forward until an obstacle is detected by the front sensors. It then backs up and changes direction before moving forward. The seek light behavior has the robot direct its movement toward the strongest light. If an obstacle is encountered while seeking light the behavior in bump and turn temporarially takes over.

Details

The current software is implemented in Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0 (16 bit). It uses the MSComm VBX control to communicate with the serial port. I wrote the circular pie wedge display for the light levels as a VBX control in Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5.