programming

zx1shadow

Hi guys,well iv got a boe bot and am loving it again thanks to some input from another post,but one day i want to move up to something more advanced eg stingray , which means more complicated programming ,so in your opinions what programming language should i choose.and if possible some resources would be nice.thank you

Mike Green

It all depends on what you want to learn, how much time and energy you have, and how generous is your budget. If you've got an ordinary BoeBot, you might first think of accessories for that. A set of wheel encoders will let you experiment with dead reckoning. A PING))) and its servo bracket will let you experiment with a robot that can explore its environment. You could get a FlashFly kit which would allow you to program your Stamp wirelessly and to communicate wirelessly between your PC and your BoeBot. All of this could be used with your current Stamp and PBasic.

Once you're ready to learn another programming language and microcontroller, you could replace your Stamp with a SpinStamp and start with BoeBoeBasic which supports the BoeBot itself and the PING))). BoeBotBasic can be configured to use an xBee wireless link for its "console". You could even attach an SD card socket to the SpinStamp and store Basic programs and data on PC-compatible files. When you're ready, you could also program in C using Catalina. There are other choices as well including Forth, Propeller assembly language, PropBasic, etc.

If you decide to use a SpinStamp, remember that it (and the Propeller in general) operates using 3.3V logic voltages rather than the 5V logic of the Stamps. Since the BoeBot operates with 5V, you'll need to use 2.2K resistors between the SpinStamp's I/O pins and the various sensors and servo motor control signals. That's how BoeBotBasic was originally developed.