Robot Builder's Bonanza, 4th Edition, 4th Edition

Chapter 36Programming Concepts: The Fundamentals

Back in the “olden days,” you built a robot with a couple of motors, some tubes and a relay, and a big ol’ battery. Today, many robots, including the amateur variety, are equipped with a computational brain of one type or another, and the brain is told what to do through software programming.

Why is this progress over tubes and a big ol’ battery? The brain and programming are almost always easier and less expensive to implement than other methods. The nature of the programming depends on what the robot does. All its actions boil down to a relatively small set of instructions in whatever programming language you are using. If you’re new to programming or haven’t practiced it in several years, read ...