1 Introduction – controlling fischertechnik models with ROBO Pro 1.1
Contents
1. For the ROBO TX Controller you first select the sub directory TXController for the ROBO Inter face the sub directory ROBOInterface and then the sub directory containing the driver for your operating system for example WinXP Found New Hardware Wizard Please choose pour search and installation options Pa S i Search for the best driver in these locations Use the check boxes below to limit or expand the default search which includes local paths and removable media The best driwer found will be installed Search removable media floppy CO ROM M Include this location in the search C Program Files ROBOProsUSE Driver Instal Browse Don t search will choose the driver to install Choose this option to select the device driver from a list Windows does not guarantee that the driver you choose will be the best match for your hardware lt Back Cancel Under Windows XP you may see the following message after pressing Next Hardware Installation i t A The software you are installing for this hardware fischertechnik USB ROBO Tx Controller has not passed Windows Logo testing to werty its compatibility with Windows SP Tell me why this testing is important Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the corect operation of your system either immediately or in the future Microsoft strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contac2. if you don t have a Bluetooth interface you still have to unplug the USB cable before your program sets the robot in motion In this case you start the downloaded program by using the left selection key of the TX Controller By using the function Autostart of the ROBO TX Controller a program is started automatically as soon as the Interface is supplied with power In this way you can for example you can supply the Interface with power via a mains adapter with a time switch and start the program every day at the same time Then you don t have to either leave the Interface permanently switched on or start the program with the selection key every time you switch it on Note You can also find a comprehensive description of the functions of the ROBO TX Controller in the accompanying operating manual 3 8 Tips and Tricks Altering connection lines If you shift an element ROBO Pro will try to adjust the connecting lines in a reasonable way Should you not like an adjusted line you can easily change the connecting lines by left clicking on the line and moving it while holding the key down According to where the mouse is placed on the line a corner or an edge of the line is moved This is displayed by different mouse cursors If the mouse is positioned over a vertical connection line you can move the whole vertical line while holding down the left mouse key If the mouse is positioned over a horizontal connection line you can move
3. ROBO Interface Intelligent InterFace Simulation cwe Here you can select the port as well as the Interface type fischertechnik x Fon USE ROBOPro Once you have selected the appropriate settings close the window with OK Now open the Inter face test window with the Test button on the toolbar 2 x Inputs Outputs Mi mode steps cow Stop cw i gt Mi 3 f o1 02 512 2 M2 mode steps com I Stop cw me tf 3 C ostoqd 512 J E M3 mode steps O cow Stop cw iF M3 3 o5 06 512 a M4 mode steps cow E Stop cw m4 g le o7 oe C 512 J ui fo Digital Sk hm Switch A fo Digtal SkOhm Switch il fo Digital SkOhm Switch CSN fo Digital SkOhrn Switch 3 i fo Digtal Skahm Suvitch 1 l fo Digital Sk hm Switch ri fo Digtal SkOhm Switch AN fo Digital SkOhm tSwitch Counter Inputs State of port Connection Rim nnn Interface USKREMS 00000000 ROBO T Master Extension Module fem 2 C4 a FS DiI e3 Cs short Counter Reset arjo E lt in a a FF atfo i It shows the inputs and outputs available on the Interface The green bar in the lower left of the window displays the connection status of the PC to the Interface e Connection Running confirms correct connection to the Interface e Connection Stopped indicates that the connection has not been c
4. These inputs allow you to count fast pulses with frequencies of up to 1000 pulses per second You can also use them as digital inputs for buttons not suitable for the trail sensor If you connect a button to this input every push of the button pulse will increase the value of the counter by 1 This allows you for example to let a robot travel a specific distance Motor outputs M1 M4 M1 M4 are the outputs from the Interface This is where what are called actuators are con nected These can be e g motors electromagnets or lamps The 4 motor outputs can be controlled in speed and in direction Speed is controlled using the slide control You can choose between a coarse resolution with 8 different steps of speed or a fine resolution with 512 steps The program elements in levels 1 and 2 only use the coarse resolution but start ing with level 3 there are elements which allow you to use the fine resolution The speed is displayed next to the slider control as a number If you would like to test an output you con nect a motor to an output e g M1 Lamp outputs 01 08 Each motor output can alternatively be used as a pair of individual outputs These can be used to control not only lamps but also motors which only need to move in one direction e g for a conveyor belt If you would like to test one of these outputs you connect one lamp con tact to the output e g O1 You connect the other lamp contact with one of the ground socket
5. can get on with the job of completing our control program Think back to the functional description of the garage door control system is there still something missing Right we may have turned the motor on by pushing the button but once the door is opened the motor must be automatically switched off again In prac tice this is done with the so called end switch This is a sensor fitted to the garage door in such a way that it is operated the moment the motor has fully opened the door As in the case of switch ing on the motor this signal can be used to switch it off again To query the end switch we can use the Branch element again So insert another Branch element into the program one which will check the end switch on input 12 Don t forget to left click on the element and to set the input to 12 As soon as the garage door is open and the end switch has been pressed the motor should stop again This will be achieved using a Motor element Start with the same element we used to switch on the motor If you right click on the element you can change the function of the element to Stop motor The program is finished off with an End element Your program should now look almost like the illustration on the right If you have placed the ele ments under one another with a separation of one or two grid points most of the entries and exits will be connected with program flow arrows But the No N exit of the two Branch elements is not yet con
6. garage door the door will now be open How can we close it again Of course we can start the motor again by pushing a button But we want to try another solution and learn about a new program element in the process To do this you start by saving the program under a new name we will need the current flow chart again later Use the menu item Save as in the File menu to do this entering an as yet unused filename 3 6 1 Time delay Before we can extend the flow chart you have to delete the connection between switch off motor and Program end and shift the End element down Now you can insert the new program elements between these two elements The garage door is to be closed automatically after a period of 10 seconds To do this you can use the Time delay program element illustrated right Within a broad range you can set the waiting time as you wish as usual by right clicking on the element Enter the desired time delay of 10 seconds To close the garage door the motor must of course go the other way that is to the right clockwise The motor is turned off by another end switch on 13 fischertechnik ROBOPro The finished flow chart should look roughly as pre sented on the right For the sake of presentation the new program elements have been moved to the right Once there are no more mistakes in the flow chart you can test the extended garage door control system as usual with the Start button The motor is switch
7. older version and you have modified some of the sample programs in the older version you can exclude the sample programs from the customized installation If you don t do this the modified sample programs will be overwritten without warning lf you select customized installation and press Next an additional window allowing you to select the components will appear In the Target directory window you can select the folder or directory path where you want the ROBO Pro program installed This will normally be the path C Program Files ROBOPro However you can also enter another directory When you push the Finish button in the last window the installation is performed As soon as the installation is finished this normally only takes a few seconds the program an nounces successful installation If there are problems an error message is displayed which should help you to solve the problem 1 2 Installing the USB driver This step is required if the ROBO TX Controller or the ROBO Interface is to be connected to the USB port The ROBO Interface can also be connected to one of the serial ports COM1 COM4 The earlier Windows versions Windows 95 and Windows NT4 0 don t support USB ports With Win dows 95 or NT 4 0 the ROBO Interface can only be connected via the serial port There is no need to install a driver in this case Important note for the installation under Windows 2000 XP and Vista The USB driver can only be installed b
8. the functionality of ROBO Pro to match your growing knowledge you can set ROBO Pro from Level 1 for beginners up to Level 5 for experts Look in the Level menu to see whether there is a checkmark by Level 1 Beginners If not please switch to level 1 ROBO Pro is configured to use the ROBO TX Controller as interface You can see this by the presence of the button ROBO TX in the toolbar In Chapter 11 2 Environment you learn how you can switch to the earlier ROBO Interface and what you need to pay attention to fischertechnik zooo hea Now you may either create a new program file or open an already existing program file We do not intend to create a new program file until Chapter 3 when we will write our first control program To familiarize ourselves with the user interface we shall open an already existing sample program To do this you click the entry Open in the File menu or use the Open button in the toolbar The sample files are found in the folder C Program Files ROBOPro Sample Programs Look in E Sample Programs E gt fie fe Robo Mobile Set pee es Test10 SP Position rpp a LZA Sample TeachInTimer Object rpp EE Test13 SP Multireturn rpp ROBO RC Sample2 Panel Rob 3 rpp ez Test20 TR 2 main threads rpp H Test21 TR 2 main threads loop rpp aod ez Test30 Input to display rpp Tm kam RE Test31 Yariable rpp eee TeStO2 Switch Motor on off rpp tog Test32 Timer rpp pad ress T
9. the whole a horizontal line while holding down the left mouse key a If the mouse is positioned over an oblique connection line a new point is inserted into the P wi connecting line when you left click You have to hold the left mouse key down not releas ing it until the mouse is positioned where the new point is to be placed s If the mouse is positioned near an end point or a corner of a connecting line you can yi move this point while holding down the left mouse key You can only move a connected line endpoint to another suitable program element connection In this case the endpoint of the connecting line will be linked to this connecting line Otherwise the point will not be moved fischertechnik x zooo hea A different approach to connecting lines Connecting lines can also be created by moving program elements If you move a program ele ment so that its entry is one or two grid points below the exit of another a connecting line between the elements is created This also applies to an exit that is moved over an entry After that you can move the program element to its final position or draw further links for the remaining entries and exits B fischertechnik
10. to move elements from one program to another you can use CTRL X or Edit Cut function at the beginning instead of CTRL C or Edit Copy Deleting elements and Undo function It is quite simple to delete elements You can delete all the elements marked in red See previous section by pressing the delete key Del on the keyboard You can also delete individual ele ments with the Delete function To do this first click on the button in the toolbar like the one illustrated and then on the element you want to delete Try it out now Then you can redraw the deleted element But you can also retrieve the deleted element using the Undo function in the Edit menu By using this menu item you can undo any changes to the program fischertechnik i Delete ROBOPro Editing program element properties If you right click on a program element in the program 2x window there will appear a dialog window in which Digital input Teen you can change the element s properties The Proper ciii cis Cab Cme C toy ties window for a Branch element is illustrated on the C2 f 6 OD M e kom cap C MBE right Cu Cie C CD C ME e Buttons 11 to 18 allow you to enter which of the p Interface Extension Interface s inputs is to be queried The inputs IF1 M C1D C4D correspond to counter inputs if you EE use them as digital inputs We will deal with the Pushbutton switch z inputs M1E M4E later m Swap 1 0 b
11. type Digital 5kOhm Switches mini pushbutton switches as well as phototransistors light sensors or Interface test Inputs Outputs Info Inputs E 0 Digital SkOhm Switch p 2 reed switches magnetic sensors can be connected to I2 Digital SkOhm Switch iy i EE i 10 Color sensor these digital inputs You can check the functioning of these inputs by con necting a mini sensor item number 37783 to the Interface e g to 11 use contacts 1 and 3 on the switch As soon as you press the button a check mark appears in the display of 11 If you have connected the switch the other way around contacts 1 and 2 the check mark will appear straight away and disappear when you press the button L Ultrasonic e The setting Digital 10V is used fort he infrared trail sensor e The setting Analog 10V can be used for the color sensor or to measure voltages between 0 and 10V such as the supply voltage of the battery pack The voltage is displayed in mV mil livolt e Analog 5kOhm is used for the NTC resistor to measure temperatures and for the photoresis tor to measure light Here the reading is displayed Ohm Q electrical resistance e The setting Distance is used for the ultrasound distance sensor for the ROBO TX Controller only the version TX of the distance sensor with 3 pin connection cable item number 133009 can be used fischertechnik ROBOPro Counter inputs C1 C4
12. Motor ele ment Insert it into the program as you did with the previous two elements this time under the Branch element It is best to place the M Se element in such a way that that it is automatically connected to the element above fischertechnik ROBOPro The Motor element allows you to switch on or off either a motor or a lamp or an electromagnet Again you open the Properties motor output ES window for the Motor element by right clicking on the element A 2 a amp j C M3 C Solenoid valve e You can choose which of the Interface s outputs to control e ma Electromagnet by means of buttons M1 to M4 eee e IF1 z Action e Under Image you can choose an image to represent the fischertechnik component connected to the output pa f Stop fe 2 cw OK Cancel e We will deal with the selection Interface Extension when we get to Chapter 77 Controlling several Interfaces on page 56 e Under Action you can select how the output is to be affected You can start a motor with direction left counterclockwise or right clockwise or stop it You can switch a lamp on or off e Under Speed Intensity you can set the speed at which a motor is to operate or how brightly a lamp should glow Possible values are 1 to 8 For our flow chart we need the command Motor M1 left with speed 8 3 4 Linking program elements Now that you know how to insert elements into a control program we
13. ROBOPro 1 Introduction controlling fischertechnik models with ROBO Pro You must have asked yourself at some time how it works when robots carry out their allotted tasks as if controlled by an invisible hand But it s not just with actual robots but in many other fields as well that we encounter control and automation technology Including fischertechnik By the next chapter but one we will be designing a little control program for an automatic garage door together and in doing so we ll learn how control problems like this can be solved and tested with the help of ROBO Pro software for Windows ROBO Pro is also very simple to operate Control programs or more precisely flow charts and later data flow charts as we shall learn can be created on the graphical user interface almost exclusively using the mouse In order to be able to control your fischertechnik models through your PC you will need as well as the ROBO Pro control software an Interface to connect the computer with the model It transforms the software commands so that for example motors can be controlled and sensor signals can be processed The ROBO TX Controller item number 500995 the earlier ROBO Interface item number 93293 and the Intelligent Interface item number 30402 are available from fischertechnik You can use any of these Interfaces with ROBO Pro But ROBO Pro only supports the online mode of the Intelligent Interface ROBO Pro no longer supports the very early
14. age TFT flat screens provide a flicker free image at any refresh rate so that the refresh rate is not critical with TFT flat screens fischertechnik ROBOPro Microsoft Windows Version Windows XP or Vista A free USB interface to connect the ROBO TX Controller To connect the ROBO Interface you need a free USB interface or a free RS232 interface COM1 to COM4 First of all of course you must start the computer and wait until the operating system Windows has finished loading The ROBO Interface should only be connected to the computer after suc cessful installation Insert the installation CD into the CD ROM drive The installation program on the CD will then be started automatically In the first Welcome window of the installation program you push the Next button The second window Important Notes contains important up to date notes about installing the program or about the program itself Here too you click on the Next button The third window License Agreement displays the ROBO Pro licensing contract You must click Yes to accept the agreement before you can proceed to the next window with Next In the next window User Details please enter your name The next window Installation Type allows you to choose between Express Installation and Customized Installation With customized installation you can choose to leave out in dividual components of the installation If you are installing a new version of ROBO Pro over an
15. ctly You can find this out by checking in the Device Manager in the Windows Control Panel whether the entry fischertechnik USB ROBO TX Controller appears under connections COM and LPT and functions properly Should this entry not appear install the USB driver again If an error appears uninstall the driver click on the respective entry with your right mouse but ton and install it once again e s there a conflict with another device driver on the same port e g a modem This driver may need to be deactivated see Windows or device handbooks e _ If you still can t establish a connection to the Interface then probably either the Interface or the connection cable is faulty In this case you should consult fischertechnik Service Ad dress see menu Information about 2 4 Is everything working the Interface test Once the connection has been correctly set up you can use the Interface test to test the ROBO TX Controller and the models connected to it The test window displays the various inputs and outputs of the Controller e Universal inputs 11 18 l1 I8 are the universal inputs of the ROBO TX Controller This is where different types of sensors can be connected There are digital and analog sensors You set the universal inputs depending on the type of sensor you would like to connect e Digital sensors can only assume the states 0 and 1 or Yes and No By default both universal inputs are set to the input
16. ed on by operating the switch on 11 and switched off again by operating 12 This is how the garage door is opened Now the Time delay program element has a red border for 10 seconds that is the delay time we set Then the motor is switched on to turning the other direction until the switch on I3 is operated You should also try changing the delay time 3 6 2 Wait for input Alongside the Time delay element there are another two elements that wait for something before allowing the program to proceed The Wait for Input element depicted left waits until one of the Interface s inputs is in a particular state of has changed in a particular way There are 5 variants of this element Input 1 Change 0 1 Change 1 0 Any change closed open to closed to 1 0 or 0 1 closed open A combination of Branch elements could be used instead but the Wait for Input element makes things simpler and easier to understand 3 6 3 Pulse counter Many fischertechnik model robots also use pulse wheels These gear Ac g wheels operate a switch four times for every revolution With these pulse wheels you can turn a motor on for a precisely defined number of revolutions rather than for a given time To do this you need to count the number of pulses at an input of the Interface For this pur pose there is the Pulse counter element depicted left which waits for a user definable number of pulses In the case of this element too you can set wh
17. est33 Operator rpp z m es lest34 Array rpp m Test04 WartenN rpp ro Test35 MessageQueue in Sub rpp m TestOS Eindus an Motor rpp HE Tact 36 Motor rpp Test06 Zahischleife rpp aia eg lest37 Motor rpp Test07 Motor direction rpp ror Test38 Adder rpp My Recent Documents Desktop io My Documents Fr My Computer gt File name ft est00 Motor start stop rpp 7 hh Weta Files of type ROBO Pro program 1pp Cancel Places I Open as read only Open the file Level3 Motor start stop rpp Sieja Sisiaialsie Eea m Parra el a TH Como aria derar np mE Program elements Program window Here you can see what a simple ROBO Pro program looks like In programming control program flow charts are created in the program window using program elements from the element window The finished flow charts can then be checked before being tested using a connected fischertechnik Interface But not too fast we shall learn programming step by step in the following chapters Having thus gained your first impression of the user interface you close the program file using the fischertechnik x a Open GB ROBOPro Close command in the File menu You can answer No to the question of whether you want to save the file EJ fischertechnik x ROBOPro 2 A quick hardware test before programming Clearly the Interface must be connected to the PC for us to be able to test the pro
18. ether any alterations or only 0 1 or only 1 0 fischertechnik 0 Start Pause ID Step L BEA Download ROBOPro changes are regarded as pulses With pulse wheels one normally waits for changes in either direction so that a resolution of 8 steps per revolution is obtained with 4 gear teeth 3 6 4 Counter loop With the Counter Loop element you can very easily have a specific part of the program executed several times The program illustrated for example turns a lamp on M1 on and off again 10 times The Counter Loop element has a built in counter If the counter loop is entered via the 1 entry the counter is set to 1 If the counter loop is entered via the 1 entry 1 is added to the counter According to whether the counter is greater than a value you have prescribed the counter loop branches to the Yes Y or No N exit So the Yes exit is used when the loop has been traversed as many times as you specified in the counter value If further passes through the loop are needed on the other hand the counter loop branches to the No exit As in the case of the Branch element you can also swap the Yes and No exits through the property window 3 7 Online and download operation what s the difference So far we have tested our control programs in what is called online operation In this way you were able to follow the progress of the program on the screen because the currently active ele ment was marked i
19. grams we will later create But depending on the Interface used ROBO TX Controller or ROBO Interface appropriate interface connection settings must also be made and tested We sill do this in the coming chapter 2 1 Connecting the Interface to the PC This should not be a great problem The connecting cable supplied with the Interface is connected to the Interface and to a port on the PC e With the ROBO TX Controller a USB port can be used e With the ROBO Interface item number 93293 either a USB port or one of the serial ports COM1 to COM4 can be used The connections for these ports are normally found on the back of the computer The exact place ment of the various connections is described precisely in the user manual of your PC please look it up there USB connections are also often found on the front of a PC Don t forget to give the Interface a power supply mains unit or battery The individual connections of the Interface are described in detail in the user manual of the respective equipment 2 2 Getting the right connection Interface settings For the connection between the Interface and the PC to function correctly ROBO Pro must be configured for the Interface currently in use To do this start ROBO Pro using the ROBO Pro entry on the Start menu under Programs or All programs and ROBO Pro Then push the COM USB on the toolbar The following window will appear a Interface Port Interface f ROBO TX Controller f
20. ing a frame around the elements while holding down the left mouse button To do this you have to left click in an empty zone keep the button pressed and use the mouse to draw a rectangle containing the desired elements The elements in the rectangle are now displayed with a red border If you now move one of the red elements with the left mouse button all the red elements are moved You can also mark individual elements red by left clicking on them while holding down the shift key i e the upper lower case key If you left click in an empty zone all the red marked elements will be dis played normally again Copying program elements and groups Copying program elements and groups can be done in two ways You can proceed exactly as for moving except that you press the CTRL key on the keyboard before moving the elements In this way the elements are not moved but copied However with this function you can only copy ele ments within a program If you want to copy elements from one program to another you can use the Windows clipboard First select some elements as described in the previous section in the case of moving elements If you now hit CTRL C on the keyboard or click on Copy on the Edit menu all the selected elements will be copied onto the Windows clipboard Now you can change over to another program and re insert the elements there with CTRL V or Edit Paste Once elements are copied you can also paste them in several times If you want
21. m 3 1 Creating a new program The ROBO Pro software gives us a great tool to design these control programs and to test them with the aid of a connected Interface Don t worry we re not about to program the robot straight away We shall content ourselves initially with simple control tasks To do this we must create a new program In the toolbar you will find the entry New If you left click on it with your mouse a new empty program is created Now you see a large white drawing surface in which you will enter your first program If you see two stacked windows in the left margin please switch to Level 1 Beginners in the Level menu fischertechnik New ROBOPro 3 2 The elements of a control program Now we can set about creating our first control program We shall do this on the basis of a concrete example Functional description pressed No Imagine a garage door that can be opened automatically Maybe you ve even got one at home You arrive at the garage in your car and with the push of a button on the transmitter the door driven by a motor is opened The motor must keep running until the garage door is completely opened Words are a rather cumbersome and not very graphic way to describe a control program So what we call flow charts are used to represent the sequence of actions to be performed and the conditions that need to be fulfilled for these actions In the case of our control system the c
22. n red on the screen You use online operation to understand programs or to look for errors in programs In online operation you can also stop the program and continue it again by pressing the Pause button This is very practical if you want to investigate something about your model without stop ping the program altogether Also if you are trying to understand the way a program runs the Pause function can be very helpful With the Step button you can execute the program in individual steps element by element Every time you press the Step button the program goes to the next program element If you execute a Time Delay or Wait for element it can of course take a while for the program to get to the next element For your ROBO TX Controller you can also use download operation instead of online operation In online operation programs are executed by your computer In this mode it sends control com mands such as switch on motor to the Interface For this the Interface needs to be connected to the computer for as long as the program is running On the other hand in download operation the program is executed by the Interface itself Your computer stores the program in the ROBO TX Controller As soon as this has been done the connection between the computer and the Interface can be broken Now the Interface can execute the control program independently of the computer Download operation is important for example in programming mobile robots fo
23. nected As long as the switch on input 11 has not been pressed the program should go back and query the switch again To draw this line click with the mouse successively on the places shown in the diagram below fischertechnik ROBOPro Hint It a line should ever not correctly joined to a connection or another line this will be indi cated by a green rectangle at the point of the arrow In this case you have to create the connection by shifting the line or by deleting it and drawing it again Otherwise the program flow will not work at this point Deleting program flow lines Deleting lines works exactly like deleting program elements Simply left click on the line so that it gets marked in red Now click on the delete Del key on the keyboard to delete the line You can also select several lines if you hold down the shift key that s the key for shifting between upper and lower case and then left click on the lines in succession Apart from this you can also mark several lines by drawing a frame around them Now you can delete all the red marked lines at once by pressing the Del key 3 5 Testing your first control program To test our first control program you should build a little model To do this it is enough to connect a switch to 11 and to I2 on the Interface as well as a motor to M1 Note Connecting the Interface to the PC and establishing Interface settings has already been covered in the previous chapter which
24. ondition for the action switching on motor is that the button be pressed It is easy to read one of these flow charts just follow the arrows step by step These show exactly how the control system works the individual steps can only be carried out in the order given by the arrows never in any other way Otherwise it wouldn t be worth going to all the trouble would it Door open P No Q End Using our ROBO Pro software we can now draw precisely this flow chart and in so doing create the control program for the connected hardware Interface motors switches etc The software does the rest which as it happens is just the way it is with large industrial applications too So we can concentrate fully on the creation of the flow chart You put the flow chart together from program elements Another new concept Don t worry In ROBO Pro the individual elements that are put together to form a flow chart are called program elements The action switch on motor means just that the Interface should actually switch on the motor that is connected to it You will find the available program elements in the element window on the left hand side 48e Pate wo Ex 3 3 Inserting moving and modifying program elements o Now it s a matter of creating a flow chart for our garage door control system from the program elements contained in the element window All available program elements can be fetched from the elemen
25. orrectly set up and the PC was unable to establish a connection to the Interface In this case the bar will appear red To be able to change the Interface or connection settings you must close the Test window with the X in the upper right and select another port or another Interface type as previously described via the COM USB button in the toolbar If you have been able to set up the connection between PC and Interface as described and the green bar appears you will be relieved to know you can skip the next section If not perhaps the tips in the next section can help you out 2 3 Wrong connection no connection to the Interface If you get the message Stopped with your interface despite having correctly set the port see above you should check the following points For this purpose you may need to get advice from a computer expert e Power supply Does the Interface have an appropriate power supply If you are using disposable or re chargeable batteries as power supply the possibility arises that these are flat and no longer fischertechnik ROBOPro supply sufficient voltage If the battery voltage falls below 6 V the ROBO TX Controller s processor may stop working In this case the display will stop showing any information If the voltage is too low you must replace or where appropriate recharge the batteries or if pos sible test the Interface with a mains power supply e Has the USB driver been installed corre
26. parallel Interface item number 30520 A few words about the layout of this manual It is divided into two parts The first part from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 describes the basic procedure for programming with ROBO Pro This gives you a lot of information and background knowledge about programming in general and about how to use the ROBO Pro software The second part consists of Chapters 5 to 7 and gives an introduction to the functions needed for more advanced programs Chapters 8 onwards are more for reference So when you re familiar with the operation of ROBO Pro after reading the first part and you need very specific information here is where you will find comprehensive explanations of the individual program elements If you are already familiar with ROBO Pro and only want to find out what new features were added with the ROBO TX Controller you should read only chapters 11 through 13 of the ma nual So let s go You must already be itching to know what possibilities ROBO Pro gives you for pro gramming your fischertechnik models Have fun 1 1 Installation of ROBO Pro System requirements for installing ROBO Pro are e an IBM compatible PC with Pentium II processor with a clock speed of at least 500 MHz 64 MB RAM and ca 40 MB free disk space on the hard drive e a monitor and a graphics card with a resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels With CRT moni tors the refresh rate should be at least 85 Hz to maintain a flicker free im
27. r face you can transfer the garage door control system to eae the interface by means of the Download button First the pa germnna dialog window on the left is displayed The ROBO Inter face has several program storage areas a RAM Random Access Memory area and two Flash memory Stall program areas A program in RAM is lost as soon as you discon Start program after download nect the Interface from the power supply or the battery S at amp Program using Button on Interface pack is discharged A program stored in Flash memory OK Cancel on the other hand will remain stored in the Interface pees Bena even without power for years Of course you can never theless overwrite programs in Flash memory at any time Download to RAM however is distinctly faster and is therefore recommended for testing purposes a Download f Flash retained through power down You can store multiple programs for example multiple behavior modes for a mobile robot in the Flash memory You can select start and stop the multiple programs by using the display and the selection keys of the ROBO TX Controller If the Start program after download option is active the program is started immediately after download To stop the program you press the left selec tion key on the TX Controller fischertechnik L Iho Download ROBOPro For mobile robots the option Start program with key on Interface makes more sense This is because
28. r which a connect ing cable between PC and robot would be very cumbersome Even so control programs should initially be tested in online operation as possible errors are more easily found here Once fully fischertechnik x ROBOPro tested the program can be downloaded onto the ROBO TX Controller The problematic USB cable can be replaced by a Bluetooth connection In that way the model has unrestricted mobility even in online operation see manual ROBO TX Controller But online operation also has advantages compared with download operation In comparison with the Interface a computer has much more working memory and can calculate much faster This is an advantage with large programs Also during online operation a ROBO TX Controller and a ROBO Interface can be controlled simultaneously from a program An overview of the two modes of operation Advantage Disadvantage Online Program execution can be followed on screen Computer and Interface must Execution even of large programs is very fast remain connected Simultaneous control of a ROBO TX Controller and a ROBO Interface possible The earlier Intelligent Interface is supported Panels can be used The program can be stopped and continued Download Computer and Interface can be separated after The earlier Intelligent Interface download is not supported Program execution cannot be followed on screen Using download mode If you have the ROBO TX Controller or the ROBO Inte
29. ranches The additional inputs C1D C4D and M1E M4E Leave 1 0 branches as they are are covered in the reference section in 8 1 3 5weP 1 0 branches Digital Branch on page 61 ok cancel e The selection Interface Extension is not explained until Chapter 7 Controlling several In terfaces on page 56 e Under Sensor type you can select the sensor connected to the input Digital inputs are mostly used with push button sensors but often also with phototransistors or reed contact switches Selecting the sensor automatically sets the required input type for the universal in puts 11 18 of the ROBO TX Controller e Under Interchange 1 0 connections you can interchange the positions of the 1 and 0 exits of the Branch element Normally the 1 exit is below and the 0 exit is on the right But some times it s more practical to have the 1 exit on the right Press on Interchange 1 0 connections and the 1 and 0 connections will be changed over as soon as you close the window with OK Hint If you connect a mini sensor as a closer using connections 1 and 3 of the switch the program branches to the 1 branch if the switch is depressed and otherwise to the 0 branch If you connect a mini sensor as an opener using connections 1 and 2 of the switch the program branches to the 1 branch if the switch is depressed and otherwise to the 0 branch The next element in our garage door control system is a
30. s of the R L Extension modules The ROBO TX Controller connected to the PC via the USB port master can take up to 8 additional ROBO TX Controller as extensions See manual ROBO TX Controller These but tons allow you to select which of the connected devices you would like to access with the test window fischertechnik ROBOPro 3 Level 1 Your first control program After testing the hardware that is the Interface and the switches and motors connected to it in Chapter 1 we ll now get down to programming But what does programming actually mean Well just imagine that for example a robot is connected to our Interface But this robot is so stupid that it can t do anything on its own Luckily we re a bit smarter than that We can tell the robot exactly what to do How Well what happened in the last chapter when we used the mouse button to set the motor output M1 on left Right we switched the motor on If for example this motor were to drive the gripping claw of our robot we would have done nothing else than to say to the robot Grip the object But now we don t want to initiate every step by hand rather the robot should do this automatically To achieve this we must store the individual steps to be carried out so that the robot can work through them one after another i e we must create a program which will control the robot on our behalf Logically enough the technical term for this is a control progra
31. t the hardware vendor for software that has passed Windows Logo testing Continue prs STOP Installation fischertechnik ROBOPro Finally the following message will appear Found New Hardware Wizard Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard The wizard has finished installing the software for fischertechnik USB ROBO TX Controller Click Finish to close the wizard Back ance Press Finish to complete USB driver installation 1 3 First Steps Curious Then simply start the program ROBO Pro To do this you click on the Start button on the task bar and then select Programs or All programs and ROBO Pro In this folder of the Start menu you will find the following entries k Help eee ROBOPra Uninstall fischertechnik GB The USB driver is still being tested by Microsoft Once testing is completed the driver will be ap proved by Microsoft so that this notice no longer appears In order to install the driver press Proceed with installation KOl Rosor The Uninstall entry allows you to uninstall ROBO Pro The Help entry opens the ROBO Pro Help file and the ROBO Pro entry opens the ROBO Pro program Now select the entry ROBO Pro to launch the program The window has a menu bar and toolbar with various operating buttons above as well as a window on the left hand side with program elements If you see two stacked windows in the left margin ROBO Pro is not set on Level 1 To allow
32. t window and inserted in the program window Inserting program elements You move the mouse onto the symbol for the desired program element and left click on it once Then you move the mouse into the program window that s the large white area and click once again You can also drag the program element into the Program window while holding down the mouse button A program always begins with a Start element The Start element is the rounded element with the little green GO man It would be best to try this out straight away with this program element Left click once on the Start element in the element window move the mouse up into the program window and once there left click once more fischertechnik ROBOPro The next element in the program flow chart queries an input and then branches to one path or another depending on its state In the element window click on the element depicted right and then move the mouse below the previously inserted Start element If the upper input of the Branch element is one or two grid points below the exit of the Start element a connecting line will appear in the program window If you left click again the Branch element is inserted and automatically con nected with the Start element Moving program elements and groups A program element can be moved to the desired position after insertion while holding down the left mouse button If you want to move several elements as a group you can start by draw
33. the program will not be started Note You will find a full explanation of this mode of operation and of Download Operation in Section 3 7 on page 24 fischertechnik x ROBOPro The first Branch element will be marked in red This shows that the program is waiting at this element for an event namely the pressing of the button on 11 which is supposed to open the garage door As long as the switch on input 11 has not been pressed the program takes the No N alternative of the branch and goes from there back to the beginning of the branch again Now press the switch connected to input 11 of the Interface This fulfils the condition for proceeding and the motor is switched on In the next step the program waits for the end switch on input I2 to be pressed As soon as you operate the end switch on 12 the program branches to the second Motor element and switches the motor off again Finally the program arrives at the program end A mes sage will appear saying that the program has been terminated Did everything work Congratulations That means you ve created and tested your first control program If it doesn t work properly don t give up just check through everything carefully again there must be a mistake hidden in there somewhere Every programmer makes mistakes and making mistakes is the best way to learn So keep your chin up 3 6 Other program elements If you have tried your first control program on a real model
34. y a user with PC systems administrator privileges Should the installation program advise you that you are not permitted to install the USB driver you must either ask your system administrator to install your driver or install ROBO Pro without this driver fischertechnik zooo hea In order to install the USB driver you must first connect the ROBO TX Controller or the ROBO Interface with a USB cable to your computer and supply it with power Windows recognizes auto matically that the Interface is connected and displays the following window Found New Hardware Wizard Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard This wizard helps you install software for fischertechnik USB ROBO Tx Controller If your hardware came with an installation CD lt or floppy disk insert it now What do you want the wizard to do Install the software automatically Recommended Click Next to continue Back Cancel Depending on the operating system the appearance of the window can be somewhat differ ent from the illustration above Here you must select Install software from a list or specific source and press Next fischertechnik x ROBOPro In the next window you deactivate Search removable media and activate Also search following sources Then you click Search and select the sub directory USB Driver Installation in the directory in which ROBO Pro is installed the standard directory is C Program Files ROBOPro
35. you can refer back to for details Before testing the program you should save the program file on the hard drive of your computer Click on the command Save as on the File menu The following dialog window will then appear fischertechnik Under Save in choose the direc tory in which you want to save the file Under Filename enter a name not yet in use e g GARAGE DOOR and confirm by left clicking on Save To test the program O push the start button shown left in the zooo hea Save as d 21x Save in lo Sample Programs gt E F fae Pe A My Recent Documents Desktop My Documents PE My Computer a My Network File name unnamed x Net d seve Save as type pp files 1pp Cancel A Robo Mobile Set 6 Test00 Motor start stop rpp ob TestO1 Motor start stop loop rpp Test02 Switch Motor on off rpp Start toolbar First ROBO Pro will test whether all the program elements are properly con nected Should an element not be correctly connected or something else not be in order it is marked in red and an error message is displayed describing what is not right If for example you have forgotten to connect the No N exit of a program branch it will look like this Progamenon G The N program flow output of the branch is not connected If you have received an error message you must first of all correct the reported error If you do not
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