ICT1.2 - First Robot Project

This repository is a minimal starter project for students building a robot application using separate classes for parts of its functionality. The basic idea is to give each class a single responsibility, for example detecting obstacles in front of the robot and determining their distance, or managing the speed of the robot. The idea is also to hide implementation details, such as what type of sensor is used for obstacle detection, in those separate classes. At the highest level in the program, we mostly see abstractions so we don't have to worry about the details.

What this project contains

• Minimal .NET project targeting net8.0.
• Main source file Program.cs and two classes in DriveSystem.cs and ObstacleDetectionSystem.cs.

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK (to match net8.0 target)
• Visual Studio Code (strongly recommended)
• Install the Avans-StatisticalRobot VS Code extension to connect to the robot

How to build

From the project root run:

dotnet build RobotProject.csproj

How to run

Use the VS Code extension to deploy to the robot. Make sure the proper robot is selected and press F5 to build and send to the robot.

Console output appears in the Debug Console in VS Code.

Notes and tips for students

• Make sure you connect to the robot before attempting hardware-specific code. Use the Avans-StatisticalRobot extension for VS Code.
• Draw a class diagram of the classes in this program to help with understanding the structure.

Improvements to try yourself

This code can certainly be improved:

• Put ObstacleDetectionSystem and DriveSystem in a List<IUpdatable> updatables. Then use a foreach loop to Update() each one in de event loop in Program.cs.
• Pass the ultrasonic sensor pin number as a parameter to the constructor of ObstacleDetectionSystem. This avoids hard coding this implementation detail in ObstacleDetectionSystem, making it more generic and reusable.
• Maybe DriveSystem should have a maximum forward speed limit that can be set using a method SetForwardSpeedLimit(double limit)? Then setting that limit to zero below a certain obstacle distance would automatically avoid any collisions. Give it a try.
• Maybe DriveSystem should have a target speed and an actual speed so that with each call to Update() the actual speed is adjusted a little towards the target speed. That would make speed changes much more gradual and elegant. Then you no longer set the actual immediate speed as done here. Instead you set the target speed, and DriveSystem takes care of achieving that target speed in small steps. Give it a try.

More information

• Avans Robot Library: https://github.com/AvansICT/ICT1.2-Avans_Robot_Library