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Programming 201:�Gyro Turns

Coach Series

LEGO® Education SPIKETM Prime Word Blocks

Disclaimer: This private training is provided by the North Texas Region and is not affiliated or operated by the LEGO® Group or by FIRST ®. The LEGO Group® and FIRST® are not responsible for any of its activities.

v. 3.2.4

v. 2.0.10

IN DEVELOPMENT

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Learning Objectives

  • Code a Gyro Turn and a GyroTurn My Block

Recommended Prerequisites:

Programming 101 – Introduction and Common Practices

Programming 101 – Basic Movement

Programming 201 – Line following, Variables and My Blocks

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • Start a new project.
    • Select Home icon.
    • Get Started with SPIKE™ Prime Window displays.
    • Select New Project icon.
    • New Project canvas displays.
  • In toolbar select three dots to rename the project.
  • Change “storage position” to avoid overwriting previous project.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • Copy and past the set movement word blocks from your previous project.
  • Programming canvas and connect above the “set movement motors to [brake] at stop” word block.
  • From the Sensor group select and drag the “set yaw angle to 0”
  • output word block to the From the Control group select the “wait for [1] second” word block. Set to 0.1 second.

The set yaw angle to 0 output word block resets the reading to zero. It is not a calibration function.

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Introduction: If blocks

  • If / Then blocks, ask the robot a question and do something different based on the answer.
  • If / Then ask if [something] is true, the do this.
  • If / Then / Else, ask if [something] is true, then do this, if it is false do that.

  • Examples: Does the color sensor see “black”? Is a value greater than?

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • From the Control group select and drag the “if, then, else” word block to the Programming canvas and connect to the “wait” word block.
  • From the Operators group select and drag the “> (greater than)” Boolean block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “if, then, else” word block.
  • Set the values to “90 > 0”.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • From the More Movement group select and drag the “start moving at [#] {#] % speed” word block to the Programming canvas and insert into the if branch of the “if, then, else” word block. Set to % speed to 20 and -20.
  • From the More Movement group select and drag the “start moving at [#] {#] % speed” word block to the Programming canvas and insert into the else branch of the “if, then, else” word block. Set to % speed to -20 and 20.

Alternative: Right click on the “start moving at [#] {#] % speed” word block and select Duplicate. Drag the word block into the “else” branch and release. Change the values as required.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • From the Control group select and drag the “wait until” word block to the Programming canvas and connect above the “if, then, else” word block.
  • From the Operators group select and drag the “or” Boolean block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “wait until” word block.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  1. From the Operators group select and drag the “[input] = (100)” Boolean block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “or” operator block position 1.
  2. From the Operators group select and drag the “[input] > (100)” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “or” operator block position 2.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  1. From the Operators group select and drag the “abs of [input]” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the�“= (equals)” operator block first input.
  2. From the Operators group select and drag the “abs of [input]” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the�“> (greater than)” operator block first input.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  1. From the Sensor group select and drag the “pitch angle” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “abs of [input]” in the “equal” operator block position 1. Change output to “yaw”.
  2. From the Sensor group select and drag the “pitch angle” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “abs of [input]” in the “greater than” operator block position 1. Change output to “yaw”.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  1. From the Operators group select and drag the “abs of [input]” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “= (equals)” operator block “=“ input. Set “of” value to 90.
  2. From the Operators group select and drag the “abs of [input] = (#)” reporter block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “> (greater than)” operator block “>“ input. Set “of” value to 90.

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Coding a Gyro Turn Program

  • From the Movement group select and drag the “stop moving” word block to the Programming canvas and connect to the “wait until” block to your program.

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Gyro Turn Breakdown

Resets gyro yaw to zero

“If” the greater than statement is true, “then”, if not “else”

Then: Turn robot to right (positive degrees, clockwise)”

Else: Turn robot to left (negative degrees, counter-clockwise)

Degrees to turn

abs = absolute value from zero

Read the yaw value from gyro

Set Degrees to turn

Equals

or

Greater than

Set Degrees to turn

wait until = absolute value of the yaw reading is equal to or greater than the set degrees to turn

Wait 1/10 of second for gyro to reset

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Looking at the Math for the Gyro Turn

If degrees are greater than zero (positive) start moving clockwise (right)

wait until the absolute value of the gyro yaw is equal or greater than the degrees set.

stop moving

If the current yaw reading is 89.6 then:

abs value of 89.6 is not equal to or greater than the abs value 90 = keep turning.

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If the current yaw reading is 90.1 then:

abs of 90.1 is equal to or greater than 90 = stop turning.

If degrees are less than zero (negative) start moving counterclockwise (left)

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Gyro Turn Drawbacks

Must enter degrees to turn in three places

Must enter % speed in four places remembering to reverse the positive and negative.

A My Block simplifies input and allows the use of gyro turns over and over without entering the code every time.

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Creating a My Block – GyroTurn

From the My Blocks group, select the “Make a Block” button. The Make a Block window displays.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

1. Enter a “block name”

Suggestion: GyroTurn

Tip: Do not click outside of the My Block dialog. This will close it without saving.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

2. Select “Add an input”

Adds: Input

3. Select “Add a label”

Adds: Label

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

4. Select the input area and enter “Degrees”

5. Select the label area and enter “Degrees”

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

7. Select “Add a label”

6. Select “Add an input”

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

8. Select the input area and enter “%”

9. Select the label area and enter “Speed”

10. Select “SAVE”

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

11. GyroTurn My Block is inserted in the Word Block list and on the Programming Canvas.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

13. Select the “set yaw angle to 0” and drag to the GyroTurn My Block and connect.

12. Select and drag the GyroTurn My Block to an open position on the Programming Canvas.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

14. Select “Degrees” from the GyroTurn My Block and drag to the “If loop” first input and both “asb of” inputs.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

15. Select “%” from the GyroTurn My Block and drag to the “if/then statement, start moving at” first input and the “if/eles statement start moving at” second input.

16. From the Operators group, select and drag the “multiply (*)” block to the Programming canvas and insert into the “if/then, start moving at” block second input position and the “if/eles, start moving at” block first input position.

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Creating a My Block - GyroTurn

18. In both “multiply (*)” blocks second position enter “-1”.

Note: This allow the speed to be entered once in the My Block input and converted to negative where needed to make the robot turn.

17 Select “%” from the GyroTurn My Block and drag to the “if/then, start moving at, multiply operator” and the “if/eles, start moving at, multiply operator” first inputs.

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Using the GyroTurn My Block

Select the “GyroTurn” My Block and drag to the programming canvas and connect. Enter the degrees and speed for the turn.

This example has the robot moving forward 30 cm, turning right, moving forward 30 cm, and turning left.

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Everything is awesome!

-Emmet Joseph Brickowski

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