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Programming Movement

SensorBot

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  • Wire Motors

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Let's Wire our Motors

  • The motors plug in to the 4 (black) sockets at the front of the PCB.

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  • Plug the black wire from one motor into the inside socket.

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  • The red motor connects to the outside socket.

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  • Repeat for both motors.
  • NOTICE: Red wires ore on outside ports

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Video

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Check your work

  • Make sure the black wires of your motors are on the inside ports.

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  • We might have to change this when we start programming.

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  • Attach Bluetooth Chip

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Connect Bluetooth Chip

  • Identify the black sockets near the label that says “TinkR 123.”

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  • Insert the Bluetooth chip with the label on the chip facing the label on the PCB.

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Video

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  • TinkRcode

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How do we program our bot?

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TinkRcode

Bluetooth

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TinkRcode

  • TinkRcode is the block programming software that TinkRworks uses to program the microcontrollers.

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  • To start you need to log in.

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It’s Time to Code!

  • Open Google Chrome (web browser)

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  • Navigate to www.tinkrcode.com

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  • Click “Have a Code?”

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Project Sticker

  • Find your project code sticker on the Bluetooth chip

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  • You will see a set of 5 shapes and 5 numbers.

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Project Code – from your BLUETOOTH Chip

  • You can enter the Shapes or Numbers by selecting the circle next to the words.
    • If you make a mistake, click “Clear”

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  • Click Next

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Class Code

  • Enter your class code of either Fruit or Numbers.
    • If you make a mistake, click “Clear”

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  • Click Submit

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Make a New Program

Select “+ New Program”

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Program Name

  • Name your program.

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  • Click OK

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Open Your Program

Open your program.

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TinkRcode Anatomy

Workspace

Drawers

Trashcan

Zoom

Undo/Redo

Center

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Taskbar

See your programs saved in the cloud

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Save code to your device

Open code from your device

Connect project to device via Bluetooth

Download and run code on your project

Stop the code that is running on your project

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Connect to Bluetooth

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  • 1. Click Connect.

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  • 2. Choose the number that is on your Project Sticker and click Pair.

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  • 3. Green means connected!

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Program

TinkRcode uses drag-and-drop coding blocks.

This is your program.

Setup: In the setup section, program blocks placed here will run only once and will be run before the Loop section.

Loop: The program blocks placed here will run over and over (in order from top to bottom).

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TinkRcode Motor Blocks

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Click on “Motors” to find coding blocks for steering.

Select “DC Motors Setup” and drag it out of the drawer.

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Motor's setup

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Change the Speed and Direction Pin numbers for Motors A and B to match the digital pins where the motor wires connect to the Arduino board.

This block tells the Arduino which digital pins control each motor.

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Programming motors

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Motor A = Right motor

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Motor B = Left motor

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Programming motors

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Go ahead and program both motors to go forward to make sure that all your wires are hooked up correctly.

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Speed Range:

0 – 255

(Stop) (Full speed)

Note: Anything below 100 will not turn motor due to friction

Direction can be:

1 = Forward

0 = Backward.

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Connect to the Arduino on your robot

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Look at the Bluetooth chip on your robot and note the number.

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Connect to Bluetooth

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  • 1. Click Connect

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  • 2. Choose the number that is on your Project Sticker and click Pair.

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  • 3. Green means connected!

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Run your program on your robot

Click the Run button at the top of the TinkRcode window.

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To stop your program, click the Stop button at the top of the TinkRcode window.

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Is your bot going straight?

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Why might our robots not go straight?

  • One motor may be turning faster than the other, because the motors aren’t exactly the same.

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  • One wheel might be dragging on the frame.

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  • The caster wheel may be off-center.

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How do you fix it?

Check your bot carefully.

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  • Is there anything hitting a wheel?

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  • Anything dragging on the ground?

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  • Are the wheels on all the way?

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  • Are the motors secure?

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If those are all good, let’s look at programming solutions.

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What is Drift?

In the ideal world, setting both motors to the same speed would make the robot go straight.

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But this is the real world, and sometimes the robot drifts, or curves to one side or the other.

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In an ideal world, these should be the same.

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Compensate for drift

In the real world, we get drift�and we need to calibrate to offset it.

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To compensate for the drift, just adjust the motor speeds to something other than 255—this is calibration.

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Slow down whichever motor is turning faster.

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Setting aside blocks of code

Once you have found speeds that make your robot go straight you should save the block by moving it to the side of your program.

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The block of code is no longer part of the main program and will not run.

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Comment your code

Add a comment to the block of code indicating what it does.

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Writing descriptive comments is a key component of good programming!

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Pull this block out of the “Serial Print” drawer.

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  • Challenges

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3 Challenges

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Challenge #1: Backward Slow

Challenge Name

Backward Slow

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Challenge Objective

On a new Motors Speed block, experiment to find the numbers and directions that will make the robot go backwards slowly in a straight line.

Once it works, drag the block to the side and add a comment.

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Challenge Notes

What should your motor directions be?

What should your two motor speeds be?

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BACKWARD

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Challenge #2: Circle Left!

Challenge Name

Circle Left!

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Challenge Objective

Program your bot to move in a counter-clockwise circle.

Once it works, drag the block to the side and add a comment.

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Challenge Notes

What should your steering be set to?

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Challenge #3: Spin Right!

Challenge Name

Spin Right!

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Challenge Objective

Program your bot to spin clockwise in place.

Once it works, drag the block to the side and add a comment.

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Challenge Notes

What should your steering be set to?

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Keeping your workspace neat

Once you have a block of code working correctly, you can collapse it so that it doesn’t take up so much space.

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Right-click on the DC Motors block and choose “Collapse Block.”

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Your code will take up less space on the screen, leaving you more room to work.

You can undo this by right-clicking again and choosing “Expand Block.”

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Challenge #4: Additional Movements

See if you can develop each of these blocks of code:

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Comment and Save your Blocks for later use

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  • Solutions

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Challenge #1 Solution: Backward Slow

  • Motor speeds might be different to compensate for drift.

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  • Students should experiment with the lowest motor speeds that will allow the bot to keep moving.

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  • If the numbers are too low, the bot will make a noise, and will not move.

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  • Directions should be 0.

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Challenge #2 Solution: Circle Left!

Left motor should go slower than right.

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Challenge #3 Solution: Spin Right!

Right motor should go backward; left motor should go forward.

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Challenge #4: Additional Movements

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Challenge #4: Additional Movements

Right-click to collapse the blocks.

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TinkRworks, Inc.

501 W Lake Street, Suite 106

Elmhurst, IL 60126

www.TinkRworks.com

© TinkRworks, Inc. All rights reserved

Sparking CREATIVITY

Fostering INNOVATION

Sharpening PROBLEM-SOLVING skills

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