Movin' and Making Turns

A lot was accomplished in the past week in robotics class. We completed two labs which is a lot especially considering it was a short week. The labs we completed were measured turns and right face. In measured turns, I learned how to get the robot to turn the number of degrees that i want it to. This is done by setting up a ratio using the circumference of the circle and the circumference of the wheel. This is useful if you want the robot to turn a specific direction and be very precise. In right face, we learned the difference between a swing turn and a point turn. In a swing turn, only one wheel spins while the other stops. In a swing turn, one wheel goes forward and the other goes backwards, resulting in a much quicker turn. For homework, I read chapter 4 of the lego programming guide. This chapter was all about the move block. The move block is a useful block that can save you a lot of time. In this block, you can control more than one motor at a time and also the power to each motor. This makes turning while moving forward much easier. This block is not so good for doing swing turns though. It is just as easy to add the two motor blocks and program them accordingly. For the next challenge, Circuit race, I hope to use my knowledge of turning and forward blocks to get my robot to complete the circuit.