[DavisC]

I learned the programming for the robot by starting on labview (3 yrs ago, 8th grade) and then took the school's programming class (2 yrs ago and has basically only seniors) and then explored plenty more on my own.

The school's class (taught by the AP Calc teacher who know a tad of programming) starts using Microsoft Studios like 2006 or something (C++). Then the second half of the semester class, he gets students doing some projects with Just BASIC which uses BASIC instead of C++.

Now this past year I have become quite profficient with programming and I needed to teach someone else. One of the things I've started was Video tutorials cause our mentor (AP Physics teacher) had started doing that and really likes it. But the person I was teaching had never done programming before and I didn't have time to go through the whole Microsoft Studios 2006 thing. So instead I took him straight into Just BASIC to teach him the ideas of integers and mathematical operation and for loops and while loops. Then took him to the WindRiver compiler to relate it to the robotics code.

Now that I have done more projects with the Arduino, I might start with that instead but I'm not sure. Also I helped teach a few sessions of the C++ programming class and got them to work on a project to try and make the robot autonomously go around the room without sensors.. Almost made it, but we did make enough dents in the walls.

BTW that robot was ~1 ft wide by 2 ft and the frame consisted of a sheet plastic cutting board. It was a double decker and had banebot motors for the drive.