Quote:
|
Write an autonomous program that would read in data from virtual sensors and attempt to do a certain thing. The simulator (that is written by the organizers) would feed realistic sensor data to the program. The program would respond by sending signals to the motors.
|
Quote:
|
That is a great idea for motors being describing in an INI. Virtual models would be possible if someone can write a model loader in Visual Basic for DirectX 9.0.
|
Hrm... it seems like the project might be getting a bit complicated. I don't know, but is there necessarily a need for fancy graphics, or even to "describe" a motor? I guess it all comes down to what you want the competition to be ... and so I think you need to first say that, so everyone is on the same page. What sort of challenge is it? Are we competing against other "robots" to get somewhere first, or is it solo (either timed or otherwise scored)? Does everyone get the same virtual "robot", or can it be modified (if so, I'd remember to keep the focus on programming). I was under the impression it would suffice to model the robot as either a point or other simple geometric object, and that there wouldn't be a need to display it. Perhaps I'm wrong, but what is the compelling reason to have graphics and other complications? Not that I'm complaining: if you can get it all to work, that would be great ... but I'm just trying to think of how manageable it is to code the base quickly enough with less room for bugs so that the competition is more viable. (And not everyone necessarily has DirectX or even windows ... but that's something else to think about.)