[OCCRA]: VEX Robots

[marccenter]

Dear Sam,

I played with the VEX system some last year in order to help my
son prepare for a LTU competition called Robofest. We worked
on getting the robot to line follow.

There are some simple gotchas that I found when working with
my son. 1) The use of the == vs = statement.
2) The use of Easy C ver 1.0 seemed cumbersome for basic copying
pasting without upgrading to Easy C version 2.

3) We used the "pure" Easy C program and not the
FIRST version of Easy C. Since this was not a FIRST
event and ran at the same time as the FIRST FVC,
I didn't attempt to try to use that package and possible mix
myself up with too many variables.

4) I am excited about the possibilities that programming the VEX
robot for autonomous operation presents to students, especially
since this is one of the critical skills that I have developed over
the years at General Motors. Presently, I am using a graphical
based programming language, Mathworks product Matlab/Simulink,
at work on the GM Hybrid program. This product get's adventually
autocoded into the "C" programming language. I think you will
find "EASY-C" quickly being replaced by something Simulink.
Simulink looks alot like the National Semiconductor product
LABView that has been demonstrated to the FIRST community.

[DonRotolo]

Programming a vex bot is a greta way to learn how to program an FRC bot. they are very similar, and the entireprocess is kinda the same. Also, the vex bot is easier to deal with - small, light, not that dangerous.

Anyone who wants to learn about programming, even non-FRC - should consider it.

Don