Programming Seminar @ 2007 NOVI Kickoff

[Jim Zondag]

All you Michigan Programmers, If you are planning on going to the 2007 Novi Kickoff, I am taking requests for Topics in my "C programming for Robots" seminar.
Possible topics include " CMU_CAM, PID controls, Autonomous Scripting, Simulation in MPLAB, Using a Gyroscope, Waypoint Navigation, Labview Dashboard," or anything else you would like to know. I will be working on this over Christmas and as always I would like to tailor my presentation towards what you want to know.
I usually do a general overview of the Development environment and C syntax for all the newcomers and then do something more in depth on a single topic. Let me know if you have anything you would like to learn about.

[Astronouth7303]

You should cover basic Eclipse development. (I can supply some basic resources if you need help.)

Also, I would be interested in how one does simulation in MPLAB. I've briefly looked into it, and frankly it sounds easier to use a breadboard and other controllers.

Care to describe how you plan on approaching the scripting discussion? Kevin's from 2005 is a good start, but can be a major memory hog due to the underlying data structures.

I've always wanted to do a kickoff workshop, since it seems like I know my stuff. But keeping the team together seemed to suck more time...[/offtopic]

(I think I may be at Novi due to family engagements, instead of at GR with the rest of my team.)

[Tom Bottiglieri]

I think the most effective topics will be interfacing various sensors (CMU, gyro, encoders), autonomous scripting, and the overall use of labview.

[Bruce Meyer]

We have a lot of interest in the CMU cam - not much sucess with it last year though. Seeing some in-depth usage in the 2nd half of your presentation would be great.

The gyro would be great too, if you've got more responses for that topic.

[DanDon]

Hey Jim, are you gonna have presentation notes available (posted online) after kickoff?

thanks,
/dan

[jimsmith2354]

As a mentor of an established team, with the posibility of no professional programmers this year, we will be looking at relying on the EasyC program. Does this program need any discusion, or will it be fairly easy, (for an old electrical engineer who has always found ways of critiquing programmers' mental stability) to use?

[smvb4]

Jim,
I started as a new programming mentor last year for Team #1. We ended up using easyC. The biggest hurdle was getting familiar with the drag-n-drop functions. Jim Zondag helped me thru some of the technical idiosyncrasies of the controller and the rest was in the easyC help function.
You do loose some freedom when programming in easyC but, you can get around it.
I would suggest installing the easyC license from last year (NOW) and go thru the instruction manuals (only 7 sessions).
It really is quick and easy.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a note (sv235@dcx.com)

In my previous career (19 years) I wrote software for manufacturing controls, robotic assembly and vision systems. Now I just break stuff and figure out how to fix it.