Programming Guide for ROBOTIS DREAM with R+Block, R+Task and Python
(By C.N. Thai)
This book is available as an eBook and as a paperback.
The video tutorials can be accessed at this YouTube videos playlist.
The full Table of Contents is available here.
You can download excerpts from the book here.
​
To access the example codes, please email a proof of purchase to "roboteer@comcast.net" and please allow up to a 24-hour turn-around.
​
Please email me (roboteer@comcast.net) for any comment/suggestion that you may have and visit my Amazon Author Page for a complete list of my books.
​
This book was written to leverage special features of the Chromebook so that 3 Robotics Programming approaches could be presented to readers/users with different skill levels:
-
“Block Coding” with R+BLOCK for the youngest beginners. R+BLOCK accesses the robot’s actuators and sensors directly from the Chromebook at runtime.
-
“Menu-Guided Programming” with R+TASK for users with intermediate skills. R+TASK uses a Menu-driven IDE which lets the user choose various commands to interact with the robot’s actuators and sensors, via a compiled program which operates on the robot’s Controller CM-150/151 at runtime.
-
Standard Python Programming with THONNY IDE and Chromebook’s LINUX Virtual Environment for more advanced users who can develop and run Standard Python programs via a “helper” Python module named “CNT_Block.py”. This module contains Utility Functions that have a one-to-one match with the R+BLOCK commands that access the robot hardware. This feature is designed to help R+BLOCK programmers transition to Python usage. This Python module is designed to work with a companion TASK code (CNT_Block.tskx/tsk3) that works as an extension of the CM-150/151 Firmware.
​
This book has 4 chapters:
​
1) Chapter 1 presents an overview of the DREAM II hardware and software capabilities, and its relationship with the Chromebook environment. The Sense-Think-Act (STA) paradigm used in developing the contents of this book is also described in this chapter.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
2) Chapter 2 is written for beginners who want to learn Block Programming. It will guide the reader from R+BLOCK Programming Basics (Sequence, Function, Condition, Loop, Remote-Control and Autonomous-Behavior) to a Structured Approach for Project Analysis and Solution based on the STA Paradigm.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
3) Chapter 3 is written as an independent path for beginners who want to learn TASK Programming instead. It will also guide the reader from R+TASK Programming Basics (Sequence, Loop, Function, Condition, Remote-Control and Autonomous-Behavior) to a Structured Approach for Project Analysis and Solution based on the STA Paradigm.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
4) Chapter 4 starts as a guide for using the Module “CNT_Block.py” as a black-box to redevelop in Python the solutions to the same 8 projects demonstrated in Chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 4 ends with a “Look Under The Hood” for the inner processes between Module “CNT_Block.py” and its companion TASK code “CNT_Block.tskx/tsk3” to provide the reader with a more expansive “Robotics Programming” outlook beyond the Chromebook and DREAM systems.
