Multi-bot programming language accepting beta testers

If you have what it takes to spend countless hours tinkering with small robots, coding in a brand new language, and filing a stream of bug reports, then the National Robotics Engineering Center wants you to beta test its new multi-plaform bot programming software. Tasked by the educational outreach department at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Academy with developing a commercial application capable of controlling the most popular kits on the market, the team came up with a language called RobotC, which can be used to write scripts for both the NXT and RCX varieties of Lego Mindstorms bots as well as that Vex Robotics kit we featured in our Holiday Gift Guide. As part of the beta testing program, you'll get a free copy of the software to play with in exchange for your promise to participate in the Bug Tracking system -- which probably isn't much of a burden for those hardcore enthusiasts who spend all day living, breathing, and blogging this stuff anyway.

[Guruboy @ Jun 19th 2006 3:36PM]

that's actually really cool. I work with both Vex and Mindstorms for FIRST Robotics so this could make the whole programming process much easier.

[Ptr @ Jun 19th 2006 3:58PM]

Hey, Guruboy what school you from? Because I'm from Brooklyn Tech (yeah, FRC, Team 334!!) and we're thing of using this program for Vex and FLL as well.

[Mike @ Jun 19th 2006 4:07PM]

How is this diferent than NQC except that it's multi-platform.

[blackfeather @ Jun 19th 2006 4:16PM]

It all seems so innocent, doesn't it? First we're letting all the toy robots communicate with a common language... And then what? Pretty soon your legos are self-assembling themselves and rising up against you!

[Timothy Friez @ Jun 19th 2006 4:27PM]

Hi there. I'm actually the person who submitted this story and I'm glad you asked about the difference between NQC. This site has only been live for a week, so we've been working on trying to get all of our documentation uploaded. Here's a PDF that might answer some of your questions. It's geared mostly towards the NXT, but alot of the features are apart of RCX and Vex support as everything is based of the same VM-type firmware.

http://www-education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/robotc/introduction/start/robotCadvantages.pdf

If any of you have more questions or requests, we'd love to hear from you on our own message board, but I'll be checking in here to try and answer some things.

http://www-old.rec.ri.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/robot_c_bb/YaBB.pl

[ultimus @ Jun 19th 2006 4:44PM]

i prefer handyboard. 8 servos, 4 dc motors, 12+ analog inputs, 12+ digital inputs, expandable memory. although interactive C is not as robust as C++, but sure makes programming easier but not retarded.

the motorola 8mhz is getting older, the new will be better. can't wait.

[Guruboy @ Jun 19th 2006 9:17PM]

Ptr, I'm from Souhegan High School in Amherst, New Hampshire FIRST Team 138. We're definitely looking into using this program for both Vex and FLL as well. Nice to meet another FIRST enthusiast.

[Faran @ Jan 1st 2007 10:49PM]

Hi everyone,
How do they give you the copy of robot c? Do you have to give them your address or something? If anyone know's please tell me. You can send me an email at [e-mail]