Light Writing

This one-week assignment is intended to introduce you to the ‘Small Robot’ and some of the workflow involved in running it. You will use RobotStudio and the SC4plus controller to build, and then load and run your program. Ultimately you will create a long exposure photograph of the robot in motion with an LED (or other light source) attached to the tip of the pointer tool provided on the robot.

Assignment Due

Tuesday March 27, 4:30pm. We will go over the assignment in class that day.

Steps

1). Following the Robot Studio tutorial you will create a Rapid program which moves the robot through a series of points (the complexity and movement are up to you). Please use the provided pointer tool which is included in the RobotStudio station and will hold an LED at it’s tip for light writing.

2). Edit your Rapid code to include ‘Set Digital Out’ (SetDO) commands for pin d01 to turn the LED on and off (SetDO do1, 1; turns the LED on, SetDO do1, 0; turns the LED off). Remember to connect the correct resistor to match the 12V power source provided on the pins. Alternatively you can attach a different light source to the end of the pointer tool and turn it on/off manually.

3). After carefully testing your program and ensuring there are no run errors (e.g. joint out of range) or collisions, save your program to either a USB drive or the hard drive of the computer following the Controller instructions. These instructions also teach you how to load and run the program.

4). Set up a long exposure photograph of the robot light writing. If you need help with setting up the camera (renting/using) please ask your classmates first and then ask the instructors.

5). Create a post on this blog using your provided username and password and check the ‘Assignment 01’ category box. We will go over this in class on Friday (1/20). Your post should include a brief description of the work, any problems that you encountered, and the image of your long exposure shot (you may post more than one).