[Edu-sig] suggestion on using python robotics in class

[Brian Blais]

On Oct 3, 2007, at Oct 3:12:18 AM, kirby urner wrote:

> On 10/2/07, Matt K <matt.kameron at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The Tux things seems like a great idea too, and I think I'll grab  
>> one of
>> them. However, I still would very much like to do the RCX/NXT  
>> thing if at
>> all possible!
>>
>
> My advice (and I don't speak for anyone but me here):
>
> Trying to make Python work with a Lego brick is too esoteric
> to be worth your effort.

you certainly don't speak for everyone.  ;)

I have a very workable solution for both the RCX and the NXT, called  
pynqc (and pynxc) respectively, which you can find at

http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais/projects.html

if you email me privately, I can make sure that you have the most  
recent version, and help you out on install, etc...  It's still a  
little rough on that side, and I am working on making a google  
project for it too, which will be more convenient.

basically, what it does is translate python code to nqc (not quite C,  
found here: http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nqc/), and then lets that  
do the translation and download to the robot.  The same for nxc,  
which works on the Mindstorms NXT.  This one is under serious  
debugging now, being run for my class that I teach right now, but I'd  
love to share it with others.

Kirby's right, in that writing to the RCX, or NXT, native format  
would be very hard.  It's easier to write to middle-ware, and let  
that tool take over.  In fact, nxc itself translates another  
language, nbc, in the background before compiling to robot byte code.


			bb
-- 
Brian Blais
bblais at bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais



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