Learning Robotics with Robotis Dream Systems

Book excerpt: The DREAM II(TM) (School Set) programmable robotic kit was released by ROBOTIS(R) in Spring 2018 for the USA market with a cost around $220 US. It is recommended for users at age 8 or older. It comes with instructions to build 23 programmable robot examples and it can be interfaced with two free popular programming tools: 1) The first interface uses a ROBOTIS tool called TASK(TM) which can generate machine code that runs on the robot controller CM-150 allowing it to interact with its built-in NIR sensors and miniature speaker, along with a variety of external actuators and sensors. These TASK codes can be developed on MS Windows(R) platforms or on iOS(R) and Android(R) mobile devices, and they can be deployed via USB (wired) or Bluetooth(R). 2) The second interface uses the Off-Line version of MIT's SCRATCH(R) 2 software to combine the power and multimedia services of a Windows PC with a direct control of the robot controller CM-150 via USB (wired) or Bluetooth and a helper application named R]SCRATCH, provided by ROBOTIS. This book is for you if you are a young robotics enthusiast looking at achieving on your own a firm foundation in robotics design and programming, or if you are an adult investigating the possible use of the DREAM II School Set to help children learn about robotics programming and design. This book will show that this kit can be quite a versatile tool to introduce students from 8 to 12 years old to fundamental concepts in several areas: mechanical design, computer programming, robot control, inter-device commu-nications and multimedia programming for richer story telling. This book consists of 6 chapters: 1) Chapter 1 presents an overview of the DREAM II system and its relationship with the SMART III system. The Sense-Think-Act paradigm used in developing the contents of this book is also described in this chapter. 2) Chapter 2 describes the hardware and software capabilities of the complete DREAM II system and shows how to get started with the School Set on Windows PCs as well as on Mobile Devices. This chapter also shows how to use the ROBOTIS MANAGER software tool using a basic wheeled robot design. 3) Chapter 3 is a substantial chapter providing a gradual but in-depth tutorial about applications of the R+TASK software tool using three robot designs - "Avoider/Follower," "TriCycle" and "Dowel Scanner." Topics included autonomous-behavior and remote-control algorithms, communications and audio programming techniques. PC and Mobile uses of the TASK tool are developed in this chapter. 4) Chapter 4 is also another substantial chapter mirroring the instructional approach and topics devel-oped in Chapter 3 but now using the R+SCRATCH/SCRATCH 2 tool chain and its multimedia and event programming features. 5) Chapter 5 presents mechanical design concepts inherent in the mechanical components provided in Level 1 of the "complete" DREAM II system (i.e. non-programmable), with the goal of helping students understand the mechanical design concepts represented in the provided Level 1 example robots and be creative in their own robot designs by showcasing additional mechanical concepts and robot designs. 6) Chapter 6 provides a closer look at select programmable robots provided in the School Set (i.e. Levels 2 and 3) to explain their hardware/software features and to offer suggestions to expand some selected robots beyond their original designs or solutions. This book also provides appropriate source codes and tutorial videos (via YouTube(R)) to illustrate the presented concepts, along with review questions to help students master learned materials. Please visit www.cntrobotics.com/dreambook for access options to the source codes and tutorial videos.