Book Image

Building Smart LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Robots

By : Kyle Markland
Book Image

Building Smart LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Robots

By: Kyle Markland

Overview of this book

Smart robots are an ever-increasing part of our daily lives. With LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, you can now prototype your very own small-scale smart robot that uses specialized programming and hardware to complete a mission. EV3 is a robotics platform for enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels that makes prototyping robots accessible to all. This book will walk you through six different projects that range from intermediate to advanced level. The projects will show you building and programming techniques that are used by engineers in the real world, which will help you build your own smart robot. You'll see how to make the most of the EV3 robotics platform and build some awesome smart robots. The book starts by introducing some real-world examples of smart robots. Then, we'll walk you through six different projects and explain the features that allow these robots to make intelligent decisions. The book will guide you as you build your own object-tracking tank, a box-climbing robot, an interactive robotic shark, a quirky bipedal robot, a speedy remote control race car, and a GPS-navigating robot. By the end of this book, you'll have the skills necessary to build and program your own smart robots with EV3.
Table of Contents (9 chapters)

Programming

Although the Falcon is remotely controlled by the user via a remote control, its RC program is quite intelligent because it coordinates the complex actions and decision making behind the scenes, resulting in a smooth and user-friendly program.

Control scheme

We should establish what each of the buttons on the EV3 remote will do. Earlier, we said that the driving and steering functions are independent of one another. We will program the controls accordingly: the left (red) side of the controller will control the driving, where up is forward and down is reverse; the right (blue) side will control the steering, where the up button will steer the Falcon's wheels to the right and the down button will steer them...