Hi everyone, I was just wondering if its common to see Robot C being used for VEX IQ Competitions. Is it allowed to program the robot in modkit? If it is not a common thing then could anyone explain why? What are the advantages of Robot C over modkit?
It really depends on the team. It is allowed to program the robot in Modkit, RobotC, RobotMesh (Python/Blockly), Flowol, EasyC, and probably some others I’m not aware of.
As far as being common I think it is common, perhaps the most common - until recently RobotC was not free.
To me some of the advantages of RobotC over Modkit are:
- Usable on other robot platforms (VEX EDR mainly but others as well)
- Clear path from elementary through high school/beyond - can start with block based code and progress to "natural language" and finally on to "normal" code
- Usable with Robot Virtual Worlds
- Better documentation (imo)
- Ability to convert block code to text-based code
My teams use modkit to program the driver control program. It seems to be easier for them, and robotC gave us issues last year when trying to program the controller. They then use RobotC to program their autonomous program. The linear format makes more sense to them. Also, when the kids wrote too long of programs using ModKit, it seemed to become unreliable. We didn’t have the same problem with RobotC. So, we use a hybrid of both.
Give Robot Mesh Studio a try. Blockly is a procedural language (like ROBOTC, but unlike ModKit), that generates Python code using simple drag-and-drop technology from Google. Blockly is easy to learn, and the Python code it generates can be copied over to a Python project in the same online editor. It’s free to use online.
- Uses Python with robot extensions
- Uses Google Blockly
- Complete curriculum available for Blockly
- The same languages (Blockly/Python) work on both VEX IQ and VEX EDR robots. Never any need to learn a new development environment.
- Build code online and store these projects in the cloud for free in your own password-protected personal folder(s)
- Browser-based and works on Chromebooks or any Windows-based computer, plus Macs with Chrome on OS X
- Use the included CAD environment to build and program your own VEX IQ robots online. Unlike Virtual Worlds, Robot Mesh Studio lets you build a robot and test it online, and we include a physics engine so the VEX IQ "Mimics" closely match real-world performance.
- Download our app and you can program on an iPad.