Our robotics team is building a T-shirt cannon robot for our school. We are using old FTC parts and microcontrollers, and we need programming software. All we currently have is IAR Workbench, which we hate. We could use some (preferably free) “C” language programming software options to work with. Any options at all would be nice, and Vista compatibility isn’t a problem as we have an XP computer.
well, RobotC, EasyC, and MPLAB are sold on the vex site, and are the most common when programming for vex.
MPLAB is free, so don’t waste money buying it from vex. though i haven’t used it, i’ve heard it is a very versatile programming tool.
You can download RobotC for $30. That’s pretty darned close to free for a good SDK. Easy C isn’t that much more.
I agree, RobotC is a good option if you want incredibly fast downloads onto your microcontroller and a good programming platform.
Personally, though I really like MPLAB, I decided to go with EasyC Pro. The program is excellent and there is very little that could go wrong with your program during a VRC competition if you follow the proper guidelines.
The full C text editor is great along with the drag and drop C code blocks.
Technic-R-C
Thanks all, I will relay this to our Robotics team and we’ll see what works out. That doesn’t mean we’re not still open to suggestions though. More options are still welcome.
Hi I am knew to this forum. Could anyone direct me to templates for Easy C Pro for programming light and touch sensors in autonomous mode. I need something to get me started or could anyone give me information on how to get started.
Rhys Jones
10th grade
Montclair Robotics
The light sensor from Vexlabs is just an analog input. I would recommend taking advantage of the the online window and playing with the sensors, watch the value they return and code to that. I’m not sure what you mean by touch sensors…
Another option is to use a collaboration of programs that use SDCC (small device c compiler) on Unbuntu which can run on windows through vmware. Somebody else wrote some code that lets it talk to the vex controller. We dont have the instructions posted on our site yet but it will be soon especially if there is interest. It is a little complicated to set up but is completely free.
Well now I have decided to try the line sensor instead. Are there any sample programs anywhere or does anyone have advice on how to get it working in Easy C Pro or in robotc
One version has already been posted here.
This thread has a good bit of discussion about the code. Give it a look and see what you think. The program can be simplified a bit too, if that would help.
Cheers,
- Dean
There are simple programming projects in this document that use the line tracker, light sensor, limit switch, bumper switch, optical shaft encoder, and ultrasonic sensor. It uses EasyC v2, but there should be enough similarities with EasyC Pro for the programs to be usable.