Build your own teams of robots with Lego Mindstorms NXT and Bluetooth

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CREATE YOUR OWN SYNCHRONIZED ROBOT ARMY!

PLAN, DESIGN, ASSEMBLE, AND PROGRAM ROBOT SQUADS THAT COMMUNICATE and cooperate with each other to accomplish together what they can't do individually. Build Your Own Teams of Robots with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and Bluetooth shows you how to construct a team capability matrix (TCM) and use the Bluetooth Robotic-Oriented Network (BRON) so your robot teams can share sensors, actuators, end effectors, motor power, and programs.

Find out how the Bluetooth communications protocol works and how to program Bluetooth in NXT-G, NXC, LabVIEW, and Java. Learn how to send and receive Bluetoothmessages, data, and commands among robots, between a robot and a computer, and between an Android smart phone and a robot. Through teamwork, your robots will be able to accomplish amazing feats!

THE STEP-BY-STEP ROBOT TEAM PROJECTS IN THE BOOK INCLUDE:
* Crime Scene Investigation Robot Team * Robot Convoy * Rubik's Cube Solver

LEARN HOW TO:

Coordinate multiple robots to work together as a team to perform tasks Combine two or more microcontrollers to make a single, multicontroller/multi-agent robot Take advantage of sensor and actuator capabilities in a team environment Establish goals and teamwork strategies for your robots Control your robot teams with NXT-G Bluetooth bricks and LabVIEW for NXT Bluetooth VI Activate your team using a smart phone Give your team of robots Java power with leJOS Use Java on the Linux and Darwin operating systems

Watch video demonstrations of the projects and download code and examples in multiple languages (NXT-G, Java, LabVIEW, and NXC) from the book's companion websiteat www.robotteams.org.

Downloads are also available at mhprofessional.com/robotteams.

Author Notes

Cameron Hughes is a professional software developer with over fifteen years of experience. He is a staff programmer/analyst at Youngstown State University and a software epistemologist for Ctest Laboratories. Tracey Hughes is a senior software and graphics programmer at Ctest Laboratories where she develops information and epistemic visualization software. Both Cameron and Tracey Hughes are long time robot enthusiasts with a collection of over 100 robots. They have sponsored and participated in local robot competitions and robot programming workshops for the Lego NXT and RS Media platforms through their local ACM chapter. Cameron and Tracey are the authors of seven books on software development, multithreaded programming, and parallel programming in C++.

Bob Kramer has been a full-time Computer Science Professor at Youngstown State University. Bob's research interests include using Lego robotics as a tool to teach computer science concepts, as well as the development and extension of programming tools for Lego robots. He has helped extend the nxtOSEK environment to enable C++ programs to execute on the NXT platform, and has developed an interface for a third-party sensor in the LeJOS environment. Bob Kramer has used Lego robotics to teach basic programming concepts in summer enrichment programs for high school students. He has spoken at numerous workshops about robot design and pedagogical uses of robots.

Trevor Watkins is a network communications and system integrations specialist. He is currently the Technology Manager at the Wadsworth Public Library, where he designs, integrates, and administers all aspects of the library's network and information systems. Trevor is an adjunct professor in the Computer Science and Information Systems Department at Youngstown State University, where he teaches high level programing languages and computer networks. He has been a robot hobbyist for over 20 years with the past 5 years dedicated to NXT-Mindstorms, Vex and Arduino-based robot kits, and consults with local high school robotics teams.

Introduction	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Chapter 1 It Takes Two to Tango	p. 1
When the Robot We Have Is Not the Robot We Need	p. 2
Special-Purpose Robots Can Be Flexible	p. 2
General-Purpose Robots: Fact or Fiction?	p. 4
Reprogrammable Robots	p. 6
Flexible Special-Purpose Robots and Reprogrammable Multipurpose Robots	p. 7
Two Microcontrollers Are Sometimes Better Than One	p. 7
Possible learns, Possible Players	p. 8
Do Networked Robots Equal Robot Teamwork?	p. 12
Coordinating Robots Based on Time or Chronology	p. 12
Event-Based Robot Coordination	p. 18
Message-Based Coordination	p. 26
The Basic BRON Approach	p. 29
The World of Bluetooth Devices	p. 30
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 31
Chapter 2 Bluetooth for MINDSTORMS NXT: A Closer Look	p. 33
So Exactly What Is Bluetooth?	p. 33
The Myth of NXT's Bluetooth Problem	p. 34
What Does Bluetooth Mean for NXT-Based Robots?	p. 35
Is NXT-Bluetooth Capability Software or Hardware?	p. 35
A Pause for Some Bluetooth-NXT Brick Preliminaries	p. 36
What's in a Name?	p. 37
A Little Security, (or at Least Privacy), Please!	p. 39
Visibility vs. Invisibility	p. 40
Who Is the Initiator (Team Leader)?	p. 42
Physical Architecture vs. Logical Architectures	p. 43
After the Connection Is Made	p. 43
Bluetooth Functions Don't Wait	p. 44
Talk to Initiators on Line 0	p. 45
Introducing the Scout Bots	p. 46
Setting Up the Initial Bluetooth Connection	p. 50
Waiting for and Sending a Bluetooth Response	p. 51
Teamwork: A Simple Bluetooth LabVIEW Application	p. 52
The Team Leader Program (D1R2)	p. 53
The Team Member Program (D1R1)	p. 54
Team Mode and Bluetooth in LabVIEW	p. 55
Chapter 3 One for All and All for One	p. 57
What Are Sensors?	p. 57
Sensors: The Input Transducers	p. 59
Sensor Types	p. 60
Classifying MINDSTORMS NXT Sensors	p. 68
Sensors in the NXT World	p. 72
Some Are Strong, Some Are Mobile, Some Are Smart	p. 72
What the Sensors Can Do and Cannot Do	p. 73
Special Sensors Give That Extra Something	p. 79
Third-Party Sensors Used in Our CSI BRON	p. 81
leJOS (Java) Support for Third-Party Sensors	p. 84
LabVIEW Support for Third-Party Sensors	p. 86
NXT-G Support for Third-Party Sensors	p. 88
Chapter 4 Creating a Team of Movers and Shakers	p. 91
Motors: The Output Transducer	p. 91
Indoor and Outdoor Robots	p. 92
Direct-Current Motors vs. Servo Motors	p. 94
Controlling Speed and Torque	p. 95
Here Come the Regulators: Encoders In and Out	p. 103
Using Torque and Speed to Determine Selection of Team Members	p. 107
Summarizing DC and Servos Motors	p. 107
Controlling the Motors: Tetrix Controller and NXT Brick	p. 108
Using the Motors	p. 111
NXT-G PID Block	p. 116
Robotic Arms and End Effectors	p. 119
Robot Arms of Different Types	p. 119
End Effectors of Different Types	p. 124
Software Support of the Robot Arm	p. 124
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 127
Chapter 5 Bluetooth Programming in NXT-G and LabVIEW	p. 129
A Little Background Block by Block	p. 129
Establishing a Connection with the BRON	p. 132
Connecting a PC to NXT Bricks from NXT-G and LabVIEW	p. 133
Connecting to the BRON	p. 134
NXT-G Connection Block	p. 135
LabVIEW On/Off and Connection Bluetooth Blocks	p. 138
Establishing a Connection to the BRON Using LabVIEW	p. 138
Communicating a Message to the BRON	p. 140
Sending/Receiving Messages in NXT-G	p. 140
Dynamically Setting Values for the Send Message Block	p. 141
Writing/Reading a Message Using LabVIEW	p. 144
Chapter 6 Robot Environments, Teamwork Strategies, and Goals	p. 147
The Robot's World	p. 147
The Robot READ Set	p. 149
Robot Application Architecture	p. 153
A Simple Team-Based RAA Example	p. 153
The Multipurpose Capability Matrix	p. 155
A Basic READ Set for D1R1, D1R2, and D3C1	p. 159
Teamwork Strategies and Goals	p. 162
Simple Rule-Based Autonomy and READ Set + Robot Program Autonomy	p. 165
Environment, READ Sets, and the Team Challenge	p. 168
Let's Not Fool Ourselves, It's Slow!	p. 170
A Closer Look at a Level 2 Autonomous MINDSTORMS/Tetrix-Based Team	p. 171
How Do We Know When the Task Is Done?	p. 172
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 182
Chapter 7 Give Your Team of Robots Java Power with leJOS	p. 185
Brief History of Java Virtual Machine for MINDSTORMS	p. 185
The Power of leJOS Java for MINDSTORMS NXT	p. 186
A Closer Look at the leJOS Utilities	p. 188
Power of Java for Building Teams	p. 192
Bluetooth Communications	p. 192
The Java Classes	p. 196
The Robot Class	p. 198
Chapter 8 Got Linux and Darwin on Your Team of Robots?	p. 211
The Operating System as the Gatekeeper	p. 211
Operating System as Silent Partner	p. 214
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Software for Your Robot Designs Using Digital Designer	p. 215
Development Languages for Programming Your Robots	p. 217
The Simple NXC (Almost C) Tool Chains	p. 217
Using Eclipse in the Linux/Darwin Environments	p. 218
What About My Files? (Where Do They Go?)	p. 220
Linux and Darwin as Runtime Environments	p. 221
Runtime Capability When the Computer Is the Team Leader	p. 222
The BlueZ Protocol Can Handle NXT Bricks	p. 224
Chapter 9 Advanced Teamwork: One for All!	p. 231
If It Works for Me, It'll Work for You	p. 232
From Team to Collective and Back	p. 232
The Collective	p. 232
Dividing Up the Labor	p. 233
Communicating with Flippy and Twisty	p. 234
Solving a Rubik's Cube	p. 237
Remember the Cube: Parts of the Cube	p. 237
Solving the Cube	p. 242
Cube Solver Design	p. 250
Design Issues	p. 251
Cube Solver Hardware: The Frame	p. 252
Flipper: Flip It Well and Good!	p. 254
Cube Solver Software	p. 256
Setting Up Programming	p. 265
Running the Robot	p. 266
What to Do Next Time	p. 267
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 268
Chapter 10 Together We Stand: The Robot Convoy	p. 271
Sometimes It Does Take a Team	p. 272
Using the Bluetooth Robotic-Oriented Network (BRON) for the Robot Convoy	p. 273
Challenges in Robot Convoys	p. 275
Planning for the Convoy	p. 279
Limitations of Robot Vehicles	p. 279
Understanding Bluetooth Limitations	p. 284
The Robot Convoy NXT-G Program	p. 286
Improvement of the Robot Convoy	p. 286
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 288
Chapter 11 The CSI Project.	p. 291
Overview of the CSI Project	p. 291
The Tasks and Problems Encountered in Warehouse X	p. 292
The Capability Matrix of the CSI Project	p. 293
The READ Set of Warehouse X	p. 293
An Approach to Solving the CSI Warehouse X	p. 300
Summary of the CSI Project	p. 314
BRON'S Believe It or Not	p. 314
Appendix A Standard Java Classes for leJOS Bluetooth	p. 317
Standard Java Classes	p. 317
Class DeviceClass	p. 317
Class DiscoveryAgent	p. 318
Class LocalDevice	p. 320
Class RemoteDevice	p. 322
leJOS Bluetooth API	p. 325
Class NXTCommDevice	p. 325
Class Bluetooth	p. 327
Class NXTConnection	p. 337
Class BTConnection	p. 339
Appendix B Bluetooth Robotic-Oriented Network (BRON) Team Members	p. 341
BRON Cube Solver Team	p. 341
BRON Convoy Team	p. 342
BRON Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Team	p. 343
Index	p. 347

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