Robot Control

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Tutorial Two: Running the Robot

A plan, in general terms, is a sequence of actions that an agent must carry out to accomplish certain goals. In this applet, there is only one kind of action: movement. Plans, therefore, consist of a list of locations that the robot must visit in sequence. Whenever you create a new location, it is automatically added to the end of the plan. A robot cannot be run without a plan, as it requires instructions in order to do anything. Also, the plan cannot be modified while the robot is executing it. If the robot is running, it will have to be reset before altering the plan. To view or modify the plan you have, go to the 'Options' menu and select 'View/Modify Plan'. Below is the default plan for the map shown in the previous tutorial.


You can add locations to the end of the plan by selecting them on the left hand side and clicking the 'Add' button. Also, you can remove locations from the plan by selecting them on the right hand side and clicking the 'Remove' button. When you are done modifying the plan, click the 'Update' button.

Once the plan is finalized, you can run the robot by clicking the 'Run Robot' button near the bottom left of the main window. The robot will run for a specified number of steps and then stop. To stop it before it reaches the time limit, click the 'Stop Robot' button, also near the bottom left on the screen. If at any point, you would like the robot to start trying to execute its plan from the beginning, click the 'Reset Robot' button. It will have to be stationary when you do so. You can then move it to the desired starting location and run it again. Finally, if the trace showing where the robot has been makes the screen too messy, the 'Clear Trace' button will clear the path. Resetting it will also clear the trace.

You can try this on the example below. If you want to create locations or walls, right-click on the canvas where you want the object to be created, and choose the option corresponding to the type of object you want to make.

Actions: Options: