Robotics

The On Cloud 9: an Innovative Remote Robotics Programming Platform project seeks to inspire young programmers by providing them with a user-friendly web interface built on Cloud9 IDE to program the iRobot Create. This project focuses on an interactive approach to programming robots by providing a mixed reality experience. This mixed reality experience will be created by physical obstacles, like the size of the room, as well as virtual obstacles created using the visual recognition engine and infrared sensors. The purpose of using a web interface is to remove as many obstacles from programming as possible, meaning the user will not have to download specific compilers, any development environments, or even own a physical robot. Instead, the user will be able to use the web interface to remotely compile code and see the results of their code on an iRobot Create via web cam. The project incorporates a variety of ways to program and drive the robot including writing Python code in Cloud9 IDE. Furthermore, the user is able to incorporate feedback from the robot, like whether the robot is colliding with an object or how much battery life the robot has remaining as part of making smart decisions while programming and learning how to optimize available resources. In addition, advanced users will be encouraged to contribute extensions to enhance project feature and example uses for the project.