ROBOTC offers an easy programming language for use with VEX in the
classroom and in robotics competitions
GREENVILLE, Texas, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovation First, Inc., a
leader in educational and competitive robotics products, today announced
that the ROBOTC programming language will now be compatible with their VEX
Robotics Design System. ROBOTC is a C programming language, for
engineering, programming and robotics education, developed by Carnegie
Mellon University's Robotics Academy team.
ROBOTC provides an operating system with multi-tasking support where
VEX users can write robotics programs that allow the robot to perform
several tasks independently. The program also allows users to start, stop
and pause execution of a program directly from their computers. ROBOTC
provides extremely powerful integrated real-time debuggers, which have the
capability to inspect and modify the value of any variable in the end
user's program, helping to eliminate errors and reducing development times.
"Innovation First is pleased to offer the ROBOTC language to C
programming students using the VEX system," said Jason Morrella, senior
director of education and competition at Innovation First. "ROBOTC is an
inexpensive software option for students and teachers looking to implement
robotics in their classroom as well as for VEX users who are developing
robots for competition."
ROBOTC offers educators a training CD containing curriculum, lessons,
examples and "how-to" videos. The language has two settings, 'basic' and
'expert,' for both the novice and advanced C programming student. The
ROBOTC program also unifies the many different robotics programming
platforms available, allowing it to be used with a variety of robotics
controllers in many different competitions. Typically, teams competing in
various robotics tournaments need to master different robotics languages
and controllers for each competition.
"While teaching robotics at the high school level, I saw my students
become frustrated when they had to learn a new programming language every
time we changed controllers," said Robin Shoop, director of the Carnegie
Mellon University Robotics Academy. "At Carnegie Mellon, we believe that
developing a language that talks to multiple controllers will make robotics
programming more accessible to all students."
ROBOTC currently supports the VEX Controller, the FIRST Robotics
Controller, and Mindstorm's RCX and NXT controllers from LEGO. Carnegie
Mellon is currently porting ROBOTC to several other educational robotic
controllers.
In addition to ROBOTC, Innovation First, Inc. offers the easyC(R)v2,
easyC PRO(R) and MPLAB(R) programming languages for VEX. To find out more
information on ROBOTC and the other VEX programming languages available,
please visit http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robotics-programming-kit.shtml.
About Innovation First, Inc.
Innovation First, a privately held corporation, was founded on the
belief that innovation very early in the design process is necessary to
produce simple and elegant product designs. Innovation First began
producing electronics for unmanned mobile ground robots, and is now an
industry leader in the hobby, competition and education markets. The
company's award-winning VEX Robotics Design System, VEXplorer, HEXBUG Micro
Robotic Creatures, and IFI Robotics span the education, consumer and
business-to-business markets. Leveraging the company's core competency in
electrical and mechanical engineering, the RackSolutions division works
closely with all major computer OEMs to provide custom mounting solutions
and industry-wide rack compatibility for data installations of all sizes.
With an advanced in-house metal fabrication plant, distribution center, and
offices located together in a 13 acre complex in Greenville, Texas, the
company is poised to continue on a rapid growth path. Please visit
http://www.innovationfirst.com for additional information.
Contact:
Liz Risoldi
GCI Group
lrisoldi@gcigroup.com
310-526-5506
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