Program the Soccer Bot

This video goes over how to program the Soccer Bot. Don’t forget to go through the rest of the lesson!

The Soccer Bot can be used with a remote control! It can move forward, backward, right, and left to play soccer.

This is what the Soccer Bot’s pseudocode looks something like:

• If the up button on the remote control is pressed, move forward.
• Else, if down is pressed, move backward.
• Else, if left is pressed, turn left.
• Else, if right is pressed, turn right.
• Else, stop.

The first thing you need to do is include the Smart Inventor library at the top of your code. Next, in void setup(), include your motors and remote control.

#include <SmartInventor.h>

void setup() {
    SmartInventor.DCMotorUse();
    SmartInventor.TVRemoconUse();
}

Create a variable to read the remote control and store information about the last button that was pressed. You want this information to be read continuously, so make sure it’s in void loop().

#include <SmartInventor.h>

void setup() {
    SmartInventor.DCMotorUse();
    SmartInventor.TVRemoconUse();
}
 
void loop() {
    int keyData = SmartInventor.TVRemoconData();
}

Next up: the main section of the code! Use an if statement to check if the remote control’s up button was pressed. If it was, the motors will turn to move the Soccer Bot forward.

void loop() {
    int keyData = SmartInventor.TVRemoconData(); 
    if(keyData == KEY_U)
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Move forward
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);
    }
}

If you want to add more buttons, you can use else if statements in your code. Your code will run through these only if the past if or else if statements were false. For example, if the only button that was pressed was the left button, your Soccer Bot’s motors will move in the same direction to turn left.

void loop() {
    int keyData = SmartInventor.TVRemoconData();
 
    if(keyData == KEY_U)
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Move forwards
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);
    }
    else if(keyData == KEY_D)
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Move backwards
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);
    }
    else if(keyData == KEY_L)
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Turn left
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);
    }
    else if(keyData == KEY_R)
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Turn right
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);
    }
}

What if you want your Soccer Bot to slow down? You can add an else statement to the end of your code to bring your Soccer Bot to a slow stop when no buttons are pressed.

#include <SmartInventor.h> 

void setup() {    
    SmartInventor.DCMotorUse();    
    SmartInventor.TVRemoconUse();
} 

void loop() {    
    int keyData = SmartInventor.TVRemoconData();     

    if(keyData == KEY_U)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Move forwards        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_D)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Move backwards        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_L)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Turn left        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_R)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Turn right        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);    
    }
    else
    {
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, LOOSE, 0); // Stop
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, LOOSE, 0);
    }
}

This is what your final code should look like:

#include <SmartInventor.h> 

void setup() 
{    
    SmartInventor.DCMotorUse();    
    SmartInventor.TVRemoconUse();
} 

void loop() 
{    
    int keyData = SmartInventor.TVRemoconData();     
    
    if(keyData == KEY_U)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Move forwards        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_D)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Move backwards        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_L)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CCW, 50); // Turn left        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CCW, 50);    
    }    
    else if(keyData == KEY_R)    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, CW, 50); // Turn right        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, CW, 50);    
    }    
    else    
    {        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M1, LOOSE, 0); // Stop        
        SmartInventor.DCMotor(M2, LOOSE, 0);    
    }
}