A Visual Programming Language for LEGO Bricks
Senior Project: 1994-1995
This project was concerned with the design and implementation of a visual
programming and simulation environment for school education. The environment is
used to control a new kind of Programmable LEGO Brick designed by MIT. The
brick contains a computer equipped with a number of analog/digital inputs and
outputs. These ports can be hooked up to sensors (e.g., sound, pressure, light)
and effectors (e.g., motors, bulbs). The combination of programmable bricks,
sensors, effectors and classical LEGO pieces can be used to build individual
autonomous units such as robots, vehicles, and machines, as well as societies
of units that communicate through infra red channels.
The software, written in Lisp, allows the user to graphically connect
components to an onscreen brick, setting the various attributes and behaviors
of the components as they are added. The resulting system can then be simulated
on screen, or run directly on the constructed LEGO system. This project was
built using the AgentSheets programming environment, a programming substrate
for creating domain-oriented programming and simulation environments. Students
at Centennial Middle School in Boulder assisted in the evaluation of various
versions of the system.
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