CS184 Lab exercise 3 - due Wednesday 9/16/98

Notes on the lab:
To submit the lab, create a directory called lab3. Then put the main VRML file in a file called "lab3.wrl" in the lab3 directory. Include any other files that lab3.wrl loads. To submit, cd to the lab3 directory and type "submit lab3".

This lab is an individual lab. You should do it and hand it in on your own.

Creating a remote-controlled robot.

In this lab you will use VRML sensors and routes to build an interactive world. You will build a model with a hierarchy of transform nodes representing a robot. The world consists of this robot and a control panel.

The robot is an industrial robot like one of the designs shown at the end of this handout. The circular arrows show the joints of the robot. You don't need to make your model as elaborate as these designs. A box or cylinder for each movable part is fine. You don't need 6 joints, but you should have at least 4. You can use your own design for the robot if you like.

The world also comprises a control panel, which is a row of levers that control the robot. The control panel is part of the world, but is not physically attached to the robot. Put it far enough away that it can't be "hit" by the robot as it swings around.

Each lever in the control panel should control one joint of the robot. The other joints should stay fixed, and the links of the robot after the moving joint should all move "in one piece". i.e. the robot shouldnt fall apart when it is moved.

Use sensors and routes so that moving the mouse over each lever updates the position of the lever, and also the angle of one of the robot joints. You will need cylinder sensors to do this.

Also create a slider control. Moving this control should translate the entire robot in a horizontal plane.

Include some intuitive documentation in your world about which lever controls which joint. e.g. label the levers and joints with numbers, or use colors.