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Author Topic: Help for a fresh programmer!  (Read 2145 times)

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Offline David W SHCSTopic starter

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Help for a fresh programmer!
« on: July 01, 2013, 02:11:44 AM »
hello robot enthusiasts, I am a beginner robotics programmer and would appreciate any answers provided. I have acquired the Atmega8 Micro controller and decided to make a simple object "avoiding" robot that actually bumps into objects and then drives off accordingly, using Lego motors and touch sensors from the lego mindstorms kit.

I was wondering what kinds of programming software I could use for my micro controller and how I can transfer a program from the program software to the micro controller? Also any programming tutorials that are good to read would be very helpful.

Thank you in advance, hopefully you may answer a few of my questions and that I have posted in the right section  :).

Offline newInRobotics

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Re: Help for a fresh programmer!
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2013, 02:44:05 AM »
hello robot enthusiasts, I am a beginner robotics programmer and would appreciate any answers provided.
Hi and welcome  :)

I was wondering what kinds of programming software I could use for my micro controller [...]
For Atmel microcontrollers You probably want to use Atmel Studio 6 (currently latest release) as it is official IDE (Integrated Development Environment) created by developers of Your microcontroller, it's feature rich, well supported, and it's free to use.

[...] and how I can transfer a program from the program software to the micro controller?
For that You need to get piece of hardware called "programmer". There are many different programmers ranging from very cheap simple ones enabling You to only write program files to Your microcontroller to very sophisticated and expensive ones that can program using many different protocols, plus enables You to do some advanced debugging. My personal recommendation is to get a simple cheap ISP programmer to get You going without blowing Your budget. Something like this would do nicely --> USBASP USB ISP Programmer & Cable AVR ATMEL ATMega

Also any programming tutorials that are good to read would be very helpful.
Few tutorials to get You started under the following link --> http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=14947.msg109175#msg109175
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." - Kristian W

Offline David W SHCSTopic starter

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Re: Help for a fresh programmer!
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2013, 03:58:50 AM »
Thank you very very much for your help and fast response, I have now downloaded the atmel studio, I will be looking into purchasing the programmer you recommended and have read through the tutorials.

with this forum I will become a proficient programmer in no time!  ;)

Offline newInRobotics

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Re: Help for a fresh programmer!
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2013, 05:42:08 AM »
with this forum I will become a proficient programmer in no time!  ;)
FIY: Atmel Studio incorporates simulator so You can "step" through the code and see what happens with pins and registers of Your microcontroller. Also, getting an LED and an appropriate resistor, and potentiometer will help in learning microcontroller programming, as these are one of the simplest devices You can hook-up to see use of microcontroller in real-life applications (eg.: intensity adjustable LED torch).
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." - Kristian W

 


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