Programming instructions

Reference
Project Lead The Way © and Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy © / For use with VEX
®
Robotics Systems
Glossary • 10
Glossary continued
Swing Turn: A turn where one wheel rotates and the other stays in place, causing the robot’s body to “swing” around the
stationary wheel.
Task: A discrete unit of work. A task may refer to a human activity like designing a drivetrain, or a robotic one, like mapping
a coal mine. Effectively breaking down tasks is a key to success both for a human project and for a robotic program
Teamwork: The process of working together in team. Effective and cooperative teamwork is an essential quality of a
successful project.
Test/Revise/Repeat: See Iterative Development, Revision. Test/revise/repeat is the typical project pattern. Testing reveals
both what works and what doesn’t. Revision maintains what works while trying to x what doesn’t. Repeat means that
testing and revision are done continuously.
Text: Text includes words, letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces or a combination of all. This data type is often also called
a “string.”
Theoretical Measurement: A predicted value for a measurement. Usually, these predictions are made by taking a real
measurement, then using a hypothesis or theory (hence the name “theoretical”) to predict what the value should be under
slightly different conditions. After this prediction is made, the real measurement is usually taken, and compared against the
theoretical one to see how well the prediction matched the real outcome.
Threshold: A “cutoff” or dividing line between two regions. One common use for thresholds is to divide the hundreds of
possible sensor readings from a sensor (a Light Sensor can give
a value anywhere from 0-100, for example) into two manageable
categories. For the Light Sensor, this would mean setting a
threshold value somewhere between 0 and 100, then declaring that
all values above the threshold are now “light” while all values below
the threshold are now “dark.” A light sensor reading can then be
easily categorized and handled appropriately. The threshold value
can be chosen in any way desired, but it is conventional to choose
a value exactly halfway between two known extremes (e.g. halfway
between a very dark surface and a very light one).
Time Management: The process of managing time, a limited resource in any project. Project time management tools are
schedules, timelines, Gantt Charts and PERT Charts.
Timeline: A visual representation of a process or series of events. It helps chart the progress of the project.
Torque: Roughly speaking, torque is the rotational equivalent of force. Whereas force causes an object to speed up or
slow down its (linear) motion, torque causes an object to speed up or slow down its rotation. A motor that generates more
torque will let the robot speed up or slow down more rapidly, as well as handle larger tires, heavier loads, and steeper
inclines.
Touch Sensor: A sensor that detects physical contact (touch) and reports back to the controller whether its contact area is
being pushed in or not.
Trendline: See Best-t Line.
Trough: The “bottom” of a wave on a graph. The point of greatest disturbance from the “rest” state in one direction (the
one that corresponds to “downward” on the graph). See also “peak”.
Threshold
Read as “Dark”
Read as “Light”
Go to Reference Links