Programming

Introduction

The computer in the pybotwar robots has 2 parts. One part, outside of user control, calls the other part 60 times per second and uses those results to signal which actions are taken.

Getting Started

The easiest way to get started is to inherit from the Robot class in the robot module. Call your subclass TheRobot

In your TheRobot class, the method respond will be called repeatedly as the robot runs.

So, a very simple robot which would just turn in place would look like this:

from robot import Robot

class TheRobot(Robot):
    def respond(self):
        self.torque(50) # 50% of maximum torque

For more information on what controls are available, see the [Controls] page

Initialization

If you would like to run some code when your robot is first starting up, create an initialize() method and add your your startup code there.

The initialize() method should take no parameters (other than self) and it must return in less than 1 second or the robot will be placed in to an error state and removed from the battle.

from robot import Robot

class TheRobot(Robot):
    def initialize(self):
        self.health = 100 # Keep track of current health for later use

Sensors

There are a variety of [Sensors] available to your robot. Using the default Robot class for a base, the sensor readings will be set automatically on each clock tick.

Get your sensor data like so:

from robot import Robot

class TheRobot(Robot):
    def respond(self):
        tick = self.sensors['TICK']
        health = self.sensors['HEALTH']
        pos_x, pos_y = self.sensors['POS']
        turret_angle = self.sensors['TUR']
        kind, angle, distance = self.sensors['PING']
        robot_angle = self.sensors['GYRO']

For more details, see the [Sensors] page.