LaserBots: User Manual

The year is 2067. Health and Safety regulations have gone too far. Sport has been outlawed . To satisfy the entertainment needs of the people, robots have been created to fight one another. They have been built with family-friendly lasers. They hunt out the opponent and blast them away with their laser. Skill is everything. Failure is not an option. LaserBots - be entertained.

(Rated PG. Ages 8+).

OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

The objective of LaserBots is to shoot the opponent robot and be the first to get to a score of 50.

PLAYERS

Currently, LaserBots is for two players. However, in the future, targets could be made and sold with the game so that the game could be for one player. To increase the number of players in the future, more XBees will need to be setup and added to the circle network.

SETUP

Included in the game are two robots and one games master. Not included: iPads, batteries.

IPAD SETUP

The application TouchOSC needs to be downloaded and installed. It can be found in the App Store.
The Games Master IP address and the port at which it is running needs to be set in the iPad.

GAMES MASTER SETUP

Plug the Games Master into a laptop.
Open the Processing application "Games Master", which can be found
Download the correct libraries needed, which can be found here and here.
Copy these libraries into the libraries folder of Processing.
In Games Master, the IP addresses of both iPads needs to be added near the top of the code. Also, the port at which they are running needs to be added. For more information on this, please see here.

ROBOT SETUP

Insert 4xAA batteries into the battery holder, and connect 1x9V battery to the Arduino.
Plug in the battery to the Arduino.
If robot fails to connect to network, press reset.

HOW TO CONTROL A ROBOT

The robot is controlled through the controller on an iPad.

RULES

Players are not allowed to ram their robot into the opponents robot
Players take it in turn to move their robot (20 seconds per turn)
After each turn, the laser is moved back to default position and control is not restored until the opponent has completed their turn.
A score of 5 is added for a side hit to a robot.
A score of 10 is added for a rear hit to a robot.
A score of 50 or above is needed to win the game.

FLEXIBILITY OF GAME

USER FLEXIBILITY

On the robot, there is one LDR that can be moved around the robot. This LDR is normally placed at the back of the robot, but it can be moved to the front or anywhere else the user wishes.

CODE FLEXIBILITY

There are many things that can be changed in the code to alter the game to make it easier or more difficult.

Scores for each target - these can be changed.
Game setup - currently, the game is setup as a score based game (the game ends when a player reaches a certain score) but the game could be set up to be a time based game (the game only lasts for a certain amount of time and the player with the highest score at the end wins).
Player turns - the time allowed for each players turn could be shortened or lengthened.
Disabling parts of the robot - if the robot is hit, the side that has been hit could be disabled for a certain amount of time, making the game more difficult.
Laser aiming - the servos could be limited in how much they increment and what range they can move within, meaning that the user would have to have better driving skills to line up the robot correctly.