Project Robot

Let’s assume that I have a robot living in my office. This robot has arms and wheels, so it is capable of doing many of the physical tasks that a human can do. It does not, however, have a brain, and it will only do what it is “programmed” to do.

I’m interested in how I can program this robot to create a Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato & Avocado (BLTA) sandwich. I’ll be the intermediary, so:

I want YOU to explain to ME how I can program my ROBOT to make a BLTA.

I would like you to write me a 3-5 page manual on how I could do this, broken into two parts, which I’ll explain below.

Rational for doing this:
The rationale for having you write this lab is to continue the process of getting you to think like “Programmers”, which is what you will be the moment that you start writing this manual. As programmers, you need to think about your work from multiple perspectives, but generally, the two main perspectives can be summarized by these questions:

How do I effectively communicate with the computer, a machine that adheres to certain rules and syntax, in order to achieve the goals that I need?
How do I communicate with those around me (my colleagues, my clients, my manager) what I am trying to achieve with my programming code?

These are two different things entirely. You need to think about writing code that is logical, efficient, and elegant, but you also need to be able to explain to people what your code means, why you wrote it the way you did, and what that code does. If you can do both these things effectively (write good code and be able to explain it), you’re on your way to being a great programmer!

Part One: Explaining your Code
The first part of the manual will be to explain how I should go about the task of programming my robot to make a BLTA sandwich. There are steps to making a sandwich, of course, but examine some of the things that I may “inherently” know that the robot does not. For example, I know that some of the ingredients are stored in the refrigerator, but does the robot? Let me know about a few of the things that I shouldn’t assume that my robot knows anything about. I may “assume” that the robot knows a lot about making a sandwich – please set me straight. Make sure that I am aware that the robot will only do what I clearly ask it to do, so therefore I should be made aware of all the assumptive commands that can lead to a botched result.

Next, let me know if there are any tasks that happen repetitively. If so, perhaps you can tell me how to add a “looping” mechanism, and how to add a “condition” that will stop the looping (it’s always important to stop the looping, as you’ll soon find out). For example, “do X until Y happens, and then stop”.

Let me know all the ways that my robot “thinks” differently than I do, articulating that in Part One.

Part Two: Writing your Code
After you’ve explained to me the logic behind your instructions, write out, sequentially, what those instructions, or commands, should be. They should be simple sentences that ask the robot to perform a task (i.e., “Place slice of bread on plate”).

I’m not going to give you a required number of commands to type; that’s up to you. The commands, however, should reflect your logic from Part One.

Resource: How To Write Pseudocode