Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Fall Semester, 2006
6.081: Introduction to EECS 1
Software
In this course, we'll be using the Python
programming language. We'll also be using a Python package called
SoaR to control the robots, both the real ones and in simulation.
Soar was written for EECS1 this past summer by Michael Haimes with
help from Ross Glashan. It's based on a platform called PyRo hat's used for robot
programming at several schools.
You'll also need an editor and/or development environment for writing
and debugging your programs. We suggest that you use one of the
following:
- GNU/Emacs is a
powerful general-purpose editor, widely used throughout MIT, which
contains some facilities aid in dealing with Python programs, such as
automatic indentation and parenthesis balancing.
- IDLE is a programming environment specially designed for Python
programming.
Which one you use is up to you. IDLE will probably be the easiest to
get started with, and is sufficient for this course. GNU/Emacs
requires more time to get used to, but if you invest that time now,
you'll be able to use Emacs for many different purposes, not only 6.081.
The course will have its own computers for you to work with in
lab, that hook to the robots.
In order to do the homework, you'll need to have access to a
machine (yours or someone else's) that has Python, SoaR, and the
editor installed. You can use use GNU/Linux, Windows, or Mac OS, as
you prefer. The installation instructions are different for the
different operating systems.
There are a lot of steps to the software installation, so be sure
to ask the staff for help if you have any questions at all.
Download SoaR