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Qfix robot kits are an education tool for teaching robotics. They are used in schools, high schools and mechatronics training in companies. The robot kits are also used by hobby robot builders. The qfix kits are often found in the RoboCup Junior competition where soccer robots are built of the kit's components.
Like Lego mindstorms, it is a robot kit consisting of mechanical parts, a controller, different sensors and actuators, and a software environment to program the constructed robot.
Unlike Lego, in qfix the mechanical parts are made of aluminium. Mechanical elements include bars and plates, mounts for motors and sensors, axes and wheels.
The qfix controller boards consist of an Atmel AVR controller plus motor drivers, analog and digital input ports, LEDs, buttons, and an I²C bus. The bus is used to connect further PCBs like LCD display, stronger motor drivers or special sensors.
The qfix kits come with the free C++ environment WinAVR for Atmel AVR controllers. Additionally, there is a C++ class library handling all qfix controller board functionalities. Programs can be downloaded to the controller boards via parallel or USB link using the avrdude tool.
Graphical programming is also supported by using qfix GRAPE (graphical programming environment). With this software, first a flowchart is designed and then the behavior of all flowchart elements is defined.
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AVR is a family of microcontrollers developed since 1996 by Atmel, acquired by Microchip Technology in 2016. These are modified Harvard architecture 8-bit RISC single-chip microcontrollers. AVR was one of the first microcontroller families to use on-chip flash memory for program storage, as opposed to one-time programmable ROM, EPROM, or EEPROM used by other microcontrollers at the time.
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Fischertechnik is a brand of construction toy. It was invented by Artur Fischer and is produced by fischertechnik GmbH in Waldachtal, Germany. Fans often refer to Fischertechnik as "FT" or "ft". It is used in education for teaching about simple machines, as well as motorization and mechanisms. The company also offers computer interface technology, which can be used to teach the theory of automation and robotics.
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DialogOS is a graphical programming environment to design computer system which can converse through voice with the user. Dialogs are clicked together in a Flowchart. DialogOS includes bindings to control Lego Mindstorms robots by voice and has bindings to SQL databases, as well as a generic plugin architecture to integrate with other types of backends.
The World Robot Olympiad (WRO) is a global robotics competition for young people. The World Robot Olympiad competition uses Lego Mindstorms manufactured by LEGO Education. First held in 2004 in Singapore, it now attracts more than 26,000 teams from more than 65 countries.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to robotics:
Ethernut is an open source hardware and software project for use as an embedded-Ethernet-system.
Lego Mindstorms EV3 is the third generation robotics kit in Lego's Mindstorms line. It is the successor to the second generation Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. The "EV" designation refers to the "evolution" of the Mindstorms product line. "3" refers to the fact that it is the third generation of computer modules - first was the RCX and the second is the NXT. It was officially announced on January 4, 2013 and was released in stores on September 1, 2013. The education edition was released on August 1, 2013. There are many competitions using this set, including the FIRST LEGO League Challenge and the World Robot Olympiad, sponsored by Lego.
