unfortunately this app was discontinued, but we are working on a new app Thymio Suite for android. It is already available for iOS, you can follow us on social media to know when it is released.

thank you for your feedback. Indeed when changing the default condition statement in VPL from "if" to "when", there was a lot of debate internally. In some cases (buttons) it makes the use of the event more intuitive, in the case of the horizontal sensors as perfectly described by your example, it can make things more difficult to understand. I will transmit your feedback to the development team.

If you would rather use version 1.3, you can find it on this page, click on "versions history" to display download links to older versions.

Now, let me copy-paste a coupe of quotes from the release notes of 1.4:

This means that in version 1.4, one must think more carefully

This book-keeping adds complexity, but allows to …

I am teaching a 5-year old kid. I don't think it's a good idea to force him into "thinking more carefully" and "book-keeping", this is just not what 5-year old does.
Where can I get version 1.3 for Mac, please?

For example:
central front sensor is on => stop
central front sensor is off => move
left front sensor is on => turn right
right front sensor is on => turn left

That simple 4-block program was enough to make Thymio move forward and avoid obstacles. This is no longer the case. Now the program functions in the edge-triggered mode - the event fires ONLY if there was a change. So now after avoiding the obstacle Tymio keeps circling because "central front sensor is on" condition is not checked unless the central front sensor changed its state.

I would say that this belongs to advanced or even advanced+ mode. For 5-year old child this concept is hard to grasp.

How can I switch the Thymio into the level-triggered mode?

first of all, if you just want to code without a physical Thymio, we have now a simulator which you can use for Thymio. this will let you test your code. start the Aseba Playgroung app, and open a playground which contains Thymio robot, then start Thmio VPL and connect to a simulated Thymio.

Then to answer your question, -anytarget is still supported, but you have to start a dummy node first (lanch asebadummynode.exe) and then when you see the connection windows, you will be able to select the dummy node. But with this solution, you cannot test your code.

thymiovpl -anytarget

Thanks

In short, I created a variable to count seconds and another to remember in which phase I am (going forward 10 seconds, turning, or going forward 5 seconds)
I also setup a timer event to happen every second.
An then I measure time and give orders to the motors.
Phase 1: speed forward 300, count until 10 then move to phase 2, rotating speed for 2 seconds, then phase 3, forward speed for 5 seconds, then stop.

Hope this helps!

We need to set this command :
Thymio go foward fot 10 second than turn left and than go foward for 5 second

How we can write it with blockly ?

I think your main problem is with the usage of the timers. Once a timer is set, for example at a period of 800 ms, the timer event will keep happening every 800 ms. thus once the 2 timers are set in your program, it becomes very confusing.

I suggest you think in terms of what we call a state machine. This means that you should think about the behaviour your robot could have, and the conditions for your robot to switch from one behaviour to the other.

Just to give you an idea, here is what I came up with:
(I had programmed in blockly at first but because blockly uses when for the conditions on proximity sensors it did not work as I had intended, so I switched to text mode and replaced when with if)

var compteur[1] var state[1] var checking[1] timer.period[0] = 1 state[0] = 0 checking[0] = 1 compteur[0] = 0 motor.left.target = 100 motor.right.target = 100 onevent prox if prox.horizontal[2] > 2000 then if checking[0] == 1 and state[0] == 0 then motor.left.target = -300 motor.right.target = 300 compteur[0] = 800 state[0] = 1 checking[0] = 0 elseif checking[0] == 1 and state[0] == 1 then motor.left.target = 300 motor.right.target = -300 compteur[0] = 1300 state[0] = 2 checking[0] = 0 end end if prox.horizontal[2] < 1000 then if checking[0] == 1 then motor.left.target = 100 motor.right.target = 100 compteur[0] = 0 state[0] = 0 checking[0] = 1 end end onevent timer0 if compteur[0] > 0 then compteur[0] = compteur[0] - 1 elseif compteur[0] == 0 then checking[0] = 1 end

As you can see I used variables to remember what I am doing. basically I setup a timer that runs continuously, then if I need to measure a certain amount of time I use a counter variable that is decremented. Then the state variable says if I'm going forward, turning left or turning right. Finally the checking variable informs me if I should check the sensors or not (while I'm turning 90°, I don't want the change on the sensors to affect me until I'm done turning. I could also use the counter value to check that, as when counter >0 it means I'm turning)

So if there is a wall in front of him, he turns 90-degree to the right. If there is still a wall in front of him, he's turning 180-degree to left (or right) and move forward. If there is no wall after a his first 90-degree turn, then he moves forwards.

So there is no chance of going in the direction he came from.

My code from the Blockly looks like this:

onevent button.forward
when button.forward == 1 do
call leds.top(6,32,6)
motor.left.target = 100
motor.right.target = 100
end

onevent prox
when prox.horizontal[2] > 2000 do
call leds.top(32,0,0)
timer.period[0] = 800
motor.left.target = 300
motor.right.target = -300
end

onevent timer0
call leds.top(26,6,26)
if (prox.horizontal[2] > 2000 or prox.horizontal[3] > 2000) or prox.horizontal[1] > 2000 then
timer.period[1] = 1300
motor.left.target = -300
motor.right.target = 300
else
motor.left.target = 100
motor.right.target = 100
end

onevent timer1
call leds.top(32,19,0)
motor.left.target = 100
motor.right.target = 100

Can anyone help me please?

An alpha version of Thymio VPL Mobile Preview is available for testing:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/org.mobsya.thymiovpl2

If you own an Android tablet or phone, you can try this app. It is open-source under LGPL v.3, please see https://github.com/aseba-community/thymio-vpl2/ for more details.

This is a developer preview. Please report bugs and requests at https://github.com/aseba-community/thymio-vpl2/issues. Features are constantly changing without notice. Similarly, the data format will likely be changed and saved programs will be lost. Do not base any serious work on this app yet!

You need a Thymio robot and an USB On-The-Go adapter to use this app. Connect the USB dongle (if wireless Thymio) or the USB cable (wired Thymio) to the OTG adapter, and plug the latter into your mobile device. Then start the app. When requested for permission to use the USB device, allow usage.

You can follow the development here: https://twitter.com/MagnenatS

Enjoy VPL on the move!

Stéphane

What do you suggest?

Thank you very much.

Blockly is technically Aseba Studio but with text blocks instead of keyboard text. So you won't find exactly the same thing as in VPL, especially the states.

The states in VPL, as you said, creates a table of variables and then tests these variables.

I made an example of what can be done in Blockly just here:

Here, I declare a variable in the beginning "my variable" and set it to "0".

Then, when you press the center button, it tests the value of "my variable":

• If it is equal to 0, I turn the robot red and set "my variable" to 1
• If it is equal to 1, I turn the robot yellow and set "my variable" to 0

So, it's just creating a loop. I press center, it turns red, I press again, it turns yellow, then red again, etc.

So in short, yes, you have to use the variables :)

Hope this help, ask if something is not clear.

Christophe

You have to use the "on remote control signal received" event block. That's triggered every time you press a key on the remote control. Then, you have to test which key you pressed. Use the "if" block in which you put a conditional test " … = … ".

In this test, we want to compare the "received remote control command value" with a value. In the example below, I look for the "0" and "1" value (which are associated to the 0 and 1 key).

So with the example below:

- if I press 1, Thymio turns green
- if I press 0, Thymio turns red.

The "received remote control address value" is another thing. When you press a key on a your remote control, you get two messages:
- The address: depends on the remote control, it can be used with multi channel remote control
- The command: which key you pressed.

There is a page concerning remote control here: https://www.thymio.org/en:thymioirremote but it lacks a few things. I will put a table with the numbers compared to the key you press :)

Hope this help. Let me know.

Christophe

I'm trying to find out how I can set a state into the blockly.

In text writing is it for example like that:

when button.forward == 1 do
new_state [0] = 1
new_state [1] = 0
new_state [2] = 0
new_state [4] = 0
end

But i don't find the same thing in the blockly.

Do i have to work with variables?

Thanks for your reply.