KEEP I. T. EASY

Primary 3D Mimic Pack 1: Activities

K EEP I . T . EA SY

Primary 3D Mimic Pack 1: Activities

2010 Keep I.T. Easy

www.flowol.com

support@flowol.com

Copyright © 2010 Keep I.T. Easy

This documentation is subject to copyright.

If you have a licensed copy of the Primary 3D Mimic Pack 1, you may print as many copies of all or part of this tutorial for your use under your software end user license.

If you do not have a licensed copy of the mimic pack, you may use this documentation to understand more about it and whether it may be suitable for your purposes. In this case you may not print and use this documentation in a teaching setting.

Keep I.T. Easy acknowledge that there may be errors or omissions in this publication for which responsibility cannot be assumed. No liability will be accepted for loss or damage resulting from the use of information contained in this documentation or from uses as described.

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

3

Downloading and Installing the Mimic Pack

The mimic pack is distributed as an internet download for both Windows PC and Apple Mac computers.

Downloading the Mimic Pack

1. Navigate to http://www.flowol.com/Download.aspx.

2. Enter the license key that was delivered with your purchase. The license key is of the form XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX where X is either a letter or number. Letters will be capitalized as you type them, but you do need to enter the dashes. If your license key was delivered to you in an e-mail, you may find it easier to copy and paste the key into the field. Click on OK.

3. If you have a multi-machine license, or a whole-site license, then you will be given the opportunity to register your purchase at this stage.

4. At the top of the page is a link to the end-user license agreement for the level of license that you have. Please click on the link, read and print the license for your records. Note that installing the software indicates your acceptance of the terms of the license agreement.

5. Every license key provides the mimic pack for either Windows PC computers, or Apple Mac computers (or both if you have a multi-computer license).

Installing the Mimic Pack

Follow the instructions on the webpage for installing the mimic pack onto either a single computer or onto multiple computers (e.g. a school network).

For more detailed information on installing, please consult the following webpage: http://www.flowol.com/flowol4/Installation.aspx

Using the Primary 3D Mimic Pack 1

Launch Flowol 4 and from the Welcome dialog box, choose Use a Mimic and scroll down the list of available mimics to find the new Primary 3D Mimics:

The first time one of these mimics is opened, you may be prompted to activate and register your Mimic Pack purchase. This will only need to be done once and follows the same process as for the Flowol 4 software.

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

4

The Horse Ride

Coin operated rides are very popular in shopping malls, but rarely do we

have the chance to see inside. While servicing this Horse Ride, the

maintenance worker has removed the side cover so we can see the

mechanism.

Open the Horse Ride

mimic and click on the

Front and Rear motors

on the Status Panel to

see what it can do.

There are two virtual

inputs on the ride:

Rear Sw and Front Sw.

They are switched on

by the motors when

the crank is at the

lowest position.

Activity 1

Build and complete this flowchart to drive both motors

forward for 35 seconds when a coin is placed in the slot

(Click on the grey Coin Slot). How does the ride move?

Activity 2

To make it easy for a person to dismount the horse, it

should stop in its lowest position. Use one of the virtual

inputs (e.g. Front Sw) and modify your flowchart so the ride

stops at its lowest position.

Activity 3

It might be a more interesting ride if the rear motor

rotates slightly slower than the front. Adjust the top

output symbol in your flowchart to run the Rear motor at 90% power. How

does the ride move now? Does the ride still stop at its lowest position?

Activity 4

Create a second, separate flowchart (thread) to control the rear motor, so

that the ride stops with both motors at their lowest positions.

Start

Is

Coin Slot on?

Turn Rear fd,

Front fd

Delay 35

YES

NO

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

5

The Teacup Ride

Having a ride in a teacup should be fun and safe.

Open the Teacups

mimic and click on

the Status Panel to

see how the ride

operates.

When the ride

rotates (Turntable

motor), the virtual

input named Switch

is turned on when

the two triangles

match up.

Activity 1

Create and complete this flowchart to control the rotation of

the ride with the left Button1. Run the program and click on

the left red button on the mimic to toggle it on and off.

Activity 2

To make the ride more exciting, spin the teacups (Cups

motor) as well as rotating the turntable.

You could use delays with forward and reverse directions to

make the ride even more interesting.

Activity 3

The lights around the turntable rim (digital outputs Yellow,

Red, Green and Blue) can add to the fun. Build a separate,

independent flowchart to control these lights. You do not need to use the

input since these lights should be attracting people’s attention the whole

time. It might be interesting to use subroutines of different light

sequences called (invoked) by the main flowchart to give variety to the

light sequence.

Start

Is

Button1 on?

Is

Button1 off?

YES

NO

YES

NO

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

6

Activity 4

For this activity, you need to use the right button (Button2) to

open and close the mechanical Doors on the cups. Create this

subroutine to open the doors, and a similar one to close the

doors. Now produce another separate flowchart (thread) to

use these subroutines.

Activity 5

For safety reasons perhaps the doors should only be allowed

to open if the ride is stationary (e.g. if Button1 is off). Also

the doors should close automatically if the ride is started with

them open.

Make changes to your flowchart to add these safety features.

Activity 6

It is useful to get off the roundabout at the same

place where you got on. On the front of the turntable

is a virtual input (named Switch) which is turned on by

the triangle on the turntable.

Modify your flowchart so the ride stops at the right

place when it is turned off.

Extension Ideas

• How can the virtual input, Switch, make the door opening procedure

even safer?

• What other use can you think of for the virtual input Switch?

• How could you use power control of the turntable motor to make the

ride more realistic?

• Use the Sound feature of Flowol to include sound in your solution.

Sub DoorOpen

Turn Doors fd

Delay 2

Turn Doors off

Stop

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

7

The Pirate Ship

This Pirate Ship can be made to do exciting movements, but the theme

park owner and safety inspectors would not allow them. Since you are the

software engineer you need to create a control program which produces a

thrilling, but realistic and safe ride.

Open the Pirate Ship

mimic and use the

Status Panel to

explore what the

mimic can do.

The Doors Sw and

Steps inputs (the

yellow triangles) are

virtual inputs and

are triggered by the

ride.

Activity 1

To get the ship swinging we need to keep changing the

motor direction about 0.7 seconds after the ship has passed

its mid position.

Build and complete the Swing subroutine to

reverse the Ship motor 0.7 seconds after

the ship starts moving.

After it has swung back through the mid

position (Steps input on), make the motor

go forward again 0.7 seconds later. Adjust

the 0.7 seconds value if needed.

Now use the Button1 digital input and build

the main flowchart to call (invoke) the

Swing subroutine.

Sub Swing

Turn Ship fd

Delay 0.7

Is Steps on?

Delay 0.7

Is Steps on?

Stop

YES

NO

YES

NO

Start

Is

Button1 on?

Sub Swing

Is

Button1 off?

Turn Ship off

YES

NO

YES

NO

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

8

Activity 2

The next task is to operate the passenger doors in the side of the ship.

Create two subroutines to open and close these doors (Doors motor) and

build a second main flowchart which uses Button2 to call (invoke) the doors

subroutines.

Activity 3

After running your programs from activities 1 and 2 together, you may

have observed a dangerous safety issue! What is the problem?

Overcome this safety issue by controlling all the subroutines with just one

main flowchart.

Extension Ideas

• Add some sound to your ride.

• Gradually increase and decrease the speed of the swing. [Hint: build

two more subroutines changing the speed (power %) of the motor in

stages].

• Improve the safety by ensuring the doors are closed (Door Sw input)

before the ship can start to move.

• (Advanced: Use variables to smoothly increase/decrease the speed

and extent of the swing of the pirate ship for a very realistic ride).

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

9

Grabber Game/Claw Game (Two button version)

To begin with, use this mimic in its default, two button, configuration.

Open the Grabber Game/Claw

Game mimic and use the Status

Panel to see how the mimic

behaves.

The mimic has 4 motors. MoveY,

MoveX and Extension move the

grabber. The Claw motor opens

and closes the fingers of the

claw.

Inputs Forwards and Right are

push buttons which stay on while

the mouse button is held down

(or use the arrow keys on the

keyboard).

The Grab input is a virtual

sensor which is on if a teddy

bear has been caught.

Activity 1

Build this subroutine to move the hoist forwards. Build

another subroutine to move the hoist to the right.

A third subroutine (named Home) is now needed to return

the hoist to its near, left position. [hint: reverse both

motors for about 2 seconds].

Now construct a main flowchart which calls (invokes) these

subroutines when a coin is placed in the slot (Coin Slot

input).

Activity 2

Construct 4 more subroutines to open, lower, close and raise

the grabber/claw and include them into your main flowchart

to complete the game.

Sub Move Forw

Is

Forwards on?

Turn MoveY fd

Is

Forwards off?

Turn MoveY off

Stop

YES

NO

YES

NO

F L O W O L 4 T U T O R I A L

10

Grabber Game/Claw Game (Four button version)

Now click on the Mimic

Options button in the Status

panel to set the mimic to use Four Buttons.

Now there are 4 directional inputs:

Forwards, Backwards, Left and

Right.

Activity 3

Extend the solution in activity 2 by

adding backwards and left control

to the hoist. Modify the main

routine to move the hoist with the

buttons Forwards, Backwards,

Right and Left in this order.

This gives the player an

opportunity to correct if they

overshoot the location of their

target teddy bear.

Activity 4

The 4-button game normally runs a

little differently. It allows the

player to push any of

the 4 buttons in any order, for a pre-determined time limit

before the grabber drops and attempts to grab a bear.

We therefore need a timer to interrupt the player operating

the buttons. First add the Variables to you flowchart by

pressing the button at the top-right of the Flowol window.

Then, add this flowchart to your workspace. Once the Coin

Slot is activated, it increases the variable x at 1 second

intervals to a maximum of 6.

Modify your main routine to allow the buttons to be pressed in

any order until the time limit is reached, after which the

grabber lowers to see if a bear has been won.

Start

Is

Coin Slot on?

Let x = 0

Delay 1

Let x = x + 1

Is x = 6?

YES

NO

YES

NO