Inter-Robot Communication
NXT bricks have the ability to communicate with each other wirelessly via the BluetoothTMprotocol. In this chapter we will learn how to use this capability and, in the process, learn
some of the basic features of network communication. Network communication in software is
ubiquitous. Mobile phones, iPods, laptops, credit card swipes, and ATM's all have internal
software with networking capabilities. There are even refrigerators and vending machines
with networking capabilities!
To take advantage of NXT-to-NXT communication, the bricks in question have to be
paired up manually. Instructions on how to do so are available in the RobotC On-line
Support on the left side-bar under the ROBOTC Interface ! Bluetooth and the NXT !
Connecting Two NXT Bricks section.
You will notice in this tutorial that the NXT bricks have been given \friendly" names{in
this case \ROBOTC1" and \ROBOTC2". Following this example, it is a good idea to give your
robot a friendly name as well. Under the RobotC menu Robot ! NXT Brick ! Link Setup,
choose the \Rename NXT" button and rename the brick.
A single NXT brick can be paired with up to 3 other bricks. RobotC provides a very
sophisticated set of inter-robot communication tools. However, when paired with more than
one other brick, RobotC's inter-robot communication functions are far less ecient. There
is also a simplied set of communication tools that are specic to the situation when only
two robots are in communication with each other. We will only consider the simplied
communication system summarized here1.
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