Move Multiple Robots at the Same Time
In this lesson, you will learn how to move more than one robot at the same time using special blocks called "non-blocking" blocks. This video shows how these blocks let the robots move or turn without waiting, and how to use a moveWait block to make sure the robots finish moving before the program ends. You will also learn how turning off the trace line can help everything run more smoothly when multiple robots are moving.  

 

 

1. Non-Blocking Code Blocks

Normally, when a program runs, RoboBlocky finishes one block before starting the next. This means robots take turns moving, one after the other. But what if you want more than one robot to move at the same time? You can do this using special blocks called "non-blocking" blocks.

A non-blocking block starts running, but RoboBlocky does not wait for it to finish. Instead, it moves right on to the next block. This lets things happen at the same time, like two robots driving together. One example is the driveDistanceNB block. It is like the regular driveDistance block. The difference is that it does not wait before running the next block. You can see this in Example 1.

 

2. The moveWait Block

To make sure the program waits until all robots are done moving, we use another block called moveWait. This block tells RoboBlocky to wait until all the non-blocking movements are finished before ending the program. Without moveWait, robots might stop moving before they are supposed to.

In Example 2, Robot 1 uses a driveDistanceNB block to move forward 8 inches. Robot 2 uses a regular driveDistance block to move forward 4 inches. Because the moveWait block is not used, the program ends early after 4 inches and Robot 1 does not finish moving.

In Example 3, the moveWait block is added at the end of the program. This lets Robot 1 finish moving all 8 inches before the program stops.

3. Turn the Trace Off

When using non-blocking blocks, it is a good idea to turn off the robot’s trace line. This helps everything run more smoothly, especially if more than two robots are moving at once. You can turn off the trace with the trace on/off block.

Or, by unchecking the “Trace Position” box in the Robot Settings below the grid. 

If you cannot find the "Trace Position" box, make sure Simple View and MinView are turned off. For more info on turning the trace on and off, view this lesson.

 

4. The turnNB Block

The turn block has a non-blocking version: turnNB. This works similar to the driveDistanceNB block. The turnNB block lets the robot turn while the next block runs at the same time. You can see this in Example 4.

Like the turn block, there are two versions of the turnNB block. The first version lets you type in the number of degrees to turn in a blue number block. The second has a circle you can click, where you pick the turn amount in steps of 15 degrees, from 0 to 345.