Cybersecurity: Navigation Control from a Keyboard

What it’s about

This tutorial focuses on the basics of radio-controlling a cyber:bot from your terminal.  You will be able to type in left and right wheel speeds and a number of milliseconds to execute a maneuver.  After you’ve entered those three values, the cyber:bot will do the rest.  

The first version of this app will be tethered, with all commands going into the cyber:bot through USB.  The second version will be wireless.  It will work the same as the tethered app, but you won’t have the constraint of a USB cable any more.  At that point, it’ll be a great little script for remotely navigating through mazes.

Wireless cyber:bot control through a terminal builds on the radio countdown example in Send and Receive Packets from the Radio Data Tutorial.  Instead of an output that counts down and displays a message, the output will be a cyber:bot that executes the maneuver you typed into the terminal.

Before you start

You will need:

  • At least one cyber:bot and one additional micro:bit (on or off a cyber:bot)
  • At least one USB A to microB cable

Complete these tutorials first:

After you finish

You can use this app to make your cyber:bot remotely navigate a maze. Or, use one micro:bit transmitter to control a whole cyber:bot fleet in a synchronized dance routine!

You will also have more practice with a radio application, simplified by packet communication with key-value pairs.  The transmitter script will packetize and transmit the speed and maneuver time values you type.  The receiver will parse the packet it receives and then execute the maneuver.  

You will also be ready to move on to the next tutorial (with more coming soon!):