1.1 Square One

So how do we make robots go? What makes the motors run and what makes the gears turn?

Well first you need to know that every motor or clamp or pneumatic on the robot is assigned a number.

The computer uses that number to identify which thingy it wants to communicate with.

Lets say that you have a four wheeled robot that has 4 different motors attached to each wheel.

Wheel 1 --- Motor 1
Wheel 2 --- Motor 2
Wheel 3 --- Motor 3
Wheel 4 --- Motor 4

We want each of these to go in the same direction so what we tell the computer is
When the stick is pushed forward:

Motor 1 : GO FORWARD (Top Left)
Motor 2 : GO FORWARD (Top Right)
Motor 3 : GO FORWARD (Bottom Left)
Motor 4 : GO FORWARD (Bottom Right)

If we want each of the motors to go backwards then we do the opposite, obviously.

If we want the robot to turn like a tank to the right then we would tell the motors:

Motor 1 : GO FORWARD (Top Left)
Motor 2 : GO BACKWARD (Top Right)
Motor 3 : GO FORWARD (Bottom Left)
Motor 4 : GO BACKWARD (Bottom Right)