A few tips on debugging

Throughout the years working with the kids and coaches, we have found a few techniques useful for debugging for both RCX and NXT.

1. Add an icon in your program to play a sound when you expect something to happen, then watch the robot's motion to see if the sound is played at the right time.

2. Add a brief case, or a container to store a debug delay time, say, 2 seconds. Add an icon with that delay to locations you want to check proper behavior. For performance runs, you replace the brief case or container with 0 seconds and you get no delay at the table.

3. Use data logging, available for both RCX and NXT, and log the sensor readings or other events to a file and then review the file.

There are certainly many other techniques. But the kids like 1 the most as they can understand it. Some advanced kids can understand and use 2 effectively. Using 3 to debug is too much work for most kids.