I Hate ROBOLAB

That's a pretty strong statement but it sums up my 7 years not so pleasant experience with the software. 

Picture this...we're working on our bots and my kids have been working hard to figure out gear ratios.  OK, they're 6th graders and ratios are still a bit foreign to them.  We've spent the whole week talking about ratios and what they mean.  And they've got their bot built and are ready to start the trials...we were to change into different gear configurations and see what the effect was on speed.

I only needed Robolab to allow the kids to create the simplest of programs...just a short 4 second turn on of both motors.  Not so much to ask.  But Robolab IR interface is a continuing problem in our school environment. 

First of all, we don't have the proper network permissions for the kids to be able to plug in the USB Infrared Tower...so I have to log onto the computers.  So much for network security.

Then it won't "see" the IR tower because we have too much light.  We try putting the tower in a box, under a desk in a box and so forth.  Still our program won't download into the RCX brick.  I find out that we haven't installed the patch.  Whatever the darn patch is..........

It's enough to discourage teachers and students.  It's why I hate technology.  When it's so complicated that you just want to throw in the towel ....well, all the cool learning is gone.  The kids were so disappointed that we could run their tests...

Not to worry.  I called a friend who has a stand alone computer not invovled in the network.  She brought it over to my room and we just wrote one program that everyone used.  The IR towers worked great and the bricks got the instruction set. 

Monday we'll run our trials.  I wish I could permanently borrow my friend's computer.  That's so not practical.  I simply lack the resources or know-how to get this to work on what I have in my room.  And by the way, let me tell you that our NXT software, LabView, works like a charm.  If I only had enough NXT bots, I'd be just fine.