SwiftBot Rust Library

This is the library for controlling the SwiftBot.

Getting Started

To start coding your SwiftBot, type cargo add swift_bot_api add the following lines of code to the start of your program.

use swift_bot_api::*;

You will also have to create an instance of the SwiftBot, like this:

let mut bot = SwiftBot::new().expect("Unable to initialise SwiftBot");

Buttons

SwiftBot has four buttons to its rear, labelled A, B, X, and Y. These can be read using the is_pressed() function, which accepts the Button enum that consists of the following varients:

• Button::A
• Button::B
• Button::X
• Button::Y

For example, to read the A button you would write:

if is_pressed(Button::A) {
    // perform action
}

Button LEDs

Next to each button on the SwiftBot is a white LED. These can be controlled using the set_button_light() function, which also accepts the Button enum like the is_pressed() method above, followed by a number between 0.0 and 1.0.

For example, to set the button B light to half brightness you would write:

bot.set_button_light(Button::B, 0.5);

To turn the light off you would set the value to 0.0:

bot.set_button_light(Button::B, 0.0);

Motors

The SwiftBot features two motors with independent control, enabling differential steering, whereby the speed of one motor can be controlled separately of the other.

There are several ways these motors can be commanded from code:

Simple Movements

bot.forward()
bot.backward()

The above functions will drive SwiftBot at full speed.

To stop SwiftBot from moving, simply call bot.stop(). This will make the robot stop sharply.

Advanced Movements

To get more control over SwiftBot's movements, each motor can be individually controlled using set_motor_speed(). This takes the Motor enum and a number between -1.0 and 1.0, where positive values will drive the motor forward and negative values will drive the motor backward. The below example will have Swiftbot curving slowly to the right.

bot.set_motor_speed(Motor::Left, 1.0);
bot.set_motor_speed(Motor::Right, 0.5);

Underlighting

The SwiftBot also has a six-zone RGB underlighting.

Set colour

bot.set_underlight(255, 0, 0) // red
bot.show_underlight() // make the lights show

Disable lights

There may be the case where you want to turn off the underlights, for example to save power, but have them remember what colour you last set when turned back on. For this the bot.clear_underlight() can be used.

Distance Sensor

SwiftBot features a front mounted ultrasonic distance sensor. This sensor can be read using bot.distance(), which will return a measured distance in centrimetres, like so:

let distance = bot.distance();
println!("Distance: {}cm", distance);

Camera

SwiftBot features a front mounted camera. You can save pictures using the method bot.save_photo() followed by the filename, height, width and the exposure time (in ms)

bot.save_photo("image.jpg", 100, 100, 500);

If you would prefer to not save the image, you can get a buffer of the image instead using bot.photo_buffer()

let buffer = bot.photo_buffer(100, 100, 500);