CS 336
Homework 1
Assigned 2/17/06
Due in class 3/03/06

Part 0. Set up the simulator and framework environment.
     You may use your own computer or those located in the CS
     Undergraduate lab. To obtain an account on the lab's computers
     see here: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/services_faq.html 

   1. Read the overview on the homework tools here:
      http://cs336.webhop.org/overview.html 
   2. Follow the installation guide here:

      http://cs336.webhop.org/installation.html 
   
   You can obtain the install files here:
      http://cs336.webhop.org/Downloads

   3. Read the documentation for the Homework1 skeleton project here:
      http://cs336.webhop.org/SimpleRobot-doc.html 

      You can obtain a zip file of the project here:
      http://cs336.webhop.org/Downloads 
  
Part 1. Implement tangent bug on the robot simulation system described in
   class.

   Your code should query the user for 3 arguments:

     1. The goal position (x,y) location to achieve
     2. The maximum distance of the range sensors
     3. The nominal velocity of the robot; you are free to adjust
        the robot velocity if you wish.

   The the robot should "wakes up" at the origin and should run until
   the robot reaches the goal, or detect that the goal is unreachable.

   Since the robot is non-holonomic, it suffices to arrive within a
   small fixed distance to the goal.

   The three main functionalities you should develop are:

     1. The ability to drive the robot in a specific direction toward
        a specific goal. For now, a simple heuristic is to always
        point the wheels in the direction you want to go; as noted
        above you will also want to come up with a rule for adjusting
        the speed as you near the goal.

     2. Boundary following by computing the tangent to the boundary
        and moving in that direction

     3. The bug algorithm using boundary following the goal-directed
        motion.

    You should submit the source code in a package that is easily
    compiled as well as a binary executable.

Part 2. Do written questions 3.2, 3.17 and 3.21