RobotC - Programming an Elevator

Question

I'm designing and programming an elevator-like robot for a high school project. Could I possibly do anything to make this any simpler? Or better? I have attached a picture of my design that I made in AutoCAD Inventor with labels.

For those not familiar with RobotC or VEX (it is VERY similar to C and C++): the limit switches (limit1, limit2, ...) and bump switches (floor1, floor2, ...) are analog buttons and return a value of 0 if not pressed and 1 if pressed. The motor (mainMotor) rotates the gear which causes the mechanism to travel upwards on the slide. When the shaft sticking out the motor mechanism moves up and down, it presses limit switches and causes it to return a value of 1.

int callup [3];
int calldown [3];
int floorat[3];

    int main ()
    {

        if (SensorValue[limit1] == 1)
        {
            floorat[0] = 1;
        }
        else
        {
            floorat[0] = 0;
        }

        if (SensorValue[limit2] == 1)
        {
            floorat[1] = 1;
        }
        else
        {
            floorat[1] = 0;
        }

        if (SensorValue[limit3] == 1)
        {
            floorat[2] = 1;
        }
        else
        {
            floorat[2] = 0;
        }

        if (SensorValue[floor1] == 1)
        {
            calldown[0] = 1;
            SensorValue[LED1] = 1;
        }

        if (SensorValue[floor2] == 1 && floorat[2] == 1)
        {
            calldown[1] = 1;
            SensorValue[LED2] = 1;
        }

        if (SensorValue[floor2] == 1 && floorat[0] == 1)
        {
            callup[1] = 1;
            SensorValue[LED2] = 1;
        }

        if (SensorValue[floor3])
        {
            callup[2] = 1;
            SensorValue[LED3] = 1;
        }

        motors ();

    }


    void motors ()
    {

        if (callup[2] == 1 && floorat[2] == 1)
        {
            int x = 1;
            while (x < 3)
            {
                SensorValue[LED3] = 1;
                wait(0.5);
                SensorValue[LED3] = 0;
                wait(0.5);
            }
            callup[2] = 0;
            main ();
        }
        else if (callup[1] == 1 && floorat[1] == 1)
        {
            int x = 1;
            while (x < 3)
            {
                SensorValue[LED2] = 1;
                wait(0.5);
                SensorValue[LED2] = 0;
                wait(0.5);
            }
            callup[1] = 0;
            main ();
        }
        else if (callup[0] == 1 && floorat[0] == 1)
        {
            int x = 1;
            while (x < 3)
            {
                SensorValue[LED1] = 1;
                wait(0.5);
                SensorValue[LED1] = 0;
                wait(0.5);
            }
            callup[0] = 0;
            main ();
        }

        if (callup[2] == 1 && floorat[1] == 1 && calldown[0] == 0 || callup[2] == 1 && floorat[0] == 1 && callup[1] == 0)
        {
            startMotor(mainMotor, 60);
            untilTouch(limit3);
            stopMotor(mainMotor);
            callup[2] = 0;
            wait(1);
            main ();
        }

        if (callup[1] == 1 && floorat[0] == 1)
        {
            startMotor(mainMotor, 60);
            untilTouch(limit2);
            stopMotor(mainMotor);
            callup[1] = 0;
            wait(1);
            main();
        }

        if (calldown[1] == 1 && floorat[2] == 1)
        {
            startMotor(mainMotor, -60);
            untilTouch(limit2);
            stopMotor(mainMotor);
            calldown[1] = 0;
            wait(1);
            main();
        }

        if (calldown[0] == 1 && floorat[2] == 1 && calldown[1] == 0 || calldown[0] == 1 && floorat[1] == 1)
        {
            startMotor(mainMotor, -60);
            untilTouch(limit1);
            stopMotor(mainMotor);
            calldown[0] = 0;
            wait(1);
            main();
        }
    }

Although it shouldn't be a concern for this question, the 60 in the startMotor command is the speed of the motor, just to make it clearer.

Feel free to ask any more questions.

Answer 1

I'm not familiar with RobotC or VEX, however I've noticed a certain amount of replicated operations that could be made into their own functions.

The following code snippets I would make into separate functions. So in the large function called motors you have the following set of operations:

    int x = 1;
    while (x < 3)
    {
        SensorValue[LED3] = 1;
        wait(0.5);
        SensorValue[LED3] = 0;
        wait(0.5);
    }
    callup[2] = 0;
    main ();

This is repeated with slightly different values.

Here I'd write a function like the following:

void adjust_sensors( size_t led, size_t level )
{
    int x = 1;
    while (x < 3)
    {
        SensorValue[led] = 1;
        wait(0.5);
        SensorValue[led] = 0;
        wait(0.5);
    }
    callup[level] = 0;
    main ();
}

You can do the same for the following code as well:

startMotor(mainMotor, 60);
untilTouch(limit3);
stopMotor(mainMotor);
callup[2] = 0;
wait(1);
main ();

Also it seems like the while loop will never end because the value of x never changes.

You also have a typo at the top when you declare:

int callown [2];

I presume you meant:

int calldown [2];

Would be good to add some comments to your code as well for clarity.

Hope this helps.