Robot Picker

The "Picker" Robot is a Robot added by BuildCraft, which has the special ability to pick up items on the ground and to stored them in a chest (see Usage). It's for example useful to pick up the removed blocks from a "Miner", "Lumberjack" or "Shovelman" Robot. In the same time the player can do other things.

Usage


In this example, the usage of the "Picker" is explained parallel to the usage of a "Shovelman", but is of course adaptive to other robots. The robot automatically picks up items on the ground, as the name implies, and can be used to pick up Sand from the "Shovelman" Robot The setup to start this work is a little bit complicated, but is explained step by step on the example sand hill (shown in Fig. 1), which is removed by the "Shovelman" and the sand blocks lying on the ground.

The following items are needed for the setup:
 * 4 Land Marks and some Dirt and Ladders (amount dependent on the height of the sand hill), respectively the working are of another robot
 * 2 Chests
 * 1 Stone Transport Pipe
 * 1 Docking Station
 * 1 Emerald AND Gate (or a other type of Emerald Gate if special functions needed)
 * 1 Lever
 * 1 Map Location
 * 1 "Picker" Robot

Step 1: Define Work Zone
In the first step, the player must delimit the area in which the robot should pick up items fromm the ground. This is achieved with Land Marks. If the player doesn't define a working area and configured it in Step 3, then the robot works but wants to fly in every active chunk around the player and pick up every tem on the ground. If the player has already a working area for the "Shovelman" defined, then then this step can be skipped.

If a new workinga area must be defined, then the player must place three Land Marks in a 90° angle which defines the base of the sand hill. Now the player can right-click on one of the marks to active the red borders (shown in Fig. 2) which displays the ground area of the work zone.

The two marks on the left and right in the figure may not be more than 64 blocks away from the center mark.

Now, the player must build, for example a dirt tower, over the mark in the center until the height where the last wood are present.

On top of the dirt tower, the player must place the fourth Land Mark.

If the player now right-click on any Land Mark, then a red border should be appear which frames a 3-dimensional work zone (shown in Fig. 3). If no red border appears, then the Land Marks don't stand in a 90° angel or are more than 64 blocks away from each other.

To pick up all blocks on the ground (also blocks which lie at higher levels), the "Picker" Robot needs a 3-dimensional zone which includes all possible surfaces. If the player uses the 2-dimensional zone, which was defined with the three ground marks, the robot picks up only the sand blocks on the ground. Each sand block outside the working area is not touched.

Step 2: Control Station
In the second step, the player must build up the control station of the robot. It can be placed anywhere but it is recommend to place it in the near. The following explained control station is a minimum example and can be extended.

The station includes a double Chest, with a connected Stone Transport Pipe, as well as a Docking Station and a Emerald AND Gate which can be placed anywhere on the gate (without disconnecting the chest).

In front of the Emerald Gate, the Lever can be placed. Now the station should look like the example in Fig. 4.

Step 3: Configuration
The third step is the configuration of the Emerald Gate to control the robot. Also here, this example isn't the only system that works and can be extended.

The player must open the GUI of the Emerald Gate with a right-click, which shows two configurable blocks (one left, one right).

Select all the options as shown in Fig. 5. In the first and third row on the right side is a question mark determining whether the options before are selected. That means that something must be put in this slots.

Now only the important configurations to control the robot, which are shown in Fig. 5, are explained in the following:

A full explanation of all possible functions can be found in the article of the Emerald Gate.

The sequence of rows has no meaning, but only what is in each row.

The option previously required coordinates which must be added by the Map Location.
 * 1) Take the Map Location and right click on one of the Land Marks to receive the coordinates of the working zone (shown in Fig. 6). The Map Location should now have a rectangle on the item. Now this map must be placed in GUI of the Emerald Gate in the "question slot" in the first row ("Working area" option). The Map Location should remain stored, and can be reused for the second coordinates.
 * 2) Take the Map Location again and right-click on the Docking Station to receive the coordinates. Note: Here it is important, which side is indicated at the coordinates for the docking station. This is displayed in the player inventory if the cursor is moved on the Map Location. Please check if the specified side is the same where the docking station is, for example UP if the docking station is on the upside of the pipe. Now put the map in the GUI of the Emerald Gate in the question slot in the third ("Unload" option) and fourth row ("Go to station" option).
 * 3) At least put any desired shovel in one of the empty slots in the second row on the right side

Now the configuration should appear like in Fig. 5 and the control station is configured. The Land Marks and the respective frame are now not longer needed for this example and can be removed. If you want to use the frame for other robots, make sure you have the coordinates stored in a Map Location.

Step 4: Start and Stop
In the fourth and last step, the "Picker" Robot can be placed on top of the Docking Station (shown in Fig. 7). At first the robot does nothing because the function in the third row commands the robot to stay on the station.

If the Lever in front of the gate is switched and a redstone signal receives the gate, the first and the second row is active.

After a short time (the update time of the robot), the robot start the work in the defined zone (first row in the Emerald Gate) (shown in Fig. 8) until no items are up in the working area.

Once the robot is fully loaded, he return back to the station automatically. Once there, the function on the second and third row is triggered, and the robot unloads the collected items into the chest and then continues with the work.

When all items are been repealed in the defined working area, the robot automatically returns to the control station. But he still active and will start again to work, when a new block is dropped in the working area. The work of the robot can be stopped anytime by switching the lever (in front of the gate) off. When the robot is currently at work, then he returns back to station automatically.

Recharging
If the robot is low on energy, it will begin to seek out a kinesis pipe with a docking station to charge itself. If none are available, it will continue doing its job until its battery dies. The player can also stop the robot with attacks to prematurely drain its battery, causing the to robot drop as item on the ground. Stronger attacks will drain its battery faster. The player can pick up the robot and place in the Charging Table to recharge it. After that, the robot can be placed again on the Docking Station and is again ready to work.