Robot

The Robot is an item added by BuildCraft which has no direct function, but is the basic component for all robots which perform later a specific job.

The robots from BuildCraft differ greatly in the way of handling to robots from other mods such as ComputerCraft. While in ComputerCraft the robots (called as Turtle) must have every single step programmed manually to tell the robot what it has to do, this is not the case with the BuildCraft robots. Every version of the robot has a specialized job, which is pre-programmed and cannot be changed. This attribute decreases the freedom to change the job of the robot, but increases the usability, as it doesn't require programming skills.

Some robots already have so much "ability" that they can be placed without any additional settings in the world and just do their job. For example the "Picker" Robot needs only to be placed on the Docking Station to work. The "Picker" flies in the active chunks around the player and picks up all items lying on the ground; everything until its inventory is full. Then the "Picker" returns to the Docking Station and stops its work.

While this function is ok, but the player must tell the robot where the items are to be unloaded, and optionally where to look for around laying items (working zone).

The option of a defined working area, the "Picker" does not need necessary, but for the "Leaf Cutter" Robot this option is important. Because if the "Leaf Cutter" has no defined working area, then he makes the same like the "Picker" and flies in all directions and cuts all leaves in the environment of the player. Every tree/forest would be cleared and also leaves which are included for decoration in a house are cut. And this is the time where the player must engage and control the robot, in this example with a working area which is defined with Land Marks. An example of a 3-dimensional working area is shown in Picture 1

The controlling of the robots is provided by all the Emerald Gates and via a Docking Station, which is shown in the example in Picture 1. All designs of the Emerald Gate (Standard, Clock Timer, Redstone Fader, Light Sensor and Autarchic) have the same basic functions of the Gates to interact with pipes and the same options to interact with the Robots via the Docking Station. But every special designs of the Emerald Gate can be used if the respective special functions are needed.

Thus the fundamental principle of the BuildCraft Robots is: Every robot knows his job and is optimized for that, and the player must control, respectively set limits, for the job.

There are currently 17 robots in BuildCraft, which are briefly described in the following table. For detailed information and a setup example look in the respective article of the robot.