programming a robot arm with c++

hello all!

I have recently started a class about C++ technical programming and have been given a group project that involves programming a robot arm to be able to "feel" the things it is about to pick up. This is part of the robotics team overall project to make a somewhat autonomous robot, and this part has been given to my group because we have taken microprocessor classes and know a bit on how to program a microprocessor board using mnemonics programing.

Anyhow, my biggest concern is that I truly do not know much about c++ because I am barely starting the class, and unlike with the microprocessor board i do not know how to use the input output of a computer to communicate with the robot arm.

The project's rough guidelines are the following:

the robot must be able to pick something up like an egg without breaking it, and also be able to pick something up as big as 50 pounds.

the arm will need some kind of tactile sensors to be able to determine the object's relative, for lack of a better word, fragility. Also it should be able to recall how to handle an object after it has already handled something similar.

And what's most important is that the arm will have to be connected to the computer to be able to work, therefore my problem with the way to connect the arm to the computer.

My group and I would really appreciated if any one could help us out with some kind of directional shove towards the right way to program the arm.

by the way we are still looking for some robot arms to comply with our requirements so there is really no true limits yet on the arm itself.