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White Box Robotics PC-Bot 914 Quick Start Manual

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© Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc

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Summary of Contents for White Box Robotics PC-Bot 914

  • Page 1 © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 2 Liability In no event will White Box Robotics, Inc. or Frontline Robotics, Inc. be liable for any damage, including loss of data or profits, cost of cover, or other incidental, consequential or indirect damages arising from the installation maintenance, use, performance, failure or interruption of White Box Robotics, Inc.

  • Page 3: Unpacking The Robot

    Unpacking the Robot The following image shows how the PC-BOT should have arrived in the shipping box. STEP 1 – Un-packing the robot Remove the peripheral equipment wrapped in bubble wrap. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 4 STEP 2 – Un-packing the robot cont. Carefully remove the side and front/back supporting foam. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 5 The following image shows where the handles are located, you’ll have to feel for them when the robot is in the box. There are two handles front and back. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...

  • Page 6: Setting-Up The Robot

    Now that the robot is out of the box, you should plug the charger in to charge the batteries. The charger connector is found behind the left rear vent door on the back of the robot. Flip the door open as shown in the above picture. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 7 If the battery level goes below 11.2V the robot will auto-shutdown. Either while you are running the robot, and especially when you are finished with it for the day, PLEASE REMEMBER TO RE- CHARGE THE BATTERIES. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 8 The head and front/back torso body panels are attached with ball studs and sockets. This allows for easy removal of the panels without tools. Gently remove the head by grabbing under the separation (between the head and torso plastics) and pulling straight up. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 9 You can use your thumbs to leaver while pulling on the body panels with your finger tips. Both body panels are removed in the same way. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 10 Charger jack on the left side, and on the right side the back panel of the Mini-ITX. Plug the monitor, keyboard and mouse into the Mini-ITX back panel in order to setup your robot, like the network etc. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 11 PC again to auto-shutdown before the power is cut (45 seconds later) and the batteries are protected from total discharge. This is the same as the user pushing the PC ON switch on the CPU and shutting down the computer. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 12 NOTE: If the robot is sitting on a desk, it might be advisable to turn the M3 Switch OFF so that the robot cannot drive off the table. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 13 You should connect the Wireless device to the USB board mounted on the head if this is not already done. In this location the head can still be placed back on the robot and not interfere with the Wireless USB Network Adapter or its antennae. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 14 Support Documents – (Quick Start Guides, Basic Unit Computer Installation, Plastics Assembly, etc.) http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/support.html Technical Specifications http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/pdf/PC-Bot_Tech_Spec- Wiring and Power: WiringPowerv1.1.pdf I/O Board Block Diagram: http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/pdf/PC- Bot_Tech_Spec-IOBoardBlockDiagramv1.1.pdf Infra-red Sensors: http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/pdf/PC-Bot_Tech_Spec-Infra- redSensorsv1.1.pdf © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 15 This handbook is intended to introduce the basics of using Player/Stage as driver software for the White Box Robotics 914 PC-BOT and is not meant to replace the actual Player and Stage manuals. It is expected that you already have deep and existing knowledge of Linux as well as knowledge of the general constraints of working inside the Linux environment and some knowledge of working with Player/Stage and its components.
  • Page 16 There are two ways to restart the server: 1. Re-running the rc.local script which will run the server in the background; 2. Opening a new terminal window and manually starting player. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 17 For option 2: open a new terminal window and execute: $ player /home/wbr/wbr914.cfg To close this instance of player, press Ctrl-C in the terminal window. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...

  • Page 18: Robot Operation

    Player devices (so that is shows and can be controlled inside the simulated environment). We provide the following for the default configuration 914 PC-BOT at this location: /home/wbr/wbr914.cfg © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 19 This interface returns the digital input information and allows control of the digital outputs on all installed White Box Robotics I/O boards. The first I/O board supplies 8 digital inputs and outputs and the optional second I/O board supplies an additional 8 digital inputs and outputs.
  • Page 20 .cfg file to allow the robot to access the sensors. Examples: Hokuyo URG scanning laser range-finder Text to add to your robot .cfg file driver name "urglaser" provides ["laser:0"] port "/dev/ttyACM0" © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 21 Logitech QuickCam Orbit Text to add to your robot .cfg file driver name "spheredriver" provides ["camera:0" "ptz:0"] port "/dev/video0" size [320 240] mode "RGB24" automatic_wb "fl" framerate 30 shutter_speed 64000 © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 22 "wbr914" provides [ "position2d:0" "ir:0" "aio:0" "dio:0" ] port "/dev/ttyUSB0" driver name “camerauvc” provides [“camera:0”] port “/dev/video0” size [320 240] driver name "urglaser" provides ["laser:0"] port "/dev/ttyACM0" © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 23 Stage simulation, you will need to stop this process before running the ‘player’ command with the new ‘.cfg’ file. Step 3b: On the command line, type: ‘player –p 6665 wbr914.cfg’ © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 24 Having found the robot a further window opens on the right (see above). Step 5: Go to the ‘Devices’ menu and scroll down to ‘position2d:0’ and choose ‘Subscribe’ © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 25 ‘Position mode’. Again with the left mouse button click and drag the bulls-eye. The physical robot will spin and drive in a forward direction to achieve the goal position until you drop the bulls-eye. It will stop when it gets close to the goal. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 26 Step 11: To zoom in and out in the PlayerViewer windows, click and hold the right mouse button and drag towards or away from the circle that appears. To move the environment, click and hold the left mouse button on the grid surface and drag it. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 27 Step 12: Close the ‘playerv’ application by choosing File -> Exit or clicking the ‘x’ in the top right corner. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 28 It is located under this directory: ~/player-2.0.3/examples/libplayerc++ The ‘wbr_avoid.cc’ can be edited and re-compiled easily by typing the following command: ‘g++ -o wbr_avoid `pkg-config –cflags playerc++` wbr_avoid.cc `pkg-config –libs playerc++`’ © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 29 Step 15: On the command line of the terminal window that is in the C++ examples directory, type ‘./wbr_avoid’ and press enter. This will initiate the IR avoid program that will cause the robot to drive © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 30 Step 17: To run the control programs from a remote computer, the robot must be connected on the same network and the IP address must be known. Type the following command with the IP address in place of the <IPaddress>: “./laserobstacleavoid –h <IPaddress> -p 6665” © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 31 A video window opens and displays the camera images. You can see in the above picture how the playercam command connects to Player. You will receive some errors in the playercam call as the blobfinder is not being used. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 32 Reading through these and seeing what the result is in Stage is the optimum way to understand how to change/create them to fit with your own project work. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 33 Begin with the ‘wbr914.inc’ file. This file models the robot and places the sensors on it with the proper ranges and pose. The model is based on the following images. Coordinates for the model polygons © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 34 Coordinates for the IR sensors ‘wbr914.inc’ file code # Desc: Device definitions for Whitebox Robotics PC-BOT 914 robot. # Author: Neil Schubert # Date: 10 Mar 2007 # The PC-BOT IR array define wbr914_ir ranger # sensor count used in this ranger...
  • Page 35 # draw a nose on the robot so we can see which way it points gui_nose 1 # estimated mass in KG mass 25.0 # this polygon approximates the shape of a PC-BOT 914 # Use two polygons to draw the robot polygons 2 # details of the first polygon # polygon[index].points (total number of polygon points)
  • Page 36 # similar robots because the beam would go over the robot. This adds more # reality to the simulation (and worse detection) if you uncomment the line # laser_return 0 # use the IR array defined above wbr914_ir() © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 37 "bitmaps/hospital_section.png" map_resolution 0.02 size [40 18] name "hospital" # a block for gripping define puck model( size [ 0.08 0.08 ] gripper_return 1 gui_movemask 3 gui_nose 0 fiducial_return 10 © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 38 [0.200 0.000 0.000] color "gray" ) speech() loaded_pioneer color "red" name "pioneer2" pose [-5.645 3.034 -162.098] define loaded_wbr914 wbr914 hokuyo_URG_laser pose [0.0 0.0 0.0 ] fiducial_return 1 gripper_return 0 localization "gps" © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 39 [ 0 0 0 ] loaded_wbr914 color "white" name "wbr914_1" pose [-6.009 2.481 -194.220] loaded_wbr914 color "yellow" name "wbr914_2" pose [-6.492 2.156 -199.781] © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 40 ["6666:position2d:0" "6666:sonar:0" "6666:laser:0" "6666:blobfinder:0" "6666:fiducial:0"] model "pioneer2" # 3rd robot driver( name "stage" provides ["6667:position2d:0" "6667:sonar:0" "6667:laser:0"] model "wbr914_1" # 4th robot driver( name "stage" provides ["6668:position2d:0" "6668:sonar:0" "6668:laser:0"] model "wbr914_2" © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 41 ‘ps aux |grep player’. The only thing listed is the grep command, so player server is NOT running. Step 21: Now type the command ‘player wbr914sim.cfg’. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 42 The virtual robots can be moved in this window by ‘left’ clicking on them and dragging them. You can zoom in and out by right clicking on the map and dragging towards or away from the center of the circle that is created. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 43 You can see this in the ‘player server’ window: Each one of those robots can be individually controlled using any of the client programs (playerv, playerjoy, laserobstacle avoidance, etc.). © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 44 Step 23: Type ‘./laserobstacleavoid –p 6665’ this will cause the laser obstacle avoidance program to run on the first pioneer robot. The robot begins to move and displays the scan of the SICK Laser scanner. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 45 Step 24: Open another terminal window and go to the same directory as before. Type ‘./sonarobstacleavoid –p 6666’. This will cause the sonar obstacle avoidance program to control the second pioneer robot. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 46 BOT using the Hokuyo Laser instead of the Sick laser. (Note: wbr_avoid program works only on the real robot and not on the Stage simulator. This is due to the IR proxy call, which is not currently supported in Stage) © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 47 The terminal window outputs the usage keys. Close all the client programs and the player server. Use CTRL-C for the programs. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 48 "stage" provides ["6665:position2d:0" "6665:laser:0"] model "wbr914_1" driver name "vfh" provides ["6665:position2d:1"] requires ["6665:position2d:0" "6665:laser:0"] distance_epsilon 0.3 angle_epsilon 5 driver name "amcl" provides ["6665:localize:0" "6665:position2d:2"] requires ["odometry::6665:position2d:0" "6665:laser:0" "laser::6665:map:0"] © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 49 The driver also requires a pre-defined map of the environment against which to compare observed sensor values. Wavefront http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/doc/Player-2.0.0/player/group__driver__wavefront.html The wavefront driver implements a global path planner for a planar mobile robot. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 50 # load an environment bitmap bitmap "bitmaps/cave.png" size [16 16] name "cave" #defines the robot model wbr914 name "wbr914_1" color "white" pose [-5.5 -6.5 45] hokuyo_URG_laser( pose [ 0 0 0 ] ) © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 51 Step 28: Type the following command ‘player wbr_wavefront.cfg’ The following window opens up once the player server loads. Step 29: Open another terminal window. Type the following command in ‘playernav’. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 52 Step 30: On the playernav windows, click with the ‘left’ mouse button, drag and move the robot model (identified with the red circle) to the same location as shown in the Stage window. You need to do this © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 53 Click with the left mouse button again on top of the robot when the line appears. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 54 You then need to left click and have the waypoints plotted to show the robot path. The robot begins to drive to the end point optimizing the path through sensed objects. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 55 Step 32: As the robot drives, the waypoints will disappear. Notice also that the robot in the Stage window drives also to the end point. Close the playernav utility and player server when finished. © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...
  • Page 56 Note: All webpages and documentation is offered in English only. Player/Stage/Gazebo Project Main Webpage: http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/ Player WIKI page: http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page Player/Stage/Gazebo Documentation: http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/index.php?src=doc Basic frequently asked questions (good place if you have a problem) http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/wiki/Basic_FAQ © Copyright 2006-2007 White Box Robotics Inc. and Frontline Robotics Inc...