Robobot

This page is for ROBOBOT, an extension of REGBOT with a raspberry pi and three wheels.

Figure 1. Robobot, The robot is a 3D-printed box with wheels and some electronics. The third, fourth and fifth generations are shown here. The 3D printed parts can be found here https://cad.onshape.com/documents/fef8699fcafb8aea780c8981/w/ce38e7fdd6cf8533b65e2c3c/e/4792e876b254f8e35059f863

Overview

Note: Not valid (mostly) for the 2024 version of the robot

hardware

ROBOBOT is based on a navigation box with a line sensor (Edge sensor), an IR distance sensor and possibly some servos, all controlled by a microprocessor. For more intelligent behaviour and more sensors, there is a Raspberry Pi in the box too,

The motors are JGB37-545 with an encoder and a 1:10 gearing (up to about 400RPM (or ~6 RPS (rotations per second) on the output axle).

There is a video introduction and demo here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNr_F0dsHw (from 2022 - slight changes since)

Navigation box overview

Figure 2. ROBOBOT is an extension of the robot REGBOT. The REGBOT part controls the wheels and interfaces to the sensors, like an IMU (6-axis accelerometer and gyro), IR distance sensors (2), and a line edge detector. The REGBOT further controls up to 5 servos and controls the battery supply. ROBOBOT is further equipped with a Raspberry Pi to allow more complicated missions. The Raspberry Pi runs an interface process called "Bridge" and is the main interface to the REGBOT. The mission process collects data from the bridge and the REGBOT and supplies small mission code snippets to be executed by the REGBOT part. The mission process may use the camera and the Open-CV library functions. The speaker allows debugging messages or other sound effects.

The ROBOBOT functions are available on the net at port number 24001. The existing user interface for REGBOT can access REGBOT functions from this port.

The gamepad can take control of the robot if the mission fails and can be used to initiate missions or other functions.

Software description

Bridge software

The Robobot bridge runs on the Raspberry Pi and is started when the Raspberry Pi starts, with initial commands from an initialization file (bridge.ini).

Robobot_bridge overview

A bridge autostart feature is implemented in the script 'start_bridge.sh' in the home directory of the user 'local'. The is executed after a reboot.

The script can be amended with other commands that should be started after a reboot.

Mission software

The mission application is the primary user control for the robot.

Robobot mission application overview.

The Mission application is started manually from an ssh console or added to the reboot script 'start_bridge.sh'.

Setup issues

Installation instructions

This installation should be done already, to update see next section.

Raspberry and ROS (not finished)

Network setup (Wifi)

Robobot camera camera setup

Access from Windows and Linux to Raspberry files (and graphics)

Other windows tools - show Raspberry Pi graphics in Windows (usually very very slow)

Regbot GUI python setup and GUI install

See Regbot calibration for sensor calibration.

Software update

Update of the maintained software is on the SVN (subversion) repository.

SSH to the robot and go to these directories and do an update

cd
svn up svn/fejemis/ROS/catkin_ws/src/bridge
svn up svn/robobot
svn up svn/regbot

An update could look like this

$ svn up svn/fejemis/ROS/catkin_ws/src/bridge
Updating 'svn/fejemis/ROS/catkin_ws/src/bridge':
U    fejemis/ROS/catkin_ws/src/bridge/udataitem.h
U    fejemis/ROS/catkin_ws/src/bridge/ujoy.cpp
Updated to revision 228.

NB! this may cause a conflict if some of the files are changed locally. Look at the filename and if it is not one of yours, then reply 'tc' (short for their conflict solution)

Compile on bridge changes

If there are updated files for the bridge, then

cd
cd catkin_ws
catkin_make

Compile and upload on Teensy changes

cd
cd svn/regbot/regbot/4.1
make -j3

This makes a file "regbot.hex" that is then to be loaded as the new firmware on the Teensy processor.

There is a script that can do that from the command line:

./upload.sh

It will say something like

$ ./upload.sh
Teensy Loader, Command Line, Version 2.2
Read "regbot.hex": 314368 bytes, 3.9% usage
Waiting for Teensy device...
 (hint: press the reset button)

Press and hold the "POWER ON" and then press the button on the Teensy board.

The "POWER ON" button maintains power to the Raspberry Pi and the Teensy while uploading.

It will likely fail the first time but keep pressing "POWER ON" and repeat the command, and it should now say

$ ./upload.sh
Teensy Loader, Command Line, Version 2.2
Read "regbot.hex": 314368 bytes, 3.9% usage
Found HalfKay Bootloader
Programming.............................
Booting

If you released the "POWER ON" in the process, the Raspberry Pi would power down. You then need to hold the "POWER ON" until the Raspberry has booted; you then re-login and rerun the script.

Make the upload.sh

If you have the "upload.sh", this step is not needed.

The command line upload is described here https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/loader_cli.html .

On a Raspberry you first need to install a USB library:

sudo apt install libusb-dev

Then get the code:

cd ~/git
git clone https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/teensy_loader_cli.git
cd teensy_loader_cli
make

You should now have a "teensy_loader_cli" file; copy this to the svn/regbot/regbot/4.1 directory

cp teensy_loader_cli ~/svn/regbot/regbot/4.1/

Make the "upload.sh" script

cd ~/svn/regbot/regbot/4.1
nano upload.sh

Insert the following into the script:

#!/bin/bash
./teensy_loader_cli -v -w --mcu=TEENSY41 regbot.hex

Save with ctrl-s and exit with ctrl-x

Make the script executable

chmod +x upload.sh

old instructions

Partially valid only.

Install on raspberry on a clean SD-card - raspi-config.

Setup user local adding a new user.

Linux tools - packages to install.

Access from PC (Linux or Windows).

Other windows tools - run graphics from Windows

Instructions for getting started - primarily network, Linux intro and wifi setup.

REGBOT setup

Several parameters in the REGBOT part of the robot need setting.

Some suggestions are provided here using the REGBOT GUI (available on the raspberry in the 'regbotgui' directory, and in a Windows version):

Regbot settings

Hardware

The Robobot frame is 3D printed, the design is in onshape - see this link https://cad.onshape.com/documents/fef8699fcafb8aea780c8981/w/ce38e7fdd6cf8533b65e2c3c/e/4792e876b254f8e35059f863 , in the list of parts to the left it is possible to export (right-click) as STL files, that you can slice for your 3D printer.

Navigation box assembly

There are video-instructions on the course page.