CS393R: Autonomous Robots -- Getting Started

Initial Setup

You should use these steps at the beginning of the semester. Thanks to Jeremy Stober (a previous TA) for the shell script. To set up the Tekkotsu code and wireless settings in a project directory in your home directory run
/home/katie/Public/initialsetup.sh aiboname aiboip
Use aiboname and aiboip according to this list, where aiboname is the name on your Aibo's locker.

aibo1	192.168.1.101
aibo2	192.168.1.102
aibo3	192.168.1.103
aibo4	192.168.1.104
aibo5	192.168.1.105
aibo6	192.168.1.106
aibo7	192.168.1.107
aibo8	192.168.1.108
aibo9	192.168.1.109
aibo10	192.168.1.110
aibo11	192.168.1.111
aibo12	192.168.1.112
aibo13	192.168.1.113
aibo14	192.168.1.114
aibota	192.168.1.115

Now insert your Aibo memory card into the card reader on your machine (either the white USB reader or the MS/Pro/Duo slot) and execute the following to put the initial code on your stick and then unmount the stick:
cd ~/project
make install MEMSTICK_ROOT=/media/disk
umount /media/disk
Then on subsequent updates run one of the following from your project directory (not just make update like the Tekkotsu tutorial instructs)
make update MEMSTICK_ROOT=/media/disk (with memory stick in reader)
make ftpupdate IPADDRESS=aiboip (with memory stick in turned on and wirelessly connected robot)

Memory Stick Care and Management

Always wait a few extra seconds after the green or blue light on the reader or robot has stopped flashing before removing your memory stick. If there is any doubt whether the stick is unmounted on the computer, run
umount /media/disk
Memory sticks can become corrupted if you remove them from the card readers or the robot when file transfer or file reading is still taking place. Save yourself time and frustration by unmounting from the card reader when in doubt on the machines, and waiting for the robot to fully power off before removing the card on the robots.
Make sure the memory stick lock switch stays in the unlocked position, as otherwise you will be unable to write to the stick.
Never reformat the memory stick in any way except using the make newstick command below. If doing make newstick and make install doesn't solve your memory stick problems (try a couple times) - and you have tried putting a clean copy of Tekkotsu or another team's code on the stick - email Katie.

Uploading Files to Robot over FTP

Before you can use Tekkotsu's make ftpupdate IPADDRESS=aiboip, you must make the following simple fix. Add the following line on line 237 of the Makefile.aperios file (located in ~/project/aperios):
@rm $(MSIMGDIR)/bld_info.txt;
such that it looks as follows (line 236-238):
@echo "Updating the memory stick using ftpupdate with the IP address $(IPADDRESS)"
@rm $(MSIMGDIR)/bld_info.txt;
@$(TEKKOTSU_ROOT)/tools/sbin/ftpupdate $(IPADDRESS) $(MSIMGDIR);
You may find that copying files this way is too slow, but it may be useful in some cases.

Starting a New Project

The Tekkotsu 5.1 framework resides in /usr/local/Tekkotsu. You can copy the framework to your home directory without the use of the above script as follows:
cp -r /usr/local/Tekkotsu/project ~/
This will create a project directory in your home directory. Note that this would create a directory in the same location as the script above - so if you want a second copy of the framework, you should specify a different destination.

Setting the Wireless Settings

If you want to manually change the wireless settings file, you can copy the wlandflt.txt file from /home/katie/Public into your project/ms/open-r/system/conf directory and modify the hostname to the name of your aibo and the etherip to the ip address from the above list. Remember that the name of your aibo is the name on your locker.

Compiling a Stick

Run all of the following commands in your project directory when necessary. Note that some of these commands will automatically unmount the stick, while others will not.
To reformat the stick: make newstick MEMSTICK_ROOT=/media/disk
To install initial code after reformat: make install MEMSTICK_ROOT=/media/disk
Then on subsequent updates run either of the following:
make update MEMSTICK_ROOT=/media/disk (with memory stick in reader)
make ftpupdate IPADDRESS=aiboip (with memory stick in turned on and wirelessly connected robot)